Hunting & Fishing

Steelhead

Steelhead fishing should be good along some sections of the Snake, Clearwater and Grande Ronde rivers the next few days if the streams are clear enough for the steelhead to see lures and bait.

Periodic rainstorms last week and weekend turned some of the rivers milky. Despite off-color conditions, anglers did well in a few areas.

Hottest areas have been the lower Clearwater, the Clearwater’s North Fork, confluence of the Clearwater and Snake rivers, the Snake just above and below the Grande Ronde’s mouth and the lower Ronde.

Steelhead fishing was terrific along parts of the Clearwater last weekend. The Idaho Fish and Game Department said anglers averaged 7 hours per steelhead along the lower river and 11 hours along the North Fork. The river was clear and the water temperature was 40 degrees.

Fishing has been fair near Lower Monumental and Little Goose dams and slow near Lower Granite.

Thousands of steelhead have moved up such tributaries as the Tucannon and Salmon rivers.

With water temperatures in the low 40s, steelhead movement has slowed dramatically. As temperatures continue to drop, steelhead will stop moving and settle in deep holes to wait until spring before migrating to their spawning sites.

Lake Coeur d’Alene is the place to catch small chinook salmon.

Jeff Smith, owner of the Fins & Feathers shop at Coeur d’Alene, said the 100 anglers who entered the salmon derby last weekend caught hundreds of small chinooks, most 18 to 20 inches long.

However, 15 chinooks were entered in the derby. James Kamura of Spokane won $700 for catching the largest chinook, 11 pounds, 10 ounces. Tom Andrews, also Spokane, took the second prize of a Cannon electric downrigger and $150 for his 11-pound, 4-ounce chinook. Eldon Hull of Coeur d’Alene took the third prize of a G. Loomis rod and $100 for his salmon.

“Lots of 5- to 6-pound salmon were caught but weren’t kept and registered,” Smith said.

Most productive area was between Carlin and Loff’s Bay. The salmon were 100 feet deep and anglers trolled helmeted herring and mini-squids and Rapalas behind flashers.

Upland birds

If you think you can pin down roosters long enough to get in gun range, now is a good time to join the dwindling crowd of rooster seekers.

Even hunters with good dogs have been complaining that the roosters, hunted almost daily, run as soon as they see or hear hunters in the places where they rest and feed.

And they complain that it’s nearly impossible to corner the birds. One of their tactics, when hunting a draw, is to have one hunter stand in the upper end while others, working behind dogs, hunt up the cover. But that doesn’t work often this time of year. The pheasants fly out the sides.

Pheasant hunters, especially those who hunt public land that’s pounded almost daily, will have to wait for low temperatures or deep snow to stop the birds from running and flying out of gun range. But time is running out. The season ends Dec. 31.

If the temperature plunges to near or below zero, pheasants will be reluctant to fly. And if snow is more than 3 inches and soft, they won’t run.

An upland bird hunter’s best choice is to go after chukars or quail.

The chukar populations near the Snake and Columbia rivers are large. Most have given up hunting them. There are plenty of places in Idaho and Washington to hunt the birds.

The Washington Fish and Wildlife Department controls access to thousands of acres of prime chukar habitat in Asotin County and a few places in the Columbia Basin. If you don’t know where to hunt, call one of the department’s offices listed in the Hunting Regulations pamphlet.

Quail are plentiful. You can find coveys along brushy draws adjacent to the Snake and Columbia rivers. Some have been hunted only a few times.

Waterfowl

Snowstorms in North Idaho and northern Washington and the freezing over of many small lakes and potholes last week forced thousands of ducks and geese to move.

For example, by last Friday, numerous lakes in the Columbia Basin, including Coffee Pot, hosted tremendous numbers of birds.

The sky over harvested wheat fields east of Coffee Pot last week was black with huge flocks of ducks and geese.

The appearance of thousands of ducks and geese attracted unusually large numbers of hunters, who tried with little success to get permission to hunt harvested grain fields.

One property owner said six parties of hunters, seeing thousands of ducks and geese in his fields, stopped at his home and asked permission to hunt. He already had given permission to Seattle friends to hunt the fields.

Hunting pressure on ducks and geese almost certainly will be extremely heavy until the weather gets so bad many hunters no longer will want to drive slick and snow-covered roads.

It’s difficult to get permission to hunt waterfowl on private property this late in the season. Many landowners either already have lists of hunters they permit on their property or don’t want hunters on their land.

The small lakes and potholes are freezing over, forcing the birds to move to big water, such as Lake Roosevelt, the Columbia, Potholes Reservoir and Moses Lake.

It won’t be long before the small lakes leased by waterfowl clubs are covered with ice. Already, some in Stevens, Pend Oreille and Okanogan counties are either partially or completely covered by ice.

Big game

Nearly all big-game seasons in Washington and Idaho have ended. Only a few special seasons remain open.

Incidentally, those who hunted buck deer during the late buck season in the Spokane region reported they saw few whitetail bucks in Whitman County. A disease that kills only whitetails apparently has decimated the population of the species.

Trout

It won’t be long before most of the winter fishing lakes in Eastern Washington will be covered by ice. Already, ice is forming in bays and at access areas.

Last week, anglers had to break ice at the upper end of Fourth of July Lake to get to open water. It’s possible ice will be too thick this weekend for anglers to break their way to open water.

Fishing has been excellent at Fourth of July, with a high percentage of fishermen hooking rainbows, most 13 to 16 inches long. At times, fishermen couldn’t catch enough trout 14 inches and shorter to take home five-fish limits. Only two of a limit can be more than 14 inches.

Williams and Hatch lakes in the Colville area should provide fair to good fishing for rainbows. Hatch holds the biggest trout, but they’re probably not plentiful enough for good fishing through the winter months.

Hatch likely will be partly or fully covered by ice this weekend, but it may not be thick enough for safe ice fishing.

Lake Roosevelt is still the most productive lake in Eastern Washington for 14- to 18-inch rainbows. Trollers have continued to catch five-fish limits from Seven Bays to Kettle Falls.

Most of the small lakes south of the Lind Coulee were mostly ice-free last weekend. They’ve been yielding some pan-sized rainbows.

Smith said a few anglers have been hooking mackinaw trout at Lake Pend Oreille in deep water in the north end of the lake. Big plugs, such as Rapalas and Lymans, have lured the macks.