Alan Liere’s weekly fish and game report for April 28
Fly fishing
The North Fork Coeur d’Alene River as well as the St. Joe is experiencing good March brown dun hatches. This is an interesting hatch as adults emerge and continue to hatch for only 30-60 minutes, and 1 p.m. is consistently the time to be on the river. The rivers have been high, so fish the softest water you can find.
Trout and kokanee
Most of the Washington put-and-take lakes provided good trout action on opening day. Fish Lake offered up some beautiful 18-inch brook trout and a 3.40 fish-per-angler average. Tigers and a few browns were also taken.
West Medical anglers caught some bruisers of approximately 20 inches in addition to the catchable rainbow. The average size trout was 16 inches. Clear Lake anglers caught good numbers of 11-inch rainbows in addition to some considerably larger. They also reported catching a lot of small spiny ray.
Anglers did well on the Saturday opener at newly-rehabilitated Williams and Badger lakes. In addition to the 11- to 12-inch catchables, some large rainbow came in – many over 14 inches and a few weighing as much as 4 pounds. Badger Lake didn’t see many anglers on the opener, but fishing has picked up substantially with improving weather. One angler who fished after the opener said he caught his limit in 15 minutes.
Two friends who trolled nine hours at Loon Lake on opening day caught 15 small kokanee and four large trout.
Waitts Lake trollers took many rainbow of over a pound and a few browns of 13-15 inches. Waitts and Cedar lakes were among the top opening day producers. Diamond Lake anglers averaged 4.56 fish each. Ellen Lake in Ferry County was fair.
A son and his friends fished Jump-Off Joe on the lowland opener. They caught a lot of 11- to 12-inch planted rainbow but also a lot of 2-pound jumbo triploids. Most fish came on a silver Blue Fox Spinner, but the bite dropped way off in the afternoon. They said they didn’t see any brown trout caught.
Rock Lake trollers are picking up plenty of 15- to 17-inch trout in the top 10 feet of water and finding the larger browns 30-50 feet down. The north side was good this week.
In Chelan County, Wapato Lake fished the best on the opener. A lot of fish were in the 14- to 17-inch range. At Deep Lake in Grant County, success was high with almost every fish running 11-13 inches. Both bank and boat anglers at Warden Lake experienced good to excellent fishing. Trout size was 10-12 inches.
Lake trout fishing has been good on Lake Chelan. The waters around Colyar Ledge and the Barren are best. Trolling for suspended kokanee can be hot and cold with the fish anywhere 45-200 feet deep in numerous locations from Moore Point all the way down to the Trench out from Rocky Point. Cutthroat trout are also being caught close to shore by anglers trolling small spinners.
Roosevelt kokanee fishing is still on at Spring Canyon and the fish remain in the upper 10 feet. The mouth of the San Poil has been good for trout.
Triploids running mostly 2-3 pounds are biting aggressively on Rufus Woods Reservoir around the first set of net pens. Black flies and jigs are getting the most action.
Salmon and steelhead
Spring chinook salmon fishing opens on the Snake River Area below Ice Harbor Dam on Friday. It will be only open on Friday and Saturday each week from the southbound Highway 12 Bridge near Pasco upstream about 7 miles to the fishing restriction boundary below Ice Harbor Dam. Below Little Goose on the Snake, chinook fishing will be allowed beginning on Sunday from Texas Rapids boat launch on the south side of the river upstream to the fishing restriction boundary below Little Goose Dam. This zone includes the rock and concrete area between the juvenile bypass return pipe at Little Goose and the area locally known as “the Wall.”
Also opening on Sunday is the Snake, at Clarkston from the downstream edge of the large power lines crossing the river just upstream from West Evans Road on the south shore upstream about 3.5 miles to the Washington State line. These last two areas will be open on Sundays and Mondays only.
Because state and tribal fishing managers did not reach an agreement on salmon-fishing seasons in Puget Sound, state fishery managers have decided to separately secure the necessary federal permit. WDFW is hopeful the department will have the permit in time to hold recreational and non-tribal commercial salmon fisheries in Puget Sound.
State fishery managers have begun releasing more than 500,000 juvenile steelhead from five state fish hatcheries into Puget Sound rivers after receiving word from NOAA Fisheries that those facilities meet federal environmental standards. For the past two years, the WDFW has released steelhead from those five hatcheries into area lakes to ensure they wouldn’t interfere with wild steelhead protected by the federal Endangered Species Act.
Spiny ray
The north end of Moses Lake has been excellent for walleye anglers trolling shallow water. A few perch, crappie and smallmouth have also come in. On Potholes, the smallmouth bite has been torrid with many of the fish running 2-5 pounds.
Lake Roosevelt is also an excellent place to catch smallmouth bass. With only one fish 14 inches or larger allowed in the 10-fish limit, friends who fished there recently had to release a lot of bass to catch fish small enough to keep. Tube jigs cast close to rocky shorelines did the damage. The projected water level for Roosevelt today is 1,245 feet, which would allow launching at Porcupine Bay. Friday may still be okay at 1,244 feet, but after that the level again drops below the 1,243-foot minimum needed to launch a trailered boat.
The south end of Banks Lake is yielding fast walleye limits, though most of the boat traffic is around Steamboat Rock. Slow Death hooks and a nightcrawler will serve you well.
Crappie anglers were finding fish last week at Silver Lake, but they said legal-sized 9-inchers were extremely scarce. Success on Lake Spokane and Eloika was much better for larger fish.
Hunting
In Washington, hunters have through May 18 to apply for special hunting permits for fall deer, elk, mountain goat, moose, bighorn sheep and turkey seasons. Permit winners will be allowed to hunt at times and places beyond those authorized by a general hunting license. Applications and licenses are available from license vendors statewide or by calling 1-877-945-3492.
The deadline for Idaho moose, bighorn sheep and mountain goat controlled hunt applications is fast approaching. Hunters have through Saturday to apply.
Contact Alan Liere via email at spokesmanliere@ yahoo.com