Alan Liere’s hunting and fishing report for Nov. 7, 2024

Thu., Nov. 7, 2024

By Alan Liere The Spokesman-Review

Tip of the week

The one-eighth- and one-fourth-ounce Rock Dancer jig is perfect for winter steelhead. To make a larger profile or create some extra action, add a small rubber worm or the end piece of a rubber worm to the hook.

Heads up: Game management units 101, 117, 121, 124, 127, and 130 in the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Region 1 have reached their harvest cap for cougars and are closed to cougar hunting. Be sure to verify the season is still open in the area you plan to hunt by going to the cougar hunting area openings and closures webpage or calling the toll-free Cougar Hotline at 1-866-364-4868 and press 2 after the greeting.

From Nov. 18 to 26, the Lake Pend Oreille Idaho Club is hosting its Thanksgiving Derby. If you’re fishing on Pend Oreille, keep your eye out for tags located in the backs of rainbow trout. Each tag has a unique number and a phone number and can carry a reward value of $25, $50, $100 or $200.

Idaho bird hunters are asked to keep an eye out for mountain quail this year. There is no open season for mountain quail in Idaho and the bird is classified as a species of greatest conservation need. Mountain quail can be identified by strong white barring on their chestnut sides and with a long, straight head plume that is like an exclamation point.

Overheard: For the first time ever, a few lakes in Grant County can be fished until the end of November. These are Park, Blue and Deep lakes, and reports indicate Park and Blue are producing some great catches of perch and trout. Just above Park Lake is Deep Lake, which is known for good trout fishing in the spring and fall. The lake also has a good population of kokanee.

There is a new 80-foot plank boat launch, a vault toilet and paved parking for 16 trucks and trailers at the newly refinished Million Dollar Mile boat launch on Banks Lake.

Braggin’ rights: The Tri-Cities Chapter of the Coastal Conservation Association has again held a successful broodstock collection effort that provides wild adult chinook salmon to the Priest Rapids hatchery. Nearly 100 volunteer anglers in 24 boats fished the waters of the Reach over the weekend of Oct. 25 and 26, collecting 375 adult kings.

Fly fishing

The much-needed bump of water on the Spokane River the past few days should be good for fishing. Silver Bow Fly Shop said there have been good reports of blue-winged olive and fall caddis fishing during the midday hours lately, but streamer and indicator fishing will be the go-to from here on out.

There are still some late-season opportunities on the North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River, but finding areas with depth is the key. Cutthroat have dropped out of the upper stretches in preparation for winter. Small dries like BWOs, midges and purple hazes will work for risers.

On the Yakima River, fishing typically heats up in November with small nymph and sculpin imitations as rainbows and cutthroat feed up before winter.

The Snake and lower Grande Ronde rivers are good steelhead options. The upper stretches of the Grande Ronde are a little more challenging than the lower stretches.

Trout and kokanee

In southeast Washington, the Wooten Wildlife Area lakes – Watson, Blue, Spring, Rainbow and Deer – draw a lot of fall anglers and are open through the end of November.

Anglers can reel in hefty broodstock rainbow trout this fall from small lakes and ponds in and around Yakima and Ellensburg. WDFW usually stocks 3- to 10-pound fish in November. Check the Trout Plant Reports to see when these fish are available.

If you’re looking for some variety, Stevens County’s Waitts Lake is open and offers largemouth bass and perch as well a rainbow and brown trout. Eloika Lake in north Spokane County has year-round perch fishing, as well as largemouth bass, black crappie and some brown trout.

Steelhead and salmon

Idaho’s annual steelhead returns through October were the highest they’ve been in more than seven years at roughly 97,000 this year. Anadromous fisheries coordinator Chris Sullivan thinks it could surpass 100,000 fish.

Fishing has been fairly strong the past few weeks on the Clearwater River, which has been catch and release since Oct. 15. The river goes back to harvest on Sunday. Dam counts are looking good.

Steelhead fishing returned to the Upper Columbia on October in select areas of the Upper Columbia for the first time in nine years. Hatchery steelhead and coho fisheries will be open in the Methow River and the Upper Columbia River from Beebe Bridge to Brewster.

Fishing for coho and other salmon should remain strong on coastal, Grays Harbor and Willapa Bay rivers through November. The Skagit, Cascade and Nooksack rivers are also good bets. Summer steelhead are being caught on the Cowlitz and other lower Columbia tributaries. The Snake River and its tributaries in southeast Washington often peak in November for the bigger B- Run fish.

Coho can still be found migrating through the Columbia River. The adult coho limit has increased in the lower section of the Hanford Reach (I-182 Bridge upstream to old Hanford townsite powerline). The lower reach is open for Ringold Springs hatchery origin steelhead from the I-182 Bridge to old Hanford powerline crossing.

Spiny ray

Deer Lake in Stevens County is now a year-round lake. This is great news in particular for anglers who like to ice fish for perch.

Newman Lake in eastern Spokane County and Silver Lake in southwest Spokane County are also open year-round for largemouth bass, crappie, perch and hluegill.

Fishing for big bluegill and crappie is popular still on Potholes Reservoir. Locate one of the many habitat boxes on the bottom, anchor and cast to it. These habitat boxes are scattered throughout the reservoir and were placed to promote the survival of young spiny ray.

Excellent walleye fisheries include Wallula Junction, the Snake River below Ice Harbor Dam, and the Columbia River from Boardman upstream to McNary Dam. Smallmouth bass share habitat with walleye but sometimes run as deep as 50 feet. There is no limit on the Columbia for bass, walleye and channel catfish.

Scooteney Reservoir southeast of Othello has a nice mix of perch and walleye. There are also panfish opportunities in the I-82 ponds.

Other species

The Little Spokane River opens Dec. 1 for whitefish. Regulations differ on the Little Spokane, depending on where you fish, so be sure to review the current sport fishing rules pamphlet.

Hunting

The late general season for white-tailed deer runs Saturday to Nov. 19 in Eastern Washington’s Game Management Units 105, 108, 111, 113, 117, 121 and 124. WDFW’s Hunting Prospective can provide insight that can help make your hunt successful.

As the weather cools, there will be lots of opportunities to harvest ducks and geese in northeast Washington on the Pend Oreille River and Lake Roosevelt, as well as in the Colville and Kettle valleys on private lands.

Potholes Reservoir duck hunters report shooting “new” birds this week, saying they have decoyed best to small sets.

Put a turkey you harvested on the Thanksgiving table this year. Wild turkey are not only plentiful (you can harvest up to four in Region 1) but delicious. Brine them for a day or more before baking in a baking bag.

Remember – a wild bird needs much less cooking than a Butterball. Late-fall wild turkey hunting runs through the end of the year in GMUs 101 through 154 and 162 through 186.

Fall black bear season continues through Nov. 15. Bear hunters in certain Eastern Washington GMUs are reminded that it’s possible to encounter some protected grizzly bears, so species identification is critical. If you’re hunting in those areas, you must score 80% or higher on WDFW’s bear identification test or an equivalent test from another state and carry proof that you have passed.

Contact Alan Liere at spokesmanliere@yahoo.com