Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Alan Liere’s weekly fish and game report

Alan Liere

Fly fishing

Fly fishing is unusually good for this time of year. Positive reports come from the lower St. Joe, the Coeur d’Alene and the Spokane. Unbelievably, fly fishermen are still taking trout on dries in the afternoon. The Clearwater and Grande Ronde have been good for steelhead, with the better Grande Ronde fishing on the Oregon side.

Salmon and steelhead

Steelhead fishing in general has been excellent on Idaho’s Clearwater River. The large B-runs are most prevalent. The most successful technique has been side drifting eggs and yarn.

The steelhead bite has been good at Heller Bar on the Snake where the Grande Ronde enters the bigger water.

Trout and kokanee

Lake Roosevelt kokanee enthusiasts are probably rushing the season a little, but the few fish coming in are large. Swawilla Basin has been mentioned in recent reports by successful anglers.

If it’s trout you’re after, it would be hard to find a more productive body of water than Lake Roosevelt. Three friends and I fished the Lincoln area on Tuesday and the most difficult part of the process was to not limit too quickly. The fish are so thick and feisty, I was convinced everything we caught was more than 16 inches, but a tape measure at home said all but one was between 14 and 15 1/2 inches. Brown muddler minnows with a piece of worm and no flasher did the job using 30 feet of mono and three colors of leaded line.

Sprague Lake trout fishing is not as fast as that at Roosevelt, but the fish, on average, are a little larger. Trollers are using Roosevelt-type gear most days but are also having success on floating Rapalas and Rippin’ Minnows. Most anglers have commented that the aerial performances of Sprague Lake rainbow are unmatched.

Four rainbow trout-stocked trout lakes open in eastern Washington right after Thanksgiving on Nov. 25. Fourth of July Lake on the Lincoln-Adams county line just south of the town of Sprague, and Hog Canyon Lake in Spokane County, 10 miles northeast of Sprague have lots of catchable size rainbow trout available. This spring, Fourth of July received 80,000 rainbow trout fry and fingerlings, and Hog Canyon received 15,000 fry and fingerlings plus 8,700 triploid rainbows.

In Stevens County, Hatch Lake, five miles south of Colville, and Williams Lake, 14 miles north of Colville, also open Nov. 25. This spring, Hatch was stocked with 10,000 rainbow fry and fingerlings that are now catchable size. In October, Williams was stocked with 3,800 one-third-pound rainbows.

The steelhead the WDFW planted in Rock Lake are starting to put on some weight. The bite has not been consistent or early, but the fish average 16 inches and are great in the frying pan.

Bonaparte Lake in Okanogan County near Tonasket is open year-round. Anglers there are catching a lot of rainbow 12-16 inches. Bonaparte has a USFS campground and a private resort with camping, cabins and boat launching. In addition to the rainbow, it has kokanee, triploid brookies, tiger trout and the occasional mack. It would be a good lake to keep in mind for ice fishing.

Anglers are trolling squidder style lures behind dodgers for Lake Chelan kokanee near the Yacht Club. A fair number of cutthroat are also in the mix. This is the earliest kokanee bite on Lake Chelan in recent memory. Most of the fish are 12-14 inches.

Spiny ray

Walleye anglers are still trying to figure out where the Potholes Reservoir fish went. Walleye fishing there should be excellent, but it isn’t. Moses Lake and Banks have been tough to figure out, and Roosevelt walleyes are mostly small.

On Lake Coeur d’Alene, the edges of weed beds are still producing some good catches of northern pike. Glide baits have been effective recently.

Other species

Whitefish are showing in the Columbia River in the area between Vernita Bridge and the dam, and even shore fishermen are getting in on the action. Use a drift rig with a sliding weight and three feet of leader followed by a small fly in white or egg pattern tipped with a maggot. The limit is 15. Whitefish aren’t too popular as a table fish, but smoked, they are excellent.

Fishery managers have approved three days of razor clam digging today, tomorrow and Saturday at Twin Harbors, Copalis and Mocrocks after marine toxin tests confirmed the clams on those beaches are safe to eat. All digs are on evening tides and there are said to be plenty of clams.

Hunting

Goose hunters in the Tri-Cities report seeing a lot of snow geese and specklebellies but not many ducks or Canada geese except for local birds. Snows and specks migrate early from up north and many were already down before the realized they didn’t have to be in such a hurry. Teal and widgeon are becoming more numerous, but the fall flight of northern mallards has not yet materialized.

A friend who lives in Alberta near Edmonton said the wet weather they had at the time we were getting the same, delayed crop harvest. Now that the fields are drying out, the harvest is on again and the ducks and geese, with no reason to leave, are getting fat on leftover grain and resting on open water.

A pheasant hunting foray into the Colton area early in the week resulted in two roosters and two quail in three hours of hunting. Several other roosters were seen. A friend who hunted near St. John on private land said there were lots of birds, and a friend who hunted register-to-hunt land near Lamont said he saw fair numbers of roosters.

Washington modern weapon whitetail hunters have until Sunday to harvest a buck. Seniors, disabled and youths may shoot either sex whitetail in deer area 1050 and antlerless only in deer areas 1060, 1070 and 1080.

The 2017 nonresident Idaho licenses, tags and permits go on sale at 12:01 a.m. (MST) Dec. 1, except for nonresident Sawtooth A and B zone elk tags. Nonresident hunters can buy their licenses and tags at Fish and Game offices, any license vendor, or by credit card by calling 1-800-554-8685. Residents can also buy 2017 hunting licenses and tags starting Dec. 1, but they will be issued receipts for deer and elk tags which can be redeemed after the deer, elk and pronghorn controlled hunt drawing is completed in July.

With Idaho whitetail hunting in full swing and reports of good hunting, nonresidents hunters interested in a second tag may want to buy soon. On Monday, approximately 1,230 white-tailed deer tags remain in the nonresident quota, and all resident, regular deer tags had been sold.

Contact Alan Liere at spokesmanliere @ yahoo.com