Hunting & Fishing

Waterfowl

Now is the time to hunt ducks in North Idaho and Eastern Washington.

Tens of thousands of mallards, pintails, wigeons, goldeneyes, teal and gadwalls are arriving from Canadian provinces, feeding in harvested grain fields and spending their nights on lakes and potholes.

Jerry Campbell of the Mar-Don Resort said large numbers of ducks, mostly mallards, were at the Potholes Reservoir early last week, but most moved out before the weekend.

It’s possible the ducks couldn’t find enough feed to hold them. Farmers have been slow harvesting corn in the Basin and there’s little feed in the harvested wheat fields.

Best time to hunt the ducks, as well as geese, is soon after they’ve arrived in the Inland Northwest. Few have seen big decoy spreads, heard hunters’ calls and been shot at.

But it doesn’t take the birds long to distinguish between decoys and real ducks, flare after they’ve heard a few phony calls and look carefully before committing themselves to landing.

The Fish and Wildlife Service has predicted this will be a banner year for duck hunters. Near-record numbers of ducks are supposed to migrate out of the provinces and into the United States. The Inland Northwest will get a high percentage of the ducks that migrate out of British Columbia and Alberta.

Although hundreds of lakes and potholes in Eastern Washington are leased to “duck clubs,” freelance hunters can still find excellent places to hunt. Their biggest problem is the competition from other hunters.

For Spokane-area hunters, most productive spots are the Pend Oreille and Snake rivers and lakes where there are public-access areas.

Some of the best public hunting the next few weeks, particularly after snow falls in North Idaho and covers feed, will be on and near the Potholes Reservoir after the corn is harvested. Later in the season, large numbers of ducks will move to the Columbia River and hunting will be excellent in various spots, including Ringold Spings and the Umatilla National Wildlife Refuge.

Idaho gunners will have excellent shooting at numerous lakes in the Panhandle, particularly those adjacent to the lower Coeur d’Alene River.

Plenty of geese are in Idaho’s Panhandle and Eastern Washington for good hunting. Hunters have had excellent shooting at numerous lakes and in harvested fields.

However, geese are becoming so wary they’re hard to decoy. They ignore lifeless decoys and flare at the slightest movement of anything near the decoys.

Steelhead

More than enough steelhead are in the Snake River and its tributaries for good fishing. However, catch rates have dropped from those a couple of weeks ago, possibly because the steelhead are spread out in all the rivers.

More than 85,000 steelhead have been counted at Lower Granite Dam and are in the Snake, Clearwater, Grande Ronde and Salmon. There are still 15,000 in the Snake between the mouth and Lower Granite.

Back-trollers are taking fair numbers in the vicinity of the Grande Ronde’s mouth, a spokesman for Beamer’s Heller Bar reported.

Jay Pope, owner of Jay’s Gone Fishing, said steelhead fishing has been excellent along the Ronde, particularly between Bogan’s and the Washington-Idaho border.

Apparently, the word got around that the fishing was good, he said. Fishing pressure along the Ronde was heavy last weekend.

Although many anglers are drifting lures and casting flies, some are drifting bait. Water temperatures have dropped into the 40s and the steelhead aren’t nearly as active as they were a few weeks ago; consequently, bait seems to be an effective way to hook the fish.

Upland birds

Hunters have to work hard for one or two rooster pheasants these days. The birds are extremely wary and run whenever hunters enter cover. So far, hunters haven’t had the opportunity to hunt following a snowstorm or during temperatures so low the birds are reluctant to fly.

Most productive areas are south Whitman County, north Garfield and Columbia counties and Grant and Franklin counties.

Plenty of roosters are available in the Columbia Basin, but the birds still have big unharvested corn fields in which to hide during shooting hours. Until most of the corn is harvested, hunting will be difficult there.

Only a few energetic hunters are hunting chukar partridges in the most productive areas of southeastern Washington and Grant and Douglas counties. Biggest chukar populations are along the Columbia, Snake and Grande Ronde rivers.

Quail hunting continues good in the brushy draws along the Snake and its tributaries and in many rural areas.

Big game

Time is growing short for Washington hunters to tag whitetail bucks in the game management units open during the late buck hunt. The season will end in 10 days, which includes two weekends.

Nearly all deciduous trees have dropped their leaves and the ground is damp, and hunting conditions are good. Most veteran hunters hope snow will fall in areas they hunt before the end of the season so they’ll have good tracking conditions and be able to see deer in the dense thickets.

Pressure has been light in whitetail areas the last couple of weeks.

Several Idaho Panhandle game management units will remain open through Dec.1 to either-sex deer hunting. Indications are many hunters will wait until Thanksgiving to get serious about putting venison in their lockers.

Salmon

The immature chinook salmon in Lake Pend Oreille are cooperating with anglers just often enough to keep the fishermen trolling during relatively mild and calm days.

Ross Fister of the Fins & Feathers shop said fishing can be good one day and slow the next.

Most anglers are trolling mini-squids behind flashers in 70 to 80 feet of water in the Bennett Bay area. In a week or so, Fister said, trollers probably will start hooking salmon farther south.

Trout, Washington

Only a few are fishing Amber, Dry Falls and Lenore lakes, all selective-fishery waters.

Fishing has been only fair at the lakes. Fly fishers have been using sinking lines to get down to the rainbows in Amber and Dry Falls. Lure and fly fishermen have been hooking a few big Lahontan cutthroat at Lenore, but the fishing has been slow most of the time.

Some fly fishers who have fished Rocky Ford Creek north of Moses Lake the last couple of weeks believe the rainbow population is considerably smaller than it was a year ago. The trout are easy to see in the gin-clear water.

Trout, Idaho

Trollers and bank fishermen are continuing to catch 2- to 8-pound hybrid rainbow-cutthroat trout at Hayden Lake, Fister said. Trollers are using surface lines and plugs and multiple flashers ahead of wormbaited Wedding Rings. Stillfishermen are plunking night crawlers and other bait. The lake will be closed to trout fishing Nov. 30.

Fishermen, trolling flies off planing boards, are hooking a few good-sized rainbows at Lake Pend Oreille.

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