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Home › Waters › Idaho › C.J. Strike Reservoir
Reservoir · Owyhee and Elmore Counties, the Snake River impoundment near Grand View and Bruneau in the high desert southeast of Boise · Idaho

C.J. Strike Reservoir Fishing Guides

Southwest Idaho's most productive mixed-bag reservoir, seventy-five hundred acres of Snake River desert water holding bass, crappie, catfish and sturgeon within an hour of Boise.

Mist rising off a northern lake between granite and pine
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the C.J. Strike Reservoir

Claimed profiles take booking requests. Unclaimed profiles are built from public records so the river is never empty; the guide can claim or remove one any time.

About the C.J. Strike Reservoir

C.J. Strike is the Snake River backed up behind an Idaho Power dam near Grand View, and it is the most complete warmwater fishery in the southwestern corner of the state. Roughly seventy-five hundred acres spread across three distinct arms, the Snake, the Bruneau and the main pool, and each fishes differently. The Bruneau arm is shallower, warmer and weedier, the Snake arm carries more current and more structure, and the main pool below the confluence has the open water and the depth. Desert canyon walls, basalt shelves and submerged timber supply the cover.

Smallmouth bass are the headline fish, abundant on the rock and gravel and reaching good size, with largemouth holding in the weedier backs. Black crappie run to genuinely impressive weights in this reservoir and support a dedicated spring following. Channel catfish are everywhere and are taken all summer. Rainbow trout are stocked and hold in the cooler, deeper water and near the inflows. White sturgeon are present in the Snake and are fished catch-and-release only, which is a rule worth reading before going.

The gauge near Grand View reports reservoir stage. Because this is a hydroelectric project rather than an irrigation storage reservoir the pool is held relatively steady compared with the big storage impoundments upstream, but it does fluctuate and the shallow Bruneau arm is the part that feels it first. Anglers launching in the arms at low pool should check the reading. Access is good, with Idaho Power and state ground providing several developed ramps, and the Snake River Birds of Prey country immediately around the reservoir makes it a striking place to fish. Summer heat in this part of the Owyhee desert is severe and there is very little shade anywhere on the reservoir, so water, sun protection and an early finish matter as much as tackle selection does. Wind can build hard across the open main pool by midday.

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Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

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Posting to C.J. Strike Reservoir.

JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 12 MB. We resize it and strip the location data out of the file.

The name shown under the photo. Leave blank to stay anonymous.

Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Access

Grand View - the town nearest the dam and the gauge, with fuel, food and the nearest supplies. / Bruneau - the settlement south, the approach to the Bruneau arm and the dunes country. / Cottonwood and Jacks Creek - Idaho Power recreation sites with developed ramps and camping on the main pool. / Black Sands - a popular access area on the Snake arm. / Mountain Home - the larger town north on Interstate 84, the usual lodging base. / Boise - an hour northwest, where most visiting anglers and guides start. / Bruneau Dunes State Park - nearby camping and an alternative base south of the reservoir.

Seasons

Spring: crappie move shallow into the arms and the smallmouth fishing turns on, making April and May the busiest and most productive weeks of the year. / Summer: bass hold on deeper rock through the heat, catfish take over at night, and the desert sun makes early starts essential. / Fall: cooling water pulls smallmouth back shallow and the crowds are gone, which makes October one of the best months here. / Winter: perch and crappie remain catchable, trout fishing improves in the cold water, and the reservoir rarely locks up completely.

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Questions

What species can you catch on the C.J. Strike Reservoir?

Anglers target Black Crappie, Bluegill, Brown Trout, Channel Catfish, Common Carp, Largemouth Bass, Rainbow Trout, Smallmouth Bass, White Sturgeon, Yellow Perch on the C.J. Strike Reservoir in Idaho.

Are there fishing guides on the C.J. Strike Reservoir?

GuidedFloats lists 1 guide and outfitters on the C.J. Strike Reservoir. Claimed profiles accept booking requests; unclaimed profiles are built from public records and link to the business.

Where can you access the C.J. Strike Reservoir?

Grand View - the town nearest the dam and the gauge, with fuel, food and the nearest supplies. / Bruneau - the settlement south, the approach to the Bruneau arm and the dunes country. / Cottonwood and Jacks Creek - Idaho Power recreation sites with developed ramps and camping on the main pool. / Black Sands - a popular access area on the Snake arm. / Mountain Home - the larger town north on Interstate 84, the usual lodging base. / Boise - an hour northwest, where most visiting anglers and guides start. / Bruneau Dunes State Park - nearby camping and an alternative base south of the reservoir.

When is the best time to fish the C.J. Strike Reservoir?

Spring: crappie move shallow into the arms and the smallmouth fishing turns on, making April and May the busiest and most productive weeks of the year. / Summer: bass hold on deeper rock through the heat, catfish take over at night, and the desert sun makes early starts essential. / Fall: cooling water pulls smallmouth back shallow and the crowds are gone, which makes October one of the best months here. / Winter: perch and crappie remain catchable, trout fishing improves in the cold water, and the reservoir rarely locks up completely.

Where are the fishing regulations for the C.J. Strike Reservoir?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Idaho agency site: https://idfg.idaho.gov/rules/fish