Fishing Report

Kokanee

A lot of the region’s anglers will fish for kokanee during the Fourth of July weekend. The most popular waters, if the weather isn’t nasty, likely will be Loon, Coeur d’Alene, Koocanusa and Mary Ronan.

Although fishing for the landlocked sockeye salmon was slow last weekend, probably because of unsettled weather, it may be better this weekend.

Joe Haley, manager of the Granite Point Resort at Loon, said trollers and night fishermen had to work hard to take home 10 kokanee. He attributed the slow fishing to the weather pattern.

Most of the kokanee Loon Lake anglers have been hooking represent two age classes: 8- to 9-inch immature fish and 11- to 12-inchers, which will spawn this fall. Once in a while, an angler hooks a 15- to 16-incher, probably an over-age fish that also will spawn this fall.

Haley said most trollers are letting out four to five colors of leaded line ahead of 000 dodgers and maggot-baited lures, such as the Wedding Ring or Fisher Fly. The limit is 10 kokanee a day; trout aren’t included in the kokanee limit.

Expert night fishermen have done well. They start fishing after 9. Jeff Smith, owner of the Fins & Feathers shop at Coeur d’Alene, said kokanee fishing has been “very good” at Lake Coeur d’Alene. Some experienced trollers have caught 25-fish limits of the fish that average 11 inches long.

The kokanee are scattered and are 10 to 15 feet below the surface, he said. The entire east arm to Beauty Bay has been good.

“There seem to be a lot more kokanee than had been anticipated,” he said. “I’ve even been catching them on salmon rigs.”

Trout, lakes

One of the surprises the last six weeks is that fishing at numerous Inland Northwest lakes has remained fairly good, apparently because of lower water temperatures.

Anglers report they’ve had little trouble taking limits, especially evenings, at many lakes in Eastern Washington and North Idaho.

Usually, surface water temperatures are in the high 70s and 80s by the latter part of each June. Trout spend little time in water that’s uncomfortable to them. For the most part, surface temperatures have been in the 60s and low 70s.

That should change this month. Then anglers will be forced to fish deep. Most trollers and still-fishermen already are fishing in 25 to 40 feet of water.

Trout stocked as fry at trout-only lakes a few weeks ago are starting to create problems for anglers at a few lakes. They’re growing fast and are capable of swallowing a salmon egg or a maggot- or corn-baited hook. As a result, fishermen can’t help killing a few undersized fish.

If anglers believe the weather will be mild, warm and dry this weekend, they’ll camp at or near numerous lakes in the region.

Such lakes as Marshall, Skookums, Yocum, the Little Pend Oreille lakes, Swan, Deep and Okanogan County lakes likely will attract many anglers and their families.

Although they’ve been fished hard since opening day, Badger, Williams, West Medical and even Fishtrap south and southwest of Spokane still hold enough trout for fair to good fishing. Incidentally, the trout have grown a little since opening day.

Mackinaws in Loon Lake have been surprisingly active the last 10 days. Haley said a few were caught last weekend. John Tracy of Spokane caught a couple in front of the resort. Another area that has produced macks is the water in front of Mill Point.

Blue and Park southwest of Coulee City should attract numerous campers this weekend. The Sun Lakes Park probably will be full.

Don’t overlook the multiple-species lakes, including Clear, Silver, Waitts, Jumpoff Joe and the Potholes Reservoir. They have been providing fairly good fishing the last 10 days.

Several of the multiple-species lakes in the Spokane region hold rainbows and brown trout. Among the most productive have been Clear and Silver.

Rock Lake, south of Spokane, has good numbers of both rainbows and browns. Some fly fishers, working the edges of the long, deep lake, have taken big browns on Muddler Minnow fly patterns.

Sprague Lake has been yielding good numbers of 13- to 14-inch rainbows, Mike Mielke, co-owner of the Sprague Lake Resort, reported.

Rod Meseberg of the Mar-Don Resort at the Potholes Reservoir said trollers have been catching rainbows near the mouth of the Frenchman Wasteway, off the Mar-Don dock, the Potholes canal, and Corral and Soda lakes.

Several of North Idaho’s lakes will be popular with trout fishermen during the three-day holiday.

Smith said numerous anglers will troll for big rainbows at Lake Pend Oreille if the weather is good. The rainbows are still fairly near the surface and many fishermen will troll flutter spoons off planing boards.

Pend Oreille’s surface temperature is still in the 50s, Smith said.

Mackinaw in Priest Lake will see a lot of baited lures this weekend. Smith said many anglers will troll dodgers ahead of bait in 150 to 200 feet of water. Some will troll dodgers and squid.

Most of the mackinaws are 2 to 7 pounds. However, a 10-pound-plus mack shows up occasionally.

Trout fishing has been fair at Hayden, with anglers trolling Needlefish spoons and Crocodile spoons fairly near the surface. A few trout to 8 pounds have been caught the last couple weeks.

Specially managed waters

Some fly fishers reported hooking and releasing good numbers of 14- to 17-inch rainbows on damselfly nymph patterns the last 10 days at Dry Falls, a selective-gear lake southwest of Coulee City.

Most fly fishers, however, have been fishing chironomid patterns in 10 to 12-feet of water.

By this time of year, fishing is tough at Dry Falls, as well as most specially managed lakes. However, the surface temperatures have remained several degrees under normal for late June.

Amber, Medical, Bayley and McDowell lakes have been providing fair fishing. Best time to fish Amber, it seems, is in the evenings. Medical holds some big brown trout and fishers have been mooching or trolling big flies near the bottom. Bayley, a fly-fishing-only lake, and McDowell, also a fly-fishing lake, have produced fair to good fishing.

A couple Spokane fly fishers reported they did well at McDowell on 12- to 13-inch rainbows. They also caught some tench on their flies.

Best bets in the Okanogan region are Chopaka and Blue lakes. The first generation of the Callibaetis mayflies at Chopaka, a fly-fishing-only lake, seems to be over, but fly fishers have had good luck on damselfly nymphs. Blue, south of Loomis, has provided fair fishing for 12- to 19-inch rainbows and a few browns in the 14- to 18-inch class.

If you fish Bayley, remember you can no longer kill a trout after Sunday. The catch-and-release season opens Monday.

Salmon

The chinook salmon in Lake Coeur d’Alene fooled a lot of the anglers who fished the Lake Coeur d’Alene Anglers Association derby last weekend. The salmon were active only from 4:30 to 6:30 a.m., Smith said.

“Fishermen who fished after about 6:30 had poor luck,” he said.

Larry Smith of Spokane won the first-place prize of $1,000 with a 14-pound chinook. Robert Priebe of Kellogg won $500 for second with a salmon that weighed 13.28 pounds.

Smith said most anglers trolled dodgers and flies and helmeted herring from 35 to 65 feet deep.

Spiny rays

If you want to catch good-sized perch, crappies and bluegills, as well as a walleye or two, fish Sprague. High winds discouraged most from fishing the popular lake most of last week and during the weekend, according to Mielke of the Sprague Lake Resort.

“If winds don’t keep fishermen off the lake this weekend,” Mielke predicted, “fishing could be good.”

Some of the perch are 12 inches long, bluegills are 8 to 9 inches and many crappies more than 10 inches.

Best fishing for bluegills and crappies is in the evenings. Anglers who have fished near the shoreline with flies or jigs have taken home 15 or more fish during an hour’s fishing.

A few fishermen have hooked goodsized walleyes at the Potholes Reservoir, Meseberg said. They’ve been working the Crab Creek area in the sand dunes, the west arm of the dunes, the east side of Crab Creek’s mouth and the Lind Coulee.

Smallmouth fishing has been fair to good at times along the face of O’Sullivan Dam, he said.

Incidentally, he reported archers have had fun shooting at carp in the Winchester Wasteway.

Stream fishing

For the first time since Idaho’s streams opened, the St. Joe River might be low enough during the weekend for fair to good fishing, Smith predicted.

Barring heavy rains, the St. Joe could be clear - but still high - for the holiday period. Almost certainly, the campgrounds will be full if the weather is good.

Smith said the river has been clear for some time, but it’s been too high for good fishing. However, the water volume has dropped and the stream may produce fair to good fishing for cutthroat.

“The water is still cold,” Smith said. “But I know guys who always catch big cutthroat when the water’s high. They use Stimulators and Muddler Minnows.”

The Coeur d’Alene River has been fishable for two or three weeks. Smith said many of the big, migrating cutthroat probably are far up the main river and its tributaries.

The Lochsa and Selway have been dropping and could provide fair to good fishing this weekend.

The salmonfly hatch is underway along Montana’s Madison River. However, many fly fishers still are fishing Idaho’s Henry’s Fork, which is not far from the Madison.

Fly fishers have done well at times during the last week along Montana’s Clark Fork River, the Kingfisher shop at Missoula reported. Mayflies, golden stones and some salmonflies have been hatching.

The Kingfisher recommended fly fishers use No. 10 Goddard Caddis patterns for surface fishing and Prince Nymph and San Juan worms for bottom fishing. Massive caddis hatches have been coming off in the evenings and fishers have taken trout with No. 12 Elk Hair Caddis patterns, as well as a No. 12 Z-Wing Emerger.

Shad

Enough shad have reached the lower Snake River for fair fishing.

Nearly 100,000 shad had climbed the fish ladders at McNary Dam by this week. Although only 2,200 had gone over the Ice Harbor Dam ladders, enough were below the dam for fair fishing at times.

This year’s run at Bonneville Dam apparently will top out at 1.5 million. Shad are still going over the dam, but the numbers have dropped dramatically.