Fishing Report

Fishing, Washington

Unless there’s a radical change in the weather pattern, ice fishing will be over in the Columbia Basin by next week. Already, ice is unsafe at the most popular ice fishing spots. Mike Meseberg of the Mar-Don Resort at the Potholes Reservoir said releasing of water out of the reservoir has caused the ice at Soda, Long and Crescent lakes to become rotten and too thin for safe fishing.

“Snow and ice is melting fast,” he said.

Anglers are fishing along the canal, near the upper part of Soda Lake and in open water along Crescent. They’ve been catching trout, walleyes and whitefish.

Fishermen who want to catch whitefish have been fishing maggot-baited whitefish flies just below the Potholes Reservoir and where the canal enters Soda Lake.

It’s essential, he said, for anglers to get baited flies on the bottom to interest the 15- to 20-inch whitefish.

Several miles of canal below Soda hold good numbers of walleyes, he said. A fair percentage are keepers - 18 inches or longer.

Fishing was slow along the canal and at Soda and Long lakes last weekend. This is the earliest water has been released from the reservoir in several years.

The Winchester and Frenchman Hills wasteways are pouring muddy water into the reservoir.

If you want to catch a limit of trout, fish Hog Canyon or Fourth of July. The lakes are the most consistent producers of rainbows in the Spokane region. You may catch trout at several other lakes and streams in Eastern Washington, but you’re not nearly as likely to take a limit as you would be by fishing the two winter lakes southwest of town.

There was plenty of ice on the lakes for safe fishing last weekend, but if you plan to ice fish the rest of this season, you should do so soon. Daytime temperatures in the 40s are starting to create honeycombed ice in places.

Some water has been showing in the upper and lower ends of Hog Canyon Lake, but ice on much of the lake still was thick enough last weekend to support anglers safely.

Anglers have taken so many of the 10- to 18-inch rainbows out of the lake the last couple of weeks fishing is slowing down. Pressure on the lake has been unusually heavy, possibly because there are few lakes in the region where goodsized perch can be caught. Many who fish for perch are fishing Hog Canyon and Fourth of July.

Perch fishing has continued slow at Eloika and Newman. The best is Eloika, where there are enough 8- to 10-inch perch for easy filleting. However, the perch have been hard to find the last couple of weeks.

Lake Roosevelt has been yielding big rainbows in certain areas. Fishing guide John Carruth of Davenport said some anglers have been catching 16- to 20-inch rainbows near the mouth of Hawk Creek.

Some have been trolling and others have been hiking from the Hawk Creek launch area to spots along the reservoir to still-fish for the trout, he said. When the rainbows are biting, he said, fishing can be good. He talked with one fisherman who said he and three friends caught 16 rainbows 16 to 20 inches long.

Carruth said those who fish Lake Roosevelt regularly are concerned about the rapid draw-down in recent days. The reservoir is being drawn down at the rate of 18 inches a day.

“The big draw-down last year apparently caused losses of fish and plankton over Grand Coulee Dam,” he said. “We’ve been hoping that there wouldn’t be a repeat of what happened last year. There’s a big snowpack in the mountains and the draw-down this year may be even larger than that of last year.”

Carruth said walleye fishing has been slow. The Spokane River has been pouring muddy water into the lake; therefore, the best fishing has been above the mouth of the river.

Ice fishing, Idaho

Hottest ice fishing in North Idaho last weekend was in Cougar Bay at Lake Coeur d’Alene. Jeff Smith, owner of the Fins & Feathers Shop, said ice fishing for northern pike was “fantastic,” with anglers pulling pike up to 22 pounds through the ice.

Most were 3 to 7 pounds, he said. Pressure was so heavy last weekend there were more than 150 tip-ups in the bay.

Fishing also was excellent in Harrison Bay, he said.

Cougar and Harrison are spawning areas for the pike and the toothy predators are now starting to move to their spawning sites. Fishing at other bays isn’t nearly as good.

Unfortunately, Smith said, many took home the pike they caught, even though they didn’t know how to fillet the bony fish. Some released all the pike they hooked.

Smith said perch fishermen did well at Lake Pend Oreille’s Bottle Bay during the weekend. They caught numerous small perch and some in the 10- to 12-inch range. Although most are small, he said, Bottle Bay is worth fishing.

Other popular lakes have been the Twins, Round, Cocolalla, Avondale, Hauser, Fernan and Gamble. Best fishing at some of the lakes has been from 4 to 8 a.m.

Fishing for mackinaw trout at Priest Lake was slow last weekend, Smith said. Anglers are fishing baited jigs in deep water in Cavanaugh Bay and off the mouth of Indian Creek.

Steelhead

Fishing was excellent along the Grande Ronde River between the Schumaker grade and the Washington-Oregon border last Friday and Saturday and slow Sunday after the stream became murky, Jay Poe of Hells Canyon Sports reported.

The river was clearing rapidly early this week, he said. However, rains later in the week may put the river out of shape by this weekend.

Steelhead fishing picked up along the South Fork of the Clearwater River last weekend, indicating the fish are moving to their spawning grounds. The Idaho Fish and Game Department reported anglers averaged 11 hours per fish.

Average for other parts of the Clearwater: upper river, 21 hours; North Fork, 75; lower river, 120.

Hottest fishing along the Salmon last weekend was from Whitebird to Riggins, with anglers averaging 18 hours per fish. Other averages for the Salmon: mouth to Whitebird, 27; Riggins to Vinegar Creek, 32.

The Little Salmon was murky.

The Snake was high and muddy early this week and may not be clear enough for good fishing this weekend.

Kokanee

Ice fishermen are continuing to catch 25-fish limits of 7-inch kokanee at Spirit Lake, Smith said. Access to the lake is difficult since the owner of the Silver King Resort posted his property with “No Trespassing” signs. Anglers have been parking along a road and walking over resort property to get to the lake.

Salmon

Several trolled for chinook salmon at Lake Couer d’Alene last weekend, but fishing was slow, Smith said. Most launched at the Third Street ramp and trolled the north end of the lake.

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