High Mountain Lakes Offer Respite, Some Good Fishing

If the heat and the concrete are closing in on you, try hitting one of many trails leading to high mountain lakes.

Although Idaho seems to be well-known for high mountain fisheries, Washington has more than 3,000 lakes at elevations above 2,500 feet, according to the Washington Fish and Wildlife Department.

A small percentage of those Washington lakes have self-sustaining trout populations; others are stocked periodically. Some are left barren.

Some lakes are stocked every two or three years while others are stocked once in a decade. These rotating stocking schedules cause the trout in each lake to vary in size and number from year to year.

“Part of the mystique of the high-lake fishing experience is exploring an unknown area for a quality backcountry experience,” said Craig Burley, department fisheries biologist experienced in high-lake management.

A where-to, how-to information pamphlet, “Trout Fishing in Washington’s High Lakes,” is available at all department offices.

Other hot-weather fishing opportunities don’t take so much foot leather to reach. Among them:

Sturgeon fishing on the Columbia River is hot from Cathlamet down to the estuary (the last 15 miles of the river) with many fishers limiting out (one fish) daily. More than 10,000 sturgeon were caught in June, and July was almost as good. Fishers have been successful using anchovies and sand shrimp for bait, according to state biologist John Devore.

Twilight fishing for various species, whether it be trout on the Spokane River, or walleyes slinking into the shallows along shore on Lake Roosevelt. The fishing this time of year can be especially good in the cooler hours after sundown.

The ocean sport salmon fishing season opened Aug. 3. Coastal fishing is open Sundays through Thursdays with a limit of one chinook per day and no more than four salmon per calendar week.

Ocean salmon fishing from Ilwaco and LaPush closed Monday after anglers reached quotas, but the Buoy 10 salmon fishery in the Columbia River and salmon fishing from Westport (Marine Area 2) and Neah Bay (Marine Area 4) remain open.

Dungeness crab season is open and opportunity looks good through Labor Day and beyond if the weather holds. Good fishing should be available at Saddlebag Island, Port Townsend Bay, Willapa Bay, Grays Harbor and the lower Columbia River.

Ocean bottom fish, including rockfish, lingcod and other marine species are providing good fishing in the Westport, LaPush and Neah Bay areas.

Commission meeting

The Idaho Fish and Game Commission will meet at 8 a.m. Thursday at Fish and Game headquarters in Boise. A public hearing will be held tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the same location.

The Commission will set seasons and limits for waterfowl, discuss agency finances and the proposed budget for fiscal year 2000, several land trades and a conservation easement, and hear a report on bull trout and lake trout research in Priest Lake, among other items.

Bighorn lottery raises $49,000

The annual lottery for one Idaho bighorn sheep tag raised $49,140 for health research benefiting Idaho’s bighorn herds.

James Haskcup of Greenwood, N.J., bought the lucky ticket, entitling him to hunt a bighorn in Idaho this fall. Two other tickets, both purchased by hunters from eastern states, were drawn in case the winner or first runner-up is unable to use the tag.