Alan Liere’s hunting and fishing report for Nov. 28, 2024

Fly fishing

Fly fishing is slowing down on most area rivers, but squirmies, San Juans and rubber leg stoneflies are always on the menu during late fall and winter. Find the slower currents and fish your streamers or nymph rigs down deep. Streamer fishing can be good, especially if flows bump from rain.

Trout and kokanee

Medicare Beach on the east side of Potholes is a great place to fish for 3- and 4-pound trout in the winter. Cast out as far as you can with Power Bait or a worm and marshmallow “sandwich,” pull up a chair, and wait for a trout to come by. There are picnic tables and vault toilets at Medicare Beach.

Winter is also a good time to fish Rufus Woods Reservoir for big triploid rainbow. The limit is the first two fish if using bait, but anglers using artificials without any type of scent can practice catch and release. Jig, plugs and unscented tubes can all be good.

Hog Canyon, Fourth of July, Williams and Hatch lakes open for trout fishing Friday, and all are expected to be productive. District 1 fish biologist Bill Baker said Williams, in Stevens County. was stocked after rehabilitation with 1,500 trout of about a pound each, and with approximately 750 jumbos in October. Steven County’s Hatch Lake, which Baker prefished recently, has a lot of 12- to 13-inch trout.

Baker said Fourth of July Lake, near Sprague in Lincoln County, has trout “of impressive quality.” Anglers there will catch a lot of fish more than 20 inches in length. Internal combustion engines are not allowed on this lake. Hog Canyon Lake in Spokane County has plenty of carryovers from last year and was sweetened with quite a few recently planted carryovers.

Deer Lake is open year-round and evidently the net pen program is making a big difference to the trout fishing. Anglers who have dock access or boats are catching a lot of 11- to 12-inch rainbow. Waitts Lake continues to fish well for rainbows and browns.

Three lakes in Okanogan County – Rat Lake near Brewster and Upper and Lower Green lakes near Omak – provide good trout fishing throughout the winter months.

Steelhead and salmon

It will probably be early next week before steelhead fishing will pick up, as the heavy rains have pretty much blown out the Clearwater and the Grande Ronde. The good news is that after things settle down, steelheading should be good again as the high water not only brings new fish into the system, but it moves fish around that are already there. Steelhead have a tendency to bite aggressively when this happens.

Spiny ray

Winter walleye action is fair on Potholes Reservoir, and largemouth bass can still be found around beaver houses in the sand dunes. No need to be on the water early.

In Idaho, Spirit and Hayden lakes bass are hanging out on remaining weed lines, as they are on Long, Silver and Eloika lakes in Washington. Pend Oreille River bass fishing has also been decent.

Blade baits have been effective for walleye recently on Lake Roosevelt. They are hanging on the channel edges in the Spokane Arm. Also, fish the flats in the main lake with jigs, going as deep as 50 and 60 feet.

Other species

This is the time of year to catch big Coeur d’Alene northern pike, although you’ll have to fish longer for your strikes. Jerk baits will get the most hits.

Hunting

The Idaho red squirrel season runs through March 31 with a bag limit of eight per day. Hunters may use a small-caliber rifle, an air rifle or a shotgun. Red (or pine) squirrels (but not fox squirrels which are also red in color) are native to Idaho and have a wide distribution. They are active during the day, stockpiling seeds, conifer cones, nuts and fruits. Because of their diet, they have an earthy, almost nutty flavor.

Idaho forest grouse are open through Dec. 31, except in Area 1 where they remain open through January. In Washington, grouse are open through Jan. 15.

Both Washington and Idaho have long seasons for cottontail rabbits and snowshoe hares. In Washington (limit five, mixed bag), they may be hunted through March 15, and in Idaho through March 31 (limit eight).

A friend in Nampa, Idaho, swears there are a lot of new ducks and white geese in the area, but in Eastern Washington and North Idaho, hunters are still waiting for the November influx of waterfowl.

The same friend dropped off five big chukars at my house this week, saying the population of chukars and gray partridge is high in southern Idaho, eastern Oregon and Nevada. He shot more of these birds last year than I have shot in a lifetime. Washington chukar hunters are finding some decent hunts on the Snake River breaks.

Contact Alan Liere at spokesmanliere@yahoo.com.