NF CDA Photo Report

The light at the end of the tunnel...

I took a drive yesterday up the NF Coeur d'Alene River to see how it's looking for the upcoming spring fishing. As I suspected there is plenty of snow everywhere, but fortunately there was a number of pieces of water that were actually pretty fishable on the lower. As you got above the Little NF Coeur d'Alene there was sections of ice that could span the river and some along the soft, slow water near the banks.

Is it fishable? Yes, most definitely. You will have to pick and choose your spots as parking is limited due to the amount of snow everywhere, plus you will have to "post-hole" through the powder just to get to the river. On the bright side it will keep you warm doing all that cardio! The ice in the river should clear up over the next week or two if the warming trend continues.

How high can you go?! The million dollar question of the spring. I don't know is the answer, I only went up to the metal bridge just below Prichard. My follow up response is, the better water is down lower. Think about fishing the upper reaches when the snow is gone and around the May time-frame.

I didn't bring a rod yesterday otherwise I would have an actual fishing report for you, I just grabbed my camera and took off from the shop for a couple hours. It was certainly nice to be up in the mountains for the few mins even though I didn't fish. It felt very comfortable and it was great seeing some elk hanging out in a side channel with the mallards.

Should you go fishing now? We never stopped fishing this winter so I suppose that is your answer...