Hunting & Fishing

Winter lakes

Launching boats at Fourth of July and Hog Canyon lakes may be impossible this weekend. Sub-freezing nights have thickened the ice around the launch areas enough so anglers may not be able to break ice to open water.

However, fishing should be good. And anglers probably will be much more comfortable this weekend than those who fished the two lakes on the wind-chilled opening day.

Fortunately for anglers, fishing was so good at both lakes on opening day most caught limits in an hour or two, fisheries biologist Bob Peck said.

Low temperatures and high winds apparently discouraged many would-be anglers when the winter fishing lakes opened Sunday, but 40 vehicles were parked at Hog Canyon at 8 a.m. and 80 were counted at Fourth of July at 8:30.

Normally, the huge parking lot at Fourth of July, which usually yields good numbers of 18-inch-plus rainbows on opening day, is jammed with at least 100 vehicles. The turnout at Hog Canyon was about normal.

Although anglers know they’ll have little trouble limiting at Hog Canyon, they also know the road into the small lake not only is rocky and rough, it can be too rutted and ice-covered for all but four-wheel-drive vehicles.

Peck said the final quarter-mile into Hog Canyon was so rutted and rough Sunday some who drove two-wheel-drive cars decided not to go into the parking lot.

Anglers who had boats had to break ice at Hog Canyon to get out to open water. Many tried to break ice with their boats at Fourth of July but gave up and hiked a mile to the “narrows” to fish in open water. The first mile at Fourth of July was ice-covered, but the rest of the lake was ice-free.

More than 60 percent of the rainbows caught at Hog Canyon were 11 to 13 inches long, Peck said. They were released as “catchables” last spring. Some of the trout released as fry last spring were caught; they’re only 8 to 9 inches.

Peck said 1 in 10 trout were carryover rainbows measuring 13 to 24 inches long. The largest were broodstock rainbows, some of which weighed 4 to 5 pounds.

Most of the rainbows caught at Fourth of July were 17 to 22 inches long, Peck said. However, fairly good numbers of 12- to 13-inch rainbows, released as “catchables” last spring, were caught. Few of the trout that were fry-sized when they were released showed up in anglers’ sacks.

Those who caught the 12- to 13-inchers were able to take home more than two fish. The daily limit is five trout, only two of which can be 14 or more inches long. Many anglers left the lake with two big rainbows.

Although Hatch Lake, east of Colville, opened Sunday, anglers discovered the ice was too thin to stand on and too thick to break open with rocks and boats. Peck said the lake should provide excellent fishing for pan-sized rainbows when the ice is thick enough for safe fishing.

Waterfowl

Ducks are rare birds in much of the northern Columbia Basin.

Rod Meseberg, owner of the Mar-Don Resort on the Potholes Reservoir, said so few ducks were on and near the Potholes Reservoir before the Thanksgiving holiday that his sons, Dave and Mike, called hunters who had made arrangements to stay there and take guided hunts to cancel from Thanksgiving Day through Sunday.

It’s possible, he said, his sons won’t conduct guided hunts or operate their taxi service this weekend if not enough ducks have returned to the reservoir for good hunting.

Meseberg said nearly all ducks left the reservoir and most other waters to the north after storms dumped 10 inches of snow on harvested fields and freezing rain put a hard crust on top of the snow. He believes most ducks are on the Columbia near and below Umatilla and many “northerns” are in California.

Numerous small lakes and potholes in North Idaho and Eastern Washington are ice-covered and most ducks either have moved to the large lakes or the Snake and Columbia rivers.

Steve Smith of the Fins & Feathers shop at Coeur d’Alene said some have had excellent hunting for both ducks and geese on Lake Coeur d’Alene.

The Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge near Bonners Ferry is covered with more than 2 feet of snow and the ponds all are frozen. The only ducks in the area are along the Kootenai River.

Deep snow covers most harvested grain fields and winter wheat fields in North Idaho. As a result, many ducks and geese have moved to the Columbia Basin and farther south.

Geese are spread out in Eastern Washington, but only a few thousand are along the Snake River. Most still are in the Spokane region and in the Basin.

Enough ducks are in the Spokane region for fair to good shooting. Good numbers of ducks are resting on lakes in the Coffee Pot chain west of Harrington and feeding in harvested wheat fields in the area.

Steelhead

Fishing was slow along the Snake and its tributaries above Clarkston during the Thanksgiving holiday.

The Idaho Fish and Game Department reported 73 anglers caught 10 steelhead along the Snake River from the confluence to the Salmon River for an average of 30 hours per steelhead.

Fishing was a little better along the lower Clearwater. A total of 463 anglers averaged 24 hours per fish.

Jay Pope of Jay’s Gone Fishing at Clarkston said fishing was slow along most rivers. The Snake and Grande Ronde were off-color, but were clearing early this week.

Steelhead fishing has been fair to good near the Lyons Ferry hatchery on the Columbia River.

Upland birds

For bird hunters, one of the surprises this fall is the large number of Hungarian partridges. The Huns, as hunters call the birds, are so numerous in many areas they make up for the relatively low number of pheasants.

Pressure on pheasants picked up during the Thanksgiving holiday, with college students joining other hunters in the fields. As usual, those who hunted near the Snake River in south Whitman County and north Garfield County and in the Othello area saw enough birds for fair to good shooting.

Salmon

Trolling for chinook salmon at Lake Coeur d’Alene picked up last weekend and several 12- to 16-pound chinooks were boated, Smith said. Most of the chinooks, however, averaged 5 pounds.

Smith said most salmon were caught at 50 and 80 feet. Those who fished at 50 feet towed helmeted herring; those who trolled deeper used dodgers and flashers ahead of herring.

If the weather isn’t too severe, Smith said, a few score anglers will enter the “Big Fish” tournament at the lake today, Saturday and Sunday. The purse will be based on the number of entries.

Pike

If you can stand cold weather, this is a good time to hook northern pike at Lake Coeur d’Alene. Smith said fishing for the pike has been surprisingly good the last couple of weeks. Most anglers have been using plugs; a favorite has been Rapala’s Husky Jerk.

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