Weekly hunting and fishing report

Fly fishing

The Yakima River was a bit on the high side at midweek but is predicted to drop into nice shape by the weekend. Good fishing should be available as it dips below 2,000 cubic feet per second.

Salmon and steelhead

Glowing steelhead reports came from Idaho’s Clearwater River last week, but following the rains, the river is a bit high and muddy. Sources at Camp Cabin and Home in Lewiston say it is dropping and clearing and should be excellent by the weekend with an influx of new steelhead. A lot of B-runs have been caught side-drifting bait and yarn combos. Back-trolling plugs and divers and bait combos has also been effective.

Coeur d’Alene chinook are deep – 100-120 feet, but the bite is good. Helmeted herring without a flasher is best, but Mini Squids with a flasher are a close second. A lot of 8- to 12-pound fish have been landed this winter.

Trout and kokanee

Friends found a good concentration of Lake Roosevelt kokanee last weekend in one of the bays near Spring Canyon. They said the fish were thick – rolling on the surface and willing to hit almost anything trolled 10 feet down over relatively shallow water. All the fish had intact dorsal fins so they could only take two each, and all were between 13 and 18 inches. Two days later, the fish were out of the bay in 140 of water, still near the surface. Since then, there have been similar reports of kokanee action from Whitestone down.

Even without a boat, anglers can experience good fishing at Roosevelt by plunking PowerBait from shore at places like Fort Spokane, Jones Bay and Sterling Point. A friend who fished at Sterling on Tuesday said he caught four fish in the first half hour but didn’t get his fifth fish until 4 hours later.

The rainbow bite predictably continues on Lake Roosevelt. Keller, Hunters, Seven Bays, Fort Spokane, Sterling Point – it doesn’t seem to matter. Flies, hoochies, Rapalas, Apexes, Rip’n Minnows – they all seem to work, with orange being a preferred color. Depth is critical. Troll in the top 12 feet of water.

Rock Lake is getting the usual complaints about the poor launch, but the fishing has been excellent for mostly rainbow trout less than 15 inches.

Rufus Woods seems to be full of 2-pound fish, but bigger ones are being taken by trollers fishing big plugs deep.

Lake Chelan is hot for trolling mackinaw in the Barrens, kokanee on Colyar Ledge and rainbow in Mill Bay, Anton Jones at Darrel and Dad’s Family Guide Service said. Other anglers there say they are averaging a mack every 20 minutes and a koke every half hour. The macks are on the bottom, but the best bet for kokanee seems to be 75-100 feet down.

Ice fishing

Ice at Eloika Lake is still 6-8 inches and in good shape, but the bite is erratic. Three friends and I fished from 9:30 a.m. to noon recently and only iced about 10 fish. Three of us left early, but the one who stuck it out said there was “an epic” bite between 3-4 p.m., when he was catching a fish a minute, including an 18-inch largemouth. He said crappie started biting just as it was getting dark and he caught 10 (three keepers) before leaving the lake.

Hog Canyon ice remains firm in the middle, but there is some open water around the edges and you’ll need boots to get out on safe ice. A friend who fished there Tuesday said there is 20 feet of open water at the access, but it was sitting on top of solid ice and didn’t come up far on his boots. Fishing for 10- to 12-inch trout is good at times, but there have been some complaints about the quality of their flesh. Fourth of July is also in decent shape and the trout are a lot larger.

Silver Lake has good ice in the access bay all the way across, but there is some open water near the stickups. The problem is the perch are tiny. One angler interviewed said he caught “about a hundred fish” and only one was worth filleting.

At Sprague Lake, anglers have been fishing on thin ice at times, but it looks pretty good. Most of the activity for 15-inch trout and 13-inch steelhead is between the public access and the big island.

There were about 30 anglers on the ice of Moses Lake just out from Blue Heron Park last Saturday, but after the big rain that night, no one was fishing on Sunday. The launches are still iced in.

Most Idaho lakes have fishable ice, though on some, there is water around the edges. Fernan has been hit and miss for panfish, but the trout fishing has been pretty good. Avondale has been good this winter, but the perch are small. Gamble has a lot larger perch.

Spiny ray

The Potholes walleye bite is still excellent just outside the dunes. A lot of 5-pound-plus big fish are hitting blade baits in 15-25 feet of water on the edge of the hump.

Lake Roosevelt walleye are still hitting in the Spokane Arm. Brass and nickel blade baits in 5/8 size are doing the damage.

Other species

Whitefish anglers are making good catches drift-fishing near Vernita Bridge on the Columbia, with some fish reaching 2 feet in length. Tie a three-way swivel to your main line. Hang a weight from one of the eyes on about 24 inches of mono. On the other eye, tie a white fly or Glo Hook tipped with a maggot on 18 inches of mono. Find a current that is not too fast where the water is no more than 25 feet deep and just drift along, dragging the bottom.

Hunting

Potholes Reservoir still has ducks, but they are sitting in the middle all day and flying out late to feed. Sunday is the last day to hunt for ducks and geese in Washington, and Friday is the last day in Idaho. All other hunting seasons, with the exception of rabbits and coyotes, are over. What are my dogs and I going to do for eight months?