Fishing Report

Winter fishing, Washington

Unless the mild weather pattern changes drastically soon, Eastern Washington anglers can forget ice fishing this winter.

Ice on nearly all popular fishing lakes in the Spokane region is too thin and honeycombed to support anglers safely.

One exception is Williams Lake north of Colville. Ice was still about 5 inches thick at mid-week, but anglers will be cautious when considering trusting the ice this weekend.

A few fishermen will continue to trust their luck on Hog Canyon and Williams lakes, but most prudent anglers will either wait for better ice conditions or for open water.

Actually a few anglers fished out of boats at Sprague Lake last weekend. The lower end of the lake was ice-free earlier this week.

Thin, rotten ice still covers some Columbia Basin lakes. Wildlife agent Curt Vail said that the lower end of Soda Lake was open at midweek and fishermen were catching small perch.

Best fishing has been along the Columbia between the Vernita Bridge and the Priest Rapids Dam. Boat and shore fishermen still are catching good numbers of 12- to 15-inch whitefish.

The upper part of the Lind Coulee has been yielding some rainbow trout.

The unusually mild temperatures this week erased parts of the ice covers at several Spokane area lakes.

Although anglers have caught a few bluegills and crappies through the ice at Sprague, nearly all the fish they’ve caught have been perch that averaged about 8 inches long.

Only a few bluegills have been caught at Sprague this winter.

Because ice at Hog Canyon and Fourth of July hasn’t been thick and hard enough to support people safely much of the time the last two months, fishing pressure has been relatively light. Consequently, the two lakes probably still have plenty of rainbows for fairly good fishing the rest of this season.

Barring extremely cold weather this month, Hog Canyon and Fourth of July will be ice-free for four or five weeks before the winter fishing season ends.

Fishing has been slow for big rainbows and kokanee at Lake Roosevelt. The Bureau of Reclamation is drawing down the lake and fishermen think that’s one of the reasons why fishing has been slow.

If you’re in central Washington the next few days, consider fishing at Fish Lake, about 2 miles east of Lake Wenatchee. Fisheries biologist Joe Foster said fishing was “red hot” last weekend for perch averaging 7 inches and trout about 10 inches long.

Winter fishing, Idaho

Some lakes in Idaho’s Panhandle still have ice covers thick enough to support anglers safely, but the ice is receding around the edges of a few popular lakes, forcing fishermen to put boards from shore to ice covers to get out on the ice.

Steve Smith of the Fins & Feathers shop at Coeur d’Alene said that ice is still in good condition at such lakes as Round, Cocolalla, Hauser, Mirror, Shepherd, Gamble and the lakes adjacent to the lower Coeur d’Alene River.

Although above-normal temperatures have melted down the ice at most lakes, fishermen still have to drill through 5 to 12 inches of ice. The biggest problem for the fishermen is to get on the ice at some lakes.

Smith said fishermen have been catching small perch at Round, Cocolalla, Hauser, Fernan and Rose lakes. Fishing has been spotty at Fernan lately, but fishermen have been catching some 14- to 16-inch rainbows.

Fishing has been good for trout and a few good-sized kokanee at Mirror Lake.

Smith said that perch fishing has been poor at Shepherd and Gamble lakes. Usually, he said, perch fishing picks up later in the winter.

Trollers have been doing well on mackinaw trout at Priest and Pend Oreille lakes, he said. Most of the macks in Priest are small compared to those being caught at Pend Oreille.

Fishermen have been launching at the Priest Lake Marina to troll and jig for the macks.

Most anglers who fish for macks at Pend Oreille troll near the islands in the north end of the lake. All rainbows hooked must be released.

Pike

Fishermen have been fishing through ice to catch northern pike at Hayden Lake and the lakes adjacent to the lower Coeur d’Alene River.

Ice was still thick enough to support anglers safely in the north end of Hayden Lake. Most of the pike are 20 to 24 inches long.

Fishermen have been plunking for hybrid cutthroat-rainbow trout in open water at the south end of Hayden. Although fishing usually is slow, the trout are large enough to make the waiting for a bite worthwhile. They average about 3 pounds.

Fastest pike fishing has been at Killarney Lake, but the pike average only 3 pounds. Black and Cave are better choices for bigger pike, even a trophy fish.

Steelhead

Don’t count on tributaries to the Snake River to be clear and low enough this weekend for good steelhead fishing. Frequent rainstorms this week caused some streams to rise and turn muddy.

With such tributaries as the Tucannon, Touchet and Walla Walla off color, the best choices for this weekend are near Little Goose Dam and the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater rivers at Lewiston.

Male steelhead are turning dark now as the spawning time approaches, but fishermen say the fish still are in good condition.

Chinook salmon

Fishing has been spotty the last week at Lake Coeur d’Alene, with anglers hooking a few salmon one day and none the next.

Most anglers troll near the bottom in deep water using flashers and mini-Hootchies.

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