Alan Liere’s fishing-hunting report for Aug. 24

Fly fishing

On the North Fork Coeur d’Alene, fishable slots are hard to find above Prichard where the water is low. On the St. Joe, wade fishing around Calder and Avery has been excellent. Good reports also come from above Avery. Hopper/ dropper combinations have been effective on all waters, but small beetle and ant patterns are also working.

Salmon and steelhead

Marine Areas 1 and 2 (Ilwaco and Westport) are now closed to salmon fishing, as the quotas have been met. Marine Areas 3 (La Push) and 4 (Neah Bay) and the Buoy 10 fishery at the mouth of the Columbia River remain open as scheduled.

Entiat River chinook anglers say fish in the lower river have lockjaw. The fish checker there said there appeared to be fish available, but they just weren’t biting.

Trout and kokanee

Priest Lake trollers are running a variety of spoons and plugs for mackinaw and doing well on the smaller 2- to 4-pound fish. These suspended macks have been coming from about 80 feet of water at the northwest end of the lake, but most recently anglers are only going down about 45 feet. The old standby Flatfish is still an effective lure.

Kokanee anglers on Lake Roosevelt are still singing the blues. Now and then a fish is reported, but for the most part they seem to have disappeared. Rainbow fishing hasn’t been great either. The fish checker told me this week that a lot of anglers are unaware that unclipped rainbow must be released. She said a boat came in recently with nine rainbow – six of which were wild redbands.

Rufus Woods Reservoir will provide fair fishing for 2-pound triploids if there is a current. If Grand Coulee Dam is not releasing much water, fishing will be slow. Fish the edge of the current with plugs or jigs.

I had one of my fastest starts of the summer for Loon Lake kokanee Sunday night, catching six fish before 9 p.m. Then, I didn’t get another hit until 10:15 when the bite resumed, and I had my 10th fish by 10:30. The kokes are still in excellent shape but are becoming slimy. The majority of fish caught recently are males.

Upper Conconully Lake in Okanogan County is still a good place for kokanee and rainbow, both of which can run up to 18 inches. Troll at about 30 feet.

Coeur d’Alene kokanee are running about 10 inches and are relatively easy to catch at 40-50 feet around Arrow Point and in Bennett Bay.

Williams and Waitts lakes have been two of the most consistent local trout destinations this summer. Anglers trolling flies are filling their limits on a regular basis. At Williams, those who opt to still-fish are finding their trout suspended as much as 15 feet off the bottom.

A friend and his buddy who fished Rock Lake last weekend trolled the last third of the Lake at 20-25 feet with green Roostertails for excellent trout action. He said the fish are feeding heavily on young rainbow fry 3-4 inches long. One of the fish was a brown over 20 inches.

Spiny ray

Pike fishing is good on Lake Coeur d’Alene, and so is the smallmouth fishing. The pike are shallow and the bass are deep – from 15 to 30 feet. The 20- to 30-foot deep flats near Grand Coulee Dam are said to be absolutely loaded with smallmouth bass running 1-2 pounds. One angler said he caught a fish every cast during his time on the water.

Priest Lake is another good smallmouth destination. Find a rocky shoreline and cast a tube jig or small crawdad plug, and you’ll find steady action for fish ranging from 8 inches to 4 pounds.

Walleye fishing has been only fair at Lake Roosevelt this week, but anglers fishing near Hunters have been taking fish by bottom bouncing WallyPops in 30-50 feet of water. On Banks Lake, anglers have done well at times at midlake, but the fish are moving around. Some days they are next to rocky shorelines and the next day they’ll be in open water.

Anglers at Banks say the smallmouth population is both huge and cooperative. Newman Lake has been good for largemouth bass. Drop-shotting a Yamaguchi Worm has been effective. Both Long Lake and the Pend Oreille River had bass tournaments recently, but fishing was reported to be slow.

The Spokane River near the State Line is almost a sure thing for smallmouth now. Dark-colored streamers and lures will find the fish. Curlew Lake is a great place to catch a mess of 10-inch perch. Anglers fishing from shore, dock or boat could fillet a hundred fish a day if they were so inclined. Curlew Lake trout aren’t as big or as numerous as last year. It takes more persistence and some awfully big lures, but tiger muskie are also hitting at Curlew.

Trout and kokanee trollers on Lake Roosevelt say they are having their lines cut right at the dodger. One must assume this is a result of northern pike striking at the flash they think is a fish. This is occurring in several spots in the big reservoir. It is hoped the current $10 bounty on pike heads will slow their spread in the system.

Other species

Tuna fishing out of Westport currently involves a long boat ride as the fish are out at least 80 miles. Earlier in the year, they were much closer, and it is hoped they will move in again. Having participated in an overnight tuna trip in stormy weather many years ago, I’m pretty sure it was the most miserable outdoor adventure I’ve ever had.

Hunting

This should be another productive big game hunting season in Idaho despite the harsh winter of 2016-17.

Idaho big game hunters have been on a roll in recent years with a top-10, all-time deer harvest in 2016, an all-time record whitetail harvest in 2015, and a top-five, all-time elk harvest in 2015. The 2017 tags are selling faster, and at current pace Fish and Game could sell all the nonresident deer and nonresident elk tags by the end of October to nonresidents, or to residents and nonresidents as second tags.

WDFW is asking hunters to participate in the 2017 Public Moose Survey. All you have to do is record the number of hours you were out in natural areas and whether you saw moose that day. Then, submit a report for each day you were out – whether you saw a moose or not – at wdfw.wa.gov/viewing/ moose/. These reports help in guiding moose management in the future.