Hunting & Fishing

TROUT, IDAHO

Most of North Idaho’s major cutthroat streams are in ideal condition, and anglers, mostly fly fishers, are trying their luck.

Most popular, as usual, is the upper St. Joe, but Kelly Creek and the Lochsa and lower Selway have been attracting many fishermen who don’t want to compete with the big crowds on the St. Joe.

Fishing has slowed along the Coeur d’Alene River. Apparently, most of the mature cutthroat have migrated into the high-tributary streams, where temperatures are several degrees lower than that of the main river.

Caddisflies are hatching along all the rivers and fly fishers often rely on the Elk Hair Caddis and X Caddis patterns. The Elk Hair Caddis is the most popular caddis pattern in the Northwest; the X Caddis is a variation of the EHC.

Some anglers have had luck with nymph, terrestrial and sculpin patterns when the sun is high and few bugs are hatching. All the rivers have good populations of sculpins and patterns that represent them often are effective.

If you want to catch mackinaw trout, go to Priest Lake. Jeff Smith, owner of the Fins & Feathers shop at Coeur d’Alene, said trollers have had little trouble taking two-fish limits of macks from 2-6 pounds.

“Some of the popular areas to troll are in Distillery Bay, south of Four-Mile Island and Outlet Bay,” he said. “I’d recommend using an M2 fluorescent flatfish, which is about 5 inches long.”

Fishing is slow along Henry’s Fork in the Last Chance area.

TROUT, MONTANA

Most of Montana’s rivers are at summertime lows and some, including the Bitterroot near Missoula, are too low in places for easy floating.

Hopper patterns are producing well during mid-day hours along the Clark Fork River, Jackie Sanford of the Clark Fork Tackle shop at St. Regis, reported. She said some fly fishers have had 20- to 30-fish days on floats below Superior. Many of the trout are 14 to 16 inches long.

Sizes 8 to 10 green hopper patterns have been particularly effective, she said. Fly fishers also have been using yellow Stimulators, Madam X and Turk’s Tarantula patterns. Caddisflies have been hatching in the late evenings.

The Blackfoot River and Rock Creek also have been providing fair to good fishing. Hopper and nymph patterns have been effective.

The Madison and Yellowstone are the top trout producers in the West Yellowstone area.

John Juracek of Blue Ribbon Flies at West Yellowstone said caddis, Pale Morning Dun and terrestrial patterns have been the productive on the lower Madison.

The “gulpers” at Hebgen Lake have been active in the mornings. The big trout take imitations of Callibaetis mayflies and Tricos.

KOKANEE

Washington’s Loon Lake and Montana’s Koocanusa Reservoir are still the best places to fish for kokanee. Fishing has been slow at Lake Coeur d’Alene and Lake Mary Ronan.

Fishing has been so good at Loon Lake, according to Joe Haley, manager of the Granite Point Resort, that some anglers have been taking 10-fish limits of 12- to 20-inchers every day they fish.

“One troller caught his limit 10 mornings in a row,” he said. “The best time to fish is early in the morning, but some people tell us they’re catching limits during the middle of the day, even when there are water skiers out.”

The kokanee are schooling, he said, and the best areas to troll are in front of the resort and around the Sockeye Hole. Some fishermen have caught fish by letting out only two colors of leaded line; others have let out as many as five colors.

Trollers have been outfishing still-fishermen 3 to 1, he said. Most still-fishers start about 8:30 p.m.

Kokanee fishing was good last weekend at Koocanusa Reservoir, Mike Singer of the Koocanusa Resort said. However, it wasn’t quite as good for most fishermen as it had been a few days earlier.

Anglers are letting out five colors of leaded line and using an ounce and a half of lead to get their lures down to the kokanee, he said.

Koocanusa’s kokanee are 9 to 10 inches and 12 to 13 inches.

TROUT, WASHINGTON

Now is a good time to fish for rainbows raised in net pens at several lakes and reservoirs. The trout, released when they were 8 to 10 inches long, are 12 to 14 inches. And the net-pen trout released last year are 16 to 20 inches, but they’re somewhat rare.

Guide John Carruth of Davenport said trollers have been catching 12- to 14-inch rainbows in The Seven Bays and Keller areas. Once in a while, he said, fishermen catch carryover rainbows.

The Potholes Reservoir is a good place to fish for net-pen fish. The trout are also more than 12 inches. Best areas to fish for them are in the vicinity of the Mar-Don Resort and in the Medicare Beach area.

The reservoir below Grand Coulee Dam has large numbers of net-pen trout, but most of the enormous, sterile trout caught earlier are gone.

Most who have been fishing Sprague Lake have been going after rainbows, Mike Mielke, co-owner of the Sprague Lake Resort, said. Mike Jennings of Sprague caught a rainbow that weighed more than 5 pounds a few days ago.

Most have been fishing bait, usually worms, under bobbers.

Trout fishing has been fair at several other lakes, including Fish, Amber, Clear, Silver and Waitts.

Water temperatures are in the high 70s at most lakes.

BEARS & COUGARS

For a high percentage of bear hunters, opening weekend was a bust. Apparently, a lot hiked bear country in Pend Oreille, Stevens and Ferry counties only to learn vegetation was thick and high, huckleberries were scarce and temperatures too high for comfortable hunting.

Wildlife agent Tim Hood of Kettle Falls said he suspects many of the hunters who turned out for the opener will wait several weeks before looking for bears again.

“Grasses and weeds were so high that visibility was poor,” he said. “Some weeds were over hunters’ heads and they couldn’t see anything. Besides, temperatures were too high.”

He said there are plenty of bears, but hunters won’t have much luck until after frosts have knocked down the weeds and deciduous trees have lost their leaves.

Although there are few areas where there are huckleberries, there are plenty of chokecherries and serviceberries for the bears.

SPINY RAYS

Walleye fishing has been excellent at Lake Roosevelt, said John Carruth of Davenport.

“Fishermen have been catching lots of walleyes in the 16- to 20-inch range, which they must release,” he said, “but they’ve also been catching many 15- to 17-inchers and also many smaller ones.”

He said most fishermen have been fishing in water 15 to 30 feet deep, using jigs and spinners.

Bass fishing has been so good at Sprague Lake at times a few fishermen have been ignoring the limits, Mielke said.

“One of my customers said he saw two fishermen keep at least 16 bass,” he said. “I called the poacher hotline, but no one came out …”

Mielke said crappie and bluegill fishing has been good in the late evenings. Fishermen have been using mini-jigs and Beetlespins to catch them.

Crappie fishing has been fair to good at several Idaho lakes, including Hauser, the Twins and Hayden, Smith said.

Many of the crappies in Hayden are 12 to 14 inches long, he said.

Bass fishing has been spotty in the Panhandle, Smith said. However, a few fishermen have been hooking bass in the late evenings and at night.

SALMON

If you want to have some fun, troll for chinook salmon at Lake Coeur d’Alene. Fishing has been so good for the immature chinooks that some anglers have hooked and released several each time they’ve fished, Smith said.

“I went out Saturday with two other guys, and we caught 16 salmon, all under 5 pounds,” he said. “We trolled mini-flashers and mini-squids from Arrow to Hudson points.”

The salmon are 60 to 65 feet deep, he said.

Mature salmon are just starting to migrate toward their spawning streams, he said. They don’t seem to be plentiful this year, but some in the 20-pound class likely will be caught during the fall salmon derby Wednesday through Aug. 16.

The derby, sponsored by Fins & Feathers and a couple of other firms, will be only five days long, compared with nine days in previous years. Smith said he expects more than 500 anglers to enter. The entry fee is $20.

Anglers who want to catch mature salmon should troll from East Point to Harrison or in Powder Horn Bay. Smith recommended using an 11-inch flasher with a Hootchie or squid, or a dodger and a fly.