Fishing and snow skiing. (Coeur d'Alene, Payette: to buy, place to live, move)

[Jig and Pig]

Where would be the ideal area to locate if you wanted to fish in season and snow ski in season. As far as fishing goes, I like to chunk and wind with baitcasting or spinning gear from a bass boat and I also like to wade fish with a fly rod. Artificials only. No bait and no trolling.

Ideally, I'd like to be near lakes with, say, bass, walleye, crappie and pike. I'd also like to be near streams or rivers with trout and maybe smallmouth. And, I'd like to be near the best ski slopes in N. Idaho. Is that too much to ask? Is it possible? Where would it be?

Thanks.

[banjomike]

In my humble opinion, that would be in S. Idaho. The both forks of the upper Snake are the best trout fishery in the west, and we are much closer to all the most prime ski areas in the west. There is a lot of bass and pike to be found around the Hagerman area.
We also have a few pretty good ones down here- Sun Valley and Grand Targhee are both Idaho resorts.

I'm not slamming my friends in the north at all... North Idaho is beautiful and a nice place to live. It's just that all the real spectacular stuff is down here at the other end of the state, at this end is also a nice place to live, too.

[Jig and Pig]

Banjo,

Thanks for the info. I'm also an upland bird hunter. I've got dogs. Is there a lot of public land in the area you mentioned and, if you know, how is the upland bird hunting (chukar, pheasant, quail, grouse, huns, etc.) in that area?

[banjomike]

Hi, ***...
there is a lot of upland hunting down here, and a lot of public land to hunt on. You can hunt birds from the Wyoming border to the Oregon border in S. Idaho. We have all the birds on your list.

I was a bird hunter myself for quite a while, but don't go out anymore. The Arco Desert is always a pretty good place to start.

[Jig and Pig]

thank you.

[DCVA66]

McCall seems like it would be a good place for skiing (although I don't think they have much/if any snow right now. As big as Payette Lake is, I would hope that it would be a decent place to fish?

[fearnofish]

Originally Posted by *** and Pig

Where would be the ideal area to locate if you wanted to fish in season and snow ski in season. As far as fishing goes, I like to chunk and wind with baitcasting or spinning gear from a bass boat and I also like to wade fish with a fly rod. Artificials only. No bait and no trolling.

Ideally, I'd like to be near lakes with, say, bass, walleye, crappie and pike. I'd also like to be near streams or rivers with trout and maybe smallmouth. And, I'd like to be near the best ski slopes in N. Idaho. Is that too much to ask? Is it possible? Where would it be?

Thanks.

I would live right smack dab in Coeur d'Alene. You can go to Silver Mtn or lookout to the east and Schweitzer to the North or Mt. Spokane to the west.

As far as fishing you can't really beat CDA. Bass and Pike is what it sounds like you would like to hit. There is local company (yes i have a dog in the fight he is my best friends dad who makes them) called Longfeather Lure. Look for their spinner baits. We tell them what colors work best and he produced them for us so they are custom to the CDA area basically. Fins and Feathers sells them as does Blacksheep and several other area sporting good companies. I prefer Fins and Feathers by a long shot though!

The north end of Lake CDA is great small mouth habitat and lots of pike too. There are deep weed beds where you would never expect them and they are loaded with Pike. I can't give you my couple spots because they are the few secret ones left (ya right like anythings a secret anymore). But use your sonor and fishing knowledge and move aroud the rocky banks on the north end and you will see them pop up in 20 or so feet of water.

The tradition spots for casting for Pike are all the bays on the north. Work the weedline and drop off. Those things love the drop off where it goes from 7 to 30 feet with a weedline on it. They shoot out from the black water and hammer the spinner baits.

My absolute favorit number one pike lure is a orange and orange Long Feather lure spinner bait. You will see what one I mean when you see the products at the store. Longfeather Lures The Orange and Orange is the one to far left onthe main page.

I always have a rod with spinner baits rigged, one with a husky jerk rapala and one with a dare devil on it. Sometimes they get picky and want a little different presentation so thats when we switch it up.

As far as fly fishing up the CDA river is where I spend most of my time. The St. Joe is great too but we do just fine up the CDA and I know it a lot better than the Joe so we go there.

Go up above into the catch and release waters and you get to see some real "tanks" (as we call them). A orange stimulator works very well for waters your have not hit yet to see if anything rises. Usually they will take the stimmy but sometimes just come up to look at it. Then you switch something to match the hatch and they nail it. Again go to Fins and Feathers www.fins1.com in Coeur d'Alene and talk to the guys there about fly fishing when it opens up this spring.

Cabelas is where a lot of people like to go anymore but some of their guys in their have no clue what they are talking about. Recent example: The steelhead fishing on the Clearwater was great and just getting better and the guy from Cabelas was quoted in the CDA Press saying it was all but over and not worth the time... Apparently this guy had no idea what he was talking about and had not been down there himself. Go to a good guide service who's job it is to put people on fish to get the real info IMO.

[fearnofish]

I did not even mention all the other smaller lakes that are packed with bass and pike... Maybe later I can post on that if you are interested.

[Jig and Pig]

Originally Posted by fearnofish

I did not even mention all the other smaller lakes that are packed with bass and pike... Maybe later I can post on that if you are interested.

AM I interested!!!!! Please go on. I'm an amateur tournament bass fisherman. I'm a catch and release guy. PM me if you want. I also love to fly fish.

Hey, maybe you can fill me in on the upland bird hunting in the area or point me in a direction. I've got 3 Shorthairs.

Thanks for the great info.

[fearnofish]

Originally Posted by *** and Pig

AM I interested!!!!! Please go on. I'm an amateur tournament bass fisherman. I'm a catch and release guy. PM me if you want. I also love to fly fish.

Hey, maybe you can fill me in on the upland bird hunting in the area or point me in a direction. I've got 3 Shorthairs.

Thanks for the great info.

We just need to go fishing and hunting and ill show you. My buddy fishers the Panhandle Bass Association (think thats what it is) and he and his partner usually are first or second place.

Go get to know the boys at Fins and Feathers and they can open up a lot of doors for you. Pretty much all we do is catch and release. We would have a trophy pike fishery if the fish and game stopped allowing bait fisherman to take all the big spawners out during the fall.

For pheasant hunting we do down on the reservation. You have to buy a permit to hunt there but its not too much and worth it. You have your hit and miss days, (it's definatly not South Dakota) but for the most part it is pretty good.
Head down and start driving around looking and you will see the areas that look good. Most of the farmers are pretty receptive to hunting if you are a good guy and know how to ask for permission.

As far as upland birds we do a lot of that up the Coeur d'Alene River on the smaller off shoot rivers and lowlands they create. You can get into a lot of grouse and have a lot of fun.