Fishing briefs: Steelhead license plate approved
Coming in 2017, a new Washington specialty license plate will help fund efforts to conserve wild steelhead.
The 2016 Washington legislature approved the sale of license plates featuring an image of the state’s iconic fish in the background.
In support of the bills, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and sportsmen supporters collected signatures from more than 4,000 people who expressed interest in buying steelhead plates. The state charges an additional fee for specialty plates to cover costs and support the special programs they depict.
In much of Washington, wild steelhead are listed for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act.
WDFW is currently taking several actions to restore those populations to sustainable levels, including measures that guide fisheries management, hatchery operations, monitoring and habitat-restoration programs.
Lake Pend Oreille Spring Derby set
Anglers will be competing for more than $10,000 in cash prizes when Lake Pend Oreille Idaho Club Spring Derby kicks off this weekend.
The annual event runs Saturday through May 1 with prizes in several divisions. The annual pin auction fundraising event for lake fisheries projects is on Friday at 6 p.m. at the Elks Lodge in Ponderay.
The derby will pay cash for the top five rainbows – including $2,500 for the biggest – and five places in the adult mackinaw division up to $1,200. Prizes also are awarded for the Mack of the Day, best largest brown trout, best photo and junior division competition.
“The lake has been chock full of kokanee for the past few years and the Gerrard rainbows have been feeding well,” said Clint Nicholson, club spokesman. “This could be a year for the record books.”
Purchase derby tickets before fishing at North 40 Ponderay, White Elephant stores, Fins and Feathers, Ralph’s Coffee House, Rathdrum Drug, Sandpoint Marine, Pend Oreille Valley Sports, Priest River Hardware.
Info: www.LPOIC.org.
Chewelah students get fly fishing primer
Students at Jenkins High School in Chewelah will have a spring fling with fly fishing on May 2-3.
Fly fishers from around the region are volunteering to give every student in the school an introduction to the lifetime sport, including casting and fly tying.
John Newbury, a Chewelah resident and inductee of the Washington State Fly Tying Hall of Fame, is organizing the event.
“With the average age of a Federation of Fly Fishers member now being 69,” he said, “it is very important to reach out to today’s youth to share our passion for fly fishing so they can be tomorrow’s fly fishers and stewards of our waters.”
Fly fishers interested in helping with the two-day event can contact Newbury by email at johnmnewbury@hotmail.com.
Fly fishing author to teach tying seminar
Skip Morris, author of 17 books on fly fishing and fly tying, will present a fly-tying seminar in Spokane on May 17.
The Olympic Peninsula angler will focus on tying dries and emergers in a program organized by the Inland Empire Fly Fishing Club.
Seminar openings are available to the public. Cost: $20.
The seminar will start at 1 p.m. at Mukagowa Commons. Register via email at gaddymolter@msn.com or call (509) 954-5428.