Alan Liere’s fishing-hunting report for April 30

Fishing

Lake Roosevelt is on its way back up. By Tuesday, when fishing resumes in Washington, boat launching will be possible at Bradbury Beach, Fort Spokane, Gifford, Inchelium Ferry, Hunters, Keller Ferry, Kettle Falls, Lincoln, Porcupine Bay, Seven Bays and Spring Canyon.

Many Washington Department of Fish and Widlife areas and boat ramps will reopen Tuesday for day-use recreation, as will some recreational fishing per 2019-2020 sport fishing rules.

All freshwater Washington fisheries will open Tuesday, as will Puget Sound saltwater fisheries (Marine Areas 5-13), except for halibut, shrimp and intertidal shellfish harvesting, which remain closed statewide. Coastal saltwater fishing and shellfish harvesting in marine areas 1-4, including coastal clam digs, will also remain closed.

Trout fishing in Washington should be good on the new opener as crews have been busy all spring planting fish. Most of the usual Eastern Washington lakes will have catchables as well as some broodstock. Badger Lake is still loaded with plants of trout and kokanee made last year. It is one of the few lakes where anglers can take their five-fish limit of trout and a bonus limit of 10 kokanee.

Fish Lake near Cheney has rainbow, tiger and brook trout, but an exploding population of small perch is keeping the size down.

A review of the nation’s biggest crappie suggests the 14-inch “monsters” (caught each spring from Lake Spokane in Washington and Hayden Lake in Idaho) have some serious competition. Tuesday’s opening in Washington will be prime time for crappie fishing in both states, but the fish probably won’t compete with the three largest (with photo documentation) caught elsewhere over the years. They are:

1. A 19-inch, 5-pound black crappie that held the IGFA all-tackle record caught from a private pond in Missouri. It became a celebrity when angler John R. Hortsman donated the fish to Bass Pro Shops in Columbia, Missouri, where it lived for years in its 11,000-gallon aquarium.

2. A 5-pound, 7-ounce, 19.25-inch black crappie caught by Lionel “Jam” Ferguson in a private small, deep and weedy spring-fed pond in Loundon County near Knoxville, Tennessee. The fish went through DNA testing by the state to make sure it was a black crappie, not a white crappie or hybrid.

3. A 21-inch, 5-pound, 3-ounce white crappie that has been the IGFA all-tackle world record for the species for over half a century. It was caught in the Yocona River below Enad Dam in Lafayette County, Mississippi, by Fred Bright.

Hunting

Local hunting for turkey and spring bear will open Tuesday in Washington, and the spring bear season will be extended until June 30. Spring bear hunters who would normally travel outside their local areas to hunt may want to wait to see how travel guidance evolves, or seek a permit refund and reclaim their points if they are unable to hunt while meeting local hunting recommendations. Permit hunters are responsible for securing access, which may not be available for all or for the added season dates. Permit holders will be sent more detailed information that will also be posted on WDFW’s COVID-19 page, and they should contact the Wildlife Program Customer Service Desk at (360) 902-2515 or wildthing@dfw.wa.gov if they have additional questions

Applications for controlled deer, elk, pronghorn and fall bear hunts run Friday through June 5. Elk hunters are reminded that new for 2020, there is a five-day waiting period to buy capped elk zone tags for any resident who applies for a controlled elk hunt regardless of whether the person draws the controlled hunt tag.

Turkey hunters are anxiously awaiting Tuesday’s opener in Washington. The birds are in the middle of their breeding cycle and most toms are with only a few hens (a good thing), though I did see a flock of 17 rain-soaked jakes this week in the field below my house. My son reported what I thought an unusual occurrence on Sunday when a hen strolled through his yard, dropped an egg on the bare dirt in his driveway and kept on walking.