Fishing Report

Winter lakes, Washington

Little Hog Canyon Lake in southwest Spokane County may be the best spot in Eastern Washington the next few days to catch a limit of pan-sized trout.

Three lakes in the Quincy Wildlife Recreation Area have been yielding limits, but they’ve been hit so hard since they were opened to fishing March 1 that anglers already have reduced the trout populations drastically.

Although fishing can be tough at times at Hog Canyon, there are days when most fishermen do well.

The trout run from 9 to 20 inches long, with most of them 9 to 10 inches, some in the 12- to 13-inch range and a few old fish in the 16- to 20-inch bracket.

Oxygen levels are high at Hog Canyon as the result of the steady volume of water coming in at the head of the lake. And insects are starting to hatch.

Fishing should be good at Fourth of July, but anglers have been complaining that the rainbows have lockjaw much of the time. The water is still to low to launch boats. Most people fish from shore.

Fishing should be fairly good at Williams Lake north of Colville. The lake still has a good population of 10- to 14-inch rainbows.

Anglers have only a couple more weeks to fish Hog Canyon, Fourth of July and Williams. The lakes will be closed to fishing at the end of March.

Columbia Basin

Best bets for pan-sized trout in the Basin are Burke, Martha and Upper Caliche in the Quincy area. All three have been producing limits for persistent fishermen.

Fishing has been poor at other lakes in the Quincy Wildlife Recreation area and at Warden and South Warden and the PillarWigeon lakes in the Columbia National Wildlife Refuge.

Wildlife agent Dan Rahn said that a few lakes east of the Columbia National Wildlife Refuge have been providing fairly good fishing. Among them are North and South Teal, Heart, Herman and North Windmill and North North Windmill.

He said fly fishing has been slow at Quail Lake, a fly fishing-only lake.

Fishing hasn’t been fast at Lenore Lake, but it’s been good enough to attract good numbers of spin fishermen. The Lahontan cutthroat run from about 16 to 28 inches long.

This is the catch-and-release season for Lenore. Anglers can’t keep the cutthroat until June 1.

Pressure has been heavy for rainbows on Rocky Ford Creek in the mile-long stretch below the upper hatchery.

The Bureau of Reclamation has opened the Potholes Canal and the rush of freshwater should lure thousands of whitefish to the inlets of Soda, Long and Crescent lakes through much of next week.

Lake Roosevelt

The Bureau of Reclamation stopped dropping the level of the big reservoir earlier this week and said that the level may be stabilized at 1,254 feet, or 36 feet below full pool.

If the lake remains at 1,254 feet for a few days, rainbows and kokanee may start biting. Anglers have had poor luck while the lake was being drawn down.

The lower end of the lake, particularly in the Spring Canyon area, is the best place this time of year for trout and kokanee are biting.

Turkeys

This is the time of year when hunters try to locate nesting flocks and be ready for the opening of the spring season April 15.

Indications are that there are plenty of turkeys in the Spokane region for good hunting. The winter was mild and most birds survived.

Northern pike

Anglers are waiting for water temperatures to rise a few degrees before concentrating their fishing in water that’s 2 to 6 feet deep.

Steve Smith of the Fins & Feathers shop at Coeur d’Alene said big pike are starting to move to shallows to spawn, but the water is still a bit too cold.

Pike are aggressive during prespawning time. Some of the biggest pike caught during a year are taken during the pre-spawn.

Cougar Bay is the most popular area with pike fishermen.

Lakes adjacent to the lower Coeur d’Alene River warm up faster than the big lake, but the pike are much smaller than those in Lake Coeur d’Alene. Smith said fishermen probably will take some pre-spawning pike in the north end of Hayden Lake.

Trout, Idaho

Priest Lake still is the hottest spot in Idaho’s Panhandle to catch nicesized fish. Trollers and jiggers have been taking good numbers of mackinaw trout, a few of them weighing more than 15 pounds.

Trout fishing has been fair to good at Fernan, Hauser and Hayden lakes.

Most northern lakes are still covered with ice, but the ice is honeycombed and not safe for ice fishing.

Steelhead

Steelhead are moving fast toward their spawning grounds. Checks by Washington and Idaho fish and wildlife officials show that the best fishing is along the upper reaches of the Clearwater, the lower Salmon River, the Grande Ronde, Touchet and Tucannon rivers. Some of the streams were high and muddy earlier this week, but could be clear enough for fishing by this weekend.

The Idaho Fish and Game Department reported the best fishing along the Clearwater was the upper river, where anglers averaged 12 hours per fish. Fishing was slow along the lower river and the North Fork.

Fishing has been good along the lower Salmon River, with averages running 11 to 14 hours per steelhead.

If the lower Snake’s tributaries are clear enough for fish to see anglers’ lures, fishing could be terrific this weekend.

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