Hunting & Fishing

Winter lakes

Fishing may be so good at three of the four winter lakes that most anglers will take home five-fish limits. Some will have limits an hour or two after they start Monday.

Fourth of July, Hog Canyon and Williams apparently hold big numbers of rainbows. It’s possible, however, that some trout left Little Hatch, east of Colville, during high water early last summer.

Fisheries biologist Bob Peck said he believes Fourth of July and Hog Canyon will provide good, if not excellent, fishing the first week.

For the first time in several years, Fourth of July is as full as it ever gets. That means anglers can launch boats without having to pole out to water 2 to 3 feet deep.

Peck said he thinks most of the rainbows anglers catch will be 12 to 13 inches. The rainbow fry released last spring are 9 inches long, but they usually don’t show up in the catch during the first part of each season. It’s the catchable-size rainbows released in the spring that likely will make up most of the catch. They’re the 12- to 13-inchers.

Fourth of July also holds good numbers of carryover rainbows in the 16- to 20-inch class.

Hog Canyon is lower than usual for this time of year, but that isn’t expected to affect the fishing. The road into the lake has been graded; consequently, anglers won’t have problems driving to the launch area.

The lake was planted with catchable-size rainbows and rainbow fry last spring. Most of the fish anglers will catch are 13 inches.

Williams, rehabbed last year, has been planted with rainbows. Most of the trout anglers will catch are 10 to 11 inches long, according to fisheries biologist Curt Vail.

Hatch was so high early last summer that some rainbows apparently swam across the nearby road and through a culvert into a big, swampy field. Vail thinks most of the trout anglers catch will be 11 inches long.

Fourth of July and Hog Canyon usually are iced over by the second or third week of December. Part of Williams is kept open by an aerator.

Waterfowl

A near-record number of ducks may be in the Columbia Basin.

Mark Quinn, Basin regional wildlife manager for the Fish and Wildlife Department, said an aerial survey last week showed tremendous numbers of ducks and geese are in the Basin.

Most of the birds, known to hunters as “northerns,” migrated out of British Columbia and Alberta. Thousands also have come from parts of northeastern Washington, North Idaho and western Montana.

Not all good-sized Basin waters were surveyed.

Biggest concentration of ducks was counted on the North Potholes Reserve. An estimated 110,000 were on the reserve, which is closed to hunting. There were also 1,500 Canada geese.

Counts at other Basin waters follow: Columbia National Wildlife Refuge, 20,000 ducks, 5,000 geese; Moses Lake, 25,000 and 2,000; Eagle Lakes, 70,000 and 500; Royal City Hunt Club, 5,000 and 50; Crab Creek, 5,000 and 50; Potholes Reservoir, 3,100, no geese; Frenchman Hills Wasteway, 1,000, no geese; Winchester Wasteway, 2,000, 10 geese; Frenchman Hills Lake Reserve, 5,000, 500; Lind Coulee, 50, no geese; Scooteney Reservoir, 1,000, no geese; Lenice Lake Reserve, 7,000, no geese; Wanapum Pool, 4,500, 50; Wanapum closure, 9,000, 10, and Priest Rapids pool, 3,000, 50.

Thousands of ducks and geese are still in the Spokane region and at or near Banks, Coffee Pot, Deer Springs and Pacific lakes.

Big game

Most Idaho deer hunters will put away their guns after this weekend. Game management units 1, 2, 3, 4A, 5, 6, 8 and 8A in the Panhandle will be closed to deer hunting Dec. 1.

Smith said hunting has been excellent the last couple of weeks, with a high percentage of licensed hunters putting venison in their freezers. Numerous bucks have been taken.

Only archers and muzzleloader buffs and special permit holders will hunt in December in Washington and Idaho. The late buck season in northeastern Washington ended Sunday.

Steelhead

Hottest fishing in the Inland Northwest during the six-day period ended Sunday apparently was along Washington’s Tucannon River.

Jerry Dedloff of the Snake River Laboratory reported anglers averaged only 1.8 hours per fish. That’s almost an unheard of average.

Averages at other streams and areas surveyed by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife: Wallula area, 22 hours; Walla Walla, 15.3; Ice Harbor Dam area, 25.4; Lower Monumental, 9.4; Touchet, 7.4; Little Goose, 15.3; Lower Granite, 19.6; and boaters, mid-Snake, 7.2.

The Grande Ronde River and the Snake below the Ronde’s mouth have been the best places to fish for steelhead above Clarkston the last week, Jay Poe, owner of Poe’s Hells Canyon Sports at Clarkston, reported.

Fishing has been slow along the Clearwater and near Lower Granite Dam, he said.

Anglers who have been fishing the Ronde’s catch-and-release section from the mouth to the bridge 2-1/2 miles upstream have been hooking numerous steelhead nearly every day.

If you are planning to take part in the final two days of the steelhead derby along the Clearwater River, officials of the Idaho Fish and Game Department want you to know all fishing regulations apply.

Regional fisheries biologist Ed Schriever said fliers and press releases issued by the derby committee led some anglers to believe some rules had been suspended for contests. This is not the case, he said.

The derby will end Sunday.

Upland birds

Best hunting continues to be along the Snake River breaks and the fields and draws above the breaks on both sides of the river. However, some die-hard hunters who have good dogs have been bagging wild roosters in the Columbia Basin.

Most of the wild birds are so skittish they run out of cover and fly out of shotgun range every time they’re aware of hunters and dogs.

Easiest birds to hunt now are quail, which often hold well in dense cover. Good dogs can flush or pin down quail, but bagging them isn’t easy for inexperienced shooters. The birds burst out of cover at high speed and are gone before slowpokes get their guns to their shoulders.

Fishing derby

The Thanksgiving Challenge Derby got off to a good start last weekend. Numerous anglers caught good-sized rainbows, most of which they released.

Largest rainbow weighed was a 21-pound, 4-ounce fish, caught by Ed O’Hara of Hayden Lake. Fred Yanick, no address, weighed in a 13-pound, 6-ounce mackinaw trout.

Jeff Smith, owner of the Fins & Feathers shop at Coeur d’Alene, said numerous anglers released rainbows that were less than 34 inches long, the minimum size to qualify for entry, and fish that were more than 34 inches long but probably wouldn’t win any prizes.

Trout lakes

Amber, Dry Falls and Lenore lakes, all selective fishery waters, will be closed to fishing Sunday. Numerous lakes and streams in Eastern Washington, however, are open the year-round and attract fishermen.

Anglers will hook trout at Roosevelt and the lakes in the Coffee Pot Lake chain, including the Twins, Deer Springs and Pacific. Coffee Pot, though, is closed to fishing.

Salmon

The immature chinooks in Lake Pend Oreille are continuing to take deep-trolled lures, Smith said. Fishing was fair to good last weekend, with trollers boating 3- to 8-pound salmon.

Nearly all anglers are trolling mini-squids behind short flashers in 80 feet of water.

Pike

Pike fishing was good at Lake Coeur d’Alene and the lakes adjacent to the lower Coeur d’Alene River last weekend. Smith said he and David Crouse of Spokane caught and released 20 pike in the 3- to 8-pound class during a day’s fishing. They used big Rapala plugs.

Smith said most who have been fishing the chain lakes bait their hooks with smelt and fish the bait under big bobbers.

Whitefish

The Wenatchee and Methow rivers will open to fishing for mountain whitefish Monday. The fishing season, which will end March 26, is an exception to the recent closure of all fishing in the tributaries of the Upper Columbia River to protect endangered steelhead.

Gear restrictions: one single-pointed hook, size #10 or smaller. Bait is allowed.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: SUPCAT = COLUMN - Fishing & Hunting Report