Hunting & Fishing

Steelhead

Steelheaders are continuing to hook large numbers of the seagoing rainbows along the Snake River and its tributaries.

The Walla Walla and Tucannon rivers provided the hottest fishing in the region last weekend. Fishery biologist Art Viola reported 76 anglers averaged 2.5 hour per steelhead along the Walla Walla and 2.8 hours on the Tucannon.

Those kind of averages indicate sensational fishing. An average under 15 hours is considered good.

Average for the Touchet, he said, was 1.3 hours. However, only five anglers, all of whom know the river well, were checked. Therefore, the average was not considered typical.

Viola said the Touchet won’t provide consistently good steelhead fishing until at least mid-February.

Fourteen anglers checked along Mill Creek averaged 4.4 hours.

Fishing was excellent near Little Goose and Lower Monumental dams. Anglers, most of whom fished from shore, averaged 9.6 hours near Little Goose and 10.2 near Lower Monumental.

The average at the mouth of the Tucannon was 12.1 hours per fish.

Water temperatures remain at 49 to 50 degrees along the lower Snake and tributaries.

Viola said 262 boat anglers were checked along the Snake from Lower Granite to the mouth of the Grande Ronde last weekend. They averaged 14.5 hours per fish.

The Idaho Fish and Game Department checked 332 anglers along the Snake and came up with 13 hours per steelhead.

Lake Pend Oreille

The biggest rainbow caught during the first three days of the Lake Pend Oreille Club’s Thanksgiving Challenge Derby was a 20-pound, 3-ounce fish taken by Don Steinke. Next largest was caught by Danili Warren, who entered a 19-pound, 3-ounce rainbow in the division for youngsters 9 years old and older.

Bob Humiston of Bayview boated the largest mackinaw, 21 pounds, Sunday off Whiskey Rock.

The derby ends Sunday.

Waterfowl

Many “northerns” are in North Idaho and Eastern Washington, but, because of mild weather in the Canadian provinces, the movement of ducks into the states apparently is a little late this year.

Biologist Randy Hill of the Columbia National Wildlife Refuge said he has the impression not all the ducks that will migrate out of Canada are in the Basin.

Some gunners have been taking limits along the Pend Oreille River, some lakes in the Spokane area, on and near Sprague and Cow lakes west of Spokane and in the Columbia Basin. However, most hunters say they haven’t seen the huge flocks they usually see when most northerns are in the region.

Dan Pennington, manager of the Kootenai National Refuge near Bonners Ferry, said the number of ducks on refuge waters dropped early this week after ponds froze.

Both refuges were closed during the government shutdown.

No one knows whether the migration out of British Columbia and Alberta has been as big as Fish and Wildlife Service biologists had expected, but hunters say there are plenty of mallards and other ducks for excellent hunting on overcast, windy and rainy days.

Unfortunately for hunters, most days have been sunny, calm and mild, not the kind that cause ducks to do a lot of flying. Ducks have been resting on big water and flying to corn and wheat stubble fields just before the end of shooting times.

Hunters want days that make them, not ducks, miserable.

Goose hunting has been excellent throughout North Idaho and Eastern Washington, especially for those who lease or own lakes that attract geese and for the freelancers who follow the flocks and get permission to hunt in the fields.

Salmon

Trolling at Lake Coeur d’Alene continues to be almost unbelievably good. Many anglers decided to troll for the chinooks rather than enter the derby at Lake Pend Oreille.

Jeff Smith of the Fins & Feathers shop said a high percentage of anglers has been boating chinooks. Although they hook “shakers” in the 16-inch class, they boat many salmon weighing 7 to 10 pounds and an occasional fish up to 12 pounds.

Smith said he and a partner trolled the north end a few days ago and hooked and released 11 salmon.

Most anglers have been trolling Squaw and Bennett bays and off Arrow Point in the north end and Powder Horn bay and East Point in the south end.

The salmon are 90 to 100 feet deep. Most productive rig is an 11-inch Hot Spot flasher ahead of a green or pink mini-squid.

Big game

Washington’s late buck season ended with thousands of hunters in the game management units that were open to whitetail bucks. Roads were clogged in many parts of Pend Oreille and Stevens counties.

The Fish and Wildlife Department checked 216 hunters with 36 bucks at the Chattaroy station Saturday for a 17 percent success rate. At the Deer Park station on Sunday, 542 hunters had 81 bucks, a 15 percent success rate. The 10-year averages are Chattaroy 19 percent, Deer Park 15 percent.

Archers and muzzleloaders will continue to hunt deer and elk in several units well into December.

Most Idaho hunters have only six days to tag deer. The season ends in many Panhandle units Dec. 1.

Upland birds

Finding enough pheasants and partridges for fair to good shooting has been difficult, but a few diehards with excellent bird dogs have been limiting periodically.

There are just enough pheasants along the Snake River between Lower Granite and Little Goose dams for a hard-working hunter to bag a cock or two during a day’s hunting. Another area where there are fair numbers of pheasants is south and southwest of Othello.

The relatively few pheasants in the fields are extremely wild and usually flush out of shotgun range.

Chukars are numerous enough in parts of the Basin for fair hunting. Hunters have had some success along lower the Crab Creek channel and southwest of Coulee City.

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