Hunting+Fishing

Trout and kokanee

The fishing season on Colville Indian Reservation lakes opens Saturday, but anglers will get a chilly reception in some of their favorite places.

The only ice-free trout waters for the opener are McGinnis for brook trout, Buffalo for rainbows, brookies and other species, plus Bourgeau for rainbows and bass. Omak Lake is open with some restrictions.

The required tribal fishing licenses are available at the Airway Heights Exxon, 244-9906.

I finally broke my Rufus Woods jinx last Saturday. Dragging hootchies and 1-ounce Slinky sinkers in 24-44 feet of water, our group limited quickly on triploids to almost 7 pounds. Judging by the excited yells from nearby boats, other anglers were also doing well.

The stellar action on Rufus Woods has drawn fishermen away from Lake Roosevelt, although trolling and bank fishing for Roosevelt trout is fair to good despite the dearth of boats. The lake level is dropping to as low as 1,229 by the end of the month, the lowest in recent memory. Launches still usable are Spring Canyon, Keller, Seven Bays, Hunters Camp and Kettle Falls.

Liberty Lake angling has slowed since it became fishable after the March 1 opener, but it is still a good, close place for a few rainbow or browns, and the bass have also begun to bite.

Medical Lake kept its ice longer than Liberty and fishing is beginning to get good. Some large rainbow and tiger trout are in Medical, and fly fishermen are picking up many.

Silver Lake doesn’t have large numbers of trout, but it has a few large ones among the scattered 12-inchers.

Amber and Coffeepot trout of pleasing sizes are hitting chironomids and Wooly buggers.Downs Lake was planted with small rainbow at midweek, but there should be some foot-long carryovers available. A green or brown Roostertail has always worked well on Downs.

Friends fished Rock Lake from shore on Wednesday, tossing a bobber and worm in the creek channel with excellent results. They caught limits of 13- to 14-inch browns and 16- to 18-inch rainbow. They reported a boat fisherman came in with a 6-pound brown from the north end of the lake. Anglers trolling Rippin’ Minnows on a downrigger are making good catches deep.

Fly fisherman have been pleasantly surprised by the fishing on the Clark Fork. The level is good at about 2,830 cfs and clarity has been decent. Fish Skwalas, grey drakes and midges for best results. There has been no evidence of a big kill downstream of the Milltown Dam. The Bitterroot has been fair.

Lake Lenore fishing has been sporadic. Some bruisers are cruising the shallows in the north end. Rocky Ford, near Ephrata, has been good at times.

This is prime time on the Yakima River. All Idaho and Washington rivers should fish well through the weekend. With warmer weather, this could be the last clear-water fly fishing for awhile.

Priest Lake jiggers are finding columns of lake trout in 100-150 feet of water near Kalispell Island. Glo Grubs work well.

Salmon and steelhead

Steelhead catch rates have accelerated on the Clearwater and Salmon rivers, according to the latest IDFG survey. These figures are sometime skewed this late in the season, however, as they often reflect the efforts of a few local anglers who know the river intimately.

On the lower Columbia River, the best catch rates have been in the Gorge where anglers averaged 1.5 spring chinook caught per boat.

Spiny ray

The Snake River is holding at about 46 degrees, a little cool yet for great bass fishing. It could turn on this weekend if the projected warm weather materializes.

Lake Roosevelt walleye anglers are finding fish deep in the Hunters area.

Moses Lake and Potholes walleye are in the spawn and fishing has been poor. Perhaps the best water for walleye is the north end of Banks Lake, where the fish are still in the prespawn. Water temperatures are in the low 40s.

Big Goose and Rebecca, both bass lakes on the Colville Reservation, are ice-free for Saturday’s tribal lakes opener but perhaps too cold yet for good fishing.

Hunting

When the National Wild Turkey Federation was founded in 1973, there were an estimated 1.3 million wild turkeys and 1.5 million turkey hunters in the United States. Today, there are 7 million wild turkeys and nearly 3 million hunters. Many of them in Idaho and Washington will be going out Tuesday for the general opener.

Indications are the turkeys made it through the winter in fine shape. Because of the snow up high, they will most likely be found below 3,500 feet. This rules out National Forest land.

Dana Base, WDFW district wildlife biologist in Colville, predicts the season will start slowly. Birds are two weeks behind their typical patterns.

His suggestions for public land opportunities in his area are lower elevations of the Sherman Wildlife Area and the Little Pend Oreille Refuge; the Holler Creek block of DNR land and south of Colville; the Rigley Lake block of DNR land; and the big block of DNR land between Williams Lake Road and Highway 25.

(Outdoors editor Rich Landers contributed to this column.)