Hunting+Fishing: Salmon and steelhead

The Snake Clearwater Steelhead Derby that ended last week saw about 560 fish weighed in. Lewiston angler Larry Anderson took the lead early with a 20.35-pound fish that held up to win. The Clearwater is still hot, said Steve Porter at Camp, Cabin and Home in Lewiston, with the biggest fish coming from the water between Cherry Lane and Lenore. Blue Pirate series plugs have been productive, but jiggers and those backtrolling sand shrimp are also doing well.

Night fishing with lighted plugs sweetened with a piece of shrimp has been effective at the Snake/Clearwater confluence this past week. Snake River steelhead fishing continues to be best in the tributaries. The Grande Ronde had some floating ice at midweek, but it should be gone by Saturday.

Tucannon River anglers have averaged about nine hours of fishing for every steelhead caught. Despite muddy water, good steelhead catches are coming from the Touche near Dayton.

Anglers in the mid-Snake River section above the Stateline Bridge were averaging about 9.5 hours per fish caught. Those in the stretches of the mainstem from Lower Granite to Lower Monumental dams were averaging a little less than 10 hours per fish. Steelhead are coming “off the wall” on Little Goose Dam, with the lower wall producing best.

Steelhead anglers at Ringold averaged one fish for every 17 hours of fishing last week. Ringold Springs Hatchery has begun transporting steelhead at the hatchery holding area downstream to the Tri-Cities. Fish are released back into the river to provide additional angling opportunity.

In the Columbia River above John Day Dam and in the John Day Arm, steelhead angler effort and success declined this week. Above Wells Dam, anglers are averaging one fish per 10 hours of fishing.

Rivers in western Washington have been dropping into shape. If it stays cold, the Satsop, Wynoochee and many other rivers should be in prime condition. Late-run coho are the focus, but steelhead are right behind them.

Trout

Hog Canyon, Fourth of July, Williams and Hatch open today, but a thin ice coat may make them unfishable. Indications are that Hog Canyon has enough 9- to 11-inch trout for limits, with enough 14- to 18-inchers to keep things interesting. Fourth of July anglers, however, may have to quit early, as half the trout are more than 14 inches. If your first two fish at Fourth of July are at least 14 inches, you’re done for the day. Chris Donley, WDFW central district fish biologist, said Fourth of July anglers might see some tiger trout in their catch.

Williams and Hatch in Stevens County won’t be as good, but fishing should be decent at Williams for 9- to 10-inch trout. Hatch is overrun with perch and received minimal hatchery trout.

Today marks the shift to a catch-and-keep season with standard fishing gear on four Okanogan County lakes – Little Twin near Winthrop; Big and Little Green near Omak; and Rat near Brewster. All four should provide good fishing for rainbow trout.

Lake Pend Oreille’s Fall Derby ended Monday. First place for big rainbow of 20 pounds, 4 ounces went to Evan Robertson. Eric Gardner caught the biggest mackinaw, an 18-pounder. According to Kurt Arnter of Pend Oreille Charters, more kams than macks were taken, with a lot of fish in the 9- to 10-pound range.

This is perfect weather for triploid rainbows at Rufus Woods. Pull Wedding Rings or Double Whammy’s baited with nightcrawlers, or use plugs such as the Ripp’n Minnow or Rapala. Variations of blue and orange are old standbys.

Roses Lake in the Okanagan has received its fall planting. In addition to 19,000 catchable rainbows, a few hundred 3- to 5-pound fish were planted. Plunk power bait from shore if you beat ice up. If not, wait until it freezes solid. Roses can be treacherous with thin ice.

Other species

A four-month whitefish season begins today on the Little Spokane River from the State Highway 291 bridge near Nine Mile Falls to the west branch tributary north of Chattaroy. Up to 15 whitefish of any size may be taken daily, but fishing gear is restricted to one single-point hook no bigger than size 14.

Whitefish season opens on the Bumping, Naches and Tieton rivers today. The Columbia River between Vantage and Priest Rapids Dam and the Yakima River are good bets.

On the Columbia River, the sturgeon fishery has cooled off along with the weather. In a recent survey, 66 bank anglers fishing from the Wauna powerlines upstream to Bonneville Dam had caught just three legal-size fish. The water temperature at the dam has dropped to 51 degrees.

Clam diggers have the green light to dig razor clams at Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Mocrocks and Kalaloch beaches on evening tides Saturday and Sunday. According to fishing managers, finding clams hasn’t been a problem for most diggers this season.

Hunting

The cold weather has put ice caps on small ponds, and flights of northern birds are moving to larger or faster-moving water. Big lakes such as Banks, Potholes Reservoir and Moses, and smaller spring-fed lakes such as Ephrata are beginning to fill up with mallards, but geese are scarce in the north end of the Columbia Basin. Moses Lake seems to have the largest population. The lake is frozen near the Alder Street Bridge, but the south end still has open water.

An aerial survey last week showed that mallards were particularly concentrated on Lower Crab Creek, North Potholes and Wanapum reserve, as well as private hunt clubs in the Othello/Eagle Lakes area. Wanapum Pool is holding good numbers of scaup, and some major concentrations of divers and wigeon are in the Wanapum and Priest Rapids pools of the Columbia River.

Washington’s late archery and muzzleloader deer hunting seasons continue through Dec. 8 or 15 in select game management units. Late archery and muzzleloader elk seasons also continue through Dec. 8 in select game management units, mostly in the region’s northeast and central districts.

Except for quail, upland game bird hunting has been generally poor. Pheasants are beginning to bunch up, however, and with a little more snow, it’s not impossible to think there are some decent days ahead. The last game farm pheasants of the season will be released by Saturday at all sites listed in Eastern Washington Pheasant Enhancement Program booklet.