Fishing Report

Kokanee

Add Deer Lake to the list of lakes and reservoirs that are yielding kokanee. The population in Deer Lake is a small one, but the fish are big, measuring 15 to 19 inches.

One angler who fishes the lake frequently at night said the fishing has been spotty. “On some nights, I’ve caught my limit,” he said. “Usually, though, the fishing is slow. Maybe I’ll catch only one or two, but those fish are bigger than the fish in Loon Lake.”

He said a five-fish limit at Deer Lake weighs much more than a 10-fish limit at Loon.

Most anglers will opt for Loon Lake, which has been churning out 10-fish limits for several weeks.

Experienced trollers and still-fishermen have been taking limits nearly every time they fish the lake. Most trollers drag their baited lures around the lake before water skiers and speedboats churn up the water. Still-fishermen have been starting as early as 8 p.m., but the best fishing seems to start after the sun has set.

Most of the kokanee fishermen catch at Loon Lake are 12 to 13 inches long, with some as short as 9 or 10 inches and a few as long as 18.

Kokanee fishing has slowed dramatically at Lake Coeur d’Alene. Justin Kimberling of the Fins & Feathers shop said the fish are deep and trollers have had problems locating schools. The kokanee population is small this year, one of the smallest in several years.

The Dworshak Reservoir has been popular with anglers in the Lewiston area. Koocanusa Reservoir in northwest Montana continues to produce fair to good kokanee fishing.

Steelhead

You only have two more days to fish for steelhead in the Ringold Springs area of the Columbia River. The special bank fishing season will end Sunday.

The area open to fishing is from Fish and Wildlife Department markers one-fourth of a mile downstream of the Ringold wasteway outlet to the agency’s markers one-half mile upstream of Spring Creek.

Anglers are not allowed to fish from boats in the area.

Fishing has been fair to good from before dawn to 7 a.m. and from just before sunset to dark. Few steelhead are in the area during mid-day hours.

About 15,000 steelhead have climbed the fish ladders at McNary Dam. Most have started up the Snake River, but some have moved up the Columbia.

Salmon

Enough chinook salmon should be in the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River for fair fishing when the 1999 season opens Monday.

Nearly 30,000 chinooks had climbed the fish ladders at McNary Dam early this week and most seem to be headed up the Columbia.

The region’s anglers, aware the chinook run is a good one, have been looking forward to the opening of the season. Salmon that arrive in the Hanford Reach sections this time of year are in good condition.

Most anglers will launch their boats at the White Bluffs ramp and at the Vernita Bridge. They’ll back troll big plugs, drift spinners and fish with smelt and other bait.

Several hundred fishermen who paid $25 each to participate in the Big One Derby have been trolling Lake Coeur d’Alene to win prizes. They have only two more days to catch a chinook big enough to win the boat rig that includes a 16-foot boat, 15-horsepower motor and a trailer.

Mike Kline Jr. of Spokane won the top daily prize of $500 on opening day of the derby with an 18.92-pound chinook. It was one of the few chinooks weighing more than 15 pounds that have been caught.

Most of the salmon boated have been in the 4-to 6-pound class.

Derby participants have been reluctant to reveal where and how they caught the salmon that have weighed more than 10 pounds. However, according to Kimberling, nearly all the salmon that qualified for entry in the derby came from the south end of the lake.

This would indicate the mature salmon that soon will migrate up the Coeur d’Alene and St. Joe rivers to spawn are staging off the mouths of the two rivers.

Most derby participants likely will troll in the south end Saturday and Sunday. Their reasoning: More and more mature salmon will be near the mouths of the two rivers.

Spiny rays

Not all the anglers who have been fishing at Lake Coeur d’Alene have been going after chinook salmon. Some are fishing for northern pike.

Kimberling said pike fishing has picked up considerably, with fishermen casting spinnerbaits and plugs over and near weed beds at all the bays. “Spinnerbaits are the medicine for them now,” he said.

Most of the pike fishermen have been catching have weighed 5 to 8 pounds. A few weighing more than 12 pounds have been hooked.

Anglers have been catching numerous walleyes and bass at Sprague Lake, Monika Metz, co-owner of the Sprague Lake Resort, said.

A high percentage of the walleyes are “shakers,” too small to keep. A keeper walleye at Sprague must be at least 18 inches long. Metz said fishermen have been catching bass in shallow water near the shoreline. She also said perch fishing has been good, but that most of the perch are small.

The Potholes Reservoir, Soda Lake and a few other small lakes have been producing fair to good fishing for everything from bluegills to bass, according to Mike Meseberg of the Mar-Don Resort. He said anglers fishing off the resort dock have been catching bluegills more than 6 inches long and perch and crappies longer than 8 inches. However, most of the fish have been smaller.

“The spiny rays have returned to the reservoir,” he said, “although 95 percent are in the miniature category. These little jewels were absent three to five years ago. The future looks good.”

Although walleye fishing has continued slow, bass fishermen have been doing well in the water around the sand dune islands. Meseberg said guide Skip Davis has had some 20 fish-and-release days.

Trout, streams

If you plan to fish Montana’s trout streams the next few weeks, be sure to have plenty of grasshopper imitations in your fly box.

Trout are keying in on hopper patterns, especially during windy days when hoppers are blown into the rivers.

Most productive fishing during the dog days of August is during caddisfly hatches and egg-laying flights in the evenings.

Guides are having their clients fish hoppers with nymphs as droppers during mid-day hours and caddis imitations in the evenings. Fishing has been excellent at times along the Clark Fork, Blackfoot and Bitterroot rivers and Rock Creek. The Missouri continues to attract almost unbelievable numbers of fly fishers. Fishing has been outstanding.

Trout, lakes

Most of the region’s trout lakes still have fair numbers of 12- to 18-inch trout. However, trout stocked in April and May as fry now are big enough to pester fishermen.

If you plan to fish such lakes as Williams, Badger, West Medical and Fishtrap, don’t count on catching many year-old fish during mid-day hours. You will catch some 7- to 8-inchers. Fishing for bigger trout has been slow before evenings.

Your best bet for 12-inch-plus fish are the multiple-species lakes, including Clear, Waitts, and the Potholes Reservoir, and the fly fishingonly and selective-gear lakes.

The Potholes Reservoir has been especially productive, with trollers taking limits of rainbows up to 3 pounds. Most of the trout released from the net pens last spring are more than 12 inches long, but there are enough carryover fish in the reservoir for anglers to bag one periodically.