Alan Liere’s fishing-hunting report for Aug. 6

Aug. 5, 2020 Updated Wed., Aug. 5, 2020 at 8:13 p.m.

By Alan Liere For The Spokesman-Review

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Tip of the week

Here are some strategies for maximizing salmon success in August:

Go deep for chinook. Fish from 40-60 feet down in the mainstem Columbia River, using wobblers anchored with a heavy weight on outgoing tides. Troll large flashers with spinners during in-coming tides at depths ranging from mid-column to the bottom.
Change-up for coho. Herring and spinners work well for catching coho at Buoy 10, but bait and lures are your best bet in the tributaries.
Check out the creel-sampling results from Buoy 10 on https://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/reports/creel/buoy10 to see where other anglers are catching fish.

Bragging rights

On a scorching hot day last week, four friends and I fished with Snake Dancer Excursions in the Hells Canyon stretch of the Snake River with guide Clayton Weller. On the first cast in the only two holes we tried, we tag-teamed two big sturgeon. One stretched 68 inches, and the other 85 inches, both released after a long fight. The rest of the day was devoted to catching smallmouth bass and staying wet.

Overheard

The three-year experimental hunting season for tundra swans in Idaho will begin Oct. 18 this year and run until Dec. 1.The 50 swan tags offered sold out quickly.

Heads up

The WDFW is seeking comments on proposed alternatives for 2021-23 hunting seasons and has scheduled several meetings in August and September to discuss proposals with the public. The hunting season proposals will be posted Aug. 17 on WDFW’s website for the public to provide comments. Comments will be accepted through Sept. 15.

Fly fishing

Area rivers are running warm and fishing usually shuts down after 11:00 a.m. Big hopper patterns are working on the Clark Fork.

Trout and kokanee

Even in the hot weather, Clear Lake in Spokane County is a good fishing destination. Anglers are catching both rainbow and browns and also quite a few small crappie.

Kokanee fishing has been good on Dworshak Reservoir in Idaho, but don’t wait much longer. As the spawning instinct kicks in, adult kokanee migrate up the reservoir. In a typical year, most of these fish will be up around Grandad or even higher by now. However, during trawl surveys last week, adult kokanee were still scattered throughout the reservoir. The fish are running mostly 10-11 inches.

Many northeast Washington lakes stocked with cutthroat trout are good bets at this time of year, especially early and late in the day. Long Lake in Ferry County, as well as Browns and Yokum lakes in Pend Oreille County and Little Twin Lake in Stevens County are all fishing well. Kokanee are also biting in Paterson, Alta and Spectacle lakes in the Okanogan.

Rookie kokanee anglers complain about not being able to catch Loon Lake kokanee at night. During a trip this week, a friend said he wasn’t getting any bites. His fishing rod, which looked the same as mine, had poor balance and was not sensitive at all. When I gave him my 51/2-foot rod, he began catching fish. Other factors that bring more fish aboard are keeping your #8 white Glo-Hook (baited with two or three maggots) within a foot of the bottom, “charging” the hook periodically with a light until it glows green, finding the right depth (currently about 34 feet) and slo-o-o-w-ly raising the rod tip and dropping it quickly. Set the hook at just the slightest “tic” or heaviness, and don’t expect a good bite until 10 p.m. or later.

The high lakes around White Pass, Chinook Pass and Snoqualmie Pass are now accessible to trout fishing. WDFW stocks many small, hike-in lakes with rainbow or cutthroat trout fry, and some also have naturally reproducing eastern brook trout populations. Visit WDFW’s high lakes page on the WDFW fishing webpages.

Salmon and steelhead

Fall chinook and coho fishing opens on much of the lower Columbia River in August, including the popular Buoy 10 fishery, which opens a little later this year on Aug. 14. The preseason forecast anticipates a run of more than 400 fall chinook to the Columbia this year.

Returns of upriver summer steelhead are predicted to remain low again this year, in particular the B-index stock. As a result, the Columbia will remain closed to steelhead in August from Buoy 10 to John Day Dam. Anglers may keep one hatchery steelhead daily from John Day Dam upstream to the Highway 395 Bridge in Pasco.

The Brewster pool sockeye fishery continues strong and the limit has been raised to four. Dave Grove of Captain Dave’s Guide Service says shrimp-tipped spinners behind a Dodger is the staple and has accounted for many chinook as well. To book a trip, text (509) 939-6727.

The Wenatchee Lake fishery opened Monday with a daily limit of four sockeye. According to enforcement officers, the opening day average catch was two fish per boat.

More than 4,700 sockeye were retained the first week of the fishery at Baker Lake, and it is now closed to sockeye retention.

Spiny ray

Smallmouth bass fishing has been good on the Pend Oreille River. Fishing at Potholes Reservoir and Moses Lake in the Columbia Basin is good for smallmouth and largemouth bass. Walleye fishing there has been generally slow.

Roses Lake in Chelan County continues to produce rainbow trout, channel catfish and some nice bluegill.

Walleye are active during August on Lake Umatilla as well as the Hanford Reach of the Columbia and on the lower Snake River below Little Goose and Ice Harbor dams.

Angling upstream of McNary has been a little slow but should improve as flows in the Columbia and Snake rivers decline in August.

“Walleye really tie on the feed bag when the water heats up, so we can expect to see some great fishing in the weeks ahead,” said WDFW biologist Paul Hoffarth. There is no minimum size and no limit on the number of walleye, bass or channel catfish anglers can keep while fishing in the Columbia and Snake rivers.

Anglers are catching some big channel cats at Potholes Reservoir, but a friend trolling there for walleye this week caught several yellowbellies (bullheads) over 2 pounds.

He said he and a friend also took a mess of “really big” bluegill and some crappie while trolling bottom walkers and spinners at the face of the sand dunes. He sent me a photo of one of the bluegill that was almost as round as it was long.

Other species

The Lake Roosevelt sturgeon fishery is still open from Grand Coulee Dam upstream to the China Bend boat ramp. It is legal to keep sturgeon between 50-63 inches fork length.

Catch-and-release sturgeon fishing continues on portions of the Columbia River from Priest Rapids Dam to Rock Island Dam. WDFW Chelan/Douglas district fish biologist Travis Maitland reports sturgeon are still being caught in both the Priest and Wanapum pools, with the best fishing currently just immediately downstream of Rock Island Dam on the Wanapum pool.

Hunting

Black bear hunting in Washington opened Aug. 1. Hunters in Northeastern A Zone (including GMUs 101-121) in particular are reminded that it’s possible to encounter protected grizzly bears, so species identification is critical. Successful completion of WDFW’s online Bear Identification Program is required if hunting bears in GMUs 101, 105, 108, 111, 113, or 117.

Deer hunters have until Aug. 14 to apply for an opportunity to hunt this fall on the 6,000-acre Charles and Mary Eder unit of the Scotch Creek Wildlife Area in northeastern Okanogan County. Eighteen applicants will be chosen during a random drawing to participate in the “limited-entry” deer hunt for bow hunters (Sept. 1-25), muzzleloaders (Sept. 26-Oct. 4), and hunters using modern firearms (Oct. 17-27.)

Hunters can now see the season proposals and comment online for the 2020 Idaho sage grouse season.

Sage grouse populations are up slightly from last year but down from the 2016 peak.

The sage grouse hunting season is proposed to open open from Sept. 19-20 for the two-day season and Sept. 19-25 for the seven-day season. Deadline to comment is Aug. 10.