Alan Liere’s fish and game report for May 25

Fly fishing

The North Fork Coeur d’Alene River levels have dropped considerably and there is a lot of bug activity. Conditions are virtually the same on the St. Joe. The lower river is in excellent shape for floating or wade fishing.

The Montana streams opened on Saturday. Silver Bow Fly Shop says most small streams are on the high side of fishable but are either stable or slowly dropping.

The upper Spokane River will re-open June 3. The lower will re-open June 1, but currently, the river is too high to be fishable.

Salmon and steelhead

Munden’s Rising Son Adventures continues to fish the Columbia Gorge for Spring Chinook and are doing quite well. Trolling rotating 360 flashers with Superbaits and spinners has been the ticket. The bite isn’t consistent, but rather goes in streaks with a lot of down time between flurries of action.

Trout and Kokanee

Loon Lake kokanee are running mostly 10-11 inches. Trolling was slow this week, but anglers who stayed with it caught limits. As is normal, a lot of fish are lost at the boat.

Deer Lake mackinaw were very active last week according to a friend who lives on the lake. Several fish in the teens have been reported.

Anglers trolling for rainbow on Lake Roosevelt say the lake appears to be waking up. The Spring Canyon area has been good, as well as the mouth of the Spokane. A lot of reports mention an orange Kokabow. Shore fishermen at Keller have seen some very good days.

Curlew Lake trout and perch are biting, but some anglers are put off by the sea lice-like parasites on the trout. While these do not affect the flesh or the excellent flavor, they detract from the overall appearance of the fish and could potentially cause problems. Trolling flies has been effective.

Williams Lake trollers are still catching planter rainbow as well as a few pushing 4 pounds. Still fishermen are also doing well near Tree 11 by dunking Power Bait, worms, or corn.

West Medical anglers are finding good fishing for the spring plants, as are those at Badger. A couple who fished there recently said they had no trouble limiting by trolling a green Carey Special.

A report from Fish Lake indicated the brookie bite was fair for shore anglers, and a report from Waitts indicated that fishery is holding up for both browns and rainbow. Troll a fly down the middle. Sprague Lake anglers still need boots to launch at Four Seasons Resort, but are catching some big rainbow from shore there.

The action for big kokanee on Lake Roosevelt has been slow to non-existent all spring, but recent reports are encouraging, including one of a 5-pounder caught near Keller, where launching is now possible. Things will hopefully improve as the water rises and clears, but anglers will probably have to hop around to find fish. Launches that have been out of commission for months finally have enough water to get a boat in. Ft. Spokane, Hunters, Spring Canyon, Kettle Falls, Seven Bays and Lincoln will all be good to go this weekend, and there could be others.

At the White Elephant on Sprague, John Kallas reports excellent fishing on Rufus Woods by either casting or drifting with a chartreuse tube jig in 24 feet of water. Kallas says he uses a 1.25-ounce slinky sinker and puts a Corky in the body of the tube to keep it just off the bottom. The fish are mostly a robust 18 inches and up. The fish checker at Seaton Grove on Rufus said she had checked only one walleye in three days.

Lake Chelan kokanee anglers are having a banner year. Hordes of fish are being caught from Lakeside Park all the way up to the Yacht Club, and the fish at Lakeside are relatively shallow.

Spiny Ray

Friends who fished the Spokane Arm of Roosevelt twice this week say the walleye bite is still good near Buoy 3, though the fish averaged only 15 inches. The same party has been catching quite a few smallmouth averaging 12 inches downstream of Porcupine Bay. They said there is a lot of debris in the water.

Walleye anglers launching at Kettle Falls and making the run to Evans have been catching some large fish trolling bottom bouncers and spinners or by jigging.

Moses Lake has been good for smallmouth, but the walleye bite has been consistently slow. The north end of the lake has been best. Slow death rigs with nightcrawlers in chartreuse, green or orange are getting the bites.

Newman Lake tiger muskies have been hitting during the warm weather, but anglers are catching them on smaller lures than normal. While most of the effort is concentrated on the lily pads, the fish can also be found in deeper water outside the pads. Silver Lake muskies, too, are on the prowl, and several were reported caught last weekend.

Long Lake anglers trolling Smile Blades and orange Kekeda Marahooch flies tipped with a piece of nightcrawler on a bottom bouncer are picking up a lot of good-sized perch and experiencing some fast trout action. They also report an occasional walleye.

Potholes Reservoir has been a fickle walleye fishery so far. Sometimes the old standby spots such as Crab Creek yield nothing, but a bite will materialize in a spot that has never held good numbers before.

The Snake River is a good bet now for smallmouth bass. Anywhere there are rocks in the water, there will be fish. A friend fished near Central Ferry this week and caught a couple good-sized smallmouth as well as the usual 9-12 inchers. He was throwing crawdad-pattern plugs and crawdad-colored tubes.

Other species

Friends report excellent fishing for channel cats at the mouth of the Palouse River. They caught 28 fish recently including a 9- and 10-pounder.

White sturgeon harvest rules in Priest Rapids and Wanapum reservoirs have been changed. The daily limit has been increased to two and the annual limit and catch-record card have been eliminated. The season begins Saturday and ends Sept. 17. Fish with a fork length between 38-72 inches may be retained.

Hunting

Idaho hunters have until midnight on June 5 to apply for this fall’s deer, elk, pronghorn, black bear and turkey controlled hunts. Those with a valid 2017 Idaho hunting license may apply for controlled hunts at any hunting and fishing license vendor, Fish and Game office or with a credit card by calling 1-800-554-8685.

Hunters hoping to enter Idaho’s first Super Hunt drawing have through Wednesday to apply.