Cutty Season

The wait is over

March has arrived and for many fishing is moving from "a nice idea" to reality with actual fishing excursions starting to take place. This is the month when the cutthroat rivers like the North Fork of the Coeur d'Alene and St. Joe Rivers start to perk back up from a long winter's nap, insects begin to hatch, and trout become more active.

While March is generally not red-hot cutthroat fishing, it can be fairly productive AND dry fly fishing starts to become more common as the month progresses. Each March is a little different and this month is bigtime weather / water dependent. Warm weather in March can bring on increased river flows especially when there is low elevation snow to melt.

Our snowpack in the Idaho drainages is not huge, but if the weather stays cool the snowpack should stay in check and March can remain fishable on the NF CDA and St. Joe. Don't live and die by the USGS graphs too. While there are some obvious "no-go" situations, these rivers can fish more often than not.

The best fishing on the nearby cutty rivers will typically be in the lower half of the drainages most years. The upper half of the NF CDA and the upper half of the St. Joe are snowed-in and roads are not plowed. The deeper / further upriver you go... the more winter-like it will be. And from my experience.... cutthroat trout can be a fair weather fish.

The wait is over, it's cutty season. Get out and enjoy it!