Troutline

St. Joe River

Idaho·Panhandle·47.27° N, 116.00° W
Flow
157 CFS
St. Joe River at Red Ives Ranger Station
Water Temp
—
Condition
Below Normal
Weather
73°F
Slight Chance Rain Showers
near Wallace
Latest report: Silver Bow Fly Shop · 7 days ago

Insights

Wind
Wind 2 mph — calm
Easy casting and clean surface presentations.
Flow
Low flows at 157 CFS
Fish are spooky. Lighten tippet and lengthen leaders.
Snowpack
Snowpack snowpack update
Snowpack data for St. Joe River basin is limited right now. The June–July runoff forecast for St. Joe R at Calder is 58% of average.

The St. Joe is the river people point to when they want to prove westslope cutthroat fishing can still be great in the Lower 48, and it earned that the hard way. By the early 1970s the Joe had been logged, splash-dammed, and fished down to almost nothing; Idaho Fish and Game answered with catch-and-release and gear restrictions above Prospector Creek, and fifty years later the upper river holds thick numbers of wild cutthroat that will eat a size 12 attractor off the surface all day. Fish average 12 to 16 inches with honest shots at 18-plus in the deeper corner pools — not a trophy river pretending to be one, just a genuine wild-trout river where the fish look up.

It fishes in two personalities. Above Avery it's a walk-and-wade freestone of pocket water, riffle corners, and boulder pools along the St. Joe River Road, small enough near Spruce Tree that a 4-weight and a box of Chubbies and Purple Hazes is the whole kit. The postcard run is the roughly 15 miles between Spruce Tree Campground and Gold Creek; drive past Red Ives Ranger Station to the end of the road and the river goes roadless for 26 more miles of hike-in wilderness water where, after Labor Day, you may not see another soul. Below Avery the river opens up, warms, and turns floatable — drift boats and rafts run down toward St. Joe City and St. Maries, where cutthroat share the water with rainbows, brookies, whitefish, and, in the slow lowest reaches near Coeur d'Alene Lake, smallmouth, pike, and perch.

Timing is the honest catch. The Joe is pure snowmelt off the Bitterroot divide, so it runs high and off-color through spring runoff and doesn't come into shape until mid-June; the season is roughly early June through mid-October, and the salmonfly and golden-stone weeks in late May and June are the marquee event when they line up with dropping water. Bull trout are present and fully protected — no targeting, release any you hook. Access is easy where the road follows the river and genuinely remote where it doesn't; the nearest fly shops and licenses are in Avery, St. Maries, Coeur d'Alene, and Moscow.

Fishing Reports

Latest reports from local fly shops

Silver Bow Fly Shop · Spokane Valley7 days ago
Summer Fishing Is Now

“Summer mode engaged June went by in a blur. For us at the Silver Bow, May + June is peak season. Hatches, weather, water, it’s all optimal. As we start to roll through July the shop steadies a bit. Summer travelers make their way into the store, guide trips are consistent, and…”

Read full report at Silver Bow Fly Shop

Species

  • Westslope Cutthroat Trout
    Primary · Jun-Oct · 12-16" (to 18"+)

    The defining fishery and native throughout — catch-and-release the entire river. Eager dry-fly eaters above Avery; average 12-16 inches with real shots at 18-plus in the deep corner pools. Identify by the red-orange slash under the jaw.

  • Rainbow Trout
    Common · Jun-Oct · 8-14"

    Nonnative and scattered, more common through the lower and middle river below Avery. Mixed in with cutthroat on the float water.

  • Mountain Whitefish
    Abundant · Year-round · 8-14"

    Native and everywhere. Readily eats nymphs and keeps a slow day interesting; a solid indicator of good water when the trout are off.

  • Brook Trout
    Present · Jun-Sep · 6-12"

    Nonnative, holding in cooler tributary pockets and side channels. No protection — small but willing on attractor dries.

  • Bull Trout
    Present · Protected · to 24"+

    Native and fully ESA-protected. No targeting and immediate release of any hooked incidentally. Present in the colder upper reaches; a fish worth knowing you might connect with on a big streamer.

  • Smallmouth Bass
    Present · Summer · to 15"+

    Warmwater fish of the slow lowest river near St. Maries and the Coeur d'Alene Lake slackwater only — not part of the cutthroat draw, but a summer option down low alongside pike and perch.

Ideal wading flow400–1,500 CFS
Blow-out>3,000 CFS
Ideal water temp50–62°F

June is the marquee window — salmonfly and golden-stone dries on dropping water, the peak event, once the runoff clears (usually mid-June). July through early September is reliable low-and-clear dry fishing on caddis and terrestrials. September into mid-October brings fall BWOs and blue-sky cutthroat on an empty river. Spring is runoff-dependent and often blown out. At the Calder gauge (12414500) the mainstem fishes well from roughly 800 to 2,000 CFS; the upper river at Red Ives (12413875) comes into shape as it settles below about 400-500 CFS. Watch water temps on the lower river in August.

Sections

6 sections on this river

Lower St. Joe — St. Maries to Chatcolet

FloatCutthroat · Northern Pike · Smallmouth · Shad

Slow, warm, shadowy lowland river through the St. Maries valley into Chatcolet Lake — warmwater-dominant, not the cutthroat draw. Smallmouth bass, northern pike, and perch in the slackwater near Coeur d'Alene Lake.

Best for: Smallmouth bass, pike, and perch in the lower slackwater; scenic float water.

Avery to St. Maries (Lower Float Water)

FloatCutthroat · Rainbow Trout · Whitefish

The river opens up and warms into classic drift-boat and raft float water — the main guided stretch. Mixed cutthroat trout, rainbow trout, and brookies with whitefish common; the Calder and Ramsdell USGS gauges sit in this reach. Big-water attractor dry fishing on the drop.

Best for: Float fishing dries and streamers for cutthroat trout and rainbow trout.

North Fork St. Joe (Tributary)

WadeCutthroat · Rainbow Trout

A smaller tributary entering the mainstem at Avery — wild westslope cutthroat trout in a tighter, brushier setting, part of the same trip for anglers basing at Avery. Small-stream dry-fly water reached by forest roads.

Best for: Small-stream westslope cutthroat trout on dries.

Gold Creek to Avery (Lower C&R)

Wade & FloatSalmon · Cutthroat · Rainbow Trout · Whitefish

Bigger freestone with deeper runs and long pools as the river builds toward Avery; single-barbless, artificial-only from the North Fork confluence up. Known for salmonfly and golden-stone dry-fly action in late May and June. Cutthroat trout and whitefish on nymphs and dry-dropper as the water deepens.

Best for: Westslope cutthroat trout and mountain whitefish; big-stonefly dry fishing on the drop.

Red Ives — Spruce Tree to Gold Creek (Upper C&R)

WadeCutthroat · Rainbow Trout

The classic road-accessible upper freestone — boulder pockets and riffle-corner pools, the most popular fly water on the river and roughly its top 15 fishable miles. The USGS Red Ives gauge sits in this reach. Best-numbers dry-fly cutthroat trout fishing on the Joe.

Best for: Westslope cutthroat trout on dry-fly and dry-dropper; the postcard walk-and-wade stretch.

Upper Roadless — St. Joe Lake to Spruce Tree

WadeCutthroat · Rainbow Trout

Small, pristine headwater freestone seldom wider than 15 feet — pocket water and plunge pools through roughly 26 miles of designated Wild River, hike-in only above the end of the road. Wild westslope cutthroat trout on dries, and empty after Labor Day.

Best for: Wild westslope cutthroat trout on attractor dries; solitude and untouched native water. 3-4 weight.

Regulations

Current fishing rules and restrictions

Catch-and-release for cutthroat trout on the entire St. Joe River and its tributaries — no harvest of any trout showing a red-orange slash below the jaw. From the North Fork confluence at Avery upstream, fishing is restricted to artificial flies and lures with single barbless hooks and no bait. The historic trophy-management zone runs above Prospector Creek, and the roadless upper river is managed as catch-and-release Wild & Scenic water. Bull trout are fully protected.

  • Cutthroat trout: catch-and-release the entire river and tributaries — release any trout with a red-orange slash below the jaw
  • North Fork St. Joe confluence (Avery) upstream: artificial flies and lures, single barbless hooks only, no bait
  • Above Prospector Creek: historic no-bait trophy-management zone; upper roadless river managed as catch-and-release Wild & Scenic water
  • Bull trout: fully protected — no targeting, immediate release
  • Trout limit elsewhere on the system is 6, subject to the cutthroat slash-release rule
  • Valid Idaho fishing license required

The St. Joe is a federally designated Wild & Scenic River (Wild and Recreational segments) and carries an IDFG Wild Trout emphasis for native westslope cutthroat. Regulations here are researched for the 2026 season — always confirm the current-year rule book before your trip, as zone boundaries and hook rules can change.

Source: Idaho Department of Fish and Game — Fishing Planner. Regulations change annually — verify before fishing.

Access & Logistics

Getting there, fly shops, and lodging

Getting There

Avery, ID

~1.5-2 hr from Spokane, WA (GEG) to the lower and mid river; add 1.5+ hr up the road to Red Ives and Spruce Tree. Coeur d'Alene is ~1 hr from St. Maries

Fly Shops

Camping & Lodging

No dedicated fly-fishing lodge sits on the fishing reaches — anglers base out of USFS campgrounds along the St. Joe River Road (Spruce Tree, Heller Creek, and others in the Idaho Panhandle National Forest) and lodging in St. Maries, Avery, and Coeur d'Alene. The upper roadless section requires a hike in.

The St. Joe River Road (FR 218) follows the river for most of its fishable length with numerous pullouts and campgrounds; access is easy where the road hugs the water and genuinely remote above the end of the road. Standard Idaho license only — no special access fees. Licenses and last-stop supplies in St. Maries and Avery.

Conditions data is live from public monitoring networks. Regulations change annually — always verify current rules with your state fish & wildlife agency before fishing.

More in Idaho

View all 17 rivers

Panhandle

North Fork Coeur d'Alene RiverID

The Panhandle's dry-fly river — a snowmelt freestone running roughly 50 miles through cedar forest to Enaville, holding wild native westslope cutthroat that eat attractor dries all day from June through October. Catch-and-release on cutthroat river-wide; no bait and barbless above Yellow Dog Creek.

Other regions

Big Lost RiverID

A high-desert freestone under the Pioneer and White Knob ranges that turns, below Mackay Reservoir, into a short cold tailwater growing wild rainbows past 20 inches — then spreads out below Arco and sinks into the desert at the Big Lost Sinks without ever reaching the sea.

Big Wood RiverID

The freestone that runs down the spine of the Wood River Valley past Ketchum, Sun Valley, Hailey, and Bellevue — a wild, unstocked river of heavily spotted rainbows and thick lower-river browns, best fished on foot with a dry-dropper once July runoff clears.

Boise RiverID

The rare trout tailwater you can fish on a lunch break — cold, clear water off the bottom of Lucky Peak Dam runs straight through downtown Boise, paralleled the whole way by the paved Greenbelt. Wild brown and rainbow trout (browns commonly 16-20 inches), native redband, and abundant mountain whitefish. Flood-control and irrigation releases dominate: summer often pushes 1,000-7,000+ CFS and fishes poorly, but the river turns on after irrigation season ends in fall and through winter at a wadeable 150-600 CFS.

Clearwater RiverID

A big, cold, low-elevation river that draws anglers from all over for one thing: B-run steelhead — the largest summer-run steelhead south of the Canadian border, ocean-going rainbows that average 10-13 pounds and push past 20. It's classic spey country, swung flies on broad even-depthed runs from Lewiston up through Peck and Lenore, with a shoulder-season dry-fly window for native westslope cutthroat and rainbows when the main stem drops and cools.

Fall RiverID

The Fall River is the largest tributary of the Henry's Fork, a runoff-fed freestone that tumbles off the Pitchstone Plateau in southwest Yellowstone, past a string of waterfalls, and out onto the potato ground east of Ashton. It fishes late — high and off-color into June, then a July salmonfly-to-PMD dry-fly river most Henry's Fork anglers drive right past.

Henry's ForkID

The Henry's Fork is the spring-fed tailwater that runs from Henrys Lake through Island Park and on to its confluence with the South Fork Snake near Rexburg. The slow flat water of Harriman State Park (the Railroad Ranch) is the most famous technical dry-fly stretch in the West.