# Chesterfield Resevoir ID



## Flyfishn247 (Oct 2, 2007)

This report is a little late, but I have been so busy at work and home since I returned that this is the first chance I have had to sit down and type this out. Thanks to madonafly, Wells, and springerhunter for info. I debated whether to post a report, but in the end I figured not many people are likely to just jump up and go with gas prices the way they are, plus one guy I talked to said Idaho F&G are considering draining it, at which time no one will be able to fish it.  

The family and I went with my brother-in-law and his family to Chesterfield reservoir. We camped up Pebble Creek Canyon, just north of Lava Hot Springs. We arrived at about 6:00 on Friday night, July 4. We hurried and dropped the trailers, got the rods and tubes ready and headed out to try and get some fishing in before dark. By the time we got there it was about 7:30. I had my two small children with us, but luckily for my wife and I, her sister doesn’t fish. The hour we were there was really slow. There were a few fish rising around us. I fished my typical still water bugs with little action. I boated one nice bow and lost three others. I got the most action on a size 6 BH brown mohair leech. I had several bites, but the bite was so soft and subtle that I rarely hooked up. My wife didn’t catch any that evening and had to head back to shore early because the baby was getting fussy. We fished for a little over an hour before heading back to camp.

The next day, we didn’t get on the water until 11:30. Unfortunately, I don’t get to fish the way I would like when I have my kids with me, plus my wife isn’t exactly a morning person. The reservoir was packed with people. For anyone who has never been there, there is limited access to the water. Half the reservoir falls in the Blackfoot Indian reservation. Shore access and parking near the water is limited. Some people who were not doing well from shore were kind enough to reel in the bait rods to give us some open space to launch our tubes. I talked to a guy who was taking his lunch break how the fishing had been and he said the fishing steady and recommended anything brown fished deep and slow. I decided I would try a smaller leech that was a lighter brown without the BH. I fished it deeper and slower than the night before. I was getting some action, but not what I would expect. I was watching a guy in a pontoon that was out in the middle who was slamming fish. After some observation, I noticed he was casting out and just parking, not even moving his line, just letting it sink. I also noticed a few damsel nymphs swimming near the surface. I decided to put on a size 12 brown damsel two feet behind my leech. Since I didn’t have any fast sink line, I cast out 50’ of type 2, count 45 seconds and start a slow kick, painfully slow. I immediately started picking up fish on the damsel. There are some big fish in that reservoir. A guy fishing in a tube near me pulled in a 27” rainbow (he taped it). All the fish I caught were between 14-20” and I had one that was about 24” right to my tube before he got off. It is the first fish this year to take me to my backing. I actually burned my finger trying to slow down the nylon line. I boated 8 fish and lost just as many in the two hours I was out. My wife came out for about an hour but kicked back to shore once the wind picked up. She hurt her knee in a car accident and it swells up bad if she works it too hard. Plus being 5’2” and 110 pounds makes it easy for the wind to blow her around. She did end up catching a couple nice fish on the same brown damsel. After two hours, my kids and sister-in-law were getting impatient and needed lunch and a nap.

The next day (Sunday), my wife decided she wasn’t going to go out because her knee was bothering her and she wanted to save it for some test she had coming up in her marital arts class, so my brother-in-law, his son and I decided we would get up and be on the water by 6:00 a.m. Well we ended up getting on the water about 6:30. I started with the same setup from the day before. Although I was getting some action, I found there was little interest in the leech I had on. I saw some chrinomid skins on the surface so I decided to put the damsel nymph as my primary and a size 12 snow cone dropper 30” behind. I changed up my depth and presentation by counting 60 seconds (I am estimating 15 feet) and rather than doing an extremely slow troll, I would just softly kick just enough to move my tube then I would wait until I came to a complete stop. From then until we got off the water, I had non-stop action using this method. All fish except for two came off the chrino. This style of still water fishing is so much different than what I am used to (2-10 feet of water, big bugs, medium – fast presentation). It was such a learning experience. I just wish I could have had more time, but we had to leave at 10:00 so we could get camp packed up in time for checkout. If I get a chance later this fall after all my hunts and other obligations, I would love to make a one or two day trip back up there, but without the kids this time.

p.s. Sorry there aren’t any pics to share, we took the camera but when we took it out to take some pics, the battery was dead. :evil:


----------



## STEVO (Sep 13, 2007)

Chesterfield is one of my favorite lakes. We have a cabin about 2 miles from the lake. I have caught some MONSTER trout from that lake in the past. About 4 years ago it was drained completely to about a 1ft wide stream. Im glad to see the fish are coming back. there is something about that lake that makes them grow very big very quickly. There is another lake up above chesterfield about 4 miles that is called 24 mile reservoir. It is a artificial single barbless hook lake that holds some monsters. You cant keep anything under I believe 24 inches. I was up in that area about 3 weeks ago. heres the link from my post with some pics of the lakes. The other pics are of the river by the highway & up Pebble canyon. Did you stay in the campground at the top of Pebble. It is a awesome place. Last time I stayed there we had a bear in camp!!! :shock:

viewtopic.php?f=29&t=7635


----------



## GRIFF (Sep 22, 2007)

Some of the best days I have ever had stillwater fishing have been on Chesterfield Reservoir. I have had days where I landed 15 fish and none were smaller than 18 inches. The problem with Chesterfield is that it seems to cycle quite a bit. On a good year it can be incredible, on a bad year all you can catch are chubs. 

Hearing reports on Chesterfield, Twenty-Four Mile, and the Portneuf River really make me wish I still lived in Pocatello. There are so many great fisheries within an hour of Poky.

Later,
Griff


----------

