Fishing Report

Winter lakes

When Fourth of July and Hog Canyon lakes close to fishing Tuesday, they’ll almost certainly hold large numbers of rainbows. That bodes well for fishing next winter.

Two other winter lakes, Williams and Hatch near Colville, also will close at the end of March. They won’t have nearly as many rainbows, however.

When I fished Fourth of July a few days ago, most of the fly fishers at the lower end of the lake hooked and released numerous 10- to 20-inch rainbows. A few hooked more than 40.

As my boat moved the four miles to the public-access area, I saw trollers and still-fishermen fighting and netting fish.

Hog Canyon also will hold lots of fish when the season ends, but not as many as Fourth of July. Anglers, knowing the trout in Hog Canyon are more tasty than those in Fourth of July, have been catching as many as possible before the season ends.

Whitefish

The huge whitefish in Soda Lake are concentrating around the spot where the canal from the Potholes Reservoir enters the lake and anglers are hooking 2-1/2 to 5-pounders, wildlife agent Dan Rahn reported.

The lake whitefish, much bigger than their river cousins, concentrate around Soda Lake’s inlet this time each year and remain until the water is shut off.

Rahn suggested anglers use small fly patterns baited with maggots. Some fishermen use tiny jigs.

He also said wildlife agents will be at the lake every day the whitefish are concentrated at the inlet to make sure anglers don’t use snagging equipment. In past years, agents have issued numerous snagging citations.

Rahn said the whitefish fishing should be good for about 10 more days.

Spiny rays

If perch are your fish, you undoubtedly know some Sprague Lake anglers have been catching all the perch they’re willing to fillet. What you may not know, though, is the fishing is not consistent. Many fishermen, expecting to fill buckets with perch, have gone home with only a few fish. For a while this year, anglers wondered whether there were any perch left in Sprague Lake. They needn’t have worried.

In some places, perch schools were so dense anglers inadvertently snagged perch after they jerked their lines when they felt a bite. At times, it hasn’t been uncommon for an angler fishing with a two-hook rig to catch two at once.

The perch are worth going after. Some are more than 14 inches long and weigh as much as 2 pounds.

Most productive fishing is in the upper end on the north side.

Anglers also are catching some keeper walleyes at Sprague.

If you intend to fish the Spokane arm of Lake Roosevelt, you have only a few more days to do so. The arm will be closed to fishing for walleyes Tuesday to protect the spawners.

Guide John Carruth of Davenport said fishing for the walleyes in the arm can be baffling. “Talk to one fisherman he’ll tell you fishing is good,” he said. “Talk to another and he’ll say fishing has been frustrating.”

Carruth said he’ll fish the main Columbia from the mouth of the Spokane to Hunters after the Spokane arm closes. In most cases, he said, he’ll fish in water less than 30 feet deep using - to -ounce jigs and Walleye Magic rigs baited with nightcrawlers.

Experienced bass fishermen are hooking fair numbers in the Potholes Reservoir and along the Frenchman Hills Wasteway.

Several North Idaho lakes are warm enough for anglers to catch bass, crappies and northern pike, said Jeff Smith, owner of the Fins & Feathers Shop at Coeur d’Alene.

Cave and Black lakes adjacent to the lower Coeur d’Alene River yielded some big bass and numerous crappies and small pike last weekend.

Rick Kraak, who lives in Silver Valley, caught an 8-pound, 4-ounce bass at Cave Lake during a tournament. He placed first. Lee Thomas of Post Falls was second with a five-fish limit more than 12 inches.

Smith said pike fishing was fair at Lake Coeur d’Alene last weekend. A few to more than 18 pounds were taken in bays.

Several small lakes, including Rose, are yielding crappies.

Kokanee

Trolling for 13- to 17-inch kokanee was excellent early this week for clients of guide Lennie Mayo, operator of the J.L. Fishing Guide Service. He said two clients caught limits in 3 hours and were on their way home by 1 p.m.

He said they trolled hot orange flies baited with maggot and shoe-peg corn near the surface at the mouth of the San Poil River. They also caught and released two rainbows and hooked several other fish.

May said the men used Pro-Lite dodgers and a half-ounce of lead. He ran the boat at 1.7 to 1.8 mph.

Only three of the 10 kokanee had clipped adipose fins. Effective May 1, anglers will have to release all kokanee that don’t have clipped fins.

Fishing was poor last weekend. Mayo said he suspects the kokanee were spooked by scores of boats on the lake during a fishing tournament.

Trout, basin

The huge rainbows in Rufus Woods Lake are still the biggest attraction in the Columbia Basin.

Anglers continue to catch deep-bodied trout in the 4- to 25-pound class. Most of the rainbows are 4 to 5 pounds, but fish in the 10-pound-plus class are not unusual.

Wildlife agent Rahn said fishing has picked up at several Columbia Basin lakes the last 10 days. Most reliable producers have been Warden, Lenice and Heart. However, several lakes south of the Lind Coulee have been yielding limits.

The Fish and Wildlife Department released 25,000 9- to 11-inch rainbows in Warden Lake before the opening of the season. Now, anglers are taking limits of the pan-sized fish, as well as some brown trout in the 20-inch range. Rahn said he checked a fishermen with a rainbow weighing more than six pounds at South Warden Lake. Fishing there, though, has been slow.

Lenice, a “selective gear” lake, has been attracting scores of anglers, mostly fly fishers, the last month. Fishing has been excellent much of the time, with fishermen catching many 12-to 14-inchers and some carryover rainbows to 18. Fishing at Nunnally, just below Lenice, has been slow. Some surprisingly large rainbows have been caught at the Hampton lakes on the Columbia National Wildlife Refuge, Mike Meseberg of the Mar-Don Resort said. “We’ve weighed 5-, 6-, 8- and 10-pound rainbows at our store,” he said. Little Susan Lake has given up some 5- to 6-pound rainbows, he said.

Steelhead

Most steelhead in Inland Northwest waters are in advanced stages of their spawning cycle. The males are developing hooked jaws and both males and females are turning dark. Although many continue to fish for steelhead, a high percentage are releasing the fish they hook.

Most productive area along the Clearwater is its South Fork, where anglers averaged 14 hours per steelhead last weekend, the Idaho Fish and Game Department reported. Fishing was slow along the lower river and its North Fork.

Some sections of the Salmon provided outstanding fishing, particularly from Vinegar Creek’s mouth to the Riggins Creek Station. Anglers averaged four hours per fish. Fishing was good from Whitebird to Riggins. Average along the Little Salmon was 17 hours per fish.

Trout, Montana

Rains and melting snow in the mountains caused the Clark Fork River to rise and turn muddy Wednesday, according to Brooks Sanford, owner of the Clark Fork Trout & Tackle shop at St. Regis. As a result, the river is virtually unfishable.

If the spring runoff has started, the river may be too high and muddy for good fishing for several weeks.

Sanford said that if the river, which was running at 8,000 cubic feet per second Thursday, drops and clears, fishing could be fair to good above and below St. Regis. Skwala stoneflies and March Brown and Blue-Winged Olive mayflies have been hatching.

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