Idaho's annual licenses expire on December 31, so anyone fishing in January on one needs a 2027 license, and a steelhead permit to fish for steelhead. This year's steelhead return is among the lowest on record: the fall limit is two a day statewide, and the Clearwater basin is catch and release only. On the Idaho side of Bear Lake, cisco may be dip-netted from January 1 to February 15.
What to fish for in early November
Idaho's winter is steelhead in the rivers and perch through the ice. The steelhead settle into the slower runs through the cold and pick up again toward spring, Lake Cascade is the ice fishery the rest of the state drives to, and the Panhandle's small lakes freeze for perch while the big ones stay open. On Bear Lake the cisco come into the shallows in January, where they are taken with dip nets.
These notes cover the whole winter, the ice included. In early November, Bear Lake and Lake Cascade are usually still open water, at 50 to 52F.
Steelhead
Holds in slow, deep runs once the water turns cold, comes to a slowly drifted fly, jig or bait, and picks up again as the days lengthen.
Where. The Clearwater, the Salmon from Riggins up to the river near Challis, the Little Salmon, and the Snake below Hells Canyon Dam.
The steelhead waters we forecast Water Usual water now Forecast Salmon River at White Bird about 44F Best Sat, Nov 14, A+Today's forecast Yellow Perch
Grows to rare size and wanders in roaming schools that make a portable shelter worth the work.
Where. Lake Cascade above all, the small Panhandle lakes, Fernan and Hayden among them, and the smaller ice lakes of the southwest.
The yellow perch waters we forecast Water Usual water now Forecast Lake Cascade about 52F Best Sat, Nov 7, A+Today's forecast Rainbow Trout
Takes small jigs and bait through the ice close to shore, and on Pend Oreille the big ones feed in open water through the winter.
Where. The reservoirs of the southwest and the ponds Fish and Game stocks, and Lake Pend Oreille in the north.
The rainbow trout waters we forecast Water Usual water now Forecast Lake Pend Oreille about 52F Today's forecast South Fork Boise River below Anderson Ranch Dam about 50F Best Wed, Nov 11, A+Today's forecast Lake Trout
Cruises deep, cold water and is caught jigging or trolling all winter.
Where. Lake Pend Oreille in the north, and Bear Lake in the far southeast.
Cutthroat Trout
Feeds under the ice of the high lakes, and Henrys Lake's big cutthroat and hybrids are fished through it until mid-February, when every trout there goes back.
Where. Henrys Lake in Island Park, and Bear Lake's Bonneville cutthroat.
The cutthroat trout waters we forecast Water Usual water now Forecast Bear Lake about 50F Best Sun, Nov 8, A+Today's forecast
Usual water now is that water's normal for this point in the season: a lake's modeled seasonal curve or a river gauge's long-run average, not this year's reading. The forecast link reads this week's.
What changes soon
Nothing on this report's calendar for Idaho in the next six weeks.
Every date for Idaho from November to February (3)
- Thu December 31Idaho's annual licenses expire, and so does every permit bought for this year, steelhead permits included.
- Fri January 1Cisco dip-netting opens on the Idaho side of Bear Lake, to February 15, 30 a day.
- Mon February 15Last day of cisco dip-netting on the Idaho side of Bear Lake.
This week's fishing reports
This report covers the season. For what was caught this week, read the people who report on this water.
Fish and Game is the nearest thing to a statewide winter reporter: its weekly steelhead report for the upper Salmon runs from mid-October and again from mid-February, and its Lake Cascade update comes once a year in January. Two regional reports run all winter: Picabo Angler's in Wood River Weekly, every two weeks, and the Spokesman-Review's weekly report from Spokane, which carries the Panhandle lakes. The eastern Idaho shops stop for the winter, and the department says it gives no routine ice updates.
Where to fish in Idaho, area by area
Each water links to its live forecast. The engine outlook in these areas was generated November 3, 2026, for the 14 days from that date; good hours are the hours at or above a B+.
The Salmon and Clearwater steelhead rivers
Clearwater River · Salmon River · Upper Salmon River · Little Salmon River · Snake River below Hells Canyon Dam
The rivers that bring steelhead hundreds of miles from the Pacific into central Idaho, the Clearwater from Lewiston up past Orofino and the Salmon from Riggins through its canyons to the upper river near Challis and Stanley, fished from the bank and from drift boats from autumn into spring.
Who reports here. Fish and Game's weekly creel report for the upper river runs in two seasons, from mid-October and again from mid-February to mid-April, and none turned up for November or December last year. The department's own closure and season notices are the dated record for the rest.
Engine outlook
- Best: Sat, Nov 14, A+9 good hours48F measured Nov 3 at SALMON RIVER AT WHITE BIRD IDbest run 9h4340 cfsat SALMON RIVER AT WHITE BIRD IDon this water
Lake Cascade
Lake Cascade
The broad reservoir on the North Fork of the Payette in the mountain valley around Cascade and Donnelly, famous for yellow perch of a size few western lakes grow, with rainbow trout and smallmouth, and an ice season that draws anglers up from Boise and beyond.
Who reports here. Fish and Game publishes one update a year, in January, with the first ice depths anglers reported and its perch survey, and says it gives no routine ice updates; the tackle shops in the valley answer by phone.
Engine outlook
- Best: Sat, Nov 7, A+9 good hours53F modeled from this lake's own seasonal curvebest run 9h
Bear Lake
Bear Lake
The deep, startlingly blue lake astride the Idaho and Utah line, home to four fish found nowhere else, the Bonneville cisco among them, along with Bonneville cutthroat and lake trout. The cisco crowd the rocky shallows to spawn in midwinter, where people scoop them up with nets.
Who reports here. No written report on the cisco run could be found on either side of the state line; the state park on the Utah side posts conditions, set out under Utah. On the Idaho side the dip-net season runs from January 1 to February 15, 30 a day.
Engine outlook
- Best: Sun, Nov 8, A+8 good hours52F modeled from this lake's own seasonal curvebest run 8h
The Henrys Fork and the South Fork
Henrys Fork · Henrys Lake · Island Park Reservoir · South Fork Snake River · Palisades Reservoir
The upper Snake country of eastern Idaho: the Henrys Fork from Henrys Lake and Island Park Reservoir down through the Box Canyon and Harriman State Park to Ashton and St. Anthony, and the South Fork running from Palisades Dam through its canyon to meet it, cutthroat, rainbow and brown trout water.
Who reports here. The shops that report these rivers stop for the winter. Henry's Fork Anglers posted every week from May to October 3 last year and then once, on February 9; Mike Lawson's reports to SportfishingReport ran to October 3; Big Sky Anglers ended its season on October 23; and TroutHunter posted once, in December. The outlook leaves both rivers out: no live thermometer measures either below its dam, and a model built on the air cannot see a release.
The Panhandle lakes
Lake Pend Oreille · Lake Coeur d'Alene · Hayden Lake · Fernan Lake · Priest Lake
The big lakes of the north: Lake Pend Oreille, deep and known for big rainbows and lake trout, Lake Coeur d'Alene with its landlocked chinook and northern pike, and the smaller lakes around them, Hayden, Fernan and Priest among them, some of which freeze for perch and trout.
Who reports here. The Spokesman-Review's weekly hunting and fishing report, out every Thursday last winter, carried these lakes in January and February: ice thickness and perch on the small ones, the high winter water and the rainbow bite on the biggest, salmon on Coeur d'Alene, and a local tackle shop quoted.
Engine outlook
- Its best day in this outlook has passed.
Boise and the Snake River reservoirs
Boise River · South Fork Boise River · Lucky Peak Reservoir · C.J. Strike Reservoir · Brownlee Reservoir
The Boise River through the city below Lucky Peak Dam, the South Fork of the Boise in its canyon above the reservoirs, and out on the Snake the long desert reservoirs, C.J. Strike and Brownlee, for crappie, perch, bass and trout.
Who reports here. No dated winter reporter could be found. Orvis keeps a page on the river in town and the South Fork, updated as recently as August 14 this year, so check its date before trusting it in winter. Fish and Game said on October 15 that this year's low return may leave no steelhead to stock in the river, and that it would not know until after the second week of November.
Engine outlook
- Best: Wed, Nov 11, A+13 good hours53F measured Nov 3 at SF BOISE RIVER AT ANDERSON RANCH DAM IDbest run 13h295 cfsat SF BOISE RIVER AT ANDERSON RANCH DAM IDon this water
The Wood River Valley and Silver Creek
Big Wood River · Silver Creek · Little Wood River · Big Lost River
The Big Wood River through Ketchum, Hailey and Bellevue, Silver Creek, a spring creek on the desert floor to the southeast, and the Little Wood and the Big Lost in the valleys to the east, trout water in the mountains around Sun Valley.
Who reports here. Wood River Weekly prints Picabo Angler's fishing report every two weeks through the winter, on January 7 and 22 and February 4 and 18 last winter, covering these rivers and the South Fork of the Boise.
Engine outlook
- Best: Tue, Nov 10, B+8 good hours46F measured Nov 3 at SILVER CREEK AT SPORTSMAN ACCESS NR PICABO IDbest run 5h112 cfsat SILVER CREEK AT SPORTSMAN ACCESS NR PICABO IDon this water
The rules from November to February
What changed this time
- Idaho Fish and Game closed all steelhead harvest in the Clearwater River basin at the end of fishing hours on October 21, 2026, for the rest of the 2026 season; fishing continues as catch and release.
- The fall steelhead limit is two adipose-clipped fish a day statewide, six in possession, cut for this year's low return; the season limit stays at 20.
Read on October 20 and 21, 2026, from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (its 2025-2027 fishing seasons and rules, its fee pages, its steelhead releases and reports, and its ice fishing pages) and Idaho Code 36-403.
Licenses, and which state's rules apply
- Idaho licenses run by calendar year and expire on December 31, so a license bought for this year runs out in the middle of the winter. Residents pay $30.50 a year, or $13.50 for a first day and $6 for each day after; nonresidents $108 a year, or $22.75 and $7. Residents 65 and older can buy a senior hunting and fishing license for $13.75. Anglers under 14 need no license, but a nonresident child without one shares the limit of the licensed angler they fish with.
- Steelhead and salmon need a salmon or steelhead permit on top of the license, and in the Salmon and Clearwater drainages and the Snake below Hells Canyon Dam only barbless hooks. A permit added to a three-year license lasts only one calendar year.
Bait, gear and fish you cannot keep
- One rod or hand line at a time, or two with a two-pole permit, and up to five hooks a line. Through the ice, up to five lines, permit or not.
Lakes, ponds and rivers
- All waters are open all year except listed special-rule waters. Each of Idaho's regions sets its own general limits; in most, trout are six a day of all species combined (two in the Clearwater Region's rivers and streams), brook trout 25, bass six and kokanee 15. Bull trout must be released.
- Henrys Lake stays open through the winter: two trout a day, brook trout counted among them, until February 14, and fishing stops once the two are kept; from February 15 every trout goes back. On the Henrys Fork, the reach through Harriman State Park, the Harriman Ranch, is closed from December 1 to June 14.
Through the ice
- No ice hole may be wider than 10 inches, except for cisco on Bear Lake. A shelter left unattended on the ice overnight must carry the owner's name, phone number and address on two opposite sides. On Bear Lake one line may be fished through the ice (two with a two-pole permit), and cisco may be dip-netted from January 1 to February 15, 30 a day, through a hole of any size.
- IDFG puts the minimum at three to four inches of solid ice for one person, more for a group, and 10 inches for an ATV or snow machine; ice on Idaho's lakes rarely gets thick enough for a car. Drill test holes as you go, since thickness is not uniform.
Read on these agency pages: Idaho Code 36-403: Expiration dates, licenses, tags and permits, IDFG: Resident fees, IDFG: Nonresident fees, IDFG: Licenses and fees, IDFG: Idaho Fishing Seasons & Rules 2025-2027 (PDF, 2nd edition), IDFG news, January 25, 2024: license permits are only valid for one calendar year, IDFG: Ice Fishing Safety.
The season at a glance
What these months usually do
Each lake's own seasonal curve, the one the engine scores the lake on: what these dates usually do, modeled rather than measured, and not a forecast for this year.
| Water | Nov 1 | Dec 1 | Jan 1 | Feb 1 | Feb 28 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bear Lake | 51F | 42F | 37F | 35F | 35F |
| Lake Cascade | 53F | 44F | 39F | 36F | 36F |
| Lake Pend Oreille | 53F | 45F | 40F | 39F | 38F |
Each river's own gauge: its average for these dates across the years it has recorded, measured, and not a forecast for this year.
| Water | Nov 1 | Dec 1 | Jan 1 | Feb 1 | Feb 28 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salmon River at White BirdSALMON RIVER AT WHITE BIRD ID, 2000 to 2026 | 46F | 36F | 33F | 35F | 37F |
| Silver Creek near PicaboSILVER CREEK AT SPORTSMAN ACCESS NR PICABO ID, 1998 to 2026 | 44F | 38F | 35F | 37F | 41F |
| South Fork Boise River below Anderson Ranch DamSF BOISE RIVER AT ANDERSON RANCH DAM ID, 2020 to 2026 | 51F | 47F | 42F | 39F | 39F |
The moon from November to February
| Month | New moon | Full moon |
|---|---|---|
| November 2026 | Mon, Nov 9Nov 8 for The Panhandle lakes | Tue, Nov 24 |
| December 2026 | Tue, Dec 8 | Wed, Dec 23 |
| January 2027 | Thu, Jan 7 | Fri, Jan 22 |
| February 2027 | Sat, Feb 6 | Sat, Feb 20 |
The U.S. Naval Observatory's dates, on local time.
Daylight in each area from November to February
Worked out for one place in each area, on its own clock.
| Area | Shortest day | Earliest sunset | Latest sunrise |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Salmon and Clearwater steelhead riversat Salmon River at White Bird | 8h 40m, Dec 21 | 5:02pm, around Dec 10 | 8:28am, around Jan 1 |
| Lake Cascadeat Lake Cascade | 8h 49m, Dec 21 | 5:06pm, around Dec 10 | 8:23am, around Jan 2 |
| Bear Lakeat Bear Lake | 9h 6m, Dec 21 | 4:55pm, around Dec 9 | 7:55am, around Jan 3 |
| The Henrys Fork and the South Forkat South Fork Snake River near Irwin | 8h 58m, Dec 21 | 4:50pm, around Dec 9 | 7:59am, around Jan 2 |
| The Panhandle lakesat Lake Pend Oreille, on Pacific time | 8h 21m, Dec 21 | 3:53pm, around Dec 11 | 7:37am, around Jan 1 |
| Boise and the Snake River reservoirsat South Fork Boise River below Anderson Ranch Dam | 8h 58m, Dec 21 | 5:07pm, around Dec 9 | 8:16am, around Jan 3 |
| The Wood River Valley and Silver Creekat Silver Creek near Picabo | 8h 58m, Dec 21 | 5:02pm, around Dec 9 | 8:10am, around Jan 2 |