Hunting And Fishing

Waterfowl

Many small, shallow ponds, lakes and potholes are ice-covered, but large lakes and reservoirs still are mostly ice-free. With ducks starting to concentrate on the big waters, best hunting the next few days likely will be on or near big, still waters.

During the full-moon phase last week, most ducks flew from their daytime resting places to harvested corn and wheat fields to feed all night. With the nights darker now, ducks may leave water for the fields earlier than they did last week.

Tens of thousands of ducks didn’t leave the big lakes and reservoirs last week until the end of shooting time, so field hunting, for the most part, wasn’t productive.

Because of the extreme cold and high winds last Friday, Saturday and Sunday, only the hard-core hunters were out. Usually, boat-launching ramps at the Potholes Reservoir are crowded at 5 a.m. on weekends. Only a few hunters launched boats.

It may be difficult to get back into the dunes at the reservoir this week because of icy conditions. Most hunters may have to set up along the dune islands facing open water.

Frenchman Hills and Winchester wasteways likely will be so high there will be few places the water is slow enough to attract ducks.

Because most big, still waters are still open, relatively few ducks have moved to the Columbia River. But there are enough mallards along the river for fair shooting. The river almost certainly will be at or near flood stage as the result of runoff.

Several thousand mallards and geese have moved from northern Washington to the Snake River. Hunting could be fair to good this weekend from the Central Ferry area to the Snake’s mouth.

Spokane-area duck hunters say many small potholes and lakes in the region are ice-covered. Good-sized reservoirs and lakes, such as Sprague, Clear, Silver and Rock, still are open and have been resting spots for a few thousand ducks. However, most mallards that migrated out of Canada are in the Columbia Basin.

Best goose hunting is in the Basin. Most of the thousands of geese that were in northeast Washington the first part of the season have moved to Grant, Franklin and Adams counties.

Recent snowstorms in North Idaho covered fields where ducks fed. As a result, most puddle ducks moved west and south. However, enough ducks and geese have remained in the Panhandle for fair to good hunting. Hunters have done well along Lake Coeur d’Alene.

Snow didn’t affect diving ducks and many are still on the big lakes.

Steelhead

If the weather is reasonably fair, steelheaders will try their luck from Ice Harbor Dam to the mouth of the Salmon River this weekend. It’s possible most popular Snake River tributaries will be high and out of shape as the result of heavy rainstorms and runoff.

Water temperatures are low enough to slow and even stop the movement of steelhead. As a result, most steelheaders are drifting or plunking bait in the deep holding spots along the Snake.

Anglers will continue to catch steelhead just above and below Lower Monumental and Little Goose dams and in the vicinity of the Lyons Ferry hatchery, and in the holes from Asotin to the mouth of the Grande Ronde.

Many fishermen are baiting jigs and big hooks with shrimp, eggs and marshmallows and fishing the concoctions under large bobbers in relatively slow-moving water. Some are drifting bait through holes. Few are back-trolling with Hot Shot and similar lures.

Fishing pressure was light last weekend because of the cold, bitter weather. Shore fishermen said ice froze in the guides of their rods, making fishing difficult. Near-zero temperatures put ice sheets on launch ramps, making launching and retrieving boats difficult.

Winter lakes

This is a transition period for those who fish lakes that are open during the winter months. Ice has started to form along the edges of many, including Fourth of July and Hog Canyon, but there’s still not enough ice anywhere for ice fishing.

Hog Canyon is the best bet for a quick limit of pan-sized rainbows. The lake southwest of Spokane seems to have a good population of 10- to 17-inchers, with many in the 11- to 13-inch range.

Fourth of July holds the biggest rainbows. Many anglers leave with only two fish, usually 18-22 inches.

Long Lake

One spot in Washington to catch chinook salmon is Long Lake above Little Falls Dam. Anglers have been catching numerous chinooks, most 14-16 inches, and a few to 7 pounds.

The chinooks apparently migrated down the Spokane River from Lake Coeur d’Alene.

Upland birds

North Idaho scatter gunners have only two more days to hunt pheasants. The season ends Sunday.

Because this year’s pheasant population is below normal, nearly everyone has given up hunting roosters. There are still enough birds for fair hunting in Benewah, Latah and Nez Perce counties.

Pheasants were bunched up during the near-zero days last weekend, but probably will be spread out again this weekend.

Idaho partridge and quail season will continue through this month.

Wildlife agents say pheasant hunters are as scarce in Eastern Washington as pheasants. Birds not only are scarce, they’re extremely wild and frequently flush out of range of hunters’ guns.

Most productive areas - and they’re not very productive - are along the Snake River breaks in southern Whitman County and north Garfield and Columbia counties.

There are enough quail for fair to good shooting along brushy draws of the Palouse, Columbia and Snake Columbia rivers. Best areas to hunt chukars are the Moses and Grand coulees.

Chinook salmon

Lake Coeur d’Alene is still churning out limits of chinook salmon. Jeff Smith of the Fins & Feathers shop said trollers did well last weekend during a tournament despite bad weather.

Top winners and the weights of their chinooks were: Mike Boyles, Hayden Lake, 11 pounds, 15 ounces; Susan Houk, Coeur d’Alene, 11 pounds, 13 ounces; and Tod Palmer, Coeur d’Alene, 11 pounds, 3 ounces.

Smith said most of the chinooks were caught at 50 to 70 feet. Because the south end of the lake was muddy as the result of runoff from the Coeur d’Alene and St. Joe rivers, nearly all anglers trolled in the north end, near Tubbs Hill and off Arrow Point.

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