Alan Liere’s fishing-hunting report for April 26
Fly-fishing
On some days, fly-fishermen dragging Wooly Buggers are finding a consistent rainbow trout bite at Medical Lake. Medical is a selective gear fishery, but judging by the amount of Power Bait on the water, as well as the worm containers on shore, a lot of people either don’t know or don’t care.
Friends who fished Amber Lake recently said their catch was split between “dinks” and “jumbos” up to 17 inches with lots of girth.
Nunnally Lake in Grant County is giving up good numbers of 14- to 18-inch rainbow to fishermen running chironomids below an indicator in relatively shallow water.
Trout and kokanee
The long-anticipated Washington lowland lake opener is Saturday, and WDFW has stocked a lot of regional lakes with fish ranging from “catchables” (9-11 inches with more of the larger size) to some really large surplus broodstock. Some of the more popular waters for rainbow trout will be Badger, Williams, Fish and Clear lakes, says Randy Osborne, WDFW central district fish biologist in Spokane, who says Badger, Williams and Fish should be particularly productive. Fishtrap Lake should also be decent this year following last fall’s rehabilitation.
Spokane County’s popular West Medical Lake is not expected to fish very well this year, says Osborne, due to the illegally introduced goldfish that have taken a toll on the trout fishery.
Many trout lakes in Ferry, Stevens and Pend Oreille counties are also good bets on the Saturday opener, says Bill Baker, WDFW northeast district fish biologist of Colville. They include Waitts, Cedar and Starvation lakes in Stevens County. Also in Stevens County, Jump-Off-Joe has received 4,000 catchables, Lake Gillette 2,710 catchables, Lake Sherry 1,452 catchables, and Lake Thomas 9,000 catchables. Loon Lake has been planted with 300 large rainbow. It has a good population of kokanee which are sometimes willing biters on the opener, as well as lake trout. Loon used to always boot out a lake trout in the teens or even 20s on opening day, but the last couple of years has seen a drop in numbers of big fish. Deer Lake recently received 200 jumbos. Deer has been open since March 1, and lake trout anglers have been having moderate success. Rocky Lake, also in Stevens County, was planted with 2,000 catchables and 200 jumbos.
Ellen Lake in Ferry County and Diamond and Sacheen lakes in Pend Oreille County should have a good opener. Diamond was planted with 200 jumbo trout.
Also opening Saturday is Curl Lake in Columbia County, the only Tucannon River impoundment that didn’t open in March. It is now stocked with rainbow trout. The other lakes in the system continue to be planted as the weeks go by, and trout fishing should stay good all summer.
The Saturday opener also includes some north-central region hot spots. In Chelan County, the top prospect is Wapato Lake, about 2 miles north of Manson. Travis Maitland, WDFW Chelan district fish biologist, says it’s a consistent producer of fat, feisty rainbow trout.
In Douglas County, Maitland says Jameson Lake is also a top prospect, with some good-sized carryover rainbow trout available. In Okanogan County, best bets may be Pearrygin Lake, near Winthrop, Conconully Lake and Reservoir within the town of Conconully, Alta Lake just west of Pateros and Wannacut Lake near Oroville. Ryan Fortier, WDFW Okanogan district fish biologist, says anglers can expect to catch rainbows in the 10- to 13-inch range, along with carryover fish to 15 or 16 inches, at most of these lakes. The Conconully waters and Alta Lake also have 10- to 13-inch kokanee.
Anton Jones of Darrell and Dad’s Family Fishing on Lake Chelan reports continued hot kokanee fishing in the lower basin with the occasional chinook as an added bonus. He also says Roses Lake is hot for upsized planter trout because the normal winter harvest was down due to marginal ice conditions.
Steelhead and salmon
Chinook fishing on the Clearwater, Snake, Salmon and Little Salmon rivers opens Saturday and will run until closed by the Idaho Fish and Game director. Fisheries managers are forecasting a run of 66,000 spring chinook, roughly double last year’s return and slightly above the 10-year average of 62,000. Fishing will be allowed four days per week, Thursdays through Sundays in the Clearwater drainage and seven days per week in the Salmon, Little Salmon and Snake rivers.
Chinook fishing is open below Ice Harbor Dam on Fridays and Saturdays and below Little Goose Dam and near Clarkston on Sundays and Mondays. Fish counts are so low right now at the dams, however, it’s probably not worth the effort. Only seven chinook had crossed Lower Granite Dam as of April 23. Anglers fishing below Bonneville are getting a few, however, and expect fishing to pick way up by this weekend. The count on April 23 was 648.
Spiny ray
This is a frustrating time for walleye fishermen at Lake Roosevelt; the walleye have been biting but the launches are now out of commission for a week or more. Good bets now are Banks and Rufus Woods. Of the two, Banks has been best recently. Potholes Reservoir has produced decent walleye fishing at times, also, and the smallmouth bite on Moses Lake has been good.
Anglers are catching good numbers of crappie and bluegill from Hayden on the Sportsman Park end of the lake. The crappie must be 10 inches or better to keep, but there are no size restrictions on the bluegill. Crappie are also biting at Eloika, where the minimum size for a kept fish is 9 inches. There have been a few positive largemouth reports.
Hunting
The application period for Idaho moose, bighorn sheep and mountain goat controlled hunts ends Monday, and applications can be made at any Fish and Game office, license vendor, by telephone or online. Telephone applications may be made at (800) 554-8685. All mailed applications must be postmarked no later than Monday. To apply, each applicant must possess a 2018 Idaho hunting or combination license.