Promising outlook on rivers for Labor Day

Fishing on area rivers has been excellent and should keep getting better, said Mike Beard of Northwest Outfitters in Coeur d'Alene.

"With the weather cooling off and a few sporadic rainstorms to recharge the rivers, the cutthroat have made it through the hot part of the year with very little stress and are starting to feed consistently again," Beard said.

Water is still low and clear, but the fish are more willing to eat flies so the fishing has stayed great, Beard said.

"Expect Labor Day to be the last really busy weekend on the river and then the fishing should get even better," he said. "Hoppers are still out and the fish are feeding on them if you can find a pool or two that hasn't been fished recently."

If you can't get them to look at the big bug, put a small nymph dropper under your hopper or downsize your tippet and throw some smaller pale morning duns, beetles or parachute ant patterns, Beard said.

"Attractors ... in 16-20 size have also been moving some nice fish if the fish are a little more picky," he said.

The North Fork of the Coeur d'Alene and St. Joe are great places to be and will get even better as school and other fall activities take more people away from the river, Beard said.

"It is still early in the game, but for those addicts waiting to swing some flies for steelhead, there are some fish in the lower Clearwater that have been grabbing flies," he said. "Still low on the numbers over the dam, but the only way to catch a steelhead is with your fly in the water."

Jordan Smith of Fins and Feathers in Coeur d'Alene suggests staying away from the north end of Lake Coeur d'Alene with boat races this weekend.

But the south end is fair game, he said.

"The south end would be a great choice for the kokanee that have been doing pretty well 30 to 50 feet down using a Hildebrandt and a pink Gooseman wedding ring setup," he said.

Chinook salmon have also continued to bite 60 to 80 feet down with a big flasher and a helmeted herring or a little flasher with a little squid.

Smallmouth bass have been biting 15 to 30 feet deep using twin tail grubs or tube jigs. Drop shooting for them has also worked.

Pike fishing has been slow for staff at Fins and Feathers, Smith said.

"It is weird; It is like they are not there," he said. "The ones we have caught have been on orange spinner baits."

On Fernan, fishing has been "pretty slow" overall, Smith said, "although the catfish are biting like crazy."

Use a treble hook with catfish bait made by Magic or Berkley or nightcrawlers work as well.