Hawkins Reservoir, Idaho: Fishing Spots and Seasons

• Overview

  You will find Hawkins Reservoir in Bannock County, Idaho. It stands 5,138 feet above sea level. At about 50 acres, a day is enough to walk the shoreline properly. Roughly 1.0 miles of bank means you can walk to a fresh area when one goes quiet. Malad City sits 23 miles from the bank. Pocatello follows at 25 miles, then Chubbuck at 29 miles. This one sits near enough to a boundary to be worth checking.

• Where to Fish on Hawkins Reservoir

  No chart reached our records; the first cast is your sounding. Points where the flooded channel swings in are the reliable ones. Look for where the old bank line still shows under the surface. Survey and observation records for Bannock County include rainbow trout, cutthroat trout, brook trout, great basin cutthroat trout and largemouth bass. The county figures include rivers and lakes alike. Read Hawkins Reservoir before you fish it and the day goes better.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The year swings from about 20°F in January to roughly 66°F in August. Winter shuts things down for a spell, then spring reopens them fast. Firm cover through the cold months, then open water from early April. Going by climate averages, expect open water from about early April until roughly early December. June through September is the settled part of the year, with the shoulders busier for fish. Hawkins Reservoir fishes to that pattern most years.

• Tackle & Baits

  Public data does not answer the access question here. We find no slipway, car park or made path within a short radius, so treat access as rough. Largemouth respond to soft plastics tight to cover; go weedless where the growth is heavy. State or provincial rules still apply whatever the bank status. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. Wiregrass Reservoir at 7.1 miles is the sensible second choice. Treat access at Hawkins Reservoir as something to verify.