Free Fishing Days

You can fish without a license Saturday and Sunday in Washington waters and on Saturday at Idaho’s lakes and streams.

Free fishing days have become popular with thousands of the region’s residents the last few years. Many parents take advantage of the opportunity to fish without licenses to take their children fishing.

If you fish during the free fishing days, remember that you must obey all fishing regulations. Before you fish, pick up a fishing pamphlet at a store that sells fishing licenses. Idaho and Washington fish and game agencies publish pamphlets that contain detailed information on fish and fish regulations.

Shad

Now is the time to fish for shad near the lower Columbia River dams. The fish are climbing ladders at Bonneville, The Dalles and John Day dams at the rate of 40,000 to 60,000 a day. More than a half million have climbed the ladders at Bonneville Dam.

Two of the most productive spots are near Bradford Island at Bonneville Dam and below John Day Dam.

The Bradford Island area is the most crowded. Hundreds of anglers, many of them from the Portland metropolitan area, are fishing the area every day.

Not so crowded is the John Day Dam area. Most anglers fish from shore there and the fishing can be fast at times.

It’s too early to fish for shad below Ice Harbor Dam.

Kokanee

North Idaho kokanee fishermen know that they can catch all the small kokanee they want to smoke or fry at several Idaho lakes, but a high percentage of them are trolling Lake Roosevelt for the biggest kokanee in the Northwest.

Jeff Smith of the Fins & Feathers Shop at Coeur d’Alene said that North Idaho’s kokanee fishermen have spent most of their time trolling for the huge kokanee in Lake Roosevelt. The fishermen know that they can catch kokanee as well as big rainbows and lots of walleyes.

Anglers are wondering whether kokanee populations in Loon and Mary Ronan lakes are smaller this year than last. Fishing started fast at both popular lakes, but has been slow the last week or so.

Veteran trollers had trouble catching limits at Loon before the weekend’s storm. Those who had taken 10 big kokanee in two to three hours of trolling caught only a few after several hours of fishing last week and early this week.

Loon’s kokanee are 12 to 14 inches long, much bigger than they were at this time last year. Usually, when when mature kokanee are big, the population is small, or at least smaller than that of the previous year.

The kokanee in Loon haven’t started to school at night; consequently, still fishing has been spotty. A few persistent fishermen have caught near-limits by spending several hours on the lake. Some have fished from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Spokane area fly fishers were disappointed when they fished Montana’s Lake Mary Ronan last week and during the weekend. They reported that fishing was extremely slow.

In fact, some caught more rainbows than kokanee. One fly fisher caught more perch than rainbows and kokanee.

Like Loon, Mary Ronan provided sensational kokanee fishing during the first few days after the lake was opened to fishing. Most of the kokanee were large, averaging 13 inches.

Mark Thomas of Camp Tuffit said that trollers have caught limits, although fishing hasn’t been nearly as fast as it was on opening weekend. Pressure was light at the lake early this week.

Kokanee in Koocanusa Reservoir are larger this year than last. Trollers have caught 20-fish limits of 10- to 14-inches in the lower end of the long, narrow lake. A spokeswoman for the Koocanusa Resort said kokanee average more than 12 inches long.

Smith said the largest kokanee in North Idaho are in Mirror Lake, near Sandpoint. The kokanee are 12 to 17 inches long. “Fishermen can catch lots of 9-inch kokanee at Pend Oreille, Spirit and Coeur d’Alene lakes,” he said.

Trout, Washington

Grimes Lake in Douglas County provided surprisingly good fishing for Lahontan cutthroat when it was opened for the season last week, fish biologist Ken Williams reported.

Williams said fishing wasn’t quite as fast as it was on opening day last year, but that most anglers were satisfied with the fishing. He said he measured Lahontans that measured 16 to 26 inches long.

Fishing has been slow at most trout lakes in Eastern Washington the last couple of weeks. Outsized chironomids have hatched in most lakes and damselfly, dragonfly and mayfly hatches are under way.

Best bets are the selective fishery and fly fishing-only waters. Fly fishers have complained that fishing has been slow.

Spinyrayed species

Walleye fishing has been excellent at Lake Roosevelt, the Potholes Reservoir and Sprague Lake. Knowledgeable anglers have been taking walleyes measuring 18 to 25 inches long at Sprague and the reservoir and lots of keepers at Lake Roosevelt.

Anglers are catching more crappies than bluegills at Sprague, Monica Mielke of the Sprague Lake Resort said. Best fishing for the crappies, which are 7 to 9 inches long, is in the evenings.

This is the time of year when bluegill fishing usually is good at Sprague. Fishing has been spotty, however, and there are indications that the bluegill population is down drastically from those of the last few years.

Bass fishing has been excellent at both Eastern Washington and North Idaho lakes.

Trout, Idaho

Hot weather last week melted snow in mountains and heavy rainstorms Sunday night and early this week caused popular cutthroat streams to rise and, in some cases, turn murky.

The Coeur d’Alene and its tributaries are the best bet for this weekend. The stream was high but clear early this week.

The Selway and Lochsa also are running high and off color.

Trout, Montana

All major streams in the Missoula area are high and muddy, John Herzer of Streamside Anglers said. Flood warnings were out along the Bitterroot earlier this week. Trees were floating down the Clark Fork. Rock Creek was high and wild.

Salmon Lake Coeur d’Alene continues to yield good numbers of chinook

Lake Coeur d’Alene continues to yield good numbers of chinook salmon, Smith said. The salmon are 30 to 60 feet deep and trollers probably will be switching over from flutter spoons to Hot Spot flashers and Hootchies and Dodgers and Flies.