Fishing Report
Idaho stream opening
With nearly all of North Idaho’s streams in flood stage, anglers will have to search long and hard for a place to fish when streams open for the season Saturday.
The Coeur d’Alene, St. Joe, Lochsa, Selway, the Clearwater’s North Fork and Kelly Creek, all favorites with fishermen, are too high and off-color for good fishing. Furthermore, it’s unlikely they’ll be low and clear for several weeks.
Some will fish small tributaries of big streams that are clearing and dropping as snow melts in the mountains.
Despite high water, many families will camp along the streams during the Memorial Day weekend and hope to wet a fly or dunk a worm.
Meanwhile, most will fish Idaho’s many lakes. The Idaho Fish and Game Department has released hatchery-raised trout into a majority of the lakes the last few weeks. Fishing should be fair to good.
Trout, Washington
Lake Roosevelt, often a good bet for a few big rainbows on a Memorial Day weekend, is too low for anglers to launch boats at all but a few spots. Many will fish such lakes as Williams, Badger, Amber, West Medical, Fishtrap, Fish and the small lakes in Pend Oreille, Stevens and Ferry counties. Many will fish small lakes in the Basin and Okanogan County.
The selective fishery and fly fishing-only lakes are the best bets for large trout. Chironomids, mayflies, damselflies and dragonflies are hatching at most lakes, creating excellent fly fishing opportunities.
However, spin and bait fishermen will benefit from the hatches since the trout will be feeding actively and will take spinning lures and bait.
Many lakes are high from the runoff and will remain high for two to three more weeks. Both Bayley and McDowell, fly fishing-only lakes on the Little Pend Oreille Wildlife Refuge, are the highest they’ve been in years. Some lakes, including Dry Falls, southwest of Coulee City, are only slightly higher than they were this time last year. Lenore, which holds Lahontan cutthroat, is comparatively low and very weedy.
Anglers can drive to Bayley and McDowell, officials of the Little Pend Oreille Refuge said. However, if they drive via the county road they’ll still have to go through a 10-inch-deep, 60-foot-long puddle covering the road.
Fishing has been slow at Bayley and McDowell, as well as Potters Pond. The lakes are still extremely high.
Kokanee
Lake Mary Ronan may be the best place to catch good-sized kokanee during Memorial Day weekend.
Mark Thomas, co-owner of Camp Tuffit, said the opener last weekend was “fantastic,” with a high percentage of anglers catching 10-fish limits of kokanee averaging 12 inches long. The spread was 11 to 16 inches.
Both still-fishermen and trollers caught kokanee, but still-fishing was the fastest way to take a limit.
Thomas said he thinks the lake has a big population of kokanee. Ice fishermen couldn’t fish the lake because of deep snow, so they didn’t reduce the kokanee population.
Only a few rainbow trout were caught, he said.
Mary Ronan is the highest it’s been, Thomas said. The high water apparently benefits fishermen but has caused problems for resort operators and lake residents.
Trollers are starting to catch 20-fish limits of kokanee at Koocanusa Reservoir, said Nevin Zugg, operator of the Koocanusa Resort at the south end.
Most of the kokanee are 10 to 11 inches, with a few to 13 inches, he said. They’re near the surface, so anglers are not letting out much leaded line.
Some are fishing for the Kamloops rainbow trout, Zugg said. The big rainbows feed on the kokanee.
Trollers caught a few kokanee and a couple of mackinaw trout at Loon Lake during the weekend, Joe Haley of the Granite Point Resort reported. However, the water temperature is still too low to determine whether kokanee fishing will be good at the lake this year. Fishermen caught some 12-inchers and a few to 18 inches, Haley said.
Spirit Lake is the best North Idaho producer of kokanee. Although they’re only 8 inches long, they’re plentiful and anglers are taking 25-fish limits.
Spiny rays
Fishing for walleyes, bluegills and crappies was excellent during the weekend at Sprague Lake, Monika Metz of the Sprague Lake Resort reported.
She said anglers, fishing Beetle Spins and other lures, caught bluegills and crappies, as well as keeper-sized walleyes. A few fishermen found schools of big perch, but most of the perch are small.
She said fishermen caught bluegills and crappies during daylight hours and in the evenings.
Largemouth bass fishing has been “terrific” in the sand dune islands area of the Potholes Reservoir, said Mike Meseberg of the Mar-Don Resort.
“Some fishermen have been hooking and releasing 20 to 30 bass a day,” he said.
Smallmouth bass have been hitting anglers’ lures in the Frenchman Hills Wasteway and in Soda, Long and Crescent lakes.
Walleye fishing has been slow, he said.
About 60,000 9- to 10-inch rainbows raised in net pens at the Mar-Don Resort were released into the reservoir a week ago, Meseberg said.
Bass fishing is hitting a peak at numerous North Idaho lakes, according to Jeff Smith, owner of the Fins & Feathers shop at Coeur d’Alene.
He recommended that bass fishermen try such lakes as the Twins, Hauser, Gamble, Shepherd and Rose. He suggested jigs and pork rinds for heavy cover and spinner baits along the weeds.
Chinook salmon
Lake Coeur d’Alene is about as high as it ever gets during a runoff period, but anglers are still hooking chinook salmon, Smith said.
The south end is muddy, but the north end is clear enough for fish to see lures and bait, he said. The salmon are near the surface.
“Fishing was fair over the weekend,” he said. “Most of the salmon are 6 to 7 pounds. The best way to get them to take is to use a planing board.”
Smith said he was one of about 500 anglers who took part in the chinook derby last weekend at Lake Chelan. The largest chinook caught weighed 13 pounds, 3 ounces. Only 50 salmon were registered.
“Chelan is an exciting lake to fish,” he said. “Resort facilities are excellent and the lake is big enough to absorb large numbers of fishermen.
“The lake seems to have a lot of mackinaw trout. They’re small, running 3 to 10 pounds, but they’re so numerous that anyone can catch them. Most are caught in 120 to 140 feet of water.”
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