Winter Carpen on the Snake

Field Action:  Winter Carp Fishing

Location:  Snake River Hagerman/Buhl area

Date  2/7/2010

Participants:  KBarats & the Gamefisher

 

Weather , Water  Flow & Temperature    This was a very nice day for February . The air temperature has been in the mid to upper 40’s all week and today was just as nice.…exceptional weather for early February in Idaho.   The water was higher than usual because of up stream dam work…6 to 12 inches higher from a bank standpoint

 

Objective and General Observations:    We have had a very warm winter this year with below average rain/snow fall.  Even with this nice weather both KB and I were feeling pretty desperate to get out and dust off our 8wt rods.  KB  also wanted to check how the Carp would be biting on a warm early February day… as you can imagine, I also had a passing interest in this field work.  We were equally inspired to see if the larger trout would be showing up early.  Usual this spot fishes well in the March time frame for trout but the extra warm weather had us wondering if they would come into the area early.

 

Trip Detail:    

We left Boise fairly late for us (8:30a.m.) thinking that we were in the dead of winter so what’s the rush. We took the Hagerman exit of I-84 and proceeded to the Snake River with the intent of  fishing between Hagerman and the Buhl area.  There is some pretty good water in this area with more rapids than normal. Below these rapids there is  some good holding water, pools and eddies that the fish seem to like to hang out in.  As an aside there are so many Carp in the Snake that any spot with decent access is liable to be productive.  We like this area because it is outside of Boise about 2 hours, has great access up and down the river and your are not likely to see any other crazies chasing Carp in February...

 

We arrived at our favorite spot directly below a nice rapids section  and were on the water by 11.  This seemed about right as it was still pretty cold when we pulled in but the big Carp started getting more active as the day progressed. We were seeing some pretty Carp splashes by noon.  I am not really sure if these splashes mean that the Carp are actually eating off the surface but the activity does seem to indicate happy active fish which always gives me hope.

This was KB’s, first real fishing outing since he nuked his shoulder last Fall (trying to fair catch plywood or something like that).  It has been a long recuperation period for him, lots of couch time and skill development on getting things done with 1 arm….needless to say he was really itching to go.  He was able to throw well although he was quite sore at the end of the day…
 

Results & Key Learning’s:

The good news:   We we did see and catch some nice Carp.  They were certainly colder and not quite as energetic but we were able to entice them with some of our normal go-to patterns.  We had good luck with a smaller ( #8)  black rabbit hair leach and did equally as well with our old stand by the oversized gray/green scud.  I usually tie this on #8 heavy scud hook and add a small gold bead in the front….for some reason the Carp seem to really go for it.

 The other piece of good news was the visibility which stayed good well past noon…this is always tough on the Snake as you need to catch the angle of the sun just right to see into the water.  During the summer once the sun gets directly overhead you really lose the ability to see into the water.  This was not the case in February as the sun stayed low in the horizon which kept the angle of the rays just right for much longer.  As an aside Carp fishing is really pretty tough if you have to blind cast so it is much better to be able to spot them and take a legitimate shot.

The bad news:  The large trout were not in the water yet although we did talk to a fisherman who did well on eggs further down the river catching  small fish.  He was a little disappointed in the size of his fish, but if you think about it any fish is a good fish in Idaho during February.