Palisades May 2, 2009

[prvrt]

I made it up to Palies today. It was not what I expected for this time of year and ice off not long ago. It was quite slow and fish were not on top like you would think. We did catch our limit and we also threw a few smaller ones back, but it took most the day. We probably lost more than we caught also. About 90% of the fish today were Cut's and the rest were Browns. The water temp was between 36F-41F depending on where you were. Water was quite clean actually and very little drift wood or debris. Run off has not hit full force yet. Weather was great in the morning with quite a few people out fishing. We started fishing up top around 1'-15' and caught 2 in the first few hours. Around noon the wind came up, the rain came down, and most people left. We started to go deeper and around 30' seemed to be the magic number. This seems quite deep for this time of year. We stayed and fished until a little after 6:00 pm. Rained the whole time but the wind died down around 2:00 and was quite managable.
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There are only a few docks in the water and it is quite muddy on the ramp down by the water. Watch the road going in from the dam to the turnoff for Calamity. The land slide is getting worse with a drop of about 6' just before the turnoff. There are quite a few dips (3"-6") and cracks in the road also by the cabin. Not to bad of a day. Beats the heck out of work.
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[X2FSH]

I thought I saw your boat out there..I was fishing on the shore between the boat dock and the dam...We had three poles going...I caught a 16'' rainbow within 10 min. of my first cast and that was all she wrote...I was getting sea sick just watching your boat rocking back and forth. It sure got rough quick out there. I'll have to give it a try maybe next week with my boat.
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[prvrt]

It did get a little rough out there for a while, but nothing like Henry's or AF Res. I would have to say the waves were around 2' at times. There were quite a few smaller boats that should not have been out there that finally got off. It was kinda weird having the wind come from the East like it did today. It made it tough to troll along the West shore like I do normally. Usually it is from the South. I have not caught a rainbow on there for ever. Hope you have better luck next time.

Edit: Fish cop was up there checking every one. When he checked us we had 4 fish. He said that was about average for the boats he had checked. He did say one boat had 14 and that was the most at that time which was about 11:00am.
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[chrome_junky]

im heading to palies in the morning to do so trolling ill let you know how i do.
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[curt69]

Good report , how was you getting down to 30' . Lead Core , Down Riggers ? It will get better when the lake turns over . If we get some sun the water on the mud flat out from Bear Creek will warm up and the fish will move into that area . Curt G.
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[jacksonlaker]

We also fished there today. We caught 11 and dropped 3. Mostly cutts. We found fish from all over the place but could not put together a pattern. We caught 'em mostly on Rocky Mt Tackle's serpent spoons in mai-tai and bikini colors. We caught some off the downriggers, some off lead-core and 5 off the planer board. We were done by 12 so we missed the rain. We fished the east side from the dam to big elk. I'm going again today so I will give a fresh report.
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[prvrt]

I have 2 down riggers and can run 4 lines off those. I also used 20' and 30' divers on the side lines. We did flatline 2 lines straight off the back for a while and did catch a few. I have found that fish are almost always in the 40' and up level so 20' and 30' divers do the trick. We did seem to have to slow down a bit and did best it seemed at about 1.4 mph. Bear Creek was the warmest at about 41F. We did stop on a dock there and took a short break. While there I grabbed one of my poles and threw out a Rainbow Rapala. Caught a nice fat 2lb Cut first cast. About 15 casts later I caught another fat Cut. Then I snagged and lost the Rapala as the water was only 20' or so deep and rocky. Threw on a Black/Gold Rapala and hooked another Cut, but lost him right at the dock. The Kokes were in there in places, but not like usual. They seemed to be spread out more.
It also seemed the Cuts were different breeds and many looked like hybrids. I am no expert on the different types of Cuts, but there were a few Fine Spotted Cuts and Yellowstone Cuts but the majority of them seemed to be Hybrids as there was only a slight hint of orange on many of their jaws. They all taste good tho. The Browns were all around 16"-18" and not real fat, but that seems normal for there.
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[fishlip20]

also went out there was in a small sea nymph boat. got a late start and landed 15 lost a few in 4 hours
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[flygoddess]

Re: [prvrt] Palies May 2, 2009
also went out there was in a small sea nymph boat. got a late start and landed 15 lost a few in 4 hours
Jes



So, this means you caught 4 at Henry's...no wait Palies because Henry's is a two fish limit and not open yet.......but wait it was 15 fish?! HUH?

You do realize Idaho Fish and Game read this forum.
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[fishlip20]

[indent]again i apologise for anyone without a sense of humor! and i'll be glad to hand my fish in the freezer to fish and game for testing.but would like it back after
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[flygoddess]

Again, I do have a sense of humor, I fail to see where the humor was.
You do realize those fish in the freezer count also.
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[fishlip20]

whatever all i know was fishin was great at PALISADES[cool]
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[windriver]

Great Report. I do not have a boat but I sure do learn a lot about fishing from your reports.

Windriver
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[thebugler]

hey fishlip20,how did you fish henrys and palaes on the same day at the same time in the same boat? I thought it was funny but im one of thoes guys who can put two and two together. dont all you people who took it personal realize that it is kinda hard to fish an iced over lake in a boat?[shocked]
Anyway,i seem to do better fishing palaes this time of year trolling from blowout up toward the damn.is it better by the damn?
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[jacksonlaker]

With water temps still around 40 degrees, the fish can be found anywhere in the water column. Fish were being caught from 10 to 40 down. As the water warms the fish will move shallower so troll higher and closer to shore. I have always done well by the dam and last year the weekend after ice-off was incredible. You could not keep lures in the water without getting bit. This year you will have to work a little harder to find fish. As you can tell by the reports, we all caught fish but not really a pattern to it. Good Luck.
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