Water temperatures have cooled off, but the fishing is heating up in area waters, area-fishing guides and retailers report.

Mackinaw anglers should start catching the lake trout in Payette Lake, now that boat traffic is down considerably at the end of the season, said Robert Monroe, owner of McCall Angler.

Monroe said that fishing was hot in the creeks and high mountain lakes, as the water temperature has been cooling off lately.

"Everything is awesome," Monroe said. Cinnamon ant patterns are working well in the high mountain lakes.

The North Fork of the Payette River is also fishing well lately. Monroe suggested hopper patterns, prince nymphs and zug bugs.

Bass fishing on the Salmon River near Riggins remains hot, said Exodus Wilderness Adventures of Riggins president Amy Sinclair.

"I went with three boats and boated 40 fish in the 10-15 inch range," Sinclair said.

Water temperatures in the river were between 66 and 70 degrees earlier this week. Sinclair was anxiously waiting the coming steelhead season, as the numbers of steelhead passing through the Columbia River system dams were above last year's counts and above the 10-year average.

Bass and perch remain the most active fish in Lake Cascade, said Tom McGlashen, owner of Tackle Tom's in Cascade.

Bank anglers are having the best luck in the Sugarloaf and Cascade Dam areas. Bass are hitting crawdad imitation crank baits as soon as they hit the water. Some of the biggest bass of the season have been caught in the last week, McGlashen said.

Bass anglers using large grubs with skirts are catching perch, as well in the lake. Many perch in the 12 to 14 inch variety are tugging on the lines of bass anglers in the lake, McGlashen said.

Anglers trolling for trout are finding it a hard fish to come by in the lake, however. Horsethief Reservoir has very few campers using the reservoir that failed to fill all the way from this spring's runoff. The reservoir was drained last fall and a fish poison was used to remove perch in the reservoir that were illegally transplanted by anglers over the years.

The reservoir had been fishing well all summer, in spite of the conditions, but McGlashen said he did not have any positive reports from the reservoir this week.