Fishing Report
KOKANEE
If you want to hook outsized kokanee, troll Lake Roosevelt. To get to where the fish are schooling, you’ve got to have a downrigger. Jeff Smith of the Fins & Feathers shop at Coeur d’Alene said he and two friends hooked numerous 3- to 4-1/2-pound kokanee in deep water 7 miles up from Spring Canyon.
“Most were about 60 feet deep,” he said. “We used Double Whammies behind small dodgers. We lost more than we caught.”
Smith said trollers also are hooking huge kokanee near the mouth of the San Poil River.
Trollers have been catching 13-inch kokanee from dawn to about 7:30 a.m. at Loon Lake. Joe Haley of the Granite Point Resort said fishermen have been letting out five colors of leaded line and are fishing Fisher Flies behind small dodgers. Still fishing at night has been slow, he said. Best area now to hook a few is the Sockeye Hole just north of the resort.
Trolling for small kokanee has been good at Idaho’s Coeur d’Alene and Pend Oreille lakes and at the Dworshak Reservoir.
Smith said the fastest fishing in the Panhandle is at Coeur d’Alene Lake, where 25-fish limits are common. Trollers have been averaging about 15 each at Lake Pend Oreille. Depth is critical.
Best fishing in Montana is at Koocanusa Lake. Nevin Zugg, operator of the Koocanusa Resort, said trollers have been taking 20-fish limits of 10- to 12-inchers in 3 hours. Nearly all anglers have been trolling the lower reservoir.
It’s no longer easy to catch a 10-fish limit at Lake Mary Ronan. Gary Thomas of Camp Tuffit said anglers are averaging five a day.
TROUT, WASHINGTON
Most anglers know that their best chance of catching trout these days is to fish either early or late in the day, but relatively few do so. Most still broil under hot sun as they troll baited lures behind leaded line or still fish in 20-35 feet of water.
Lake Roosevelt is one of the best spots to catch rainbows. Guide John Carruth of Davenport said trollers can catch rainbows to 21 inches in many parts of the lake.
TROUT, IDAHO
Fishing is peaking at North Idaho’s cutthroat streams.
For the first time in several years, the St. Joe, Lochsa and Selway rivers and Kelly and Cayuse creeks remained too high for easy fishing during June and much of this month. The creeks just now are falling into summer-time lows.
The Coeur d’Alene and its tributaries were the first to drop low enough for fair to good fishing. However, most anglers have been disappointed this season.
The St. Joe is in excellent condition and producing big catches of 7- to 17-inch cutthroat. The trout population in the upper reaches seems to be large and healthy and the the fish are feeding on caddisflies, mayflies and stoneflies.
Until a couple of weeks ago, Kelly Creek and its major tributary, Cayuse, were too high for easy fishing. Anglers who had fished the streams the second week of July the last couple of years returned this month but were disappointed.
The Lochsa and Selway are still a little high, but they’ve been producing excellent fishing.
Mackinaw trout fishing continues to be good at Priest Lake, but the trophy-sized rainbows in Lake Pend Oreille have had lockjaw.
TROUT, MONTANA
Surprisingly, some of Montana’s blue-ribbon trout streams are still too high for many anglers’ liking. Frequent rainstorms the last three months have kept the Clark Fork, Bitterroot, Rock Creek and Missouri higher than normal.
However, the streams in the Missoula area are low enough for good fishing.
Pale Morning Dun mayflies and caddisflies are hatching along Rock Creek and the Clark Fork and Bitterroot rivers. In addition, Green Drakes are hatching on the Bitterroot and golden stones are hatching along both the Bitterroot and Rock Creek.
Most fly fishers have been using big nymphs, such as Woolly Buggers, during mid-day hours. Caddisflies hatch during evenings.
The Big Hole finally is in good, fishable condition. Hatching are Little Yellow Stoneflies, Pale Morning Duns and caddisflies.
The Beaverhead is producing big brown and rainbow trout.
The Bureau of Reclamation said the Missouri below Holter Dam was running at 7,100 cubic feet per second earlier this week and will be 7,100 to 7,300 cfs this weekend. Ideal flow is 4,400 to 4,600 cfs.
Streams in the West Yellowstone area are producing good fishing, but are crowded.
PMDs and caddisflies are hatching along the Madison and Yellowstone rivers and the Henry’s Fork in the Last Chance area.
SPINY-RAYED SPECIES
It isn’t as easy to hook keeper walleyes at lakes and reservoirs as it was a few weeks ago. However, anglers have been finding enough walleyes to keep them interested.
Mike Mielke of the Sprague Lake Resort said one of every 10 walleyes hooked at the lake is a keeper 18 inches or longer. A woman recently caught an 8-pounder casting a tube jig in shallow water and retrieving to deep water.
Anglers have been trolling deep and very slow during mid-day hours and then moving to shallow water during evenings.
Mielke said fishermen have been catching perch averaging 7 to 8 inches long in deep water.
Carruth said walleye fishing has been good at Lake Roosevelt. He has had his clients bounce jigs in 10-20 feet of water. The largest have come off weeds.
Walleye fishing has slowed dramatically at Potholes Reservoir. However, a few to 10 pounds have been caught the last week.
WHITEFISH
Few anglers know that they can catch more big whitefish now at Banks Lake than they can during the winter months, Carruth said. The whitefish average 3 pounds.
Fishermen locate the big whitefish schools on their sonars and use Crippled Herring spoons. Most whitefish are in 60-90 feet.
CHINOOK SALMON
Trollers have been hooking many 3- to 8-pound chinooks and some in the 14- to 18-pound class at Coeur d’Alene Lake, Smith said. The salmon are 50 feet deep. Herring is the most popular bait.
COHO AND TUNA FISHING
Fishermen will be permitted to catch 20,800 coho salmon in the Westport area during the season that opened Monday. The Westport Charter Association anticipates excellent fishing.
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