Alan Liere’s hunting and fishing report for Oct. 24, 2024

Thu., Oct. 24, 2024

By Alan Liere The Spokesman-Review

Tip of the week

If your deer carcass has accumulated a lot of hair during the skinning process, use a leaf blower to blow the hair away. It does a better job than the traditional warm water and rag.

Heads up: Deer Lake goes to a year-round fishery this year. This bodes well for perch fishermen, particularly if the lake freezes, as there is a good population of nice-sized perch in the lake.

Walleye are spreading upstream in the Snake and Salmon rivers and occupy critical rearing and migratory areas for juvenile salmon and steelhead. For the past couple of years, Idaho Fish and Game has asked – and continues to ask – anglers to harvest any walleye they catch in Idaho salmon and steelhead rivers and report the location and size of the fish to help Fish and Game better understand how this species is spreading. Anyone who catches a walleye in Idaho rivers is asked to kill it, take a photo and contact Idaho Fish and Game biologist Marika Dobos at the Lewiston Regional Office by email at marika.dobos@idfg.idaho.gov, or call (208) 750-4228.

Overheard: Spawning hatchery salmon have been released in the Spokane River and trout fishermen have been catching them on egg patterns.

Braggin’ rights: After going several years without shooting a deer, I killed a four-point white-tail last Thursday evening. Two days later on the Oct. 19 Saturday’s pheasant opener, I shot a limit of roosters, topping off a short morning hunt in the Palouse with my first true double in many years.

Fly Fishing

Fishing has been decent this past week on the Spokane River. The usual nymphs like rubber legs, caddis pupa and jig prince will be good this time of year.

Cutthroat have dropped out of the upper stretches of the North Fork Coeur d’Alene River in preparation for winter. Small dries like blue-winged olives, midges and purple hazes will be your best shot at risers.

Small dries have also been the most important flies for surface activity on the St. Joe River. Otherwise, nymphs like perdigons and Spanish bullets will pick up the bulk of fish.

Silver Bow Fly Shop said streamer fishing can be great this time of the year.

Fishing has been good at Amber and Sprague lakes. Fly fishermen are throwing boatmans or bionic worms for their fish. The Clark Fork in Montana has been excellent for big fish lately.

Trout and kokanee

Cooling water means trout will come up into shallower water, so bank anglers and trollers alike will see more success fishing closer to the surface than during the heat of summer. This means Lake Roosevelt bank fishermen will begin finding success again, as well as anglers at all the year-round lakes in the Idaho Panhandle, and at such Washington destinations as Sacheen, Diamond, Waitts and Banks.

Lake Roosevelt rainbow fishermen are having their best luck trolling flies or Apexes near Keller. The fish are in the top 10 feet of water. The long stretch between Split Rock and Jones Bay has also been productive. Hawk Creek is also reported to be good.

Salmon and steelhead

The Grande Ronde, Snake and Clearwater rivers have seen good steelhead fishing lately. The Methow River reopened on Oct. 16 for mandatory retention of two hatchery steelhead from Burma Bridge down to the mouth. There have been a lot of anglers on the river. Check WDFW regulations for emergency rules before heading there.

A friend who took his niece, her husband and two kids steelhead fishing on the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater said they did well trolling lighted lures at night and bobber fishing shrimp scented with garlic oil during the day.

He said the fish they landed were huge B-runs and they also lost several fish that either broke their 20-pound test leaders or threw the hook.

Steelhead have moved into the Main Salmon River and anglers are catching fish from Skookumchuck Creek to Mackay Bar. Fly fishermen are doing well spey casting the well-known fly fishing stretches and guides are back-trolling plugs with good success.

Spiny ray

Idaho Fish and Game reminds anglers that fish are migratory, particularly those in larger lakes and reservoirs. While cooling weather bring trout closer to shore, it will push many bass and panfish offshore, and you’ll need to adjust your tactics to where they are, not where they used to be.

For bass and panfish, a quick rule of thumb is to fish deeper and in more open water, not along those convenient shorelines, bays and coves.

Walleye fishing has been slow on Potholes Reservoir, but anglers are still reporting large schools of big crappie around the habitat boxes. Use your sonar to find one with a lot of fish activity around it.

Walleye anglers trolling bottom bouncers and a Slow Death rig with nightcrawlers have done well recently on Moses Lake. They are also catching a lot of perch, some as large as 11 inches near the I-90 Bridge. Schools of small crappie have been reported in the same area.

Some of the best walleye fishing on Roosevelt has been near Keller, but a friend had some success this week near the mouth of the Kettle River by dragging a bottom bouncer and a spinner tipped with nightcrawler. Cooler weather this week should get the fall bite going.

Other species

Large channel cats are still being found in good numbers in Potholes Reservoir.

The bite should continue for another week at least. Some of these fish weigh close to 20 pounds.

Hunting

White-tail populations have finally begun to rebuild nicely in units hit by the blue tongue epidemic three years ago. Hunting success has been fair to good. The early season buck white-tail modern rifle season remains open through Friday in units 101, 105, 108, 111, 113, 117, 121 and 124. It is closed in all other units until the beginning of the late white-tail season which begins Nov. 9. Mule deer season closed Tuesday and will not reopen this year for modern rifle. The Washington elk modern rifle season opens in most units Saturday.

Idaho hunters will see similar – if not better – elk populations this fall. Harvests should be at or above the 10-year average, which continues to be at a near-record number. Be sure to review opening and closing dates to elk seasons by reviewing the Idaho 2024 Big Game Seasons and Rules booklet.

WDFW collected 104 chronic wasting disease samples at hunter check stations during the second weekend of early modern firearm at 10 check stations throughout Region 1. Species collected included 40 mule deer, 62 white-tailed deer and two moose. Chronic wasting disease has not been detected in any of the 143 samples tested by the lab since the disease was first detected in GMU 124 this summer.

Duck hunting remained only fair last week on local waters as hunters compete with skittish birds and warmer than average temperatures. Lower temperatures and storms are needed up north to get them coming this way. Snow geese are beginning to show up in Grant County as well as the Tri-Cities.

Many Washington pheasant hunters say they are seeing way more birds this year than last. There didn’t seem to be many orange-clad participants out on Saturday in the Palouse, however, though the weather was perfect for hiking.

Idaho Fish and Game is teamed up with Winchester State Park to provide more opportunities for waterfowl hunters in the Clearwater Region on Winchester Lake. Specific rules are in place to help limit the number of people hunting and where they are allowed to hunt, and hunters will be required to sign up in advance before hunting at www.signupgenius.com/go/5080444ACAE2AA4F94-45521422-winchester

Contact Alan Liere at spokesmanliere@yahoo.com