Fishing Report
Ice fishing ending?
Above normal temperatures, high winds and rain the last 10 days have erased the ice on some popular lakes in Eastern Washington, signaling the beginning of the end of ice fishing for 1998-99.
Fourth of July and Sprague lakes are ice-free and the ice is rotten on some lakes in Pend Oreille and Stevens counties. Most Columbia Basin lakes are ice-free.
Anglers may have to break thin ice to launch boats at the Fourth of July public access area this weekend. Sub-freezing night-time temperatures have put ice over the shallow water. Nearly all the rest of the lake is ice-free.
Ice is still thick and hard enough on some northeastern Washington lakes for safe ice fishing. However, anglers should be extremely careful before trusting ice less than 4 inches thick.
Ice varies in thickness and hardness in North Idaho. The ice on lakes adjacent to the lower Coeur d’Alene River was honeycombed and so thin at edges that few anglers would trust it.
However, ice on some Panhandle lakes, particularly those in Boundary County, was in excellent condition this week. For example, the ice on Chase, one of the most popular perch fishing lakes, was 11 inches thick.
Trout, Washington
Barring a prolonged period of sub-freezing temperatures, anglers will be fishing out of boats and along the shorelines at Fourth of July and the year-round trout lakes in the Columbia Basin.
Fourth of July almost certainly will be the most popular trout fishing winter lake in Eastern Washington through March 31. Still-fishermen, trollers and fly fishers will be on the lake in good numbers during reasonably calm days and the shore will be lined with anglers.
The lake apparently still has a fairly good population of rainbows ranging from 10 to 20 inches long.
Most who fish Williams and Hatch in the Colville area will be local residents. Because the fish are larger and evidently more plentiful in Fourth of July, there’s no reason for Spokane anglers to drive 70 to 80 miles to fish the two lakes.
Lake Roosevelt will remain popular with a high percentage of anglers who fish this time of year. It’s been easy to catch five bright, deep-bodied rainbows that average 16 inches.
Fishing has been particularly rewarding in the lower end of Lake Roosevelt. Limits have come fast along the long section from Ft. Spokane to Spring Canyon.
In addition to rainbows, trollers have been hooking and releasing large numbers of kokanee in the 13- to 20-inch range. Once in a while, a fisherman catches a keeper kokanee, or one that doesn’t have an intact adipose fin. All kokanee with intact adipose fins must be released.
As usual, whenever anglers believe the wind won’t blow at more than 20 mph, the boat launches at both ends of Rufus Woods Lake are crowded with fishermen during mornings and evenings.
However, the last couple of weeks high winds have raked the 40-mile-long reservoir and few fishermen have wanted to make the long runs to the areas where there are large numbers of huge triploid rainbows.
Anglers are catching 12- to 14-inch rainbows at Windmill, North Windmill, Hart and Canal lakes south of the Potholes Reservoir’s Lind Coulee, reported Madonna Luers, spokeswoman for the Fish and Wildlife Department. The lakes were treated with rotenone a year and a half ago, and this is the big payoff.
Trout, Idaho
Fishermen have been catching hatchery-raised rainbows through ice at several Panhandle lakes. For the most part, though, the trout are caught by anglers fishing for perch.
Fishermen occasionally hook a trout in Hauser, Fernan, Mirror, the Twins and Round while fishing for perch or other species.
Jeff Smith, owner of the Fins & Feathers shop at Coeur d’Alene, said a few fishermen have been trolling around the islands in the north end of Lake Pend Oreille for mackinaw trout. The fishing has been slow.
Nearly all the macks weigh 3 to 12 pounds. Anglers troll lures 60 to 120 feet under the surface.
Spiny rays
Gamble and Chase lakes in Idaho’s Panhandle are the places to catch large perch. However, Smith said, fishermen shouldn’t expect to fill buckets.
He said he and his son fished Gamble last weekend and caught enough perch 11 inches and longer for a meal or two.
“We fished for about three hours to catch a dozen of the big ones,” he said. The ice was 11 inches thick, he said.
Some perch in Chase, which is near Priest Lake, are 12 to 14 inches long, Smith said, but “you don’t catch many.”
Smith said the ice on Fernan was unsafe for ice fishing earlier this week.
Now that the ice is off Sprague Lake, anglers will be able to cruise around in boats and search for schools of perch, crappies and bluegills. The fishing has been slow in recent weeks, but could pick up as the water warms.
Steelhead
The lower Clearwater, Salmon, Grande Ronde, Tucannon, Touchet and Walla rivers probably will be the most productive streams in the region the next few weeks.
Most steelhead are now in the stream where they will spawn. However, some are still in the Snake River and will move into tributaries this month and next.
Steelhead fishing has been fair to good in the lower Clearwater and its North Fork. Most anglers are fishing bait and lures under bobbers or drifting shrimp through holes.
The Idaho Fish and Game Department reported that last weekend anglers averaged 11 hours per steelhead along the lower Clearwater and 13 hours along the North Fork below Dworshak Dam.
Anglers averaged 6.3 to 12.2 hours per steelhead along the Washington and Oregon sections of the Grande Ronde River during a two-day creel check, according to Jerry Dedloff of the Fish and Wildlife Department’s Snake River Laboratory.
Water temperatures were 40 to 41 degrees and the water was clear.
Most steelhead are still in good condition, but the males are developing hooked jaws.
Salmon
Salmon fishing at Lake Coeur d’Alene was fair last weekend and slow early this week. Anglers have had to do a lot of exploring to find the chinooks, Smith said.
Most fishermen troll helmeted herring or flutter spoons at depths ranging from 20 to 100 feet, he said.
“You can tell a lot about where the salmon are by the color of the water,” he said. “If the water is off-color, it’s usually best to troll bait or lures at 20 to 50 feet. If the water is clear, the salmon probably will be down 70 to 100 feet.”
Most of the chinooks are small, many only 12 to 14 inches long. Once in a while, an angler catches a 5-to-7 pounder.
The St. Joe and the Coeur d’Alene have been pouring off-color water into the lake. The south end of the lake is muddy, although there are areas of the lake where the water is clear.
He suggested anglers troll at the mouths of Mica and Beauty bays or off Arrow Point.
Most of the salmon weigh 3 to 9 pounds; average is 4 to 5 pounds.
Burbot
The ice on Sullivan Lake in north Pend Oreille County may be too rotten this weekend for safe fishing.
If it’s still solid enough to support people, some anglers will jig lures 100 to 120 feet below the ice, hoping to catch a few burbot (ling). Most of the burbot they’ll catch will be 3- to 4-pounders, but once in a while, a 5- to 7-pounder will take a lure.
Fishermen have been catching burbot at the mouth of the Spokane River within sight of the Indian gambling casino and at the mouth of Hawk Creek.
Kokanee
If you will be contented with kokanee 7 to 8 inches long, fish Spirit Lake in North Idaho.
Fishing has been good at times, with experienced fishermen catching 25 kokanee during a few hours of fishing, Smith said. Most are fishing the south end. The ice is in fair condition.
Whitefish
This is the time of year when anglers, some fishing from shore and others fishing from boats, catch large numbers of whitefish along the Columbia River from Vernita Bridge to Priest Rapids Dam. The fishing has been fair to good at times.
Big lake whitefish usually attract ice fishermen at Soda Lake during the winter months. However, because of the mildness of the winter, the lake below O’Sullivan Dam didn’t develop an ice cap thick enough for safe ice fishing. Later, when water is pumped into the lake from the Potholes Reservoir, whitefish will concentrate at the inlet and fishing will be good for a brief period.