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Idaho Lakes › North-Central Idaho
Dworshak Reservoir
A 53-mile canyon reservoir on the North Fork Clearwater with record smallmouth, heavy kokanee and rainbows off the rock.
Smallmouth Bass
Rainbow Trout
Westslope Cutthroat Trout
Bull TroutOverview
Best Season
Smallmouth April through June and again in October, kokanee May to mid July, stocked rainbows spring and fall.
Lake Character
A deep, narrow canyon reservoir over 50 miles long with rocky walls, few roads and a big late-summer drawdown.
Skill Level
Intermediate, easy fishing from a boat but planning around water level and long runs matters.
Best Techniques
Trolling and jigging for kokanee, tubes, jigs and topwater on rock for smallmouth, streamers and poppers near shore.
Boat Access
Corps ramps at Big Eddy, Bruces Eddy, Dent Acres, Grandad and Canyon Creek, plus Freeman Creek in Dworshak State Park.
Canyon Water, Trophy Smallmouth
Dworshak backs the North Fork Clearwater up 53 miles behind a 717-foot dam, more than 600 feet deep in places, with steep timbered walls and almost no road access above the dam. Smallmouth are the headline, the state record came from here, and they push shallow in April and May before spreading to points and rock breaks through summer. Kokanee fish best from May into mid July by trolling or jigging, and stocked rainbows around Dent Acres give shore and fly anglers something from ice-out through October. The trout limit is 6 with only 2 cutthroat, none under 14 inches, kokanee 25, bass 6, and bull trout are catch-and-release. The reservoir drops about 80 feet from early July to mid September for downstream salmon, so shallow ramps like Canyon Creek and Grandad go dry first while Big Eddy, Bruces Eddy and Dent Acres launch to lower pools. Confirm ramp status with the Corps before towing, and leave slack in your lines at the boat-in mini-camps.
Conditions
Live water levels for Dworshak Reservoir from linked gauge stations.
Access
Regulations
No documents attached
Regulation PDFs and lake maps will appear here when published. Always verify current rules with IDFG.
IDFG regulationsGuides & Outfitters
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Helpful Links
Water data is read live and updated regularly. Level and storage trends are calculated from recent daily readings; fields shown as unknown or unavailable have no current data.