Fishing Report

Geese

Knowledgeable waterfowlers should do well on the final weekend of Eastern Washington’s long goose season. Thousands of Canada geese still are scattered throughout the region, but most of them are in the Columbia Basin, particularly south of Interstate 90.

The season will end at sunset Sunday. With the closure of the season, only rabbits and predators, such as coyotes, will be legal targets.

Most hunters will put away their guns until the opening of the spring turkey season.

Mild weather has kept large numbers of geese in most eastern Washington counties. For a relatively brief period, when most lakes and reservoirs were frozen over, most geese moved to the Columbia and lower Snake rivers and fed in harvested corn and winter wheat fields.

Geese, as well as tens of thousands of ducks, moved back into the northern Basin and even into the Spokane region after temperatures rose into the high 40s and even low 50s.

Hunters who have good spots to hunt geese have a good chance of taking limits during the final days of the season.

Ice fishing, Washington

Ice at the most popular lakes in the Spokane region was honeycombed and too thin to support anglers safely at mid-week, but some fishermen still were taking chances.

Ice on Sprague, Fourth of July, Hog Canyon, Silver, Clear, Waitts and Williams ranged from 2 to 4 inches thick. Most anglers were waiting until after two or three nights of temperatures in the low 20s or lower before resuming ice fishing.

When the ice on Sprague thickens and hardens, anglers will do well on perch that average about 8 inches long, with a few to 10 inches.

Because Hog Canyon is in a canyon, ice usually remains longer than ice on most other lakes in the area. It’s possible that the ice will be adequate for ice fishing this weekend, but anglers should be cautious.

Fourth of July is more open and the ice is marginal.

Biologist Curt Vail of Colville said there was water on the ice at Williams Lake over the weekend and that the ice wasn’t in good condition.

Ice on Waitts isn’t thick and hard enough to support anglers safely. If and when the ice is adequate, anglers will catch small perch and some brown trout.

Ice fishing, Idaho

Ice on some Panhandle lakes was still thick and hard enough at midweek to support anglers safely. Best ice is at lakes near and north of Sandpoint.

Fishermen were fishing for perch, trout and northern pike at several lakes earlier this week.

Most anglers have been going after perch, but some have been trying for pike at Fernan and the lakes adjacent to the lower Coeur d’Alene River and for trout and kokanee at Mirror Lake, Jeff Smith of the Fins & Feathers shop said.

The fastest fishing for perch has been at Fernan, Hauser and Round lakes, but the perch are small. Few are more than 9 inches long.

For perch 9 to 13 inches long, anglers should go to Gamble, Chase or Shepherd lakes, Smith said. Ice on those lakes remains at least 6 inches thick.

Fishermen have been catching 9- to 11-inch perch and a few crappies through the ice at Gamble Lake. Perch in Chase, which is near Coolin, are 11 to 13 inches long.

Anglers have been using tip-up rigs at Fernan and the chain lakes to catch pike. The most productive pike lakes near the Coeur d’Alene River have been Cave and Thompson.

The biggest pike have been caught at Fernan, Smith said. Several pike weighing 18 to 26 pounds have been pulled through the ice.

Mirror Lake, south of Sandpoint, has been producing good catches of trout and kokanee, Smith said. The lake holds brook, brown and cutthroat trout ranging from 8 to about 14 inches long and good-sized kokanee in the 11- to 15-inch class.

Smith said the kokanee population in Mirror apparently isn’t a big one. Ice fishermen catch an occasional kokanee while fishing for trout. Once in a while an angler catches a half dozen or so.

Steelhead

The most consistent producer of steelhead in the Inland Northwest has been the water near Little Goose Dam. Fishing has been excellent at times in other parts of the Snake River and at some of the tributaries, particularly the Tucannon.

However, fishing has been fair to good near the dam for a couple of months. Anglers averaged 18.1 hours per fish last weekend, a typical average for the area.

Biologist Art Viola said nearly all fishermen fish from shore and use shrimp-baited hooks under bobbers. Many fishermen apply anise oil to the shrimp and some dye shrimp bright orange or red. They fish the shrimp about 8 feet under their bobbers.

Salmon

Trollers are still catching good numbers of chinook salmon at Lake Coeur d’Alene, Smith said. He reported that he hooked seven salmon, all five pounds or less, during several hours of trolling at the lake.

He recommended that anglers use mini-Hootchies behind flashers and troll near the bottom in deep water. Productive areas have been Carlin, Gotham and Mica bays and out from Silver Beach.

Priest Lake

If you can launch your boat at Priest, you will have a good chance to take a limit of mackinaw trout, Smith said. The big problem now is finding a launch ramp that isn’t blocked by snow.

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