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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Weekly hunting and fishing report

Fly fishing

Fishing has slowed down on most local and Montana rivers as we head into winter. Tossing nymphs is the best bet now that the hatches have disappeared. Most rivers are fishing best late in the day. Try swimming a large stone nymph with a trailing pheasant tail all under an indicator.

Trout and kokanee

Old reliable Waitts Lake hasn’t missed a beat all year. Anglers are still catching limits of browns and rainbows by trolling at midlake.

Amber Lake is still producing lots of big trout. Now that the weather has cooled, you might not need to be on the water so early. Friends had recent success on fish up to 4 pounds by trolling from the launch to the weedy end and back.

Sprague Lake had a lot of gunk on the surface early in the week, but once trollers got under it, trout fishing was excellent. The lake is low and launching at the public access can be an ordeal for larger boats.

Rock Lake is down, and the launch – as usual in low water – is dicey. The fishing has been decent but not spectacular for rainbows and browns.

Excellent Lake Roosevelt reports keep coming in. Trollers are having good success dragging orange flies under three colors of lead or trolling orange Rapalas or Apexes in the top 10 feet. Bank fishermen have done well on PowerBait, eggs and worm/marshmallow “sandwiches.” Take a variety of bait in a variety of colors because what is hot one day may not be the next. Anglers say most of the fish are fat 15-inchers with bright red flesh. They are excellent on the table.

Scattered reports of Lake Roosevelt kokanee catches trickle in, but most have been caught by trollers targeting trout. No concentrations have been found.

Through their Colville Tribal Resident Fish program, the Colville Tribe has recently released thousands of fresh triploids into Rufus Woods from the net pens at the upper end of the reservoir. On Oct. 22, 1,400 triploids were released, and on Oct. 30, more than 22,000 triploids were released. The fish in these releases run 1.2 to 1.7 pounds. Fishing for these new fish is good in the vicinity of the upper net pens owned and operated by Pacific Sea Foods. The lower net pens have gone out of business.

Salmon and steelhead

Clearwater River steelheaders have been catching a lot of wild fish lately, although the average has generally been about half wild and half hatchery. Side drifting eggs has been effective.

There has been good steelhead fishing down the Grande Ronde. If you’re a fly fisherman, nymphing is going to be the only consistent tactic. For others, the corkie and yarn setup is hard to beat.

The water is low and clear and spoons cast from shore are also taking a number of steelhead. Fish the water thoroughly as there are plenty of fish in the system.

Steelheaders drifting corkies and eggs are finding good numbers of fish in the Heller Bar Area of the Snake River.

Ringold Springs offers plenty of fishing access by boat or from shore. Steelhead orient to the seams and slots nearest the eastern bank of the river, both above and below the hatchery intake creek at Ringold. Bank anglers should work the seams close to shore, fishing progressively deeper throughout the day.

At first light, steelhead are usually holding in as little as 5 feet of water. Popular lures include scented or baited bucktail or marabou jigs in black, black and red or black and purple fished close to the bottom below slip bobbers.

Spiny ray

Long Lake is usually an excellent destination for big fall perch, but the bite has not materialized and the fish that are caught are not particularly large. Silver Lake, near Cheney, and Newman Lake, near the Idaho border, might be better, though the perch also aren’t big there. There have been numerous reports this week of a strong northern pike bite at Long – some as large as 15 pounds.

Some anglers are finding good perch by fishing the deeper weed lines in Banks Lake.

Sometimes a school of perch moves into the Coulee City Marina area and catching is fast for 10-inch fish.

The Potholes walleye bite has slowed, but as of last weekend, anglers were still catching a lot of big perch on the face of the dunes.

Hunting

More private, high-quality land will become available to Columbia Basin waterfowl and upland game hunters later this month when hundreds of acres in the Cropland Hunting Access Initiative (CHAI) goes online via Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Hunt by Reservation system. Under this program, formally known as the Corn Stubble Retention Program, one group of up to four hunters will be allowed to access the sites at a time.

The second fall Washington season for wild turkey starts next Thursday in eastern Washington. There are lots of birds available.

The late Washington buck hunt is looking more promising each day. With most of the leaves on the damp forest floor, sneaking up on a rutting buck whose priorities have changed from finding food to finding a hot doe becomes somewhat easier. The season runs through Wednesday.

The Idaho fall general turkey season runs through Dec. 15 in game management units 1, 2 (except Farragut State Park and Farragut WMA) 3, 4, 4A, 5 and 6 in northern Idaho, and through Dec. 31 in units 8, 8A, 10A, 11, 11A, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 18 on private lands only.

For the purpose of this hunt, private lands do not include corporate timberlands.

Late archery and muzzleloader deer hunting comes up in select units starting Nov. 20 or 25, depending on unit.

Late archery and muzzleloader elk hunting in select game management units runs Nov. 25-Dec. 8.

Pacific Flyway waterfowlers have been impatiently waiting for weather to push ducks out of Prairie Canada and British Columbia.

With extended weather forecasts calling for a hard freeze north of the border, this may be the week. There are reports of masses of ducks migrating south from northeastern Idaho into the lower Snake River Basin.

There were a lot of migrating geese flying over Spokane from the north on Monday. Field shooting should improve. Contacts in Alberta say the birds have left.

A persistent friend keeps looking for chukars along the Snake River breaks in eastern Washington, but on three trips has not seen a bird. Pheasants are a little less scarce, and the cold weather will have them sitting tight.

Contact Alan Liere at spokesmanliere@yahoo.com