Weekly hunting and fishing report

Fly fishing

Antilon Lake, located 10 miles northwest of Chelan, is producing great numbers of brown trout for float tubers.  There is one primitive boat launch and a dirt parking lot at the north end of the lake. Pull a wooly bugger on a full sink line.

The Spokane Fly Fishers April Extravaganza is Wednesday beginning at 6 p.m. There will be fly tyers, rod builders and other popular returnees from last year’s event, sure to educate and entertain. Chili dogs and Polish sausages will be available for purchase. Location: St. Francis School, 1104 W. Heroy in Spokane

Trout and kokanee

Sprague Lake water has cleared up and trout anglers are once again netting some beautiful rainbow. Shore anglers at the east end, the public access, and at Sprague Lake Resort were doing well last weekend. Included in most catches were a steelhead or two, most running about 14 inches.

Two friends who fished Amber Lake this week said the fishing had slowed. They each got one cutthroat over 18 inches, but the majority of fish caught were small.

Liberty Lake received 150 large rainbow March 19, and these fish are showing up in catches made near the public access. Liberty received 6,000 small rainbow in February that are now about 9 inches long.

Lake Roosevelt is not providing the consistently fast rainbow fishing of late winter, but there are days when it seems almost as good. Successful trollers are going shallow within 40 yards of shorelines and bank fishermen are throwing dough baits in the bays with good results. Branditt West, Creel Clerk for the Colville Tribe, says kokanee fishermen are still catching their two wild kokanee in short order in numerous locations, but hatchery fish are rare.

The Tucannon Lakes in southeast Washington just off the Tucannon River on the Wooten Wildlife Preserve continue to be planted with catchable rainbow as well as some considerably larger.

Dozens of lakes open to fishing April 1, most in Adams and Grant counties of the Columbia Basin. Pillar, Snipe, Cattail, Gadwall, Poacher, Shoveler, Lemna, and North and South Teal lakes should provide good fishing. Traditionally, some of the best fishing is at Dry Falls Lake near Coulee City.  Dry Falls, a selective gear rule fishery, has a one-fish daily catch limit. Rainbows in the 14- to 16-inch range are common and there are also some nice brown and tiger trout.

Last Thursday, Rufus Woods Reservoir received a 10,000-fish infusion of 2-pound triploids. Those were in addition to the 5,500 trout planted in late February. Fishing has been excellent.

Several Idaho waters will be stocked with 10- to 12-inch rainbow trout in April. The first four to be stocked during the week of April 6-10 in the Panhandle region will be Fernan (2,700 fish), Lower Twin (2,700 fish), Round Lake (1,800 fish) and Post Falls Park Pond (450 fish). In the Clearwater region during the same week, Hordeman Pond will receive 500 trout, Snake River Levee Pond will get 750 and Robinson Pond will receive 400.

Lake Chelan continues to be hot when trolling for mackinaw in the Barrens and kokanee uplake of Mitchell Creek along the north shore. The fish have consistently run 14-17 inches. Nearby, Roses Lake is still producing relatively easy limits of planter rainbows for shore and boat anglers.

Palmer Lake kokanee are running mostly 16-17 inches. They have been in the top 25 feet of water, suspended over 50 feet.

Salmon and steelhead

The Ringold Area Bank Fishery runs April 1-15 for catch-and-release; however, up to two hatchery-marked steelhead can be retained.

Steelhead fishing closes April 15 on West Side rivers Hoh, Quinault and Clearwater and April 30 on the Quillayute, Dickey, Bogachiel, Calawah and Sol Duc. These are the only eight rivers in Washington where wild steelhead can be retained, and anglers are limited to one wild steelhead per license year.

The spring chinook fishery got off to a fast start this year, drawing a strong showing of anglers to the lower Columbia River by late March. As of March 22, anglers had caught nine times as many spring chinook as they did during the same period last year.

Spiny ray

Walleye anglers fishing the Spokane Arm have been catching lots of small walleye but catches of as many as 40 fish often result in only two or three being kept.

Potholes Reservoir walleye fishermen have been catching lots of small walleye too, with the best success coming on cloudy days. There are larger ‘eyes, but the better fish have been at depths of 20-30 feet. The Perch Point area has been good.

Anglers pulling spinners with worm on bottom bouncers at Banks have taken some very decent walleye recently. Overall, the size of fish caught on Banks remains relatively small, however, and some days, anglers are not able to catch a fish stretching the 16-inch minimum.

Other species

Additional razor clam digs have been set for morning tides April 4-10 at four ocean beaches. Digging will be allowed at Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Mocrocks and Copalis April 4-5 and at Long Beach and Twin Harbors only April 6-10. There have been abundant clams this season and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has proposed additional digs in April and May, pending the results of future marine toxin tests.

In addition to some great halibut fishing, anglers can look forward to more opportunities to target bottom fish in Westport, Neah Bay and La Push this year. For the first time since 2008, anglers will be allowed to fish for lingcod in the Westport area (south of 46⁰ 58’ N. Lat. and seaward of 30 fathoms) on Fridays and Saturdays, from July 1 through Aug. 31

Hunting

The application period for Idaho moose, bighorn sheep and mountain goat controlled hunts opens Friday. Applications will be accepted through April 30. Telephone applications may be made at 1-800-554-8685. Internet users may apply through Fish and Game’s website at http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/public/ licenses/fees/.  

Prospective hunters who have completed WDFW online hunter education coursework can complete field skills requirements at a “Hunter Education Jamboree” June 6-7 in Yakima County. Online registration for the event closes May 15. The Jamboree will take place at the Boy Scouts of America Camp Fife, 8370 Bumping River Road, south of Bumping Lake. Three field skills sessions will be offered:  Saturday, June 6, 8 a.m.-12 p.m. and 1- 5 p.m., and Sunday, June 7, 8 a.m.-12 p.m. For more information on registration, and to register, visit the following Web pages:

June 6 morning class

www.register-ed.com/events/view/59433

June 6 afternoon class

www.register-ed.com/events/view/59434

June 7 morning class

www.register-ed.com/events/view/59435