Panhandle Pike

[TroutCowboy]

Just saw your post from earlier in the week, Rollin'. Sorry to hear you were landlocked @ CD'A. My boat is moored there @ the resort.

If you find yourself in the same situation again, try Blue Creek Bay. It hangs off one side (north) of Wolf Lodge Bay (you actually drive over the mouth of the bay on I-90) and has some good pike & bass territory. There's a road into the NE corner of the bay and you could fish from shore into some nice pike-able waters.

For the money, I think Fernan would be a great choice if you were boat-less. I haven't fished it yet, but I drove one side of it one day trying to get a nap out of my girls. Lots of ppl fishing from shore into pads and good-looking waters.

[TroutCowboy]

thanks TroutCowboy...great information. How often do you fish CdA?? ( i swear i didn't copy you kevinb, you just type faster than me)

We moor our boat at the CD'A resort (gotta love not having to tow & launch when you have young kids!!!) and are on the lake nearly every weekend (I live 15min away in Liberty Lake). I keep an ultra-light and a slimmed-down tackle box down in the ski locker under the floor and will toss lures off the front of the boat (open bow) when the kids are swimming or snacking and the wife is reading a magazine or something.

Where I am dying to fish is down at the far south end of the lake, where the St. Joe enters the lake. There are miles of marshy, shallow, pad-infested waters down there I am just dying to explore. Unfortunately, it's about a 45-minute boat ride down there and not usually on the agenda. Mica and Rockford bays have some nice shallows at the back though, that usually have to do.

[Rollin with Rolland]

thanks TroutCowboy...great information. How often do you fish CdA?? ( i swear i didn't copy you kevinb, you just type faster than me)

haha....I smoke crack. Its strictly for medical purposes.

do you have a license for those jokes kb (i need to know where to get one)....WAY to funny...


So...what you are telling me TC is that i can use your boat ANYTIME i hit CdA???

No, seriously, most definitely i will AT LEAST bring the 12'er with oars next time....what a great lake!!

[TroutCowboy]

It is a beautiful place, for sure. And I grew up in Montana and am hard to impress! ;-)

I meant to post this earlier, it's a handy 8x11 map I keep in my boat glove box.

Lake CD'A Map (PDF)

[Rollin with Rolland]

Missoula area?? i just hit the clark fork and bitterroot...

[TroutCowboy]

Missoula area?? i just hit the clark fork and bitterroot...

Billings, actually. We run a 7000 acre ranch just outside of town. My sister went to UM though, and I went to Gonzaga here in Spokane, so weekends I'd drive over and flyfish the Blackfoot, CF and BR and then party with and hit on her sorority sisters by night. Ahhhh, great times. Great bars!

What a bunch of rivers to pick from, huh? I nearly moved there. I love that town.