Idaho Bass Fishing Quest – Hagerman Wildlife Managment Area Report

Idaho Bass Fishing Hagerman

I embarked on an Idaho Bass Fishing Quest at the Hagerman Wildlife Refuge near the Twin Falls area over a weekend in Idaho. This area has several ponds, all of which are different. It’s only open for fishing for a short season, and it proved to be an awesome spot to test my skills as a bass angler. The struggle was real for me on Hagerman. Still though, here are key areas, the best baits, and everything I learned to “krak” a few good bass in Idaho.




Idaho Bass Fishing Quest

My Idaho Bass Fishing Quest transpired over two separate days at Hagerman near Twin Falls. I covered a ton of water, and got sucked into fishing areas that absolutely produced nothing. Here are all the details of what transpired while fishing this area to hopefully help you weed through all the water and get you on some bass. Included in this report are the baits that caught bass, a map of the spots that produced best for me, the conditions, and the discoveries of fishing this place. There is nothing more exciting than the prospect of facing new waters, and hopefully these insights will help you to get “Kraken” Bass!

Conditions Idaho Bass Fishing – Hagerman

Here is what the conditions were like at Hagerman Idaho Bass Fishing near Twin Falls. Each of the ponds were a little different in water clarity, but the following conditions remained constant during the trip.

Weather

Hot. Bright Sunny Skies. Air Temperature High was around 95.

Wind

0-5 MPH. Pretty calm each day.

Water Temperature

Varied from Pond to Pond. Averaged around 70 – 75 degrees.

Idaho Bass Fishing Spots – Hagerman Ponds & Lakes

Here is a map of the places I saw bass, or caught bass. I definitely put in some work covering water to find these areas. Click on the markers on the map to learn more details about each area. If you can’t view the map just fill out the form below to subscribe to the blog, and you will also get notified of any new posts via email to help keep you Kraken Bass!

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The markers in blue are the area’s I saw or caught fish. The markers in orange are place’s I fished, but got skunked.


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Idaho Bass Fishing Baits – Hagerman Wildlife Management Area

The thick cover and vegetation in these ponds limited the types of baits you could use effectively. I whittled things down, and found two baits that caught every fish. Here is the description of those lures, how to rig them, and how to use them to catch some bass at the Hagerman Wildlife Management Area.

Gavacho Frog

The Jackall Gavacho Frog caught one of the best bass of the trip for me. It only produced one fish, but it was probably because a lot of areas I fished seemed empty when using it. This bait worked great for walking, and popping over the weed mats. The gavacho frog is very versatile. It can be fished like a topwater popper, or walked like a spook on the surface. It was a great bait for fishing over all the matted vegetation in the ponds. The gavacho frog worked well for me on a 7’6″ medium heavy baitcasting rod, and a high speed baitcasting reel.

Keitech Sexy Impact

The Keitech Sexy Impact in green pumpkin was perfect for sliding through the grass, and getting those bass to bite. This bait caught more fish for me on this trip than anything else. I set the Sexy Impact up on a weightless texas rig on a 1/0 offset worm hook, and used a medium heavy 7′ spinning rod and reel to skip the bait around the cover and grass. The bait is really light, so it didn’t gunk up in the grass. It would just lightly slide through the vegetation, or lay on top of the mats. The solid bass at the top of the post fell victim to this awesome bait.

Idaho Bass Fishing Largemouth Bass
After struggling Idaho Bass Fishing on Hagerman all evening, this guy slurped up my Gavacho Frog just before dark.

 

Idaho Bass Fishing Hagerman Wildlife Management Area Insights

Here is the rundown of what transpired for me on Hagerman searching the lakes and ponds for bass. It was a struggle finding a good spot. My first evening I ran to as many ponds as I could. The best looking ones, I launched my Airhead SUP to try and get to fish that others couldn’t get too. The banks only had a few spots where you could fish. By getting out on the water with a Paddleboard, you could fish with both your eyes and your rod. I pulled up empty all evening, and saw only a few little bass swimming in a couple of spots. (Make sure to check out the map above to see what I discovered by clicking on the different markers)

Finally, at the last minute as it was getting dark I caught a solid bass! The bass waked across the surface heading toward my frog and slurp!  It was incredibly rewarding to finally find a fish. One thing I noticed about the ponds were all the frogs lining the banks. There were 100’s of frogs. Except, on the pond where I caught this bass. Bass, especially largemouth, love eating frogs. Looking back I should have paid more attention to this clue, and fished the ponds that didn’t have frogs jumping all over the place. Below is a picture of one of the frogs I saw, and one of the most rewarding bass of my life. I screamed like a banshee when I caught it him. Chasing bass in 95 degree heat is not easy.

Idaho Bass Fishing Frogs
These frogs where everywhere on Hagerman, except on the ponds where I caught fish on my Idaho Bass Fishing quest on Hagerman.

 

Idaho Bass Fishing near Twin Falls
My Idaho Bass Fishing Quest finally paid off in the last 30 minutes when I caught this beast.

 

Idaho Bass Fishing Quest – Day 2 Hagerman & Bluegill Lake

Day 2 of my trip I decided to try and go looking for a new place hoping to catch more bass. Through all my google research I ended up deciding to make a journey to Bluegill Lake near Twin Falls. What I read online suggested this might be a gold mine of a spot because of how tough it is to get too. The trek was a beast, but I finally made it to the lake.

Bluegill lake proved to be empty of any type of fish that I could see. There were bugs everywhere in the water skirting around, but I couldn’t see any fish at all. Nothing was slurping or busting on the surface, and after a dozen casts this place proved to be a complete failure. Don’t go to bluegill lake unless you want to enjoy the scenery.

Bluegill Lake Idaho Fishing
Here’s a picture of Bluegill lake from the top of the canyon before I hiked down into it. Long journey for sure. Pretty scenery though.

 

Bluegill Lake Idaho Fishing
Sadly, it’s probably named Bluegill lake because the shape of the lake resembles a bluegill. Not because the lake actually contains bluegill. It was completely empty of any signs of fish when I went there.

 

Hagerman Fishing Round 2

After hiking in and out of Bluegill Lake with my spirits down and worn out, I decided to stop back at Hagerman before calling it quits. This turned out to be a good decision. I went right back to the spot I discovered on my last night. There was a cool dude fishing the same area, and he showed me several of the bass he caught that morning. I literally got stoked. Quickly, I got on my paddle board Airhead SUP, and launched onto the pond.

It took me a long time to connect on a fish again, but I paddled the whole pond to get a good look at it. The deepest spot was right where I caught my fish the previous night, and it also was the only spot with clean bottom and sparratic grass. No wonder it was a good area. After exploring the pond, I came back to the good looking area and threw the keitech sexy impact around. It proved successful. I caught a few small fish, and just before 12:00 pm when I left I landed a pig on my paddle board. The key was finding shade, and clean water. When the sun was up all the bass I saw and caught were sitting in hard clean bottom areas in the shade.

Bass Fishing Hagerman
Paddle Board Bass Fishing on my Airhead SUP at Hagerman was fun. It helped me reach the shaded areas that others couldn’t reach from the bank to catch this bass.

This was an epic quest bass fishing in Idaho, and it proved to be challenging and rewarding. Because of the length of the journey I wasn’t able to get anything on film. Still though, hopefully you can use this report to help you in your bass fishing in Idaho. Don’t forget to subscribe to the blog for epic reports on where, and how to get Kraken Bass!

One more little side note, the links above and below in this post are affiliate links were you can pick up baits, rod’s, reels, line, and anything else I used to “Krak” some bass. Krakenbass receives a small percentage of the sales through these links. I only use links to baits, and gear I personally trust and know work. These links are here to be helpful for you, and not for the small amount made on the sale of the products. I hope these products and information can help you “krak” some bass!

As Always,

Stay Stoked!

2 Responses

  1. Next time you get to Idaho give me a shout. I’m a tournament angler and would be happy to show you massacre rocks or Anderson ranch or c.j. strike or lake owyhee or lake Walcott.

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