Fishing Report

Winter lakes

Despite heavy fishing in early December and the past couple of weeks, Fourth of July and Hog Canyon apparently still have big populations of rainbows.

Anglers who know how and where to fish the lakes have been limiting in an hour or so. Some who know so little about fishing they couldn’t catch trout in a fish hatchery are having problems.

Fly fishers, using barbless hooks, have been hooking and releasing as many as 40 a day at Fourth of July. They use gadgets that enable them to release the fish without even taking the trout out of the water.

The trout in Fourth of July range from 10 to 24 inches, with most in the 10- to 16-inch range. Although 18- to 24-inchers are caught occasionally, they’re rare.

Most bait fishermen use salmon eggs, maggots, worms, meal worms and scented power bait. Some troll baited fly patterns. Others fish bait on the bottom and under bobbers.

Fly fishers have been using a variety of patterns, including the Atomic Worm, Woolly Bugger, Nyerges Nymph and damselfly and chironomid imitations. For the most part, the trout are feeding near the bottom over weeds.

Although Hog Canyon holds a few rainbows 17 to 18 inches, most of the fish being caught are 9 to 14 inches. The yearling rainbows are the 9- to 10-inchers and are in excellent condition.

The waterfall at the head of the lake is spectacular.

Lake Roosevelt

Most who fished the lake recently apparently have left to fish for big rainbows in Rufus Woods Lake.

Guide John Carruth of Davenport said fishing has been poor at Lake Roosevelt. Anglers have hooked only a few kokanee, rainbows and walleyes.

The Bureau of Reclamation has drawn Roosevelt down to the 1,255-foot level, or 34 feet below full pool, and may draw down the lake even more. Boats can be launched at most places along the reservoir.

The Spokane arm of the lake and a few small streams are pouring off-color water into it, Carruth said.

Rufus Woods Lake

This reservoir between Grand Coulee and Chief Joseph dams is the place to catch outsized rainbows. More than 150 boats were on Rufus Woods last weekend as the word spread there are lots of huge rainbows in the reservoir.

Some anglers claim they’ve caught rainbows that weighed more than 15 pounds. However, most of the trout seem to be at least 20 inches long and weigh 5 to 7 pounds; they’re so deep-bodied they almost resemble crappies.

Fishermen have been launching boats at both ends of the lake. Some jig for the rainbows; others troll.

It’s possible some of the hundreds of thousands of trout that were flushed out of Lake Roosevelt during high water last year stayed in Rufus Woods Lake.

Spiny rays

The Columbia River below Wanapum Dam is one of the best spots in Eastern Washington to catch keeper-size walleyes.

Wildlife agent Dan Rahn said he checked anglers with numerous 24-to 27-inch walleyes they caught below the dam south of Vantage.

Anglers continue to catch walleyes below Priest Rapids Dam, he said, but most fish for the 10- to 14-inch mountain whitefish, which are plentiful enough for the fishermen to take limits.

Fishing for walleyes has been slow to fair at the Potholes Reservoir, he said. Most fishermen have been trolling off the face of O’Sullivan Dam near Goose Island.

Steelhead

Anglers are still catching steelhead along the Snake River and its tributaries, but some are fishing for catfish and sturgeon.

Jay Poe, owner of Hells Canyon Sports at Clarkston, said the best fishing for steelhead above Lower Granite Dam has been the Snake above Beamer’s Bar. Anglers have fished hours between Clarkston and the mouth of the Grande Ronde to catch one steelhead.

Some are hooking catfish below Clarkston and catfish and sturgeon near Lower Granite Dam, Poe said.

Steelhead fishing has been slow along the lower Clearwater River, he said. Some fish have been caught along the North Fork below Dworshak Dam.

Anglers averaged 19 hours per steelhead along the lower Clearwater last weekend, the Idaho Fish and Game Department reported. Fishing was extremely slow along the Clark Fork, with an average of 88 hours per fish.

Along the Salmon River, anglers averaged 17 hours per fish from Whitebird to Riggins and 23 hours from Riggins to Vinegar Creek.

Ice fishing

Some North Idaho lakes are safe enough for ice fishing, Jeff Smith, owner of the Fins & Feathers shop at Coeur d’Alene, reported.

Ice was about 6 inches thick last weekend on such lakes as Upper Twin, Perkins, Mirror and Round. Anglers caught small perch at Twin, Perkins and Round and trout and kokanee at Mirror.

Some even fished through rotten ice at Hayden for northern pike, Smith said. They caught pike and apparently no one fell in.

Most Eastern Washington lakes are either ice-free or the ice isn’t safe for fishing. In fact, two elderly anglers fell through rotten ice at Silver Lake last week.

Trout, Columbia Basin

A few of the lakes south of the Lind Coulee arm of the Potholes Reservoir are yielding limits of trout, Rahn said.

He suggested anglers try such lakes as Katey, Marco Polo and Virgin, all of which seem to have plenty of 10- to 14-inch rainbows.

Rahn also said the stream below the Columbia Basin fish hatchery is full of 6- to 10-inch rainbows.

Rocky Ford Creek, a fly fishing-only spring creek north of Moses Lake, has been attracting fair numbers of fly fishers. Blue-winged olive mayflies have been hatching in the fast water near the lower hatchery and midges have been hatching in the slow-moving water.

Salmon

Fair fishing at Lake Coeur d’Alene produced some the 3- to 6-pound chinook salmon by trolling deep in the south end off East Point and in Wolf Lodge and Beauty bays.

Pike

Good numbers of northern pike have moved into the shallow bays at Lake Coeur d’Alene, Smith said, and some fishermen have hooked fish that average 5 to 6 pounds.

Most have been fishing herring or smelt under sliding bobbers in 2 to 6 feet of water in Wolf Lodge, Squaw and Cougar bays.

Although most pike are 5 to 6 pounds, a few 12- to 16-pounds have been caught, Smith said.

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