North 40 Fly Shop eMagazine February 2016 | Page 45

L

arge sums of money and considerable manpower have been
spent over the years trying to establish fishable WCT populations
in the large lakes of northern Idaho. Despite these efforts, little
improvement has been made. In 2003, Wydoski & Whitney indicate
that WCT will disperse through the lake when predators are not
present. When predator fish are present such as chinook and kookane,
the WCT will hug shorelines and not make their way into the lake.
This means that the bigger adfluvial WCT"s, with the presence of
predator fish, are not making their way into Lake Coeur d’Alene and
are hanging in the lower end of the St. Joe River. I believe those big
fish I've been catching over the years are adfluvial WCT that are a little
shy from predators to make their way deep into Lake Coeur d’Alene.
My advice for everyone pursuing bigger cuttys is to try fishing in the
St. Joe River below Marbel Creek. You might be surprised at how big
some of those fish can get in the lower part of the system.
What to expect over the next couple weeks on our rivers...

Coming soon. 