Alan Liere’s fishing-hunting report for Dec. 22
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Fly fishing
Fly fishermen become scarce when it gets this cold, but if you can’t bear to sit by the wood stove with a good book and a cup of coffee, you can still find trout on the Spokane River. Silver Bow Fly Shop said dredging is the name of the game. Use sink-tips and streamers moved slowly, or double nymph rigs that include a stonefly type of nymph. Look for deeper, softer currents and buckets.
Rocky Ford near Moses Lake fishes consistently during the winter. Try scuds, midge pupa or baetis nymphs. Stripping streamers can also be productive.
The Snake River is giving up a few steelhead to fly fishermen. The Grande Ronde has a lot of ice, but there was open water at the lower mouth earlier this week.
Open water fishing
Trollers continue to catch lots of 14- to 20-inch rainbow trout downstream from the Lincoln boat launch and almost anywhere else on Lake Roosevelt. Kekeda flies with a bit of worm has been good 20 down. If you’re not getting bites, try different trolling speeds as the preferred speeds vary from day to day. Don’t be afraid to move to another area. Walleye anglers are catching more burbot than walleye on Roosevelt.
You don’t need a boat this time of year to catch the beautiful and tasty red-fleshed rainbow trout from Lake Roosevelt. Find a spot on the sand, put a slip sinker on your line, attach a swivel to keep the sinker in place and tie on 5 feet of leader and a No. 6 or 8 hook. Bait with a piece of nightcrawler or shrimp. Add a small marshmallow for flotation or use a dime-sized ball of Power Bait. Test your rig in shallow water to make sure the bait is floating off the bottom. Cast out, take up most of the slack, and wait for the action to begin. Good places to try are the beaches at Porcupine, Fort Spokane, Spring Canyon or Keller.
Lake Pend Oreille remains a good bet for large rainbow. The fish seem to be a little deeper than they were during the Thanksgiving tournament.
The catch and keep sturgeon fishery on the Columbia River opens Jan. 1 and will run Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays until the quota is met. The limit is one sturgeon per person. Contact Reel Time Fishing at (208) 790-2128 for information on a guided trip for either sturgeon or steelhead.
Steelhead fishing on the Clearwater River continues to be good in the lower and middle sections of the river. Drift fishing is turning on. January and February should be excellent.
Ice fishing
Most lakes in North Idaho and in Eastern, central and southwest Washington have ice thick enough to safely fish. In Washington, good reports come from Jumpoff Joe, Sacheen, Thomas/Gillette, Diamond and Curlew (perch), and Hog Canyon, Waitts and Fourth of July (trout). Curlew has safe ice nearly everywhere on the lake.
Don’t forget about little Bear Lake off Highway 2 north of Spokane. Bear is open for juvenile anglers, senior anglers and those with a disability who possess a designated harvester companion card. It has some good-sized perch, bass and channel cats. Look for the deeper water on the south side across from the picnic area. Adults accompanying juvenile anglers may also fish at Bear.
A friend who fished Sacheen and Jumpoff Joe on Monday said the perch at both lakes seemed to come in two sizes – 6-7 inches and 9-11 inches. The larger fish were in the deeper water. He said he also caught “a ton of small sunfish” at Jumpoff Joe. The best fishing was about 100 yards straight out from the public access.
Moses Lake has good ice out from Blue Heron Park. Fishing is erratic as the perch move around in schools. Lind Coulee ice fishermen are catching perch and catfish. Scooteney Reservoir has about 5 inches of ice and anglers there are catching some walleye.
Eloika Lake anglers are catching fair numbers of 6- to 9-inch perch and quite a few largemouth bass through the ice.
In Idaho, Avondale, Bonner, Cocolalla, Dawson, Fernan, Freeman, Hauser, Perkins, Medicine and Upper and Lower Twin have spiny ray and some trout. Avondale perch are numerous but small. Anglers who stay on the lake into the night are catching a few crappie.
The best small Idaho lakes for pike are Hauser, Hayden, Killarney and Thompson. Medicine and Cave lakes are usually good. Chatcolet Lake, at the south end of Coeur d’Alene, is a good spot for pike, and ice anglers there usually catch some decent-sized perch. While the little lakes around Bonners Ferry and Sandpoint are fishable, Priest Lake needs more time before mackinaw jiggers can safely go out. Hauser Lake is getting a lot of attention and the perch bite has been excellent.
Hunting
Upland hunters are taking a few chukars on the Snake River breaks, but quail have been a lot easier to find. The blackberry thickets down low between Wawawai and Steptoe canyons have a lot of quail, but it is often difficult to get the birds to leave their thorny sanctuary. If you drop one in a blackberry patch, you’ll look like you’ve been sorting cats after retrieving it.
Contact Alan Liere at spokesmanliere@yahoo.com