Ryan’s Fly Fishing and Hunting Blog: Fathers Day Walleye

Salmon Falls Creek Reservoir, June 2025

Catching a walleye on a fly rod had always been on my fishing bucket list. Idaho has a couple of bodies of water where walleye reside, with Salmon Falls being one of the most well known. Late spring of 2025 we finally made it happen.

Research had shown that mid-June was a decent time to try. So Father's Day weekend, Katie, my dad and I found ourselves pitching our tents at Salmon Falls, eager to give Idaho walleye a try.

We launched the boat and zipped over to the first chunky rock bank we saw. Katie and I started with a balanced leech under a strike indicator while my dad threw a spinning rod with a lure. I was getting ready to make my first cast when Katie's bobber sank and she set the hook.

"That was fast." I scoffed. "Let's see what ya caught."

The fish stayed fairly deep but didn't pull or fight very hard.

"It's fighting different." Katie added. "Maybe..."

She heaved harder on the rod and the fish rose toward the surface of the water.

"It's a walleye! It's a walleye!" I shouted in amazement while scrambling for the net.

We scooped the 20 inch fish into the net, just amazed at how quickly we had caught a walleye; Katie's very first cast. I just shook my head; leave it to Katie.

We kept the fish, not knowing how many more we'd find. Walleye are obviously one of the most highly prized eating fish, so coming home from this trip with some to eat was another goal.

We continued working the rocky bank and started catching gobs of decent smallmouth bass. As fun as these were to catch, we really wanted walleye. My dad found the next walleye; a small one but still the target species. This one ate a small swim bait.

That first fishing session resulted in Katie's first walleye, countless smallmouth and one other walleye my dad caught. Not a bad start.

The next day, my dad and I tried an early morning session, only to find lots more smallmouth and no walleye. When Katie was ready, we headed out again. This time we'd cruise much further up the lake into some different water. We tried a few places along the way and caught many more smallmouth.

We finally made it 3/4 of the way up the lake where we found a few more boats and a much shallower, flatter, muddy bottom. I began to use my electronics to detect the schools of fish.

We all began to catch small walleye on a regular basis, including my first on a fly rod. All seemed to be in the 9-11 inch range, making it hard to put some in the live well, but we slowly added a couple of the larger ones.

It was fun to finally find some walleye we could catch on a regular basis. The giant Katie had caught the first day on the first cast seemed to be an anomaly.

That evening, Katie and I went out again and found a few more walleye in the back of a cove.

The last morning we headed up the lake again in search of more walleye. The small fish we had cleaned so far seemed to have a decent amount of meat, so maybe we shouldn't be too picky on the size. We tried a slightly different spot adjacent to deeper water and found the walleye once again. They would come through in schools, indicated by the fish finder. I anchored the boat and would call out the school as they passed by the back of the boat. Many times, an indicator would drop on command when a school would cruise by.

The occasional smallmouth was also never far away and always eager to eat a balanced leech.

By 2 pm it was time to pack up and head home. We had all caught our first walleye on a fly, albeit mostly small, but walleye none the less. Katie's first fish was the largest walleye we saw and subsequent efforts on rocky banks only resulted in loads of 12-15 inch smallmouth. It seemed the schools of small walleye preferred the muddy bottoms found at the upper end of the lake. Maybe next year they will be bigger?

My dad had a wonderful time and was very impressed with the reservoir and its campground.