Hunting & Fishing

Waterfowl

With nearly all small- to medium-sized lakes in North Idaho and Eastern Washington covered with ice, the region’s waterfowlers will be hunting big lakes and rivers for a while, possibly until the end of the seasons.

Near-zero and sub-zero temperatures the last seven days have put ice on the lakes and small streams, causing thousands of ducks and geese to move to big lakes and the lower Snake River and Columbia River.

Most fair-sized lakes were either ice-free or frozen around edges and in bays last Friday. However, by Saturday an inch or 2 of ice had formed.

Ducks were the first to move. Apparently, most headed for the Columbia Basin. Unlike ducks, geese will land on ice, so hunters did well at some frozen lakes and ponds.

Wildlife agent Dan Rahn of Moses Lake said thousands of ducks that were staying on Moses Lake and the Potholes Reservoir have left the area. He said most probably moved to the Columbia River. However, there are still mallards on the wasteways and on lower Crab Creek.

He said goose hunting has been terrific in Grant and Franklin counties. Many experienced hunters have been shooting limits every time they hunt.

Rahn said hunters should follow geese to fields where they feed, ask the landowner for permission to hunt and then return the next day to hunt.

Waterfowl clubs and guides have leased thousands of acres of land in the Basin, making it difficult for freelance hunters to find places without having to compete.

In Washington, many will hunt the Snake River from Central Ferry to Ice Harbor Dam. Most will hunt the Columbia from Ringold Springs to the Umatilla National Wildlife Refuge.

Thousands of ducks and geese will continue to use Lake Roosevelt to rest between forays to winter wheat and harvested grain fields.

One of the most popular spots to hunt after most lakes and slow-moving waters are ice-covered is the Ringold Springs area of the Columbia River. The big drawback is that scores of other waterfowlers also hunt the area.

Some will try their luck on and near the Umatilla refuge, but most North Idaho and Spokane-area hunters will put away their guns and hope for a chinook to develop before the end of the seasons.

If there’s a chinook, thousands of ducks and geese will move back to the Spokane region and North Idaho.

Upland birds

If you’re a pheasant or a grouse hunter, you only have a few more days to hunt. Seasons for both species will end Dec. 31 in Eastern Washington and North Idaho.

Idaho’s quail season also ends Dec. 31, but the chukar and Hungarian (gray) partridge seasons run through Jan. 15.

Washington hunters can continue to hunt partridges and quail through Jan. 10.

For the first time since the first week of the pheasant seasons, the near-zero and sub-zero temperatures the last week in some areas kept the pheasants from running and flying at the first sight of hunters. In fact, even hunters who didn’t have dogs took home roosters when the temperatures were below 10 degrees.

However, temperatures were so low there were few hunters and their dogs in pheasant habitat. Hunting pressure was the lowest of the season.

The low temperatures also discouraged partridges and quail from flying before hunters could get within shotgun range.

Many sportsmen won’t hunt upland birds when temperatures are extremely low or there is a deep snow cover. They believe it’s unfair to take advantage of the birds’ vulnerability during severe weather conditions.

Upland birds become lethargic only when the temperatures are extremely low. When daytime temperatures rise above 20 degrees, they become so active again they don’t give hunters much of a chance to get close to them.

Fishing

It’s ice-fishing time. Numerous lakes in North Idaho and Eastern Washington are covered with 3- to 5-inches of hard ice.

The low temperatures of the last week quickly put ice covers on small lakes in the region, but some anglers bundled up and tried to fish when the temperatures were near and below zero.

If the day-time temperatures are in the 20s and low 30s this weekend, the winter fishing trout lakes in the Spokane region likely will be dotted with hundreds of ice fishermen.

Fourth of July, south of Sprague, likely will be the most popular lake in the region the rest of the winter if access isn’t blocked by snow and if the ice is thick enough to support fishermen safely.

Most of the rainbows fishermen have been catching at Fourth of July have been 13 to 16 inches.

Williams and Hatch likely will be popular with anglers who fish only for trout. Both hold enough good-sized rainbows for fair to good fishing.

If the ice is 3 to 4 inches thick on Sprague Lake this weekend and the daytime temperatures are above 20 degrees, the lake will be spotted with ice fishermen after perch and perhaps a few bluegills.

There are some big perch in Sprague, but most are 6 to 9 inches long. The bluegill population isn’t large enough for the kind of fishing anglers experienced a few years ago, but there are some 8- to 10-inchers in the lake.

The ice on lakes south of the Lind Coulee should be thick enough for safe ice fishing this weekend. They hold fair numbers of 10- to 16-inch rainbows.

Agent Rahn said anglers have been catching rainbows to 20 inches by fishing from shore in the Medicare Beach area of the Potholes Reservoir.

“They prop up their rods and then sit in their cars and watch the rod tips,” he said.

Rahn also said whitefish are taking anglers’ bait in the Columbia River below Priest Rapids Dam.

Some of the lakes adjacent to the lower Coeur d’Alene River will be dotted with northern pike fishermen this weekend, Jeff Smith, owner of the Fins & Feathers shop at Coeur d’Alene, predicted.

He said the ice is thick enough on Killarney, Thompson, Anderson and the other lakes for safe fishing. Some anglers will put out as many as five tip-up rigs at the lakes. It’s legal to use up to five tip-ups when there is ice on the lakes.

The pike anglers will catch range from 3 to 8 pounds, but most are in the 3- to 5-pound bracket, Smith said.

Nearly all pike fishermen bait their hooks with smelt or herring, he said.

Several other North Idaho lakes have thick enough ice covers for safe fishing, Smith said. Among them are Mirror, Round, Rose and Fernan.

Mirror holds brook and cutthroat trout and kokanee. The others yield perch and some trout. Nearly all perch in North Idaho lakes are small, measuring 5 to 7 inches. Hayden, however, holds large perch, but it may not get an ice cover thick enough to support anglers safely.

Steelhead, salmon

Plunkers probably will outnumber the back trollers and drift fishermen along the Clearwater and Snake rivers for the rest of the winter.

Water temperatures have dropped into the low 40s and high 30s since air temperatures plunged to the teens and even below zero. Anglers know steelhead stop moving and settle in deep holes when the temperatures drop below 40 degrees; therefore, they fish the holes during the winter months.

Best choices for a steelhead or two are the lower Clearwater, confluence of the Clearwater and Snake rivers, the Snake at the mouth of the Grande Ronde, the lower Ronde and the Tucannon.

Smith said near-zero temperatures discouraged anglers from trolling for chinook salmon at Lake Coeur d’Alene last weekend.

“Downriggers freeze up when the temperatures are low,” he said, “so fishermen can’t get their bait and lures down to where the salmon are.”

When temperatures rise, he said, some fishermen will resume trolling at the lake.

Licenses

License dealers have the $6 special hunting and fishing license, Madonna Luers, spokesperson for the Fish and Wildlife Department, said.

Sportsmen who will hunt and fish during the first three months of 1999 must buy the special license, she said. The department had to make the license available because of the change in the licensing year from April 1-March 31 to better coincide with the fishing and hunting seasons.

Hunters and fishermen can buy the April 1-March 31 license at the time they buy the three-month license or anytime before April 1.