Hunting & Fishing

Waterfowl

Despite the icing of most Eastern Washington lakes and reservoirs, thousands of ducks and geese are still feeding in harvested corn and grain fields and on winter wheat, but only a relatively few die-hard hunters will hunt them during the final days of the season.

Waterfowl hunters will put away their shotguns after 4 p.m. Sunday.

Most ducks and geese that didn’t leave the state after deep snow covered their food are resting on the big reservoirs and on the Columbia and Snake rivers.

Hunters have had fair to good field shooting in the Columbia Basin and a little open-water shooting the last couple of weeks.

Traditionally, most give up hunting before the long seasons end. Only the most avid continue to hunt until the end of a season.

This week’s near-zero temperatures put ice caps on most of the still waters that hadn’t been frozen. Little open water remains on the biggest reservoirs.

A freelance hunter’s best chance to shoot a few ducks and geese is near the Columbia and Snake rivers. However, even the places that traditionally attract wintering waterfowl, such as the Ringold Springs area of the Columbia River, have been disappointing to hunters.

Hunters bagged some ducks at the Potholes Reservoir and Lind Coulee last weekend and part of Saturday, a spokesman at Mar-Don Resort said.

Enough ducks were in the area early this week for occasional hunting, but there are few ducks and geese left in the Potholes Reservoir-Moses Lake area, they said.

A hunter’s best chance to bag a duck or two is along the wasteways. Goose hunters should look for fields where geese are feeding and get permission to hunt.

Fishing, Washington

Low temperatures this week firmed up ice on most of the popular ice-fishing spots and put ice back on lakes that had lost it.

If the ice can be trusted to support anglers safely at Fourth of July and Hog Canyon, fishing could be fairly good, especially at Hog Canyon.

Parts of the mile-long access road into Hog Canyon were washed out during the recent melt-down, but the Bureau of Land Management, which owns the land around the lake, hired the county to fill in the washouts and otherwise improved the road last week. The road should be in good condition this weekend.

The lake still has a big population of rainbows, most 10 to 14 inches long. It should provide excellent ice fishing at times the next few weeks, according to Jim Scoggie, owner of the Fishtrap Lake Resort, which is just below Hog Canyon.

Anglers won’t have to buck deep snow to get to their favorite spots at Fourth of July. The snow pack virtually melted during the mild weather a couple of weeks ago.

Fourth of July seems to have a good population of large trout, a few more than 20 inches long. Anglers also will catch trout ranging from 9 to 12 inches long.

The ice on Soda Lake below the Potholes Reservoir should be solid enough to support anglers this weekend, a spokesman for the Mar-Don Resort said. During the brief period in December when the ice was safe for fishermen, whitefish were taken in the north end of the lake and small perch in the south.

Fastest and most reliable fishing for whitefish is along the Columbia between Priest Rapids Dam and the Vernita Bridge. Anglers have been catching limits of 12-inch whitefish by drifting maggot-baited flies.

Biggest whitefish, however, are in Soda Lake.

The Lind Coulee should have a good ice cover this weekend. Anglers will catch small perch west of the road that leads to the Mar-Don Resort. The stream entering the coulee from the east holds some rainbows.

Fishing, Idaho

Anglers are pulling northern pike, kokanee, perch, bluegills and bass through ice at North Idaho lakes. Ice is thick enough at the most popular ones for safe ice fishing, Jeff Smith, owner of the Fins & Feathers shop at Coeur d’Alene, said. However, there are some lakes where the ice is still too thin to support people.

Most anglers are fishing for perch at a half-dozen or so lakes. Most popular are Fernan, Avondale, Hauser, Pend Oreille and Rose. Biggest perch are in Hauser, but the best fishing is the first couple of hours before dawn and relatively few anglers like to march out on the ice with lanterns or flashlights for 15 to 20 perch that run 8 to 11 inches. Perch fishing is slow after 8 a.m.

Fernan is kicking out 8- to 9-inch perch and 10- to 12-inch trout. Rose is yielding small perch, bluegills and bass. Avondale’s perch are 8 to 10 inches and Pend Oreille perch are 7 to 11 inches.

Smith said anglers are catching small kokanee through the ice at Spirit Lake.

The ice on the lakes adjacent to the lower Coeur d’Alene River has been too thin for safe ice fishing. However, Smith said the ice should be in good condition this weekend.

Most will fish tip-up rigs for northern pike. Smith said the most popular should be Killarney, where the pike run 2 to 4 pounds, and Thompson, 2 to 6 pounds.

Anglers can use five tip-ups when they fish through ice. They bait Swedish pike hooks or English bait hooks with 6- to 7-inch herring or smelt.

Smith said anglers are starting to fish for perch near the condos at the north end of the long bridge just south of Sandpoint.

Many of the lakes in Bonner and Boundary counties are covered with 3 to 5 feet of snow and getting around is extremely difficult.

Steelhead

Most of the inland rivers were too high and off-color last weekend for good steelhead fishing, said Jay Poe of Clarkston’s Hells Canyon Sports.

However, visibility was good enough along the Clearwater and Grande Ronde for anglers to hook a few steelhead, he said.

Fishing was excellent along the lower Clearwater last weekend. The Idaho Fish and Game Department reported anglers averaged 8 hours per steelhead. The average for the North Fork was 23 hours.

Sub-freezing temperatures this week caused the rivers to drop and clear. Poe said most streams should be fishable this weekend. Anglers will continue fishing above and below Little Goose and Lower Monumental dams and above Lower Granite, as well as along the Tucannon and Walla Walla rivers.

Salmon

Cold, windy weather kept salmon fishermen off Lake Coeur d’Alene last weekend, Smith said. Most anglers attended a clinic on winter fishing. The few anglers who trolled for salmon had poor luck.

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