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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Fishing Report

Fenton Roskelley, Correspondent

Spiny-rayed species

Smallmouth bass are competing with their cousins, the largemouths, for the affection of the region’s bass anglers.

Smallmouths have become so popular that the Inland Empire Bass Club has, with the blessing of the Fish and Wildlife Department, released hundreds in Long (Spokane) Lake. The smallmouths have done so well in the lake that one of every three or four bass hooked during a recent tournament was a smallmouth.

Fishing for smallmouths has been excellent along the Snake River for several weeks, even though the river has been high and off color as the result of the runoff.

This fisherman and several others, using curly tails on jigs, hooked many 9- to 14-inchers during a two-day trip to Hells Canyon. We fished eddies off a Beamers Landing Hells Canyon Excursions boat.

Smallmouths have been taking anglers’ lures near the lower Snake River dams for several weeks.

They’ve also been taking fishermen’s offerings off the face of O’Sullivan Dam at the Potholes Reservoir. Fishing has been so good that some are fishing for smallmouths rather than the largemouths in the sand dune islands area of the big reservoir.

Smallmouths also have been active in Lake Roosevelt.

Now is the time to fish for bluegills at Sprague Lake. Mike Mielke, owner of the Sprague Lake Resort, said the bluegills are full of eggs and along the shorelines during calm, warm days in the evenings. Mielke said bass fishing has been poor recently.

Walleyes

Walleye fishing has been so good at the Potholes Reservoir, according to Rod Meseberg at the Mar-Don Resort, that “you can tell a novice where to go, what to do and how to do it and he’ll come back with one to five fish.”

Walleyes in the reservoir are moving, he said. Some are still around the sand dune islands, but more are being caught between the Blythe game site and Perch Island, the big water mouth of Crab Creek and between Goose Island and O’Sullivan Dam.

Meseberg said walleyes are plentiful in Soda, Long and Crescent lakes. The latter lakes are good places to go for those who want to get away from the crowds.

Walleye fishing has been excellent at Sprague Lake, Mielke said. Although a lot of “keeper” walleyes - those 18 inches or longer - have been caught, an angler will catch 10 walleyes for every keeper, indicating a good walleye population.

Fishing has been good at Lake Roosevelt.

Trout, Idaho

Most of North Idaho’s blue-ribbon cutthroat streams are still a little high, but they’ve dropped enough for good fishing.

However, big fish that spawned in the tributaries are just now showing up in the main river. Most of the cutthroat that anglers have been hooking have been small, running 8 to 12 inches.

The Coeur d’Alene is low and clear, but fishing has been only fair.

The St. Joe, Lochsa and Selway rivers and Kelly Creek are clear, but not quite down to summer levels.

The St. Joe above Red Ives gets the heaviest pressure during summer months. It’s a highly productive section of the river, and finding a spot to fish can be a problem.

Portions of the river below the mouth of Gold Creek are ideal for floating in a small craft until the river gets extremely low. Anglers who float the stream can fish spots that shore fishermen have difficulty reaching.

Priest Lake is a good bet for small mackinaw trout. Majority of the macks are just shorter than 26 inches, but a few weigh nearly 8 pounds. An occasional mack as heavy as 30 pounds or more is hooked.

Idaho’s Henry’s Fork has been providing fair to good fishing, Dick Green of the Bud Lilly’s shop in West Yellowstone reported. There have been sporadic hatches of Green Drake mayflies. Most fly fishers use PMD mayfly and caddisfly imitations.

Trout, Montana

The Missouri River in the Craig area is one of the best bets for big trout. The river has dropped considerably and is running at 6,000 to 7,000 cubic feet per second.

Guide Arnie Gidlow said the river is clear and wadeable. Pale Morning Dun mayflies are hatching during morning hours, caddisflies in late afternoon and evening.

Streams in the Missoula area are still high, but they’re providing some fishing.

The lower Clark Fork has dropped considerably the last couple of weeks, but it’s still somewhat high. Pale Morning Dun and Baetis mayflies have been hatching, but fly fishers reported poor results last week.

The Bitterroot also is high, but fishable. The West Fork is the best place to fish.

Guide Dave Blackburn, owner of Kootenai Angler, said PMD mayflies have been hatching along the Kootenai in the Libby area in the afternoons and the Blue Winged Olive maflies are appearing in the evenings. Still, some fly fishers use Woolly Buggers and kokanee streamers fished with sink tip lines to take big rainbows.

The big salmonflies have started hatching along the Madison River in the Ennis area, Green said. The hatch will move steadily up to Quake Lake the next couple of weeks.

PMDs and caddisflies are hatching along the Madison in the park and along the Firehole River.

Trout, Washington

Fish early or late at the region’s lakes. Trolling and still fishing during mid-day hours is no longer as productive as in early May. Although some lakes in the Spokane area are still yielding fair to good fishing, this is a good time to fish the small lakes in Pend Oreille, Stevens and Ferry counties.

Try Marshall, Yocum, Skookums, Long and the lakes in the Little Pend Oreille chain.

Lake Roosevelt is still yielding some big rainbows for those who know where to fish for them. The Daisy, Seven Bays and Spring Canyon areas are good places to try.

A few lakes in the Columbia Basin are yielding rainbow and brown trout. Meseberg said anglers have been catching some good-sized brown trout at Warden Lake and Goldeneye has been producing big rainbows. For pan-sized trout, try North and South Teal, Canal, Blythe and Chukar lakes.

Kokanee

Night fishing has been good at times at Loon Lake, with some expert fishermen catching 10-fish limits of 12- to 14-inch kokanee.

The lake has stratified and the kokanee are about 30 feet deep most of the time. Still fishermen don’t cruise the hot spots to find kokanee schools until about 9 p.m.

Still fishing has ranged from slow to excellent. Don Ostlund said he and his friends have caught their limits some nights and have had difficulty hooking a few on other nights.

The best time to troll the lake for kokanee is from dawn to about 9 a.m. If you are on the lake during mid-day, especially on hot days, your boat will be rocked by big boats pulling water skiers and by the jet ski boats that buzz around the lake.

In Idaho, Coeur d’Alene and Pend Oreille lakes and the Dworshak Reservoir are good bets for small kokanee. Trollers are now letting out three to four colors of leaded line to get down to the fish.

Fishing slowed down over the weekend and into mid-week at Lake Mary Ronan and Koocanusa Reservoir. Resort operators said winds and rain made fishing difficult.

Mark Thomas of Camp Tuffit at Mary Ronan said trollers and still fishermen are still catching 13- to 14-inchers, but not many are taking limits any more.