Fishing Report

Trout, Idaho

Idaho’s Coeur d’Alene River is still the best bet for stream fishing in the Inland Northwest, but the St. Joe is gradually dropping low enough for good cutthroat fishing.

The Lochsa and Selway rivers, on the other hand, are still too high and off color for good fishing.

Good-sized cutthroat, some 18 inches long, are migrating up the Coeur d’Alene River and taking anglers’ flies and lures as they move upstream. Most of the cutthroat anglers have been catching, however, are 8 to 12 inches long.

Caddisflies and some mayflies are hatching, but most fly fishers have used ant and beetle patterns as well as attractor patterns, such as Royal Wulffs and Humpies, to take the fish.

The Coeur d’Alene is low and clear.

The St. Joe soon will be the most popular trout stream in North Idaho. It may be in excellent condition by this weekend. It certainly will provide excellent fishing by the Fourth of July.

A Forest Service official at the Avery ranger station said earlier this week that some anglers have done well although the water is still running a little high.

Trollers are continuing to take three-fish limits of mackinaw trout at Priest. Three Spokane anglers last week took limits at the north end in 135 to 175 feet of water. They trolled flies baited with sucker meat.

The famed Henry’s Fork in east-central Idaho is swarming with fly fishers from throughout the world. The big Green Drake mayflies, which bring tippet-breaking trout to the surface, are hatching.

Fishing is excellent at Henry’s Lake, where damselfly nymphs are hatching.

Kokanee

Unsettled weather last weekend apparently had an affect on the big kokanee in Loon Lake. Trolling for the landlocked sockeye salmon had been good most of last week, but storm fronts moved in and the fish were moody during the weekend.

Joe Haley of the Granite Point Resort said trollers averaged one to two kokanee each, compared to five the previous week.

The kokanee are moving around at different depths, Haley said. Most successful trollers, however, have let out five colors of leaded line.

Some trollers are starting to catch 10-fish limits at Lake Mary Ronan, Gary Thomas of Camp Tuffit said. The kokanee average 14 inches in length, but the range is 6 to 15 inches. Still-fishing remains slow.

Trollers are continuing to catch 20-fish limits of 10- to 12-inch kokanee at Lake Koocanusa.

Trout, Washington

Anglers have skimmed the cream off trout lakes in the region and fishing no longer is as productive as it was a few weeks ago.

Some lakes are still giving up five-fish limits, particularly in the evenings. Among them are West Medical, Fishtrap, Williams and Badger. Persistent anglers are continuing to catch good-sized browns at Clear, Silver and Waitts.

The best fishing is at the selective-fishery and fly fishing-only lakes. But it’s no longer easy to hook and release a dozen trout a day at most of the lakes.

Anglers are wondering why they can’t catch the big Lahontan cutthroat at Grimes Lake, which opened only a few weeks ago. Biologist Ken Williams said guides have learned the fish congregate near springs when the water temperature soars.

The Lahontans don’t stay in shallow or deep water. Shallow water becomes too warm for them and there’s little or no oxygen in Grimes’ deep water. The guides have found spring areas where the trout school during warm weather.

Chopaka, a fly fishing-only lake, is one of the best trout producers in the state. The rainbows are big, averaging 16 inches or more, and plentiful enough for good fishing.

Fishing has been spotty at such selective-fishery lakes as Dry Falls, Ell, Lenice and Nunnally.

Incidentally, the Fish and Wildlife department has restocked Mudgett Lake in southern Stevens County, although no answers to last month’s mysterious fish kill were found.

Don’t plan on fishing the lake soon. The department released 6,500 rainbow fry into the lake and few will be big enough to interest fishermen this year. Officials said few, if any, catchable-size trout are left in the lake as the result of the kill the second week of May.

Trout, Montana

Rock Creek east of Missoula is high and clear and providing good fishing, a spokesman for Grizzly Hackle International at Missoula said.

The stream is still too high for easy wading, but fly fishers have taken trout on salmonfly and golden stonefly imitations, as well as some mayfly patterns. The salmonfly hatch is over, but the trout still will take salmonfly imitations.

The lower Clark Fork is too high for good fishing, but could be low enough by this weekend for fair fishing.

The Madison is providing good fishing for rainbows and browns, Dick Green, owner of Bud Lilly’s shop in West Yellowstone, said. Most fly fishers are using stonefly nymph imitations.

The Firehole and Gibbon rivers in Yellowstone Park and Yellowstone Lake are producing excellent trout fishing, he said.

Chinook salmon

Chinooks resumed biting at Lake Coeur d’Alene this week, Steve Smith of the Fins & Feathers shop reported. Fishing had slowed the last couple weeks.

For some reason, Smith said, the chinooks started hitting helmeted herring and Rapala plugs in 40 feet of water. Anglers caught numerous 12- to 15-pounders, with the average 14 pounds.

Shad

More than 2 million shad have migrated over the Bonneville and The Dalles dams and more than 40,000 have been counted at McNary Dam.

Although fishing has been good near the lower Columbia River dams, it’s still a little too early to fish below Lower Granite. Enough shad may be below Lower Granite by next week for fair to good fishing.

Spiny rayed fish

The Potholes Reservoir may be a fish factory, but some anglers have had better fishing at Sprague and other Spokane-area lakes than at the reservoir.

For example, a couple of Spokane anglers who spent most of their time fishing for walleyes, bass, crappies, perch and bluegills last week, gave up fishing the reservoir after several fruitless hours and headed for Sprague.

They hooked numerous sublegal walleyes and caught enough perch, crappies and bluegills to keep themselves busy for an hour or so filleting fish. Perhaps surprisingly, they caught the crappies and bluegills in mid-afternoon.

Monica Mielke of the Sprague Lake Resort, however, said the best fishing for crappies and bluegills is late in the evenings. The bluegills are near the shoreline getting ready to spawn and most crappies are in open water fairly near the shore.

Mielke also said walleye fishing has been excellent. Large numbers of the fish are 17-1/2 inches long, just short of the legal length.

Walleye fishing is good along Lake Roosevelt, guide John Carruth of Davenport said. He noted that 186 anglers who fished during the Governor’s Cup tournament last weekend caught 827 walleyes.

Most of the walleyes are over sand and gravel in 20 to 30 feet of water, he said. Spinners and Spin n’Glo lures were big producers during the tournament.

Crappie fishing has been excellent at Hayden Lake and the lakes adjacent to the lower Coeur d’Alene River, Smith said. It’s fairly easy to take a limit of 15 crappies longer than 10 inches at Hayden. The best fishing is near the docks in the north end of the lake.

Northern pike

Anglers are hooking a few good-sized pike over weed beds at Lake Coeur d’Alene and small pike in the chain lakes near the Coeur d’Alene River.

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