Fly fishing

Even whitefish, which can be the saviors of sanity for fly fishermen suffering from a midwinter fishing itch, are hard to come by when weather is this cold. Not only is the window of opportunity small – from about 2 p.m. until dark – it is impossible to keep the guides on your rod clear of ice. If you’re really desperate, however, the Orvis Fly Shop in Coeur d’Alene recommends the Coeur d’Alene River, where you might also catch a trout. Other rivers, such as the St. Joe and Clark Fork, also have whitefish, but driving for three hours to fish for two doesn’t make much sense.

Lake fishing

With the recent frigid weather, many anglers have been staying home. Many Washington and Idaho lakes are ice-covered and may be fishable by Saturday, but check the ice thickness often with an auger while heading for your favorite spot. Washington lakes such as Hog Canyon and Fourth of July will probably be good to go, but deep snow may make access a problem. The north end of Eloika froze up a week ago, but the ice in front of Jerry’s Landing didn’t freeze until Monday night. Newman had about 3 inches at midweek.

The small Idaho lakes such as Gamble, Shepherd and Kelso still had open water early in the week and may take a little longer to be safe.

Sprague Lake rainbow fishing should be a lot of fun through the ice, but Sprague will take a lot more freezing before the ice is safe. A little farther south and east, Rock Lake will be open, and reports from the few anglers who have braved the weather say the browns are still biting.

Even Rufus Woods Reservoir has suffered from the frigid temperatures. While it is still attracting a few anglers, fishing has slowed.

Lake Roosevelt could be one of the brightest spots for trout fishermen in the upcoming weeks. The lower end – from Keller to the dam – has been particularly productive. Anglers who go deep (eight colors) are catching larger but fewer fish than those who stay in the top 10 feet. Take some sand for the boat ramps.

Steelhead and salmon

The Clearwater River was giving up a fish every five angler hours or so throughout the system, but there weren’t many anglers on the water earlier in the week. The Salmon River is also seeing good averages, producing a steelhead for every seven angler hours throughout the system.

Guide Rick Hedding of Asotin said the Grande Ronde froze over Tuesday near Boggan’s and he is not optimistic there will be any steelhead fishing there until after the first of the year. Hedding also noted that the Snake is “dead” as far as angler participation goes, but he said anyone willing to brave the elements will probably find decent fishing.

Near Little Goose Dam, Verna Foley at Darver Tackle in Starbuck said hardly anyone has been fishing the wall, though she has heard of a “fish or two” coming out of the Tucannon River, practically in town.

At the Triangle Shell in Brewster, Bob Fately said steelheaders are doing “OK” in the Columbia from Bridgeport to Wells Dam. He said the rip rap above the dam is an excellent spot to float jigs and shrimp under bobbers from shore. An area guide, however, recommended anglers “stay home and tie up jigs” until the weather breaks.

Ringold angler effort has slowed with the cooler weather, seeing roughly 10-20 bank anglers and three to six boats per day. Bank anglers averaged one steelhead for each 10 hours of fishing and boat anglers averaged one steelhead for every 4.2 hours of angling.

Hunting

This is an excellent time to find a coyote or two wandering about in midday. On a recent drive into the Palouse, they seemed to be everywhere. A few flocks of Huns were also spotted in the snowy wheat stubble around Rosalia.

Find a protected brushy draw near a food source or open water and you’ll probably find more than one pheasant. When it’s cold and snowy like this, the birds like to get their feet off the ground. They can often be found under or in the lower branches of trees.

They should be here, but they’re not. Despite conditions that should have rushed remaining ducks out of Canada, Washington and Idaho hunters are still asking, “Where are the birds?” Goose hunting in the Columbia Basin is holding up, but despite rumors of 52,000 ducks holding on North Potholes Reserve, hunters are not getting much shooting. It appears that what ducks there are fly directly from the reserve to private Hiawatha Valley corn fields.

Hunters on Winchester Wasteway and the Crab Creek Channel of Potholes Reservoir had to break ice to get home last weekend as the water was freezing behind them. Even Potholes Reservoir and Moses Lake are almost completely frozen.

Elsewhere, Columbia River pools that are usually loaded during this kind of weather have few birds, and the Yakima River, which can be good late in the year, is floating big chunks of ice. Conditions are not at all conducive to waterfowl hunting.