St. Joe River, Idaho

St. Maries to Calder

The St. Joe rises near the Montana line in the Bitterroots and flows west to Coeur d'Alene Lake. The lowest miles around St. Maries are slow and deep and fish poorly for trout; the cutthroat water begins as the river climbs past the town of St. Joe toward Calder, and this lower reach is where the drift boats work when flows are up.

Calder to Avery

The St. Joe River Road parallels the river all the way from St. Maries through Calder to Avery, and Forest Service campgrounds and pullouts give continuous access. Avery is the supply point for the whole upper river. This is the water most guides float and it stays fishable through the summer, although afternoon water temperatures push the best fishing into the morning in August.

Avery to Red Ives

Above Avery the river is walk and wade water inside the St. Joe National Forest, running up past Spruce Tree Campground toward Red Ives Ranger Station. It stays cooler than the lower river in late summer and the pressure thins with every mile. The upper St. Joe carries National Wild and Scenic River status.

Westslope cutthroat

This is a wild westslope cutthroat river from top to bottom, and every cutthroat must go back. Guides describe a typical fish at 12 to 16 inches with larger ones in the deep runs. They rise to attractor dries, hoppers and ants from July into September, and October caddis, mahoganies and baetis carry the dry fly fishing into mid-October.

Bull trout

Native bull trout use the St. Joe and must be released immediately if hooked. The St. Joe has no steelhead: dams on the Spokane River and Coeur d'Alene Lake sit between it and the ocean, so any earlier mention of a steelhead run on this river was wrong.

Season and regulations

The St. Joe is open all year, but runoff keeps it high from April into June and the season really runs from mid-June to mid-October. White Pine Outfitters, which guides the river, called 1,590 cfs at Calder prime for both wading and floating in June and 434 cfs good for both in August, so this page compares the Calder gauge to 400 to 1,600 cfs; below that the river is thin and clear, above it the lower river is boat water.

Idaho Fish and Game rules for the St. Joe and its tributaries: from Coeur d'Alene Lake up to and including the North Fork, the trout limit is 6 with no harvest of any cutthroat; from the North Fork upstream the same cutthroat release applies and it is no bait, barbless hooks only. Bull trout must be released. Check the current IDFG Panhandle rules before you go.