Fishing Report
Free fishing weekend
You can fish without a license Saturday and Sunday in Washington and Oregon and Saturday in Idaho.
Fisheries agencies in the three states have been authorizing “free fishing days” in an effort to interest more people in the sport.
Most trout-only lakes still have good trout populations, but few streams are low and clear enough for good fishing. Some of the better fishing spots are listed below.
Shad
More than 1 million shad will climb the fish ladders at Bonneville Dam this month. So many will try to swim up the raceways that at times they’ll block steelhead and salmon also trying to move up the Columbia River system.
Best fishing along the Columbia will be just below and above Bonneville. But the fishing will be outstanding at such places as The Dalles, John Day and McNary dams.
Although nearly 2 million, possibly more, will climb the Bonneville ladders, less than a half million will go over McNary Dam. The run up the Snake will be small again, but there will be enough below Ice Harbor Dam for fair to good fishing at times.
Neither commercial nor sports fishermen have shown much interest in the shad, a 3- to 7-pound fish, in the past.
Catching them can be easy when an angler is in the right place at the right time. Both fly and spin fishers hook and release 15 to 30 shad a day. Fly fishers use small, bright fly patterns; spin fishermen use small, bright spinners, wobbling spoons and “shad darts.”
Fishing starts to peak in the Bonneville area next week and continues into July near the dams above Bonneville.
Kokanee
Lake Coeur d’Alene has started producing 25-fish limits of kokanee, reported Steve Smith of the Fins & Feathers shop at Coeur d’Alene.
The kokanee are larger for this time of year than they’ve been in early June the last few years, he said. The average is just under 10 inches. Anglers are expecting a good season for kokanee that may be 12 inches long by late summer.
Using jigs, anglers are taking 25 7-inch kokanee at Idaho’s Spirit Lake, Smith said.
Mary Ronan continues to be the best lake in the region for catching foot-long kokanee. Gary Thomas of Camp Tuffit said still-fishermen have had little trouble taking 10-fish limits of kokanee that are 11 to 15 inches. Trollers are catching limits, but it takes them longer to fill out than it does for still-fishermen; furthermore, trollers catch more “shakers” than the still-fishermen.
Thomas said the weather has been unsettled at Lake Mary Ronan. It’s been so cold there have been good insect hatches. The only anglers catching the 2- to 3-pound rainbows have been those still-fishing for kokanee.
Koocanusa is a good place to catch 20 kokanee that average 10 inches, with some to 11 inches. Most anglers are trolling in the lower end of the reservoir.
Expert fishermen have been catching one or two kokanee every time they fish at Loon Lake. Although it takes a long time to hook a kokanee, the reward is good. Some are 18 inches long.
Trout, Washington
Don’t expect the big Lahontan cutthroat trout in Grimes Lake to cooperate with anglers this weekend as well as they did when the lake opened Sunday.
Historically, opening day is the most productive day of each season, with numerous anglers hooking and releasing up to 30 Lahontans a day. Then fishing gets difficult.
Fish and Wildlife officials checked 56 anglers at Grimes on opening day, fisheries biologist Jeff Korth said. They killed 24 Lahontans and hooked and released 254 others.
The Lahontans ranged from 16 to 24.5 inches, with an average of 20 inches.
If you fish the lake, stay to fish in the evening, usually the best time to hook the Lahontans during warm weather.
Other than Grimes, most productive of the other selective fishery and fly fishing-only lakes are Chopaka, northwest of Loomis; Amber, Spokane County; and Lenice and Nunnally. Fishing has been slow and frustrating at Aeneas, Ell, Dry Falls, Lenore, McDowell and Bayley.
If you go to Chopaka, you should know the rainbows in the popular fly fishing-only lake have received magna cum laude standing. They’ve been fished over by thousands of experts for more than a month and they examine every pattern shown to them with jaundiced eyes.
Plenty of trout seem to be in Ell and Dry Falls for good fishing, but for some reason, fishing has been tough. Only a few trout are in Aeneas, which will be rehabilitated this fall. McDowell and Bayley are still at flood stage.
If you’re willing to fish early or late, you can sack a five-fish limit at such trout-only lakes as Williams, West Medical, Badger, Fishtrap, Fish and some lakes north of Spokane. Blue and Park are the best choices in the Basin. A half-dozen lakes in Okanogan County still have good trout populations.
Spiny rays
Sprague Lake is still the best spot in Eastern Washington to catch keeper-sized walleyes.
Monika Metz of the Sprague Lake Resort said several anglers hooked walleyes 18 inches or longer last weekend. Those who fished before 65-mph winds, rain and hail hit the lake about noon Saturday did well. However, most anglers deserted the lake after the violent storm. She said one man told her Saturday he had hooked and released 34 walleyes that were longer than 18 inches.
A few fishermen have found schools of good-sized crappies and bluegills, she said. The fish have been caught near the shoreline and in 6 feet of water. Also, some channel catfish in the 20-pound range have been caught.
Smith said several North Idaho lakes have been providing good bass fishing. Among them are Fernan, Hauser, Twins and Hayden. Most of the lakes adjacent to the lower Coeur d’Alene River are still in flood stage and the water is too cold for good bass or crappie fishing.
Trout, Idaho
North Idaho’s streams, which opened May 24, are still too high and off-color for good fishing, Smith said. The first stream that will drop into shape, he said, will be the Coeur d’Alene River. If the weather is fairly good, the river should be fishable with bait in a week or two.
The St. Joe, Selway and Lochsa are still near flood stage.
Most trout fishermen are spending time at Fernan, Hauser, Pend Oreille and Priest lakes, as well as at a few of the small lakes that have been planted with catchable-size rainbows.
If you plan to take advantage of the salmonfly hatch on the Henry’s Fork, you should go this weekend. A spokesman for Henry’s Fork Anglers at Last Chance said salmonflies are out from Riverside to the Box Canyon and the hatch probably will end after this weekend.
Salmon
The chinooks in Lake Coeur d’Alene didn’t have lockjaw last weekend, but they didn’t cooperate with the relatively few anglers who towed bait and lures around the lake, Smith said. The few fish that were caught were about 25 feet deep. Most fishermen have been using helmeted herring and Rapalas.
Anglers averaged 18 hours per salmon along the Clearwater and its North Fork during the week that ended Sunday, the Idaho Fish and Game Department reported. Fishermen caught 165 chinooks and kept 150.
Northern pike
If you want to catch a northern pike, fish a shallow bay at Lake Coeur d’Alene. Smith said anglers haven’t been catching bragging-size pike, but have been boating lots of the toothy predators on Johnson Silver Minnows and Rapalas in most of the shallow bays around the lake.
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