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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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Alan Liere

Alan Liere

Current Position: freelance columnist

Alan Liere is a freelance columnist for the sports department who writes a weekly hunting and fishing report.

Email
spokesmanliere@yahoo.com

All Stories

Sports >  Outdoors

Alan Liere: Baby, it’s Cold Outside – inside too!

Many years ago, recently divorced, I was living in a trailer at Loon Lake. It was a tough winter, much like this one, and in early February, my hair often froze when I got out of the shower. I was younger and poorer then, and I accepted frozen hair as one of the punishments I had to endure for having let a marriage fail – guilt, compensation, and all that.
Sports >  Outdoors

Alan Liere’s weekly fish and game report for Feb. 2

When trolling a lake like Chelan for kokanee, troll shore to shore rather than along the shoreline, concentrating in the middle of the lake. Kokanee are prey to Chelan’s mackinaw and they don’t go near the bottom or structure where the larger predator fish hide and attack. On Lake Roosevelt, predatory fish are not much of a factor and the kokes can be closer to shore.
Sports >  Outdoors

Alan Liere’s fish and game report for Jan. 26

The Snake River is probably the best bet now for steelhead fishermen. The Grande Ronde is still frozen except for a few pockets that might be fishable. The Clearwater has dropped some since the rain last week and color is good.
Sports >  Outdoors

Alan Liere’s fish and game report for Jan. 19

Whitefish aren’t usually a fly angler’s first choice, but they are fun to catch, usually cooperative and available in abundance on rivers such as the Kettle, Spokane, Yakima, Coeur d’Alene, Clearwater and Naches.
Sports >  Outdoors

Alan Liere: This Horse is a Morgan

Following a long, cold morning high-stepping through snowy CRP in search of a cock pheasant, I had just settled blissfully onto the couch with a bowl of Cheetos and a diet Pepsi to watch the Seahawks.
Sports >  Outdoors

Alan Liere: The Skeleton in the Woods

Once again, on the last day of the late buck season, I trudged back to my house in the dark from my sitting place across the creek. There was no blood on my hands. I had been hunkered there against a stump since noon, and the walk back was considerably colder than the walk in.
Sports >  Outdoors

Mark Midtlyng comes close to perfecting chukar hunting

Mark Midtlyng began hunting with his father and brother 39 years ago when he was a 12-year-old at Northwood Middle School in Spokane. Back then, he hunted mostly ducks, and he now admits he would have had trouble then hitting a barn with a shotgun even if he was standing inside it.
Sports >  Outdoors

Alan Liere: My magic closet

Many years before my wife passed away, she was re-organizing the shelves in our walk-in closet and came upon a lump under several layers of folded towels. “What’s this?” she asked, extracting two long cardboard boxes.
Sports >  Outdoors

Alan Liere: Becoming Me

I’m staring at a photo taken in 1974. It shows a group of middle school teachers dressed up for Halloween. I’m the tall guy in the middle wearing an authentic coonskin cap. I have a coyote skin draped over one shoulder and I’m holding a double-barreled shotgun.
Sports >  Outdoors

Alan Liere: The Nature of Treasure

When my grandchildren were younger, I took them on walks in the woods surrounding my home. This was not because I was a particularly energetic grandparent, but because if they didn’t burn off some of their energy they’d drive me nuts.
Sports >  Outdoors

Alan Liere’s weekly fish and game report for Oct. 6

October is the last month – and often a very good time – to fish many of the region’s popular trout-stocked lakes and some rivers and streams. Fall insect hatches are providing trout food, so anglers who mimic that forage can be successful.
Sports >  Outdoors

Alan Liere’s weekly fish and game report for Sept. 29

The number of steelhead over Lower Granite Dam doubled between this week and last. Fishing at the confluence and up into the Clearwater should reflect this surge. The return of A-run steelhead to the Salmon River is very low so far, but B-run counts to the Clearwater are the highest since 2010.
Sports >  Outdoors

Alan Liere’s weekly fish and game report for Sept. 22

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s report on 2016 Trends in Duck Breeding Populations indicates overall duck numbers in the survey area are statistically similar to last year and remain steady. Total populations were estimated at 48.4 million breeding ducks, which is 38 percent above the 1955-2015 long-term average.
Sports >  Outdoors

Alan Liere’s fish and game report for Sept. 1

The Spokane River has been the most consistent producer for fly fishermen and it doesn’t matter what time of the day you’re on the water. Silver Bow Fly Shop recommends soft hackles behind a streamer, or just a single streamer.