Fishing Report
Trout, Washington
With water temperatures rising and trout populations smaller as the result of fishing pressure the last couple of months, the region’s anglers will have to work harder for their fish. Trout no longer will be jumping into their boats.
Insect hatches are peaking. In some cases, particularly at lowland lakes, the major hatches are over. That means trout won’t be as active as they were when the mayflies, damselflies and dragonflies hatched by the millions.
In most cases, fishermen will have to work harder now for limits than they did a few weeks ago. They won’t catch five fish in an hour; they may have to fish for several hours to take home the same number of trout.
Nearly all, if not all, the small lakes in Pend Oreille, Stevens and Ferry counties are accessible and yielding rainbows, cutthroat and brook trout. Good places to try are Marshall, Yocums, Browns, Muskegon, Black and the lakes in the Little Pend Oreille chain east of Colville. The latter, which have been planted with cutthroat and rainbows, are full of unwanted species and will be treated with rotenone this fall.
Incidentally, Swan Lake south of Republic will be planted with rainbows, not brook trout, from now on. The lake was rehabilitated last year and planted with catchable-size rainbow and brook trout this spring. A Forest Service campground is along the shore; it attracts large numbers of vacationers.
Although fishing has slowed considerably at trout lakes in Spokane and Adams counties, persistent anglers still can take five-fish limits.
Some fly fishers have been doing well at Bayley and McDowell, fly fishing-only lakes in the Little Pend Oreille Wildlife Refuge. Both lakes are still much higher than normal for this time of year, but fly fishers, using chironomid and leach patterns, have been hooking big trout. Bayley, which holds both rainbow and brook trout, is the more popular.
Fishing has slowed dramatically at most selective fishery and fly fishing-only waters in the Columbia Basin and Douglas and Okanogan counties. Most productive has been Chopaka, northwest of Loomis. Many anglers have given up on Dry Falls and Ell lakes.
This is the time of year to fish Sidley, a relatively high-altitude lake a half mile from the U.S.-Canadian border near Molson. Fishing has been slow the first part of the season, but the 116-acre lake is always a late producer. Yearling rainbows are 12-13 inches long; carryover fish range from 15 to more than 18 inches. The Fish and Wildlife Department last year installed a new aerator in the lake to boost the winter survival rate.
Spiny rays
Walleyes are providing plenty of action for anglers at Sprague, Roosevelt and Moses lakes.
Anglers, including out-of-staters anxious to take advantage of the free fishing weekend in Washington, did well at Sprague Lake last weekend, catching walleyes, crappies and big rainbows, Mike Mielke of the Sprague Lake Resort reported.
The fishers caught many of the walleyes and crappies in the same areas of the lake, he said. Most were caught on small humps 5-6 feet deep.
Bass plugs and Beetle Spins seemed to be the most productive lures, Mielke said. Evenings are the best time to fish.
“It seems like someone opens the door about 7:30 and there they are,” he said. “On Sunday, there was a good bite from 1 to 2 p.m. Although the bite was brief, fishermen did well.”
Mielke said he saw two rainbows in the 4-pound class. They were caught on Beetle Spins.
Monika Metz, a co-owner of the resort, said Mike and Chris Mielke went out on the lake late Sunday and hooked seven big walleyes in 3 hours.
Lake Roosevelt, now high enough for anglers to launch boats at most ramps, has been yielding good catches of walleyes, guide John Carruth of Davenport reported.
He said he’s been taking clients up the Spokane River arm of the lake. His clients, he said, have been hooking lots of walleyes, most between 16 and 20 inches, all of which they had to release. Only walleyes under 16 and more than 20 inches can be kept.
Walleye fishing has been excellent between the highway bridge west of Kettle Falls and the state park ramp, he said.
Carruth said he and a friend were among the 81 teams that fished in a weekend tournament at Moses Lake. Most of the contestants, he said, caught walleyes, some 22 inches long. They also caught numerous largemouth and smallmouth bass.
Ross Fister of the Fins & Feathers shop at Coeur d’Alene said that spiny ray addicts have been hooking bass and crappies at several North Idaho lakes. Bass fishing has been good in shallow bays around Lake Coeur d’Alene and at such lakes as Hauser and Hayden. Crappies have been taking anglers’ lures at Hayden, Fernan, Rose and Hauser.
Fister said an 18-pound tiger muskie was caught by an angler a few days ago at Hauser Lake. The muskie was long and skinny.
Shad
Now is the time to fish for shad above and below Bonneville Dam. The annual run up the Columbia River is building fast and thousands are counted every day at the dam.
More than 350,000 shad had climbed the fish ladders at Bonneville Dam early this week.
If you plan to fish for shad, you have several choices near the dam. On the Washington side, anglers start fishing several hundred yards below the dam. On the Oregon side, they cast their flies and small lures both below and above the dam.
Trout, Idaho
The main Coeur d’Alene and its North Fork, called the Little North Fork by some North Idaho residents, are clear. The main stem is still too high for easy fishing, but the North Fork is fishable, although it’s too high for easy wading.
A few fly fishers reported doing exceptionally well along the North Fork during sunny days. Good-sized cutthroat, which will be migrating to headwaters the next two or three weeks, are in the river above Interstate 90.
The St. Joe, Selway and Lochsa rivers and Kelly Creek are still too high and off color for fishing.
The Harriman State Park section of the Henry’s Fork is expected to provide excellent fishing when it opens to fishing Sunday. As usual, fly fishers from throughout the world will be in the Last Chance area to fish the slow-moving water in the park section.
A spokesman for the Henry’s Fork Anglers said the salmonfly hatch has peaked and trout are concentrating on Baetis mayflies and caddisflies. The famed Green Drake hatch is expected to start in a week to 10 days.
Priest Lake is a good place to catch small mackinaws, Fister said. Although the vast majority of the macks are only 2 to 5 pounds, anglers occasionally hook large ones. A few in the 20- to 30-pound range have been boated the last couple of weeks.
Anglers either jig or troll for the macks. They bait their jigs with nightcrawlers and their trolling lures with crawlers, perch or squawfish meat.
Salmon
Only a few anglers trolled for chinook salmon in Lake Coeur d’Alene last weekend, Fister said. He said fishing was fair, with a few chinooks, mostly 10-15 pounds, taken.
Most anglers have been trolling spoons and plugs from the surface down to 25 feet in Wolf Lodge Bay and out from Arrow Point.
Kokanee
Anglers are continuing to catch 12- to 15-inch kokanee at Montana’s Lake Mary Ronan. Most productive method of taking the bigger fish is still-fishing. Some anglers took 10-fish limits last weekend. Trollers continue to take the smaller kokanee.
Indications are the rainbow trout population in Mary Ronan is smaller than it’s been the last few years. Fly fishers who fished the lake last weekend said they saw only a few rises when Callibaetis mayflies hatched.
Koocanusa is continuing to churn out limits of 10- to 11-inch kokanee. And Lake Coeur d’Alene is yielding 25-fish limits of 9- to 10-inchers.
A few veteran anglers have been catching one to two 17- to 19-inch kokanee early each day at Loon Lake, Joe Haley of the Granite Point Resort said. They usually troll between 4:30 and 7:30 a.m.
Pike
Lake Coeur d’Alene is still high and off color, but anglers, using spoons and plugs, have been hooking lots of pike in shallow bays, Fister said.
The annual pike derby sponsored by the Rose Lake Store will be June 21-22, Steve Mullen reported. Entry fee will be $5 until Monday , when it will go up to $7.50.
Amount of prizes will depend on the number of entries, he said. He hopes the person who catches the biggest pike will take home more than $1,300 in cash.
Montana streams
Most trout streams in the Missoula area are high and muddy as the result of the spring runoff.
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