Hunting & Fishing
Turkeys, Washington
Eastern Washington’s turkey country will reverberate Saturday and Sunday with hunters’ renditions of wild turkey gobbles, purrs and yelps as the spring season opens.
Indications are that this season
could be the best ever. Hunters who have scouted reported seeing turkeys in places where they’ve never seen them before.
Most turkey hens should be nesting. They and the gobblers will be in the vicinity of the nests during the opening days.
It’s possible for this year’s Washington hunter to take home three gobblers. The limit is three, but only one of each subspecies can be killed.
Realistically, only a few hunters will bag three turkeys. The deadline for applying for multiple tags was March 31 and only only a few hunters thought their chances of taking three gobblers were good.
Experienced, dedicated hunters who long ago made arrangements to hunt in several places have the best chance of taking at least two.
A few will bag two gobblers, a Merriam subspecies in Stevens or Ferry counties and a Rio Grande subspecies in north Lincoln County or in the foothills of the Blue Mountains.
Turkey hunting is the fastest growing hunting sport in the Inland Northwest.
Idaho’s turkey country, particularly the slopes of the Clearwater, Snake and Salmon rivers, is more popular each spring. And nearly 10,000 Montana hunters are expected to try their luck.
This is the first year that the spring season in Washington opens on a Saturday and the turkey habitat will be crowded with hunters.That means that turkey habitat will be crowded with hunters. That means that accidents can happen.
Turkey hunting is considered a dangerous sport. Each hunter will be camouflaged and each will do a lot of calling to try to coax gobblers within shotgun range.
Unfortunately, there may be a few hunters who are not careful and will shoot at anything they think looks like a gobbler.
Washington’s season will continue through May 15.
Hunters still can buy turkey tags for the opener Saturday. The resident tag is $18.
Turkeys, Idaho
Pressure was down from that of last year when the general turkey season opened Monday, Gregg Lonsinski, spokesman for region 2 of the Idaho Fish and Game Department, reported.
He said pressure is expected to be much heavier this weekend, when most hunters will have days off.
Lonsinski said there are plenty of turkeys along the Clearwater, Snake and Salmon rivers for excellent hunting and the interest among hunters is high.
Colville Reservation
Fishing on the Colville Indian Reservation opens Saturday on waters such as Buffalo and Twin Lakes. Anglers must have a tribal fishing permit, available at resorts on the lakes, sports shops in Colville and Kettle Falls or tribal headquarters in Nespelem.
Sprague Lake
A 21-pound channel catfish was caught at Sprague Lake a few days ago by Robert Molett of Spokane, Mike Mielke, operator of the Sprague Lake Resort, reported.
Mielke said the huge fish was the largest caught at the popular lake since the Fish and Wildife Department treated the lake with rotenone several years ago. The fish may have been one of the original channel cats released after the rehabilitation.
Mielke said the man and his son, using worms, fished near the resort in the upper end of the lake. The next day, he said, the two showed up again and fished the same spot. The father hooked a second large channel cat, probably as large as the one he caught the previous day, but the son knocked the fish off the hook with his net.
Mielke said that anglers have been catching a few rainbows and walleyes at the lake the last 10 days, but that fishing for other species has been slow.
“What we need,” he said, “is some calm, warm weather to turn the fish on.”
Fishing, Basin
Rocky Ford Creek and Lenore Lake are the best bets for trout, but anglers reported that fishing has been spotty at both places the last couple of weeks. The water’s been too cold for good insect hatches.
Fly and spin fishers, casting near the shoreline at Lenore, have been hooking and releasing spawning Lahontan cutthroat. However, they’ve had mediocre luck hooking non-spawners in the main part of the lake.
The Bureau of Reclamation has been raising the level of Lake Roosevelt. As a result, fishing has been spotty. High winds have hampered trolling the last week.
Northern Pike
Shore anglers, fishing smelt and herring under bobbers, have caught some big pike the last 10 days at Lake Coeur d’Alene, Jeff Smith of the Fins & Feathers shop said.
The biggest, a 21-pounder, was caught by Ray Harr of Homedale, Idaho, while he was fishing a smelt under a bobber from shore in Wolf Lodge Bay on Monday. A 30-pound 1-ounce pike was caught last week by Mark Geske of Coeur d’Alene. He was fishing a herring under a bobber from shore in Cougar Bay.
Smith said that numerous 3- to 10-pounders are now being caught on lures at Coeur d’Alene Lake. Most popular lures are the Johnson Silver Minnows, Daredevles and Rapalas.
Pike averaging 24 to 26 inches are being taken at Hayden Lake. Smith said that some pike fishermen have been catching large hybrid cutthroat-rainbows and cutthroat.
Chinook salmon
Larry Schrader of St. Maries won $1,000 in cash for catching the largest chinook at the derby last weekend. His chinook weighed 14 pounds,12 ounces. He trolled a flutter spoon 20 feet down.
Fishing, Montana
Trout streams in the Missoula area have risen a few inches as the result of rainstorms but were still in good condition for fishing at midweek, John Herzer of Streamside Anglers at Missoula said.
The Bitterroot is the place to go to catch big fish, he said. Still hatching are Skwala and brown and black stoneflies. Bluewinged Olive mayflies also are hatching.
Gray Drakes are starting to hatch along the Clark Fork. Also hatching are a few Swalas, brown stones and Bluewinged Olives.
March Brown mayflies are hatching along Rock Creek, Herzer said. Also hatching are skwalas and brown stones.
Steelhead
The only consistent steelhead fishing in North Idaho during the week ended Sunday was along the North Fork of the Clearwater. Anglers averaged 13 hours per fish.
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