Idaho Riviera Perch

[fish_digger]

I had the good fortune to spend Wednesday on CJ Strike Res. in Idaho.

The snow and ice had melted and we had no trouble launching the boat at Black Sand Resort. The Cotttonwood boat launch was still iced in. After motoring over to the narrows we kept an eye on the sonar and soon we were over the monster size schools of perch in about 45' of water.

We spent some time fine tuning our presentation and finally settled on a double rig with a Hali on the bottom and an Atomic Ant 12" above. Both were tipped with perch meat. Over the course of the next hour we filled the cooler with 10-11" perch. Between the two of us we boated over 20 doubles and had another dozen+ doubles become singles at the side of the boat.

After filling the cooler, we trolled for trout. Everywhere we went we saw large schools of perch and crappie on the sonar. The fish numbers in CJ are amazing. CJ has no special regulations and there is no limit on perch in Idaho.

It takes about 5 hours to drive to CJ from SLC. If you go, you will need an Idaho fishing license (2nd pole permit is extra), and a Idaho invasive species sticker for your boat. These can conveniently be picked up at Sportsman's Warehouse in Twin Falls.

It took a little over an hour to fillet the cooler full with my trusty American Anglers electric fillet knife (thanks for the tip Pat).

Amazing how fast those perch fillets disappear.


[inline IMG_20160127_135809981_HDRb.jpg]
[signature]

[albinotrout]

Great report, thanks for sharing.
[signature]

[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]Nice work Dan. But to borrow a line from "Jaws", you're gonna need a bigger cooler. Of course that would be plenty of filleting for most folks. Glad the American Angler treated you right...once you got the feel for it.

Nice to get a plentiful perch report...in open water...and a lot closer than Cascade. As we discussed...ain't it strange that Idaho has no limit on perch but still has waters that produce so many...and good sized too? And, as we also discussed, a big part of that is probably the fact that Strike is on the river and not subject to the big drawdowns like we have in Utah...right when the perch are spawning. Probably a lot more food for them in that lake too...at least baby perch even without all the other forage species.


[/#0000FF]
[signature]

[fish_digger]

That small cooler full of perch weighed 70 lbs. A larger one full of perch would be a two man job to get out of the boat! Maybe 2 small coolers...

I have fished CJ twice in the past year and it has become one of my favorite waters, only wish it was closer to SLC. In addition to the perch, it has healthy populations of crappie, blue gill, small and large mouth bass, trout, sturgeon, catfish, and more. I was planning on hitting Fish Lake in a couple of weeks, but I think I will head back to CJ instead.

Yes, it is amazing how productive a reservoir can be when it isn't down to nearly nothing every year...
[signature]

[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]Lemme know when you plan to go again. I'll bring my own cooler and my own fillet knife.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]

[fish_digger]

Will do.
[signature]

[dubob]

[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]Now THAT"S the way to do it; good job fd. I would gladly fillet 10/11 inch perch from any size full cooler with my electric AA knife.[/#800000][/font]
[signature]

[PACKFAN]

Gotta love C.J. for the fishing, use to spend a lot of time on her back in the early 70's when I lived in Grandview.[cool]
[signature]

[fish_digger]

Good eats at the Y Bar & Cafe in Grandview.
[signature]

[makinawfisher19]

very cool
[signature]

[SkunkedAgain]

Thanks for the report it's really interesting later J
[signature]

[PACKFAN]

That place has been there a long time, I use to frequent it when I got stationed there in 66, I think there were 3 or 4 bars back then plus another café. I liked the Waterfront bar/café out by the AF docks at C.J. back then but I think It burned down years ago.[fishin]
[signature]