Besides downing a little brew and doing a lot of hangar flying at Johnson Creek, was also hoping to slip over to Moose Creek / Shearer (sp?) and throw the fly line in the water.

However, just talked to a friend from Montana that says water levels are really high and probably will remain so thru end of the month.

Does that sound right for those of you who live in that region, and if so, would there be some spots close to JC that would have good fishing?

Thanks in advance for the advice!!

if no locals respond here's my two cents worth... you can hike up the mountain and fish the lake but forget the streams. Water's too fast this time of year. It's one of the reasons I push for a later fly in date but , Oh well... I think if you go to the higher strips where the streams are naturally smaller you might be ok but higher means snow also...I fished Moose, or attempted to, one year a week later than this years fly in and it was so fast I just turned around and hiked back up to the strip. Other than Site seeing on that weekend there won't be much good fishing water. If for some reason it does quiet down you can go upstream to the Ice house,, that's the name of the camp site. It's about 2 miles up from JC.. I've caught fish there in the pools but I don't know how it is at high water times. And it's one of the places you can go with the camp Van...

Water is really high, muddy and fast...fishing won't be any good in the streams. Iceman is spot on.

whee wrote:Water is really high, muddy and fast...fishing won't be any good in the streams. Iceman is spot on.

Same over here, Whee. The Payette runs through Emmett which comes out of McCall.

I just landed back in Elko after spending the day flying around south-central Idaho. I've never seen so much snow across the entire region so late! There is still 10's of feet of snow in the higher elevations! All stream/river flows are BIG. Just wait until the weather warms up . I didn't make JC due to low ceilings but I'm sure it is very high as well. It will be much later than most years before water levels drop. The Snake, Boise, Payette, and Salmon Rivers all had impressive flow. I'm having issues with the video camera; too bad or I could have posted some examples.

What are the options for lake fishing that aren't still under snow?

I was at JC one week ago, and the creek (raging river?) was higher than I've ever seen it before in my life. Since then, none of the creeks and rivers around here have come down any.

fern_hopper wrote:What are the options for lake fishing that aren't still under snow?

One week ago, the average snow line around this part of central Idaho was 6000 to 6500 ft. The lake above JC, Riordan Lake, is at 6540 ft elevation, so it almost certainly has some ice left on it, and right now you would likely have to hike through some snow in the shaded areas to get there.

However, it's getting warmer, and all of the snow is going to go fast.

Chinook Season Set On South Fork to open June 25th.

Land at Krassel and fish from there. However with all of the high water the salmon arrival might be delayed.
The fishing will be good, however the catching might not be good.

The East Fork Moose Cr is decent during moderately high water for whitefish. You'll have 12 miles under your belt round trip to the beaver jungles, though.

yup just as I figured,,, If you can see snow on the ridge above JC forget fishing... Hope you all have a great fly in .. I'll be hitting JC later in the summer , probably late July early Aug...Then I;'ll be hoping for No fires... but the fishing will be great>>>

seems to me that the flying and etc is mostly always better than the fishing in the high-country of Idaho...! nothing like the fresh clean cool air, nowhere else like it in the lower 48...!