Fall Golden Opportunity For Fishing

While the fishing season ends Tuesday on many Washington trout lakes, great fishing opportunities continue through November on waters throughout the Inland Northwest.

“The best fishing day I ever had was one year on Nov. 5 on the west arm of Kootenay Lake near Balfour (British Columbia),” said John Propp, a Spokane fly-fishing specialist. “In about three hours I weighed 26 pounds of rainbow trout in four fish, plus I broke off that many more. I was using a Grizzly King on the surface, of all things. It was colder than the dickens, but I just hit it right when the big Kamloops were moving into the shallows.”

Doubtless there are other great moments to be had. Here’s a sampling of other good bets for latefall angling.

Lake Roosevelt: Walleye and smallmouth bass begin congregating shallower as water temperatures fall below 60 degrees. The hottest action could be for rainbow trout ranging from 14 inches to 5 pounds. Troll Muddlers and other flies in the top 15 feet of water near shorelines between Grand Coulee Dam and Hunters.

Snake River: November is a prime month for catching steelhead between Lewiston and the Grande Ronde River. “Even at Thanksgiving, it’s not unusual for water temperatures to be around 46 degrees, which is warm enough to fish a dry line,” said G.L. Britton, Spokane fly-fishing guide.

Montana’s big rivers: Crowds have vanished from the Yellowstone, Missouri and Clark Fork, leaving plenty of elbow room on the rivers for anglers who can put up with the moody nature of November fishing. Success can range day to day from dead to phenomenal.

Midday tends to be best for fly fishers. Rainbows and browns are taken on various bead-head patterns, but also fall for Woolly Buggers and other streamers.

Brace yourself for the unexpected. A few fly fishers say they have hit phenomenal Baetis hatches during stormy mid-November weather on the lower Clark Fork.

Priest Lake: Mackinaw are congregating near the mouths of feeder streams and midlake spawning areas, making them fairly easy targets for deep-line jigging. Use sonar to find congregations of fish on bottom ranging from 80 to 150 feet deep, then plan to go with 1-ounce baited jigs.

Lake Pend Oreille: Big boats will be out for the Lake Pend Oreille Club’s Thanksgiving Challenge fishing derby Nov. 18-26, which coincides with increased surface activity for the lake’s monster rainbows.

Amber Lake: This lake, southwest of Cheney, is open to catch and release through November. It’s the only late-fall quality trout water close to Spokane. Try bead-head nymphs, water boatman and leech patterns for good size rainbows.

Brown trout waters: Rock Lake, Sullivan Lake, Pend Oreille River and Clear Lake hold large brown trout that are congregating at feeder streams and other potential spawning areas.

Lake Coeur d’Alene: Northern pike are active in the shallows of major bays, such as Cougar Bay.

Yakima River: Water levels are ideal and dry fly fishing continues through November for native rainbows. Productive patterns include Baetis size 20-22 and Light Cahills size 14-16. Also take bead-head Hairs Ear, Pheasant Tails and Prince Nymphs and keep the Griffith’s Gnats handy.

Cutthroat trout waters: The Coeur d’Alene and St. Joe rivers remain open to catch-and-release fishing in November, although fishing can be slow. Hottest cutthroat action is south of Coulee City, Wash., at Lake Lenore, where the huge Lahontan strain will take spoons as well as flies. Hardware anglers like to use electric motors to troll the weed lines. Fly fishers launch float tubes at the south end of the lake and cast everything from Six-Packs to leech patterns.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo