Anglers claim spots for start of river fishing

Power shoppers live for the Friday after Thanksgiving.

College football fans can’t wait until the first week of the new year.

And Idaho fishers hook their excitement into the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, which marks opening day for river and stream fishing.

“This is our season,” Joe Peak, the upbeat longtime owner of Enaville Resort, said Saturday afternoon.

The local landmark, better known as the Snakepit to the regulars of the Kingston, Idaho, restaurant, is 1 ½ miles up the road from the Coeur d’Alene River. Several fishers, as well as outdoorsmen and all-terrain vehicle enthusiasts, were camping near the river’s edge on a cloudy but comfortable day.

The Coeur d’Alene and St. Joe rivers are among the more popular spots in the Panhandle for spin casters and fly fishermen. Idaho lakes and reservoirs are open year-round.

“Results have been mixed,” Peak said about the river opening. “Two guys (who came in) did extremely well on bait.”

Because of the recent runoff, the river was running faster than usual, and the water was unseasonably high. Peak said the South Fork of the Coeur d’Alene, which is a little off-color from the rain, “is really good in some areas.”

James Kobloth’s family, of Post Falls, parked their RV for the weekend where the South Fork and North Fork meet.

Kobloth, a 32-year-old self-employed carpenter, said he remembers fishing on opening day with his dad as far back as the age of two. He is passing the hobby on to his children.

“Let’s go,” 2-year-old Jacey said to her dad, carrying a rod twice her height.

While his wife, Marissa Kobloth, and their 1-year-old-son, Justin, watched from the soggy bank, dad and daughter attempted to catch their first westslope cutthroat of the season.

“This is going to be a family tradition,” said Marissa Kobloth, who will celebrate her fourth wedding anniversary with James on Tuesday. “We’ve come when it’s pouring down rain or baking hot, but not this year.”

Cataldo, Idaho, residents Dave Daniel, 69, and Ron Rex, 65, have seen all kinds of weather conditions on opening days. The spin casters have been fishing together for about 20 years, and this year marked Rex’s 50th opening day, give or take a few.

“We haven’t had this high water on opening day weekend for many years,” said Daniel. He hadn’t yet hooked a fish, but it was still early.

State regulations allow people to catch as many as two cutthroat per day. Fishers may keep them if the fish is longer than 16 inches or less than eight inches. Fish in between those lengths must be thrown back.

Ned Horner, Idaho Fish and Game Department regional fisheries manager, said the regulation is intended to allow most fish the opportunity to spawn at least once before they are harvested.

Peak, meanwhile, suggests fishers – especially those with youngsters learning the sport – should consider taking advantage of the state’s catch-and-keep ponds where fish are stocked. Steamboat, Clee Creek and Day Rock ponds are in the program.

However, fishers like Joee Alves, of Coeur d’Alene, will probably stick to the river. He and his buddies, who decided to camp this holiday weekend only to discover it was opening day, were casting their lure near the corner of Old River and Bumblebee roads. They didn’t expect to catch dinner anytime soon.

“If it were easy,” said Alves, a professional plumber, “it would be called catching, not fishing.”