I had another opportunity to take advantage of the Swan Falls Reservoir in Idaho this summer. Carsten White and I planned an early morning outing to Swan Falls around our work in Boise. This time, to both of our surprise, we wound up doing even better than last time! The great thing was we caught 100% of our 31 bass on topwater lures. Watching those Smallmouth Bass blow up on your bait is incredibly stoking! Here were the conditions, where we went, what we did, and some memorable stories of awesome summertime Swan Falls Bass Fishing!
Most people were celebrating the 24th of July in Utah, but in Idaho, since they don’t have an official celebration, Carsten White and I decided to have our own celebration. We went to unleash the “Kraken” on those summertime Swan Falls Smallmouth Bass. Air temperatures were warm at the peak of the day. It got up to about 85 degrees. The water temperature was in the mid 70’s. We couldn’t have timed things any better. The bass stayed active for awesome topwater bites because it was such a calm, overcast day. The topwater action was hot, as long as the water was calm and flat, but once the wind picked up around 10:ooam the hits dramatically slowed.
Here is a map of the shorelines we fished, and some of the good spots that worked for us to catch nice Smallmouth Bass on the top.
[optinlock id=”1″]
[/optinlock]
We only fished on the top. It was awesome. Every fish was caught on a top water bait. We tried a few different ones to see which worked the best, and here are the two which seemed to catch the most fish.
1. Megabass Pop X: This thing worked awesome. The color we used was called GG Flashing Wakasagi. Carsten threw it all day and caught fish on it. It was just the right size for these Smallmouth Bass. Throw it out and twitch it back. Every once in a while pause it a little longer. Sometimes they would smack it just sitting there. Make it spit on the water and you will “krack” them!
2. Megabass Dog X: I caught the biggest fish of the trip on this bait. I used the same color called GG Flashing Wakasagi. This lure comes in two sizes, and I opted for the smallest size for the Smallmouths. This is a “walk the dog” bait. If you don’t know how to “walk the dog” here is a YouTube video demonstrating it. Once you see it, you’ll know what to do. This lure catches fish. I had a lot of fish follow the lure up and also caught a lot of bass too! Make long casts, twitch it back, and be stoked!
Two bass stand out in my mind from this trip. One was a Smallmouth that Carsten caught. We saw a good sized boulder underneath the water, and he threw his popper right over the top of it. As soon as the bait passed the boulder, a decent sized Smallmouth came right out from underneath. The bass then smacked his bait on the top. My heart went right up in my throat. It was so cool! Nothing beats watching a bass in the water come up and smack a topwater!
The other memorable bass was one I caught. We came around a point, and I threw my Dog X bait out in front of a boulder. After a couple of twitches, a solid 2.5 pound Smallmouth came flying out of the water. It literally flew about 2 feet in the air when the bass hit my bait. I waited a moment for it to come down then set the hook. The bass was on! Then it just kept pulling me down. There were patches of grass, and it hung underneath one while we did a see-saw battle. I was super stoked when we landed the toad. It was a fun fight, and made me more confident in knowing there are some pigs living in Swan Falls Reservoir.
Swan Falls is a must bass fish destination. Special thanks to Carsten White. We used Carsten’s small aluminum boat with an electric motor, and we had an awesome time. However, we also saw people catching bass from off the docks. So, if you haven’t yet, and you live close, anyone can go out and catch some Swan Falls Bass!
As Always,
Stay Stoked!
jb@krakenbass.com
You need a system to know where to go, what to use and how to work your lures to catch more bass in every situation.
Use this lure color selection chart and perfectly match the color of your lure to what bass are wired to eat without trial and error so you can catch the monsters!
Discover how to perfectly match the color of your lure to what bass are wired to eat so you can catch the monsters!
This is how to entice bass to bite and catch bass on every fishing trip!
Discover how to perfectly match the color of your lure to what bass are wired to eat so you can catch the monsters!
5 Responses
Dude it’s cool you like swan and all but if you want to keep it good quit blowing it up. It is no lake lowell and doesn’t have the reg’s as lowell so it can not stand the presser Plus i have yet to hear you say any thing on how dangerous swan falls can be even just a couple of miles above the dam if becomes a river again with huge rocks just bellow the water line it will stop a fiber glass boat or a prop boat if you are not careful it is the snake river and the snake is nothing to mess with in this stretch this guy is right great smallmouth fishing but it is that way for a reason most locals wont take there fiber glass bass boats out there this area is better suited to jet boats and even then it is best to go with some one that knows this area if you plan on going up river very far
Thanks for the heads up on the dangers of boating at Swan Falls. Plus, I agree that those who fish these places need to catch and release. Especially if we want these places to remain such awesome fisheries. Every bass I’ve caught in these waters, I’ve let go for someone else to enjoy. Hope everyone else does the same.
There is a statewide Bass Fish advisory around consumption of Bass. Let them go, the fishing will continue and you won’t die of poisoning. http://www.healthandwelfare.idaho.gov/Health/EnvironmentalHealth/FishAdvisories/tabid/180/Default.aspx
Yes, there is a statewide advisory around the consumption of bass. Funny thing is that the levels of Mercury haven’t gone up but, the so called “acceptable” trace amounts have been lowered just like they have been for tuna in the ocean. I took FDA HACCP schooling regarding this in 2001. I am the poster child for Mercury poisoning and I am fine. Eat more bass!!
I agree! Small bass are the best-eating fish in fresh water, so I love to keep fish in the 12-13 inch range for the frying pan. And total catch-and-release does not work in some waters due to limited carrying capacity from irrigation drawdowns, etc. Utah is now begging people to keep a 12-bass limit (6 per day and 12 in possession) in some lakes due to too many bass becoming stunted. The only way to get the fish size back up is to keep the limit of smaller fish until things improve.