Kayak Fishing the Boise area

Kinda broswing through and I see a lot of kayak fishing in the northern areas but not much in Boise and such.  Are there a lot of folks down tehre that kayak fish?

Reason I ask is that my wife and I are headed up in April for a week to meet with a realtor (if you know one let me know) and scope out the area to relocate from San Diego in about a year and a half-2 years.  We are looking mainly at Mountain Home but pretty much are open to anywhere within that approx distance form Boise or closer.  Just want a larger piece of property that isnt stacked on top of others (want to kinda go off grid a bit).

Anyways just wanted to see what the kayak fishing was like up tehre since there isnt tons of Fishing info on the area that I can find.  Also if anybody ahs suggestions on other cities/towns close to boise where I can be somewhat remote we appreciate the help in learning where to look.  Bottom line is both of us were born and raised in SoCal and hate it.  Been a misfit my whole life here since I do nothing outside hunting and fishing and refuse to raise my kids (our first is due this fall) in a place like Socal with all the rude people and all.

Once we get established I hope to start kayak fishing up there and starting a new chapter of HOW for the south Idaho region.   really hope to hear more about what the state has to offer to kayak anglers, been doing this 11 years and dont want to give it up now!


Anyways looking forward to being part of the forum for a long time coming.  And for those who didnt see my Intro post, I am the Go-To guy for KayakFishingSupplies.com and all things related to the sponsorship of this forum by us.  So if you have any questions just let me know!

Can I ask why the focus on Boise?  There isn't much for kayak fishing scene out there.  I turned down a job opportunity there because I like the kayak fishing scene in Western Oregon so much.  I moved up here from SD in 2007 and I haven't looked back.  Sure it'd be nice to have the warm weather again, but the fishing is better up here all around because there are many different fisheries instead of just the few that SoCal has.  You may find the same limited amount of fisheries in Boise.  If you like the ocean, I would consider Western Oregon.  There are places to buy chunks of land and live off the grid in Oregon too.

CJ,
Two members of the yak fishing community you might want to look up (member search) in that area are Sky Boy and Fishin Jay. They are members of both NCKA and NWKA. They both emigrated their families from Cali to the Boise area a few years ago.

Jeff,

I have friends in Twin Falls and another that is going to be moving to Boise when he gets back from Iraq in the fall.  Idaho overall is very appealing to us.  Boise is appealing in specific because of work opportunities both my wife and I have there.  Personally I really wanted to do Montana but isnt going to happen.  Havnt looked much at Oregon but have looked in Utah and such, may have to check more in Oregon (the properties I did see I liked).

 I can live just fine without the ocean as long as I have the open space to hunt.  Also a lot of nearby terrain in south Idaho will allow me to go run me race truck.  Ive worked on/near the ocean to get me through the rest of my life and not miss it.  Main thing is that we want a lot of National forest and such around and a piece of property that we can afford that is no less than 30-100 acres.  Mountain home and other areas around Boise just seem to have this to offer without being so far north we are dealing with too much weather and all.

Any places in Specific you would look in Oregon?  Maybe I will start browsing that a little bit as we are looking around...

CJ,
Two members of the yak fishing community you might want to look up (member search) in that area are Sky Boy and Fishin Jay. They are members of both NCKA and NWKA. They both emigrated their families from Cali to the Boise area a few years ago.

Hey man I really appreciate the heads up on them!

Jeff,

I have friends in Twin Falls and another that is going to be moving to Boise when he gets back from Iraq in the fall.  Idaho overall is very appealing to us.  Boise is appealing in specific because of work opportunities both my wife and I have there.  Personally I really wanted to do Montana but isnt going to happen.  Havnt looked much at Oregon but have looked in Utah and such, may have to check more in Oregon (the properties I did see I liked).

 I can live just fine without the ocean as long as I have the open space to hunt.  Also a lot of nearby terrain in south Idaho will allow me to go run me race truck.  Ive worked on/near the ocean to get me through the rest of my life and not miss it.  Main thing is that we want a lot of National forest and such around and a piece of property that we can afford that is no less than 30-100 acres.  Mountain home and other areas around Boise just seem to have this to offer without being so far north we are dealing with too much weather and all.

Any places in Specific you would look in Oregon?  Maybe I will start browsing that a little bit as we are looking around...

I can totally understand that.  There are plenty of wide open spaces in that area of Idaho and I'm sure the hunting is awesome in those forest areas northeast of Boise.  Especially if you have job opportunities in Boise it's a good move.  Bend is a pretty cool place in Oregon with some National Forest land close by.  The price of land might be a little more expensive, but I'm not sure.  I'm not big on hunting so I wouldn't know where the best places are in Oregon - there are some on this forum that are though so hopefully they can chime in.  If you want to ask a wider range of folks though I suggest checking out the forums on ifish.net.  They've got a pretty big hunting community on that site and it's also based in the Northwest.   Good luck, keep us posted on what you end up doing.

We passed through Mt. Home last summer on a road trip and stopped at a nearby boat ramp on the Snake River. The boaters we talked to said there were several species in the Snake River they were fishing for, mostly warm water if I remember. The Snake was like a big lake there because of the dams. We like visiting over there but too dry for me.

After a quick search on the web it looks like there are massive sturgeon in the snake as well as steelhead and salmon.  The sturgeon are likely only catch & release but I'm not sure if you can take salmon and steelhead.

My dad was born and raised in Boise, They use to use tractors to retrieve sturgeon.   

http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/public/fish/?getPage=82

I think mt home is near the east fork of the Boise river. If so, there are a ton big rainbows, cutthroat and bulls for flyfishing.

I lived (& kayak fished) in western WY for several years prior to moving to AK.  From what I can tell, the fisheries are similar in ID.  I used to focus on lake trout, brown trout, brook trout, and rainbows.  Even switching from the lake to a river for the same species can present some fun challenges. 

In the lakes you can troll, jig, or sight fish for trout.  And in the rivers...well that's just freaking fun.  I remember many times while watching a brown trout gulp down my dry fly as I was floating backwards through some questionable waters.  I got a little wet, but gosh it was fun.

We had some bass and burbot as well, but I reserved my speargun for those.

Don't move to Oregon unless you like paying taxes.

There are lots of fishing opportunities in Idaho.  The only thing it's missing is salt water.

I'd be happy to meet up with you on the snake river for some bass fishing.

Don't move to Oregon unless you like paying taxes.

Hah!  He's coming from CA, where our state income taxes are higher than OR's and we have sales taxes that are higher than most states.  Anywhere he goes will be better than CA taxes!!!

-Allen

Don't move to Oregon unless you like paying taxes.

Hah!  He's coming from CA, where our state income taxes are higher than OR's and we have sales taxes that are higher than most states.  Anywhere he goes will be better than CA taxes!!!

-Allen

Word.  Talk about a state on the verge of bankruptcy!  Not to mention cost of living in general.

Don't move to Oregon unless you like paying taxes.

Hah!  He's coming from CA, where our state income taxes are higher than OR's and we have sales taxes that are higher than most states.  Anywhere he goes will be better than CA taxes!!!

-Allen

Thats exactly what I was thinking when I saw that haha.

I appreciate the info guys.  Honestly I just like to fish, I dont have a preference to species now days (too much fishing for a living).  Trout and such will be a nice change from the finicky SoCal bass. Hunting though I am waterfowl hunter all the way

My buddy in Twin has been fishing the Sturgeon and says it is awesome, definitely will be trying that. 

Justin, When I get up tehre for sure!  I cant give up Bass Fishing completely, Ive been doing it way too long!

Thanks for all the info!