Hunting & Fishing

Geese, Idaho

Serious goose hunters should do well when the North Idaho season opens a half hour before sunrise Saturday. This will be the earliest opening date for geese in Idaho in several years.

Officials of the Idaho Fish and Game Department said there are plenty of geese in the Panhandle for excellent hunting.

Most popular areas will be Lake Coeur d’Alene, the lakes adjacent to the lower Coeur d’Alene River, along the Clark Fork and Pend Oreille rivers, near the Kootenai refuge in the Bonners Ferry area and the fields south of Worley.

The limit is four Canada geese a day. The goose season ends Jan. 7.

Upriver brights

The Columbia River from the White Bluffs to Priest Rapids dam will be dotted this weekend with a variety of boats ranging from jet skis to 24-foot cruisers powered by 150-horsepower engines.

Fishermen think they’ve got a good chance of hooking one or two of the giant chinook salmon that are in the Hanford Reach. More than 50,000 fall chinooks, dubbed “upriver brights” by fishery biologists, are above McNary Dam and are climbing the fish ladders at the rate of 2,000 to 3,000 a day.

Even though there are thousands of chinooks in the Columbia between the White Bluffs and Priest Rapids dam, only a small percentage of anglers will boat chinooks. Last weekend, for example, only about one of every 10 caught a salmon.

And, incidentally, the upriver brights aren’t exactly silver bright salmon. They’re still in good condition after swimming from the ocean to the White Bluffs, but they’re already turning reddish as their spawning time approaches.

If you fish for the chinooks the next few days, be prepared to maneuver your boat among scores of other boats. Many of the persons who fish for the chinooks don’t know how to handle a boat properly.

More and more anglers are anchoring along good drift spots. If you hook a fish, you’ll have to maneuver around anchored boats. If you’re lucky, you’ll boat one if your fish doesn’t swim around the rope of an anchored boat.

Chinooks, Idaho

Large numbers of chinook salmon are in the lower Coeur d’Alene River to spawn and some anglers are hooking them in the Enaville area. The salmon are in poor condition for eating.

Steelhead

About 60,000 have climbed the fish ladders at Ice Harbor Dam, the lowest dam on the Snake, and are slowly moving up the Snake.

More than 30,000 are above Lower Granite dam. Most are destined for the upper Snake, Grande Ronde and Salmon rivers, but some will spawn in the Clearwater.

Steelhead fishing has been fair to good in spots along the lower Snake and near the mouths of the Grande Ronde and Salmon rivers and in the Ronde.

Although the water temperature in the Snake above Asotin is still a little too high for outstanding fishing, enough steelhead are taking anglers’ lures to justify spending time fishing for them. The best time to fish is from daylight to 8 a.m., when water temperatures are the lowest of a day.

Good bets for the lower Snake are the Wallula area, near the Little Goose Dam and the mouth of the Tucannon River.

Several hundred steelhead are in the lower Clearwater and anglers have been hooking and releasing a few every day. Best fishing is in the area from the Potlatch mill to the 12-mile bridge.

Upland birds

Washington hunters hiked miles to find a only a few chukar coveys when the early season opened in southeastern Washington last weekend.

Chukars likely will be scattered and difficult to locate this weekend because of rain showers this week.

Big game

Bear hunters apparently have done exceptionally well in both Washington and Idaho since the opening of seasons in each state. Most bears have been taken in or near huckleberry patches in high country.

Trout, Washington

Best producers of good-sized trout are some of the selective fishery and fly fishing-only lakes. However, fishing has been tough at many of the lakes.

Last weekend, for example, members of the Spokane Fly Fishers learned during an outing at Lenore and Dry Falls lakes that trout can be difficult to catch. Lenore still has a dense algae bloom and the trout in Dry Falls proved elusive.

Amber Lake south of Spokane has been providing good fishing at times. Very few have been fishing at Williams and Badger lakes, scheduled for rehabilitation Wednesday and Thursday.

Fishing wasn’t fast at Lenice and Nunnally last weekend, but anglers, mostly fly fishers, hooked a few big rainbows and browns.

Fishing was slow at Bayley, which is little more than a mud hole because of a drastic drop in the water level.

Trout, Idaho

Jigging for mackinaws near the shoreline at Cavanaugh Bay has been good. Jeff Smith of the Fins & Feathers shop said he uses 3/8ths to 1-ounce jigs baited with sucker or perch meat and jigs in 90 to 120 feet of water.

Fishing pressure has dropped significantly along the St. Joe, Lochsa and Selway rivers and Kelly Creek. Water temperatures are dropping fast and the cutthroat apparently are migrating downstream.

Trout, Montana

Trout streams in the Missoula area are low, clear and providing good fishing on a variety of fly patterns, said Gary Westerland, manager of Streamside Anglers.

Imitations of hoppers, October caddisflies, Baetis mayflies and midges are taking rainbows and browns.

Westerland said fly fishers, using hopper imitations, are taking good-sized trout along the Clark Fork’s stream banks. Orange Stimulators, Baetis cripples and bead head patterns also are effective on the Clark Fork and Bitterroot.

Pike

Now is a good time to fish for northern pike at Lake Coeur d’Alene and the lakes adjacent to the lower Coeur d’Alene River.

Smith said numerous pike ranging from 12 to 25 pounds have been caught the last week.

He recommended anglers fish around deep weed beds in 15 feet of water. Some pike have been caught on the surface with Buzz Bombs, but most have been taken by spinnerbaits and Dardevle spoons.

Kokanee

Trollers are still taking 25-fish limits of kokanee that average 9 inches long at Lake Coeur d’Alene, Smith said. Fishing has been fairly good at Lake Pend Oreille, he said.