Hunting & Fishing

Waterfowl

This week’s snowfall was just what Washington and Idaho waterfowlers wanted. To the most dedicated duck and goose hunters, the worse the weather the better the hunting.

Until snow began falling Monday, gunners had been complaining the weather was too balmy for good hunting, especially for ducks. Tens of thousands of ducks rested on big waters and reserves during shooting hours and flew out to corn and wheat fields just before dark.

Snowstorms, coupled with sub-freezing temperatures, set off the internal alarms in the birds that they had better start feeding during midday hours.

Arrival of winter-like weather, however, discouraged many would-be hunters who don’t like driving a hundred miles or so over slick roads to get to spots where they have good chances for the first time since opening day to shoot seven ducks.

The competition for good hunting spots on lakes and potholes open to the public will not be so fierce as long as the roads are icy.

For example, some who hunted in the sand dune area of the Potholes Reservoir have complained there were so many hunters they had poor luck because some shot at ducks that were more than 100 yards from them.

The Potholes Reservoir attracts hunters from throughout the state. It’s a productive place to hunt, but can be a dangerous place for those who go out into open water in 12-foot boats that are heavily loaded with hunters, decoys, guns and a dog.

Hunters willing to pack a dozen decoys into small lakes and ponds in the Columbia Basin did well even during the bluebird weather. A few claimed they bagged seven mallards every time they hiked into places where only the most hardy hunters went.

The small potholes are freezing over, forcing birds to concentrate on such big waters as the Potholes Reservoir, Moses Lake and the Potholes Reserve. The small lakes will be the next waters to become ice-covered.

Terri Butler, assistant manager of the Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge near Bonners Ferry, reported 95 percent of the ponds on the refuge were ice-covered this week.

She said there were 15,100 birds on the refuge Monday.

Duck hunting was poor last weekend, with hunters averaging less than a duck each.

Most ducks will remain in the northern Columbia Basin until the big waters are ice-covered. Then they’ll start to move to the Columbia River. When they move to running water, hunting will improve in the Ringold Springs area and near Umatilla.

Trout

If you want to fish for trout in open water, do so soon. Ice is forming around the edges of Fourth of July and Hog Canyon lakes and most small lakes in North Idaho.

In fact, it may be difficult to launch a boat this weekend at the two winter fishing lakes southwest of Spokane. And when ice covers the lakes, it’ll be a while before the ice is thick enough to safely support people.

Meanwhile, anglers have a good chance of taking home 10- to 20-inch rainbows at Hog Canyon and 10- to 22-inchers at Fourth of July. It might even be difficult for anglers to catch enough trout under 14 inches at Fourth of July to go home with more than two fish. No more than two trout 14 inches or longer can be included in a five-fish limit.

Fishermen haven’t had any trouble with the length of fish at Hog Canyon. The lake seems to hold plenty of 12- to 14-inch rainbows - as well as many under 12 inches and some over 14 inches - for good fishing through the winter.

Williams, north of Colville, has lots of 11- to 12-inchers. An aerator will keep a long section of the lake ice-free during the winter. When the ice on the rest of the lake is thick enough, fishermen will stand on the ice and fish in open water.

Fishermen have been catching a few trout along Crab Creek and the stream that flows into the Potholes Reservoir’s Lind Coulee.

Several North Idaho lakes are still yielding limits of trout. Jeff Smith, owner of the Fins & Feathers shop at Coeur d’Alene, said Fernan has been one of the most productive. Other lakes that have treated anglers well include Hauser and Priest.

Some anglers, anticipating more restrictive regulations for Priest Lake, have been jigging and trolling for mackinaw trout the last few weeks.

Upland birds

For the first time this season, hunters who don’t have good pointers or retrievers had a chance this week to take a pheasant or two.

Enough snow fell in some of the better hunting areas for hunters to track pheasants to their hiding spots and flush them. Snow can be as helpful for bird hunters as it can for big-game hunters.

Until temperatures drop to nearzero or sub-zero levels, however, the birds won’t be so cold they’ll be reluctant to fly. It takes extremely cold temperatures to make pheasants, partridges and quail want to hide even though there are hunters near them.

Best hunting, as usual, will be along the Snake River breaks and in the Pomeroy area, but snow quickly melts along the breaks.

Steelhead

Sitting in a boat and back-trolling lures for many hours during cold weather may be bone-chilling, but it can be productive.

For a high percentage of steelhead fishermen, putting up with low temperatures last weekend was worth the discomfort. The Idaho Fish and Game Department reported that anglers averaged only 9 hours per steelhead along the Snake River above the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater. That’s excellent fishing.

Fishermen averaged 18 hours per steelhead along the lower Clearwater during the four-day period ended Sunday.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Snake River laboratory reported that mid-Snake boaters averaged 9.8 hours per steelhead. Other averages: Walla Walla River, 13.7 hours; Lower Monumental Dam, 40.3; Tucannon River, 12.7; Little Goose Dam, 19, and the Grand Ronde River, 18.9.

More than 85,000 steelhead have been counted at Lower Granite Dam.

Salmon

The immature chinooks in Lake Coeur d’Alene are still hitting deep-trolled lures.

Smith said anglers he and guide Rick Caddy took out last week and during the weekend hooked numerous salmon, mostly weighing 3 to 8 pounds.

Most productive fishing, he said, was between Driftwood Point and Carlin Bay. He and Caddy had clients troll mini-squids behind small fluorescent flashers at 1.6 knots an hour. The salmon were suspended in 60 to 80 feet of water that was more than 100 feet deep.

Pike

Because ice had formed around the edges at lakes adjacent to the lower Coeur d’Alene River, virtually the only anglers who went after pike last weekend were those who launched boats. Shore anglers, who had been fishing smelt and herring under bobbers, decided to wait until the lakes are covered by several inches of ice.

Smith said temperatures of most North Idaho lakes are in the lower 30s and could freeze over following a few days of near-zero temperatures.

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