Alan Liere’s weekly fish and game report

Wed., Nov. 23, 2016

Alan Liere

Real ducks are usually moving around, creating ripples. To make your decoy spread more realistic, add a string to one or more of the imposters and use it when ducks are in sight. All it involves is tying a length of monofilament fishing line to a decoy and running the line into the blind. Don’t pull too aggressively – you’re just trying to make the water move, not add splashes, and you don’t want the decoy coming back to the blind.

Braggin’ rights

Emily Craner, 28, of Sagel, Idaho shot her first whitetail deer Nov. 19 near Sandpoint. Using a Ruger .243, she anchored the dandy 4x4 after passing up a forked horn earlier in the morning. Miss Craner said she bleated once to get the deer to stop and killed him at 22 yards.

Overheard

A friend in southern Idaho says he just saw his first flight of northern mallards arrive on the Snake River. Another contact in the Umatilla area tells me there are definitely some new birds at Patterson on the Columbia. There’s hope.

Heads up

Rules for Lake Roosevelt trout retention are changing sometime in December. The five-trout daily limit in the area from Grand Coulee Dam to the Little Dalles power line crossing will be retained, but all native trout with an intact adipose fin will have to be released. Check the department’s website at http://wdfw.wa.gov/ for details in December.
A $4,000 reward is being offered for information that helps convict the perpetrators of a shooting slaughter that killed at least five elk in one herd and perhaps wounded more near Ellensburg on November 6. Sgt. Morgan Grant of the Yakima Fish and Wildlife office said the investigation is still ongoing, adding, “The people that do this aren’t hunters. These people, they just have no morals or ethics.” The wildlife department is offering 10 bonus points for special permit hunts to anyone providing information leading to a conviction. Call (877) 933-9847 with tips.

Fly fishing

Amber Lake closes after Nov. 30, but until then will provide excellent fly fishing for big rainbow and cutthroat.

Reds Fly Shop in Yakima says the trout spey action is a bit slower on the Yakima now, as the cold weather has made fish sluggish. Use a very slow presentation. Three favorite November flies on the river are the Psycho Mayfly Nymph, the olive and red Zebra Midge and the Anato Mayfly Nymph. A report from above Roza Dam said a grey and brown nymph bounced off the bottom was also working.

Stripping streamers through the small pockets and eddies along the shore is key on the Spokane River, says Silver Bow Fly Shop. On the North Fork Coeur d’Alene, dredge the deeper, slower water with nymphs.

November can provide good fly fishing on the Lochsa, Selway and North Fork Clearwater rivers. Find the deeper pools and use small nymphs. Review the regulations as there are harvest and gear restrictions.

Fly fishermen throwing mini leeches are catching some big rainbow at Rocky Ford.

Salmon and steelhead

Steelhead fishing on the upper Grande Ronde has been good lately. The Snake River has also been a decent option, and the Clearwater has had some excellent days.

Trout and kokanee

Waitts Lake seems to drop off angler radars in the winter, but there is still some excellent rainbow and brown fishing available. Anything that will take a trout at Lake Roosevelt will work at Waitts.

Anglers trolling Rufus Woods above the dam are catching good numbers of rainbow trout, but the kokanee bite is not doing much yet. When it begins, expect to catch some good-sized fish. There has been some excellent trout fishing off the weed beds between pumps 2 and 4.

Sprague Lake rainbow trout went on a feeding binge this week, providing lots of action for fish topping 18 inches. Trollers there said anything was working.

Lake Roosevelt is generally very good for 14-16-inch rainbow, but it is not always a slam dunk. A couple anglers this week said limits came almost too fast in the vicinity of Keller, but three others reported two-fish days. Flies in the top 13 feet were again accounting for the majority of fish.

If Black Friday shopping is not your thing, remember that four eastern Washington trout lakes open Friday. Fourth of July and Hog canyon lakes south of Spokane have catchable-size rainbow and some triploids, as so do Hatch and Williams lakes to the north.

Trolling for big trout has been very good along the vertical cliffs in the Devil’s Lake and Goose Island areas of Banks Lake.

Lake Chelan kokanee continue to provide action for fat kokanee in the vicinity of the Yacht Club. You’ll find them anywhere from 40 feet on down. The majority of fish taken recently have measured over 13 inches.

Fernan Lake in Idaho is close and accessible to bank and dock fishermen. Most of the trout are about a foot in length.

The annual Lake Pend Oreille Fall Fishing Derby will take a break for Thanksgiving and resume Friday. The final weigh-in will be Sunday. Chris Bier has taken over first place in the adult rainbow division with a fish weighing 18.22 pounds and Gale Belgarde Jr. headed the adult mackinaw division with an 18.84-pounder. But Alexis Berube of the Junior Division topped them all with a 19-pound rainbow.

Spiny ray

Very few walleye reports have come in recently. The best was from two anglers at Rufus Woods who caught six nice-sized walleyes near Seaton Grove last Sunday. On Lake Roosevelt, one angler told me you can catch as many 10-12-inch walleye as you care to clean, jigging in about 50 feet of water.

Other species

Several waters reopen Dec. 1 for winter whitefish fishing, including the Yakima River between Sunnyside Dam and 3,500 feet below Roza Dam, Roza Dam to Easton Dam, the lower Cle Elum River, and the lower Naches River below the confluence with the Tieton River.

In Idaho, the Clearwater River below Orofino, the Selway, Lochsa, and North Fork Clearwater rivers have excellent populations of whitefish and the bite is on. In Washington, the Yakima, Wenatchee, Methow, Kettle, Pend Oreille, Spokane and Columbia rivers are all good.

It seems a little early for burbot, but anglers who locate them on their fish finders are reeling them up from 35-50 feet of water near Lincoln and at Buoy 1. A friend has had good luck at times drop-shotting unbaited white plastics. So far, nothing over 3 pounds as been reported.

Hunting

Hunting good cover for pheasants continues to be productive.

Goose hunters in Lincoln, Spokane and Walla Walla counties, where goose hunting is allowed only on Saturdays, Sundays and Wednesdays, get a few extra hunting days this week as Thursday and Friday will also be open. Two friends hunted near Harrington last Saturday, killing three honkers and a lesser. They said there were fair numbers of birds on Coffeepot Lake but the big buildup has not yet materialized.

Washington turkey hunters have until Dec. 15 to take their fall bird. Huge flocks are conspicuous in the wheat stubble throughout the Inland Empire and north Idaho. Sitting in my deer blind Wednesday night, a flock of 27 was feeding right out front, and several pheasants were pecking away at the plot of millet I planted last spring. No deer, though. Many Idaho turkey areas remain open through Dec. 31.

I didn’t shoot a deer this year because I didn’t try very hard. Sitting in my easy chair reading the paper on Saturday, the last day of the season, my dogs’ barking drew me to the window. Standing by my flag pole 30 yards away was a four-point whitetail. I briefly contemplated getting my rifle, but decided that wasn’t the way I wanted to take a deer. Next year I’ll spend more time in my blind.

Contact Alan Liere at spokesmanliere @ yahoo.com