Alan Liere’s fishing-hunting report for Oct. 26

Salmon and steelhead

At Northwest Fishing, (208) 790-2277, steelhead guide Bart Jarrett says that despite all the bad press this has been “ a better than normal year” on the Clearwater. All his clients, Jarrett says, are catching fish. The problem – if it is one – is that most Clearwater fish are over 28 inches in length and under new regulations for this year must be released. “There are still some of the smaller A-runs to be had,” Jarrett says, “but the Clearwater will soon be producing only the larger B-runs.” He adds that the Snake is still doing pretty well.

Trout and kokanee

Lake Roosevelt is getting into its fall/winter groove and providing good to excellent trout fishing. A lot of the fish are 19-21 inches, but the 14- to 16-inchers are more abundant. As usual, perch flies and Wedding Rings will catch fish, but don’t overlook the Apex or perch-colored Rapalas. Trollers say the fish are deeper than usual.

Anglers fishing the far end of Omak Lake in Okanogan County say the cutthroat fishing is outstanding. Pink Slingblades followed by Wedding Ring lures were accounting for a lot of fish ranging in length from 16 inches to over 2 feet. It was also reported that the boat launch used last year has washed out and boaters should not turn to the left at the end of the road, but rather go straight ahead to the launch next to the campsites.

Rock Lake anglers are catching more rainbow than browns, but this is when the browns move in to spawn. Trolling or casting to the shorelines should become increasingly effective.

Curlew Lake rainbow are not has big as those caught two years ago, but there is still a good population of fish running 12-16 inches. Trolled flies are accounting for some nice catches near the state park, and the perch bite has not let up much since this summer.

On Lake Pend Oreille, guide Kurt Arnter says fishing for big rainbow has been very good. Some of the fish, he says, are hitting flies right on top, but others are down as deep as 80 feet, smacking Apexes. Arnter says the kokanee fishing on Pend Oreille was only fair this year, but with a lot of 4- to 8-inch fish in the system, next year should be much better.

Spiny ray

Dworshak Reservoir is still a good bet for smallmouth bass, but you probably won’t catch many of the large ones so common in the spring. Anglers fishing out of Dent Acres Campground are finding good numbers of fish at mid-lake. The rocky shorelines near Granddad Bridge have also been productive. The Snake River is also a good fall smallmouth bet, and you don’t need a boat to fish the rip-rap lining the highway between Wawawai Canyon and Clarkston.

Grant County anglers are catching crappie and walleye near the I-90 Bridge over Moses Lake, and the Goose Island area is also producing some ’eyes. Perch are starting to show along with crappie and smallmouth at Potholes Reservoir.

Hunting

The Washington general firearm whitetail deer season ends on Friday in units that did not close on Tuesday. Mule deer are now closed. The late buck season run Nov. 11-19. A friend who hunted mule deer four hard days in GMU 139 said he saw lot of spikes and two-points, but no legal bucks. With all the walking, he also flushed quite a few pheasants, but said they were definitely in pockets and there was a lot of empty terrain between those pockets.

Pheasant hunter turn-out was fair last weekend and results, as expected, were mixed. One group of hunters said they were seeing average numbers near Colfax, and another in the same general area complained there weren’t any birds.

Modern firearm general elk hunting season and some special permit elk hunting runs Saturday through Nov. 5 in select game management units throughout the region. Check your game regulations, as there are varying ending dates.

Friends who hunted chukars last weekend along the Snake River said the birds are from halfway up to the top. They said they bumped three coveys, the largest having about a dozen birds.

After a two day closure, ducks opened up again on Saturday and will run through Jan. 28. A few northern flights have been reported, and hunters are keeping their fingers crossed that the ponds stay ice-free until the main migration is underway. Hunting was reported to be fair to good on scabland ponds between Spokane and Moses Lake, on the Columbia and in the Yakima/Sunnyside area, though there are now only a fraction of the birds visible on ponds as there was two weeks ago. Hunters on Moses Lake and Potholes Reservoir in the Columbia Basin have had good shooting on teal. In Idaho, the Chain lakes are still the place to be.

Chukars where I hunted them last year in eastern Oregon are down about 80 percent. A shot now and then will keep me plodding, but with those kinds of numbers the necessary adrenaline boost following a covey flush is probably not in the cards. Instead, my family and I are headed this week to South Dakota. Pheasant numbers there are way down too, but even at 50 percent of last year’s numbers I’ll see more wild birds in a day than in a season in Washington.