Hunting & Fishing

Elk, Washington

Although prospects are for mediocre hunting in the Blue Mountains, hundreds of optimists will set up camp this weekend for the opening Wednesday of the early bull elk season.

Holders of the “modern general” elk tags for the Colockum area of the Cascades may see more bulls than those who hunt in the Blues. Their season will open Saturday.

Wildlife biologists say poor elk survival continues to plague herds in the Blues. Yearling spike bulls are scarce. Hunters averaged a 5-percent success rate last year and biologists predict they’ll do no better this year.

Most productive game management units should be 154, 160, 161, 166, 169 and 172.

Holders of special permits, unlike those who have only tags, should do well in headwaters and the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness Area.

Some will elect to hunt in northeast Washington, where, biologists said, elk populations have been increasing. For example, 7 percent of those who hunted in north Spokane County last year tagged bulls. That’s better than hunters did in the once-productive Blue Mountains.

For the third season, spike-only bull elk general season hunting and branched-antlered bull by permit only continues in the Yakima region.

Hunters who drew branched antler permits for the Colockum are expected to have an excellent chance of tagging bulls.

Deer, Washington

Time is running out for youth and senior hunters who hope to tag either a buck or doe whitetail deer this year without a special permit. Some game management units that were open to those who qualified to kill a doe with a general deer tag already have been closed and the rest of the units will be closed after Thursday.

Although the general season ends Oct. 31, deer tag holders will still have plenty of time to fill their tags. However, all tag holders, including the young and old hunters, will be limited to taking whitetail buck deer during the late buck season starting Nov. 1 and ending 24 days later in units 105 through 124.

Big game, Idaho

With elk seasons winding down, North Idaho hunters are looking forward to the opening next Friday of several game management units to either-sex deer hunting. The units include 1, 2, 3, 4A, 5 and 6.

Some hunters already have venison in their freezers. Several units opened Oct. 10, but the majority of serious hunters were more interested the last couple of weeks in trying to tag elk.

Most deer hunters wait until the Nov. 1 opening before they get serious about adding venison to their elk meat. Hunting conditions during November are usually much better than those in October.

The general bull elk season in most North Idaho units ends Nov. 3.

Waterfowl

Most of the region’s duck hunters have resigned themselves to waiting for the arrival of “northerns” from Canadian provinces.

Early migrants, including pintails, apparently have moved into the region during the last week or so, but the late migrants, such as mallards and green winged teal, are still getting fat on grain in British Columbia and Alberta.

The big influx of birds from the provinces almost never occurs before the second week in November. Indications are that weather conditions in the provinces are not conducive to early movement. There’s still plenty of open water and food for the birds.

Goose hunting was poor in northeastern Washington last weekend, but fair to good in the Sprague Lake area and parts of the Columbia Basin.

Hunters said they saw few geese along the Pend Oreille River and on lakes in Pend Oreille County.

However, some hunters had excellent shooting north and southwest of Sprague Lake. Thousands of geese, including hundreds of snow geese, have been staying on the west end of the lake at night and flying out to fields to feed during the days.

Only 8,000 to 9,000 ducks were on the Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge near Bonners Ferry early this week, Jim Reynolds, assistant manager, reported. Two hundred geese were using the refuge waters.

He said there are unusually large numbers of widgeons this year. About 1,500 widgeons were on the refuge this week. Other species included mallards, pintails, gadwalls and green-winged teal.

He said some new mallards apparently moved to the refuge before last weekend. Hunters, who averaged two ducks each, said the birds decoyed readily, an indication they hadn’t seen decoys or been shot at.

Upland birds

Talk to 10 pheasant hunters and you’ll get 10 different stories. Yes, some will say, there are a lot more birds this year than last. No, others contend, there aren’t any more birds than there were last year.

So, who’s right? All, probably. Pheasant populations are up in areas where there were enough adult birds to bring off lots of big broods. And they’re not much changed in areas, primarily marginal habitats, where adult birds were scarce when the breeding season started.

Most serious hunters claim they’ve seen more pheasants than last year. They agree populations in some parts of the Spokane region are big enough for excellent hunting. Some of the better areas are in south Whitman County, north Columbia County and in the Othello area.

Chukar and quail hunting has been good in many areas of Eastern Washington. Best chukar hunting has been along the Columbia River breaks in Grant and Douglas counties. Quail coveys are plentiful in most brushy draws along the rivers and small streams and in cultivated areas from Whitman County to the Yakima area.

Steelhead

This is the time to fish for steelhead along the Snake, Clearwater, Grande Ronde and Salmon rivers. Fishing was excellent along the streams last weekend.

More than 75,000 steelhead have moved over Lower Granite Dam.

Steelhead fishing was outstanding along the Snake River in the vicinity of the Grande Ronde River’s mouth and in the lower Ronde last weekend, Rich Hyatt, manager of the Heller’s Bar restaurant near the Ronde’s mouth for Beamers’ Hells Canyon Tours, reported.

He said Beamers operated four boats near the mouth of the Ronde on Sunday. Most of the 20 fishermen on the boats caught their two-fish limits.

Although the run up the Clearwater River is expected to be only 8,000 to 10,000 steelhead this fall, fishing was excellent along the river the first six days of the catchand-keep season, fisheries biologist Larry Barrett of Lewiston reported.

He said 267 anglers hooked 136 steelhead from Tuesday through Sunday for an average of 8 hours per steelhead, an average that indicates sensational fishing. About 80 percent of the anglers checked fished from boats. The Clearwater is low enough for good fishing, running at 3,200 cubic feet per second.

Steelhead fishing was excellent along the Snake from Asotin to the mouth of the Salmon River. Barrett said 304 anglers checked last weekend hooked 96 steelhead and averaged 10 hours per fish. The fishermen kept 68 and released 28.

Plenty of steelhead are in the Salmon River for good fishing, he said. Last weekend 161 anglers caught 114 steelhead for an average of 7 hours per fish.

Salmon

If you want to catch prime chinook salmon, troll Lake Coeur d’Alene. Forget the Columbia River.

Anglers, trolling mini-squids or herring behind flashers at 50 to 70 feet, are hooking 3- to 14-pound immature chinooks at Lake Coeur d’Alene, Jeff Smith, owner of the Fins & Feathers shop, said. They’re trolling at 1.4 to 1.6 knots.

Most popular areas are off Driftwood Point to Mica Bay and in front of Bennett Bay.

With the Hanford Reach section of the Columbia River now closed to fishing, the number of salmon anglers has dropped dramatically. Most chinook anglers are confining their efforts between the Vernita Bridge and Priest Rapids Dam.

Trout

For the first time this year, Smith said, Lake Pend Oreille produced good fishing last weekend. At least two rainbows weighing more than 20 pounds and some trout weighing 13 to 18 pounds were boated.

Anglers trolled flies and plugs off planing boards.

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