Fishing Report

Winter lakes

Anglers now can launch small boats at Hog Canyon and Fourth of July lakes. High winds the last week erased all but a little ice on the popular trout fishing lakes southwest of Spokane.

From now until the end of the month, anglers will be trolling and still-fishing to catch rainbows. The best-tasting trout are in Hog Canyon, but the biggest are in Fourth of July.

Hog Canyon was fished almost daily by ice fishermen most of the last month. They caught a high percentage of the fish in the lake. However, there probably are plenty left for good fishing the next couple of weeks.

Incidentally, the waterfalls at the head of Hog Canyon are the most spectacular they’ve been in several winters. Many have been photographing the falls.

Fourth of July is higher than it’s been in several years as the result of periodic snow and rain. It’s still not up to normal level. However, anglers can launch small boats at the lake.

Spiny-rays, Washington

Sprague Lake is ice-free, but it’s as high as it ever gets. It’s also off-color as the result of the run-off.

Few have fished the lake the last couple of weeks because of the high winds and muddy water.

Wildlife agent Dan Rahn said anglers are catching lots of 19- to 23-inch walleyes along the Columbia River above Priest Rapid Dam and below Wanapum Dam. Some are trolling baited lures and others are jigging.

Ice is off the Potholes Reservoir, but only a few have fished for the walleyes, perch, crappies and bluegills. Fishing was slow.

Whitefish

Thousands of huge lake whitefish are concentrated at the head of Soda Lake, and anglers who use maggot-baited flies have been doing exceptionally well, Rahn said.

However, some fishermen are resorting to snagging the 18- to 20-inch fish, he said, using big, weighted triple hooks.

“Snagging is illegal,” Rahn said. “We’ve been checking the area frequently and writing tickets to numerous persons who have violated the law. I cited one Spokane man last weekend for snagging whitefish and having more than the limit.”

The limit is 15 per day.

Steelhead

The Snake, Grande Ronde and Clearwater rivers were off-color last weekend as the result of rainstorms, Jay Poe of Hells Canyon Sports at Clarkston reported.

Fishing was slow along the upper Ronde and along the Snake, he said. Only a few steelhead were caught.

Steelhead fishing was slow along the Clearwater and good in places along the Salmon River last weekend, the Idaho Fish and Game Department reported.

Hottest fishing was along the Salmon from Vinegar Creek to the South Fork, with anglers averaging 2 hours per fish.

Average number of hours anglers spent to catch a fish in other areas: Lower Clearwater, 22; upper Clearwater, 23; North Fork, 39; South Fork, 27; Salmon from Whitebird to Riggins, 12; Riggins to Vinegar Creek, 23; Middle Fork to North Fork, 15; and Little Salmon, 13.

Columbia Basin

Anglers no longer have to worry about ice conditions at the lakes that opened March 1. High winds took the ice off most of them.

Some lakes were ice-free March 1; most of the rest lost their ice covers the past few days.

Wildlife agent Rahn said fishing has been slow at most of the lakes that opened March 1. He said he checked 10 shore fishermen at Warden Lake with six rainbow and brown trout measuring 13 to 15 inches. Fishing was so slow at the Hampton lakes he didn’t check any fishermen with trout.

Rahn said a few fished the Pillar-Widgeon lakes, but couldn’t catch any fish.

Best fishing has been at Lenice and Nunnally, selective fishery lakes along the lower Crab Creek channel. Anglers, many of them fly fishers, hooked and released large numbers of rainbows last Saturday. The wind blew so hard Sunday that only a few fished the lakes.

Most of Lenore Lake was still covered with rotten ice at mid-week. However, anglers have been hooking some Lahontan cutthroat in open water at the north end of the lake and midway down the lake.

Ice fishing, Idaho

Ice was still thick enough at mid-week for safe ice fishing at many North Idaho lakes, but it’s now honeycombed and won’t last much longer. Furthermore, snow that fell the last couple of weeks has melted and anglers have to walk through slush or water to get to their favorite spots.

Still, fishermen are continuing to catch perch at such lakes as Hauser, the Twins, Cocolalla, Round, Gamble, Shepherd, Perkins, Smith and Herman. The perch are too small at most lakes to interest anglers.

The lakes attracted good numbers of anglers a couple of weeks ago, but changing ice conditions have discouraged many from taking chances on ice they don’t trust.

Kokanee

Anglers were still driving pickup trucks, snowmobiles and ATVs on the ice at Spirit Lake last weekend despite slush on the ice that made progress difficult.

The lake no longer is producing excellent fishing every day. On some days last week, anglers took 25-fish limits of the 7-inch kokanee in less than half an hour. On Saturday, however, more than 50 fished several hours and were skunked.

When I fished the lake with two friends, even the so-called “experts” got skunked.

Salmon

A high percentage of the chinook salmon caught last weekend at Lake Coeur d’Alene were bigger than those caught the previous couple of weeks, Jeff Smith, owner of Fins & Feathers at Coeur d’Alene, reported.

Most of the salmon weighed 9 to 12 pounds, he said. Clients of one of the guides caught two 12-pounders in Kidd Island Bay. Both fish took helmeted herring, one 10 feet below the surface, the other 30 feet.

Smith said other trollers caught salmon on Rapalas and flies behind dodgers.

Most popular trolling areas were off Tubbs Hill, Arrow Point and Mica and Carlin bays.

Northern pike

Smith said some fished for pike through honeycombed ice in a few bays at Lake Coeur d’Alene last weekend. He predicted, however, most bays will be ice-free this weekend.

Fishermen know that pike move into the bays to spawn, and they are looking forward to fishing for them in open water.

Most of the lakes adjacent to the lower Coeur d’Alene River are ice-free, Smith said. Anglers will be fishing for pike, as well as bass and other species, in open water this weekend.

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