Alan Liere’s hunting and fishing report for May 9, 2024

Thu., May 9, 2024

By Alan Liere The Spokesman-Review

Tip of the week

In northeast Washington, Cedar, Rocky, Mudgett, Starvation and Waitts lakes are all providing good fishing this season, District 1 fish biologist Bill Baker said. He said higher-elevation waters – such as Big Meadow Lake and the Little Pend Oreille Chain lakes, and more – will heat up as the water continues to warm.

Heads up: The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is looking for volunteers and hiring paid positions to assist fin clipping salmon at statewide hatcheries during spring and early summer. Anyone interested in volunteering at a WDFW hatchery can go to WDFW’s website. Anyone interested in applying for a paid marking position can look for positions in their area and apply through Kelly Services. These temporary, full-time positions pay $16.49 per hour with the ability to start immediately, no experience required and training provided.

The WDFW has extended the special hunt permit application deadline one week, until midnight May 22.

Northwest Hunt Fest is making its debut at the North Idaho Fairgrounds in Coeur d’Alene Friday and Saturday. The family friendly event aims to unite hunters across all levels of expertise, offering unique opportunities for learning, competition and camaraderie.

Overheard: Late last month, the Colville Confederated Tribes Resident Fish Program stocked 23,157 triploid rainbow trout averaging 1.4 pounds apiece in Rufus Woods Lake. Additional plants are planned for May.

Fly fishing

All lakes in northeast Washington are good for fly fishing, but WDFW also manages a handful of fly-fishing-only lakes. Bayley Lake, on the Little Pend Oreille National Wildlife Refuge, is one of the best fly-fishing lakes in Eastern Washington.

It regularly produces rainbow trout in the 18- to 20-inch range with some even larger. McDowell Lake is another fly-fishing-only water on the refuge. Other northeast Washington fly-fishing-only lakes include Long in Ferry County and Browns in Pend Oreille County.

The North Fork Coeur d’Alene River is in great shape for wading – perhaps too good for this time of year. Silver Bow Fly Shop reports some blue-winged olive action and a pale morning dun hatch. Prospecting with skwalas and salmon flies has also been productive. Streamer fishing is slow.

The St. Joe is in good shape and fishing well for early May. Dry fly fishing has been good.

Flows on the Clark Fork are excellent . March browns, skwalas, gray drakes and blue winged olives will all be on the menu. Lake fishing is a great option all around the region. Some of the bass lakes are doing well. It’s mostly a subsurface game for bass, but topwater fishing will improve before long. The lower Grande Ronde River smallmouth fishery is on and streamers that imitate the outgoing salmon fry are being hammered. The prime time for this fishery can be short, so go as soon as you can.

Trout and kokanee

District 2 fish biologist Randy Osborne said all went well in Spokane and Lincoln counties on the trout opener waters for the opener. Clear Lake was the most productive with 4.5 fish per angler caught. There were brown trout up to 18 inches and lots of fry plant rainbow of about 13 inches. Williams Lake had many 15- to 16-inch carryover rainbows. As expected, West Medical Lake was slow, but the turnout was large.

All the rainbow and browns caught were big, as the lake received no plants this spring because of the huge illegally stocked goldfish population.

Fishing for rainbow and Westslope cutthroat trout at Amber Lake in southwest Spokane County has been good this spring. Amber is under selective gear rules. Coffeepot Lake, in Lincoln County, is another selective gear lake, but because of low water levels, you can’t get back to the lower end of the lake without walking over 100 yards of dry ground.

Popular choices for anglers in Region 2 include Blue, Park, Deep and Warden lakes in Grant county; Alta, Conconully (Lake and Reservoir) and Pearrygin lakes in Okanogan County; Wapato, Fish, Beehive and Upper Wheeler lakes in Chelan County; and Jameson Lake in Douglas County.

March 1 opening-day lakes are still fishing strongly in Region 2. Martha and Upper Caliche each received fall and spring stockings of catchable 11- to 13-inch rainbow trout. Both lakes received 750 catchable-sized rainbow trout in the fall and 1,500 in March.

Within the Quincy Lakes Unit of the Columbia Basin Wildlife Area there are many walk-in lakes open. Dusty is an excellent hike-in lake for anglers wanting to get away from crowds at other more popular lakes. Each May, this selective gear fishery is stocked with fingerling rainbow, tiger and brown trout. Evening fishing along the basalt hillsides can be excellent for brown trout.

Lenice and Nunnally should fish well for trout in the 14- to 16-inch range with some up to 20 inches. Both lakes received 3,000 catchable-sized trout in the fall and another 2,337 (Lenice) and 2,750 (Nunnally) in April. Selective gear rules apply on these waters.

Lenore, just north of Soap Lake on Highway 17, can be excellent in spring, especially along the lake’s north end where prespawn Lahontan cutthroat congregate. This selective gear fishery is stocked with 70,000 fall fingerling Lahontan cutthroat each October. Adult Lahontan cutthroat average 18 inches. Dry Falls, located in the Sun Lakes State Park, is a popular selective gear lake for large rainbow and brown trout. Fish in the 16- to 20-inch range are common. The lake is under selective gear rules with no combustion motors allowed.

Kokanee are running exceptionally large in Lake Chelan. Fish up to 16 inches are not uncommon above Rocky Point. Loon Lake kokanee “footballs” are getting harder to catch, and there are probably only a few left in the lake. A son and his friend generally get a couple each time out, but they’re putting in a lot of trolling time. Their largest koke stretched almost 22 inches.

Spiny ray

Walleye fishing at Lake Roosevelt will continue to heat up over the next couple of months. It appears the spawn is over, and fair to good reports have come in from Banks, Moses Lake and Lake Spokane. The bass (smallmouth and largemouth) fishing has been good on the Pend Oreille River.

Some of the year’s best fishing for channel catfish and smallmouth bass will be in May in the Yakima, Palouse and Walla Walla rivers.

Perch are in the midst of spawning in backwater areas along the margins of the Columbia River near Paterson, and catch rates are good with many in the 11- to 13-inch range. There is no bag or size limit for perch in the Columbia River.

Other species

The final days of coastal razor clam digs will proceed through Sunday, ending the digging season with a closing tide series that contains the lowest tides of the year. The digs will be at Mocrocks, Twin Harbors, Long Beach and Copalis, but not all beaches are open for every dig. Shellfish and seafood enthusiasts can also attend the Long Beach Razor Clam Festival on Saturday and Sunday. This long-running event celebrates the unique contribution of razor clams to Washington’s culture and coastal communities. For more information, go to WDFW’s razor clam webpage.

Hunting

Spring turkey season started in April and continues through the end of May. If you haven’t bagged your birds yet and are looking for places to hunt, there is plenty of opportunity on public land in Pend Oreille, Stevens and Ferry counties, including the Colville National Forest, the Little Pend Oreille National Wildlife Refuge, and WDFW’s Sherman Creek, LeClerc Creek, and Rustler’s Gulch wildlife areas. In the southeast part of Region 1, the Asotin Creek, Chief Joseph, and W.T. Wooten wildlife areas also have good hunting opportunity for turkeys.

Contact Alan Liere at spokesmanliere@yahoo.com.