Hunting and fishing

Fri., Feb. 11, 2011

By Alan Liere spokesmanliere@yahoo.com

Tip of the week

The relatively new InvisaSwivel is made from a fluorocarbon material called Fluoro-Clear. This new-age swivel, translucent by design, keeps fish zoned in on the fly or jig rather than the terminal tackle hanging above it. It is particularly effective when fishing for steelhead. The website is www.aquateko.com.

Heads up

• Hunting celebrity Jim Shockey will be available for a free Youth, Meet and Greet from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at the Mirabeau Park Hotel, 1100 N. Sullivan Road. He will be signing free posters. Donations will go toward funding the Inland Empire Safari Club’s New Shooters Day on Sept. 11.

• Sidley Lake, near Molson, Wash., and the Canada border, is the scene of the seventh annual Northwest Ice Fishing Festival Feb. 19. The daylong event will be from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., with registration fees of $20 per adult and $10 for youth 14 years and younger. For more information contact Robin Stice at Eden Valley Guest Ranch, (509) 485-4002, or info@edenvalleyranch.net.

• Idaho's hunter education program is looking for new instructors to help meet the growing demand for courses in all Lewiston-area communities. Learn more about the program and how to become a hunter education or a bowhunter education instructor at one of these upcoming meetings hosted by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game: Tuesday February 15, at Idaho Department of Commerce and Labor, 1350 Troy Road, Moscow; Thursday February 17, at Idaho Fish and Game office, 3316 16th St., Lewiston; Tuesday, Feb. 22 at Idaho Fish and Game Clearwater Fish Hatchery, 118 Hatchery Roe Drive, Orofino; Thursday, Feb. 24 at Senior Center, County Road, Grangeville. All meetings will begin at 5:30 p.m.

• Anglers fishing the upper Columbia River and its tributaries are required to retain any hatchery-origin adipose-fin-clipped steelhead they catch, up to the limit of four fish per day, even those with a circular punch in their tail fin. The mandatory-retention requirement is in effect from Priest Rapids Dam to Chief Joseph Dam, and on areas of the Wenatchee, Icicle, Entiat, Methow, Okanogan and Similkameen rivers that are open to steelhead fishing.

Fly fishing

Fishing for whitefish on both the Similkameen and Methow rivers is good. Anglers using small weighted nymphs under a strike indicator do best.

Trout and kokanee

Lake Roosevelt bank and boat fishing is still excellent for rainbow running 15 inches and up. A group of anglers fishing from shore in a bay near Lincoln reported excellent results with marshmallows on slip bobbers just off the bottom. Overall, the lower basin, from Keller Ferry down, has been best for trout and some large kokanee. All are in the top 10 feet of the water column. Pink has been the color of choice for the kokes.

Friends who visited Hog Canyon this week said they caught some nice rainbow on white crappie tube-jigs tipped with a mealworm. A 9-inch bullhead was an unexpected and unwelcome addition to their catch. They also noted the ice was 7 inches thick but that water is running out the end.

The northern winter lakes, Williams and Hatch, still have good ice and plenty of fish. Anglers there recently report good catches of 14-inch rainbow.

Banks Lake is an excellent spot to catch large non-triploid rainbow trout. The northern basin of the lake has been best, with a 10-pounder landed recently.

Rufus Woods has been good for bait fishing, but trolling has been less productive. Another 4,000 triploids were recently released near the net pens. These are typically 2- to 3-pound fish.

Chelan Lake mackinaw fishing is as good as it gets from the trench up to the Yacht Club. Most fish being caught are 3-6 pounds.

Steelhead and salmon

The Clearwater has been busy and good steelhead catches are being made. Guide Toby Wyatt of Reel Time Fishing reported double-digit catches every day last week. He said the Clearwater is better than it has been this time of year for several years.

The Salmon River and the Little Salmon are also heating up for steelhead with angler success running about a fish every 11 hours. The Grande Ronde is back down to near normal and is beginning to produce again.

Boat anglers in the lower Hanford Reach have fared much better with steelhead than shore anglers. The Upper Reach is seeing relatively little angler effort, but boat anglers are averaging a steelhead for each five hours of fishing.

Spiny ray

Little-utilized Bear Lake north of Spokane provided some excellent multispecies ice fishing this week for a group of anglers once they moved into shallow water on the south end. Their catch consisted of several channel cats to 24 inches, bass, decent-sized perch and some rainbow trout to 18 inches. Bear Lake is reserved for youth and handicapped anglers and those accompanying them, as well as for seniors older than 70.

Winter walleye angling in the John Day pool is beginning to produce a few fish. Anglers targeting walleye with a vertical presentation in water 30 to 50 feet have taken some large fish.

Cocolalla Lake in Idaho is a good spot to catch a mess of small perch. Go south of the public access. Twin and Hauser lakes have been slow for pike, but some decent-sized bluegills are coming out of Hauser.

Perch fishing is off and on at Eloika, though a few bass of nearly 20 inches have been taken recently through the ice, which is in excellent shape. The north end has provided the most consistent action and the Rat Fink in glow colors baited with either perch eyes or maggots has been effective.

Silver Lake near Cheney has turned on again, but the early-morning bite is still best and the bigger perch are coming from the deep water to the right of the public access.

Other species

Night fishing for Lake Roosevelt’s 3- to 5-pound burbot is ramping up, with decent catches already reported at the mouth of the Colville River. Even bigger burbot, up to 10 pounds, are being caught in Sullivan Lake in Pend Oreille County. Night fishing is most effective.

Twin Harbors Beach will open for razor-clam digging Thursday through Feb. 19 and four other ocean beaches will open Feb. 18-19.

Sturgeon angling is good for boat anglers in the Bonneville Pool. Sturgeon anglers in The Dalles and John Day Pools are also catching some fish.

If you haven’t tried jigging for squid, you’re missing out on a fun social event as well as some good eating. Winter is prime time to fish for squid from piers on Puget Sound. Good spots include the Elliott Bay Pier in Seattle and the Edmonds Pier.

Hunting

The application period for Idaho spring turkey and black bear controlled hunts ends Tuesday. Hunters may apply for controlled hunts at any hunting and fishing license vendor, Fish and Game office; with a credit card by calling 1-800-55HUNT5; or online at fishandgame.idaho.gov /apps/ch/apply.cfm.

Contact Alan Liere at spokesmanliere@ yahoo.com