FS Digest

Has anyone fished within about 2-3 hours of Boise, Idaho? Im going to visit for about a week and a half and was wondering if it was worth packing all my fly gear. Would love some details! And dont be afraid to say its not very good

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by gofrawgs35

FS Digest

Boise is fly fishing Mecca. You should hop on Amazon Prime and watch "The Rocky Mountain Fly Highway". It's glorious.

So you have 3 great options within 2 hours of Boise.

- South Fork of the Boise River below Anderson Dam.

- Main Boise River below the Dam through the city and on. I fish down near Middleton a lot as I live in that area, but it's not as good as the city and below the Dam

- The Owyhee river just over the border in Oregon. World class Brown Trout fishing.

Can't go wrong.

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by 311polo

FS Digest

Thats awesome to hear! From what ive read online it could be considered “the graduate school” of fly fishing. Does that mean its relatively difficult?

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by gofrawgs35

FS Digest

Well, I'm not a very good fly fisher, in fact I consider myself quite mediocre. I've only fished the South Fork once, but I pulled out a pretty good size rainbow and the area on the Boise river near where I live and frequently fish is notoriously difficult, but I've managed to pull out a Brown, Rainbow, and a couple white fish. However, my understanding is that its a bit easier up stream toward downtown Boise and past there up towards the dam.

As for the Owyhee, I've never fished there because I don't have an Oregon license, but I'll be getting one in January. I hear it is difficult, but I always expect to at least pull one out.

I will say, I do find the fishing here more difficult than Maryland was for me. I can't catch jack on a streamer, yet in Maryland that was my go to.

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by 311polo

FS Digest

And ill definitely check that doc out!

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by gofrawgs35

Paulgt3 Loc: Canyon county Idaho

I too live in Middleton, you can fly fish anywhere along the Boise river. In downtown Boise , in Eagle, Star, Lansing off hwy 44, Midland road coming from Nampa going north. After that it peters out. Barber park in Boise is good. You can also hop in your car and in 5.5 hours be on the Henry’s Fork north of Idaho Falls. But around town here in Boise it’s pretty relaxed. The access at Linder road is good too. They stock near Eagle and there’s always a friendly face around. East of the Star bridge you can always see rainbow rising.
Owyhee gets crowded, and the etiquette is really going down over there because it’s in all the magazines now. But your welcome to try it.

Seafoam Loc: Nampa, ID

Yeah everywhere. North fork of the payette is good. South fork boise. Boise along the greenbelt in town. Owyhee is great but you need an Oregon license. Clearwater river. Anywhere you can find that the yuppies haven't bought up all the land. Lol

Seafoam Loc: Nampa, ID

Yeah everywhere. North fork of the payette is good. South fork boise. Boise along the greenbelt in town. Owyhee is great but you need an Oregon license. Clearwater river. Anywhere you can find that the yuppies haven't bought up all the land. Lol

kelly1960 Loc: Grayling Michigan

I lived in Boise for 15 years and found the Boise river all the way to the dam is good fishing. You have several parks around Boise and on the river. You can fish the green belt that runs right through town on the Boise river. If you want a bigger challenge then drive north to Payette Idaho and fish the Payette river. It a much narrower river then the Boise but runs much faster. There are class 5 rapids on the Payette River. Up hwy 95 you can fish a lot of places all the way to Cascade Idaho. Then of course the3re is the world class fly fishing on the eastern and northern Idaho. In eastern Idaho you have the north fork of the Snake river. It draws fly fisherpersons from all over the world. In northern Idaho you have the clearwater river that runs through Lewiston and dumps into the snake river. Yes the snake river runs from eastern Idaho to western Idaho and turns north and makes the border with Oregon and at Lewiston turns west to empty into the Colombia river. You also have the lochsa and the selway rivers. Of course there is always the river of no return, the great salmon river. It has world class cutthroat trout fishing and the south fork of the north fork salmon river is just a couple of hours north of Boise. About three and half hours east of Boise you have the Big and Little Lost river system that has good fly fishing. About an hour to an hour and a half you have the bruneau river that has good fly fishing on it. Just north of Twin Falls Idaho which is about a hundred and thirty miles is silver creek and the big and little wood river. Silver creek is such world class fishing that there is a book out about just that creek and the fishing available in it. It seem to have a hot spring run into it because it stays warmer then most. Speaking of hot springs, Idaho has the largest number of hot springs that come to the surface then any other state. So some of the rivers are warmer then those around them. Just keep that in mind. This time of year it is easy to spot hot springs because of the steam they put off. I moved away because I am now disabled and can't get to these places anymore. I moved to Michigan so I could continue fishing out of my wheelchair. Back to Idaho, if you can take a little time and can travel a up to three hours you can find world class fishing that is not being fished very heavily this time of year. Most all lakes and rivers are open to catch and release but be sure to check the regs to make sure where you want to fish is open to fishing. If you want to make sure you catch some fish, go to barber park and walk out on the diversion dam and cast up next to the dam. They stock fish there all year long so there are always fish to catch there. more if you want privacy then go to the park just below luck peak dam. It's about fifteen to twenty minutes east of Boise. Just ask anyone because everyone knows where lucky peak is. They also stock fish just a little north of that park. It is also on the Boise river. There is just some ideas for you to look at and yes you should pack your fly rod and for sure try to find a way to go fish silver creek. If you7 want to fish a little stream that you can just about jump across that has twenty inch plus trout in it. They are escapees from the fish hatchery. Go over to Nampa and go to south junior high. Across the road from that is a little creek. I don't think it even has a name but there are some big fish in it and you can always catch fish there because of the hatchery. Nampa is about twenty five miles west of Boise. Last time I was there they had put in some new ponds and the little creek feeds some of them. We always walked west wear the creek crosses he main road, That field was open to people that wanted to fish. There is a wonderful hole about football fields walk that was always hard to cast to but if you got the cast right you could catch a big fish out of it. I guarantee that if you take your fly rod you can find a place to use it with\in ten minute of where you are staying. Some good fishing with-in a half hour and world class with-in two hours of Boise. So to answer your question on if you should take your fly rod. Yes you should take it. Kelly

Seafoam Loc: Nampa, ID

That creek in Nampa is called Wilson creek. Sadly the field is gone and full of houses but there is a small greenbelt which has access to the creek. I live about 5 minutes away and fish it regularly. It's still great fishing but if you're not an experienced creek fisherman stick to the more open areas that still have rocks and cover. Large sections of the creek have been stripped of rocks by homeowners for their landscaping and are now worthless to fish. And some sections of the greenbelt are considered private property by HOA in some neighborhoods. (I will soon be challenging this with fish and game).

kelly1960 Loc: Grayling Michigan

Thank you for your help. I couldn't remember the name. I hope you are still catching big fish in it. Kelly