Alan Liere’s fishing-hunting report for Jan. 19

Jan. 18, 2023 Updated Wed., Jan. 18, 2023 at 8:41 p.m.

By Alan Liere For The Spokesman-Review

Tip of the week

Fishing with worms is always a good bet, but you only need a 1-2-inch piece to catch most panfish and trout. Cutting a worm into usable chunks is much easier with a small pair of scissors. When ice fishing, a piece of nightcrawler on a hook suspended just a few feet under the ice can be incredibly effective.

Heads up

Two ice fishing tournaments are coming up on Diamond Lake in February hosted by Clumdog Outdoors and North 2 Tackle. Tournament headquarters will be at the Edgewater Lounge, 802 S. Shore Diamond Lake Road (Just across Highway 2 from the Diamond Lake public access.) The first tournament on Feb. 4 will be for the biggest trout with a big perch kicker. The second tournament on Feb. 11 will be for the biggest perch with a big trout kicker. Registration will be the morning of the tournaments at the Edgewater from 7 to 9 a.m. Weigh-in is all day, ending at 3:30 p.m. Entry fee is $15.

Overheard

With strong catch rates through the first week of January, the Bonneville Pool between Bonneville Dam and The Dalles Dam on the Columbia River is now closed to retention of white sturgeon.

There are new owners at Coulee Playland Resort on Banks Lake. Ben and Sharon Fox have acquired the resort from the long-time proprietor, Hal Rauch.

Fly fishing

The Spokane River is a good winter option, Silver Bow Fly Shop said, but Latah Creek has been high and causing dirty water. As the weather cools this week, however, it will clear up. Trout spey and streamer fishing has been productive. Nymphing a stone, San Juan, and/or hot bead or hot spot-type of nymph in slower currents is the go-to, especially on colder days.

The Snake River has been a good swing option, and as the Clearwater River comes back down, it will be, too. The Grande Ronde has been on the high side, but should improve by the weekend. Find the slower, deeper runs/pools and focus on getting your bugs down. Some nice fish have been caught this winter and swinging has been better lately than it was at the beginning of the season.

Salmon and steelhead

Historically, January and February provide the highest catch rates on the Clearwater River. Guide Toby Wyatt of Reel Time Fishing said his crew is side drifting the upper river around Lenore and Orofino and experiencing hot fishing. For more information, call (208) 790-2128.

Open water fishing

Lake Roosevelt anglers trolling for kokanee below Keller are not having much luck, but say the trout fishing has been good. Whatever the fly or lure, chartreuse has been the hot color.

Two friends and I went looking for burbot around Sterling Point last week. When we didn’t find those, we switched over to trolling for trout, but we didn’t mark many and only caught two. Another friend fished from shore with Power Bait the next day and caught four big trout. He said he had no bites the first two hours, then had 12 bites during the next two hours and none again the rest of the day – not fast fishing, to be sure.

Walleye fishermen have had a tough time recently on Lake Roosevelt. The best report came from two anglers across from Seven Bays who caught 14 by fishing swimbaits in 45 to 55 feet of water. They said jigging and blade baits were only good for wearing their arms out.

Most Rufus Woods triploids range in size from 3 to 9 pounds with the majority of fish recently taken on jigs or tubes. Fishing has been slow.

Fishermen are finding a few cooperative pike by throwing dead bait under a bobber in Lake Coeur d’Alene bays like Wolf Lodge and Carlin. Cougar Bay is unfishable because of low water, and the south end of the lake still has some ice. Anglers trolling for chinook salmon are managing a few 3- to 8-pound fish by fishing deep with hoochies or helmeted herring.

Ice fishing

Although it got sloppy early in the week, ice at most area lakes is holding. There are 8-10 inches of ice at Jumpoff Joe, Sacheen and Diamond lakes. Of the three, Sacheen has had the best perch fishing, though you’ll have to walk a little farther to find the 30-40 feet of water they have moved to. A few brookies and tiger trout have been caught. Anglers who do best will either change location or technique if they aren’t getting at least a perch every 5 minutes.

With Jerry’s Landing closed, ice fishermen on Eloika Lake have a long walk north from the public access to get to the best fishing. Perch, sunfish and largemouth bass provide most of the action.

A friend and I fished Bear Lake last week, finding a decent perch bite in about 13 feet of water after striking out in 37 feet of water earlier. The perch we caught were of all sizes from 7 to 10 inches. Bear Lake had some rotten ice and water around the fishing dock, but we found firm ice farther north.

Bead Lake ice is good, and anglers have been catching some big burbot in 30-70 feet of water under the powerlines that span the lake. Because the steep hill down to the public access is treacherous in winter, the access has been closed to vehicle traffic. Parking is available along the road above the access, but this means a long walk down to the lake and what seems like an even longer uphill walk to get out.

Curlew Lake perch fishing has been off and on, mostly on. The area in front of the state park remains productive, but on the other side of the lake, the ice in front of Tiffany’s Resort has also been good.

Although two-thirds of Banks Lake is covered with ice, the recent warm weather has compromised some of it, putting a halt in some places to fishing for lake whitefish. With more cold in the forecast, the ice could firm up by the weekend, but last Sunday, there were a couple of anglers who broke through.

Lower and Upper Twin in Idaho have good ice. Both have been good for small perch and a few trout.

Cocolalla Lake has about 6 inches of ice. The perch are all around 9 inches with the best bite from about 10 a.m. to noon. The Hauser Lake perch bite remains good, and the ice is holding up.

Ice on Fernan Lake near Coeur d’Alene is iffy. A few anglers are getting out, but it will probably be better to wait until the next cold snap. Granite, Twin, Mirror and Spirit lakes still have decent ice. Small kokanee and chinook are being caught at Spirit.

Hunting

Brant hunting in Clallam, Pacific and Whatcom counties remains open, but the Skagit County brant harvest is over for this season. Continued stable winter counts of brant have allowed for scheduled hunting opportunities in Clallam and Whatcom counties on Saturday, Wednesday and Jan. 28 and in Pacific County on Thursday, Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, and Jan. 26, 28 and 29. A trend of historically low brant counts in Skagit County means brant hunting will remain closed, including during the Youth, Veteran and Active Military waterfowl hunting opportunity on Saturday, Feb. 4.

With the upland bird season over and waterfowl almost so, coyote hunting is providing some outdoor action. The song dogs have been numerous, noisy and conspicuous around my home on Wildrose Prairie. There have been times when I have observed four coyotes at a time from my living room window.

The price paid for a raw coyote hide has dropped in the past two years with a prime western pelt now bringing about $50.

Contact Alan Liere @spokesmanliere@yahoo.com