Alan Liere’s hunting and fishing report for May 2, 2024

Thu., May 2, 2024

By Alan Liere The Spokesman-Review

Tip of the week

I encountered a fisherman on Eloika Lake this week with 10 largemouth bass on a stringer. The largemouth bass limit statewide is five fish. Only one can be 17 inches or longer and the others must be less than 12 inches. It has been the same for years. The same man had a bucketful of 6-inch crappie. Crappie at Eloika must be at least 9 inches and the limit is 10. The man was nice enough but expressed total ignorance of these rules which are clearly stated in the Washington Sport Fishing pamphlet.

Heads up: The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife statewide Trout Derby runs through Oct. 31. If you catch a trout with a yellow tag, it is worth a prize. Keep the tag and go to the WDFW website and look up Trout Derby for information on how to claim your prize. You will need to provide the number, name of the lake where the fish was caught, the date it was caught and your contact information. When it is confirmed, you can go to a local business to claim your prize.

Overheard: Idaho winter survival for mule deer fawns and elk calves fitted with tracking collars has shown to be slightly higher than average through the end of March. By the end of February, 92% of the collared fawns and 95% of the collared calves were still alive.

Fly fishing

Water levels on the North Fork Coeur d’Alene River are looking good, Silver Bow Fly Shop said. Dry fly fishing has been consistent and there’s a wide variety of bugs out.

Nymph and streamer fishing will be consistent early in the day. Conditions and success are similar on the St. Joe. The Clark Fork is in great shape and should be ideal if the rain doesn’t bump levels too much.

Fly fisherman were taking a few big rainbow trout Monday from Bayley Lake on the Little Pend Oreille National Wildlife Refuge. McDowell Lake, another fly fishing-only water on the refuge, also yielded some nice trout. Other northeast Washington fly fishing-only opportunities include Long Lake in Ferry County and Browns Lake in Pend Oreille County.

Trout and kokanee

Loon Lake was crowded with trollers on Saturday’s opener, some fishing for mackinaw and many for kokanee, which seemed to have disappeared last summer – at least for nighttime still fishermen.

My son Evan and a friend trolled at Loon on Sunday, and I was amazed to see the photos of the fat 17- to 20-inch kokanee they caught, even though they started trolling at noon and were told the bite died after 9 a.m. Evan said a lot of anglers were catching the big kokanee, but there didn’t seem to be any one depth that was better than another.

I heard of two macks being caught that exceeded 15 pounds.

Big kokanee are expected from Lake Roosevelt, and anglers are finally beginning to meet those expectations at several locations on the reservoir, notably near Hunters and Spring Canyon. Trout fishing from shore has been fair at Jones Bay, Sterling and Fort Spokane.

Generally, water temperatures need to hit 50 degrees before spring fishing gets good on the lowland lakes around Spokane, and they were somewhat cooler than that for Saturday’s opener. As expected, Badger, Williams, Clear and Fishtrap fished well. Creel counts are not always accurate for the opener, as inclement weather usually means anglers will often arrive late and their catches won’t be recorded. Also, slow fishing in April is not reflective of what it will be like by mid-May.

Fishing was good at a number of lakes north of Spokane on the opener. Starvation Lake anglers were taking limits with a lot of 14- to 16-inch carryovers. Cedar Lake plants were 11 inches, with carryovers running 14 to 16 inches.

Fish biologist Bill Baker said fishing was good. Mudgett Lake also had 11- to 12-inch planters and 14- to 16-inch carryovers. Rocky Lake was not as productive as expected.

In the Little Pend Oreille Chain, Thomas and Gillette, which are year-round lakes, produced some good-sized rainbow trout. Two other year-round lakes, Waitts and Diamond, didn’t get much pressure, but some big rainbows and browns were landed by anglers who averaged 2.5 fish each. Jumpoff Joe was decent for catchables planted earlier this spring.

In north-central Washington, reports of good trout fishing on last week’s opener came from Blue, Park, Deep, Perch and Jameson lakes.

Kokanee fishing is heating up on Lake Chelan with some 16-inchers in the mix. According to reports, there has also been some decent chinook fishing there. Kokanee fishing at Hayden Lake has been good with some 14-inch fish netted.

Fernan, Round and Kelso lakes are among eight Idaho Panhandle waters that will receive substantial trout plants between Monday and May 10. Another five ponds will receive plants between May 13 and 17, with plants also scheduled on other ponds and lakes through the end of the month, culminating with Round and Twin lakes sometime between May 27 and 31.

Salmon and steelhead

Spring chinook salmon fishing on the Snake River opens Tuesday in location A (below Little Goose Dam) It remains open on Tuesdays and Fridays only until further notice. In location B (below Ice Harbor Dam), it opens Wednesday and remains open on Wednesdays and Thursdays only until further notice. Only hatchery chinook may be retained.

Spiny ray

Walleye are just beginning to bite in Moses Lake. Some modest catches have been reported by anglers just off the island near what is known as the Horse Ranch, and also on the shallow ridge known as the Rock Pile. The top end of the lake, which is shallow, is typically one of the first spots to produce walleyes, but the fishing there is still slow.

Walleye anglers have been finding schools of fish on Lake Roosevelt in 20 feet of water down lake from Seven Bays. The smallmouth bite has also been good along rocky stretches.

Other species

The 2024 sport-reward fishery for northern pikeminnow has begun. Fishing takes place within the mainstem Columbia River from the estuary to Priest Rapids Dam in Eastern Washington and the Snake River from its confluence with the Columbia up to Hells Canyon Dam. This area represents the migration corridor of juvenile salmon. Anglers will be paid for each northern pikeminnow they catch (from within program boundaries) that is 9 inches or larger. Rewards begin at $6 each for the first 25 northern pikeminnow caught during the season, $8 for each fish caught from 26-200 and $10 for every fish caught over 200 cumulatively. Anglers are also paid $500 for each specially tagged northern pikeminnow. For full information on the Pikeminnow Program, including rules and regulations, station times and how-to catch them information, visit www.pikeminnow.org.

Hunting

The application period for Idaho fall 2024 deer, elk, pronghorn, swan, fall black bear and fall turkey controlled hunts began Wednesday and runs through June 5. All applicants will receive an email with their draw results by early July if there’s a valid email in their license account. Hunters can also apply for the first Super Hunt drawing through May 31.

Contact Alan Liere at spokesmanliere@yahoo.com.