Malad River, ID

From little bridge upstream to big bridge

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Outing Information

Date
Start/End Time
noon to 5:00pm
Best Fishing Time
2:00pm to 4:30pm
Rating
Good
Classification
Public
Water Temp
59.0°F
Water Clarity
Clear - 5'+ visibility
Water Level
low
User
Jason Hansen

Pictures

Fish Caught

Rainbow Trout

Caught Avg Size Pattern Optional Fields
8 11" #14 Olive Elk Hair Caddis
3 11" #18 Blue Disco Midge
3 11" #18 Black Zebra Midge
4 11" #14 Cased Caddis
3 11" #16 Ginger Deep Sparkle Pupa
1 11" #16 Copper John
2 11" #16 Olive Micro Mayfly Nymph (Mercer)
24 11"
Total: 24 fish Top Patterns: Elk Hair Caddis (8) Cased Caddis (4) Deep Sparkle Pupa (3)

Weather

SkiesMorningAfternoonEvening
Sunny X
Precipitation
None X
Wind
Very Light - <5 knots X
Light - 5 to 10 knots X
Medium - 10 to 15 knots X
Air Temp High/Low
70.0°F / 60.0°F
Wind Direction
-
Weather Front
-
Barometer
-
Moon Phase
81% Full (Waxing gibbous)

Other Patterns Tried

  • #14 Yellow Stimulator
  • #8 Black Woolly Bugger BH

Hatches

  • #14-#16 gray body, speckled wing ? Unidentified Caddisfly Trichoptera unknown

Insect Seining

No seining information for this outing.

Fishing Partners

Karl Sloth

Waypoints

No waypoints were saved with this outing.

Notes

I started off fishing the main hole below the first little bridge upstream from the mouth. There were fish rising occasionally and caddis were all about, but I decided to start nymphing with a BH cased caddis about 2 1/2' down and zebra midgeling another 2' below that, both as droppers off a Stimulator. I got quite a few splashes on the stimulator but no fish. The nymphing was also pretty slow going. I tried changing nymph setups and continued to fish the main hole for quite awhile before deciding to heed my own advice and try to cover a lot of water on small, freestone streams. Little freestone streams seem different than big rivers where you can camp in one spot for quite awhile, so I decided to move quickly up the river and not fish one spot too long.

I switched setups to an Elk Hair Caddis with a 2' dropper to various flies (I switched flies all day trying stuff) and worked my way upstream, spending a few minutes at each little pocket I encountered. It turned out to be a very fun day fishing the Malad. The wind was a pain to deal with and made casting a real chore on such a small river.

One thing I noticed is usually the first several casts I made into a new pocket or small run resulted in strikes or fish. But if I continued to fish the run after that, I would rarely get strikes. I think the combination of pulling a couple fish out of a pocket would scare the rest of the fish, along with my presence, and my continued casting and plopping little nymphs in the same area would spook fish. But the fish were definitely aggressive and most hits were on the elk hair caddis. I did catch a couple fish where the fish splashed the caddis and I went to set the hook and would pull the caddis away, but the dropper line would follow their mouth and the dropper would hook the fish in the mouth.