Fishing Report
Stream fishing
Nearly all the region’s trout streams are in excellent condition. In fact, the Coeur d’Alene River is just about as low and clear as it will get this year.
Caddisflies and mayflies are hatching along all the North Idaho cutthroat streams. Fly fishers have been hooking 7 to 16-inch cutthroat along the lower Coeur d’Alene. Some have had success fishing the tributaries, including independence and teepee creeks. Most productive fishing is in the evenings when caddisflies hatch in good numbers.
The St. Joe is in near-perfect condition for fly fishing, especially in the catch-and-release water. Caddisflies and mayflies have been hatching daily.
Some fly fishers fish only dry flies. Many, however, fish nymphs under indicators. Patterns that imitate terrestrial insects, including ants and beetles, have been attracting the cutthroat. The Lochsa and Selway also are producing good fishing. As the water warms, the cutthroat will move into tributary streams. All the streams in the Missoula area have been providing fair to good fly fishing.
Kokanee
With trout fishing often difficult at the region’s lakes, hundreds of anglers have switched to trolling and still-fishing for kokanee.
Loon remains the most popular lake in the Spokane region for fishing for kokanee. Most of the kokanee are 12 to 13 inches long. A few are 10 inches and some are 16.
Expert still-fishermen have been catching limits starting about 8 each evening during stable weather, according to Joe Haley of the Granite Point Resort. They’ve been fishing glow hooks baited with white corn and maggots at 28 feet.
The Sockeye Hole just north of the resort has been one of the most productive areas.
Most who troll for kokanee fish before the speedboaters and water skiers get out on the lake, he said. They’re either fishing with downriggers, the poor man’s downrigger or with leaded line. Those who use leaded line have been letting out 4-1/2 to 5 colors.
Fishing for the 11-inch kokanee in Lake Coeur d’Alene has slowed and only a few anglers have been taking home 25-fish limits, Jeff Smith, owner of the Fins & Feathers shop, reported. Most are putting 10 to 15 fish in their coolers during a few hours of trolling.
Productive areas have been Bennett, Wolf Lodge, Mica and Windy bays.
Incidentally, Smith said, most anglers seem to be avoiding the tribal part of Lake Coeur d’Alene. He speculated the fishermen don’t want to pay more money for licenses.
Tribal licenses are $5 for one day, $25 for an annual license and $5 for a season license for seniors more than 55 years of age.
Smith said the dividing line between the tribal and non-tribal sections of the lake is from Harlow Point to just south of Mowrey Park.
Do non-Indians who fish the tribal part of the lake also have to carry tribal as well as state fishing licenses? Smith said a Coeur d’Alene tribe official told him anyone who fishes the tribal water doesn’t have to have a state license. However, a Fish and Game representative said that, yes, an angler must have a state license as well as a tribal license.
“The safest thing to do,” Smith said, “is to have both a state and a tribal license.”
Koocanusa Lake has been attracting anglers from throughout the Northwest. Although the kokanee aren’t as large as those in Loon Lake, the limit is more generous - 20 a day.
Spiny rays
Walleye fishing has been good at Lake Roosevelt, guide John Carruth of Davenport reported.
He said he and a client hooked numerous walleyes to more than 20 inches long a few days ago.< Most of the big walleyes were in relatively shallow water feeding on minnows. All the fish under 16 inches were 20 to 30 feet deep.
Smallmouth bass also are hitting, he said. He suggested fishermen try jigs with grubs. During a recent trip, he and a friend caught numerous smallmouths between Seven Bays and Keller.
Carruth also said bass fishing has been good at Coffeepot Lake, now managed as a selective-gear lake. He said most of the bass he and another angler caught last weekend were 1-1/2-pounders.
Mike Meseberg of the Mar-Don Resort said walleye fishing has improved at the Potholes Reservoir. He suggested anglers troll for walleyes around Goose Island and in the Lind Coulee.< John Hernandez of Moses Lake caught a 28-inch walleye at Soda Lake a few days ago, he said.< The face of O’Sullivan Dam has been good for smallmouth bass and the water around the sand dune islands has been good for largemouths. Most of the crappies, perch and bluegills caught at the Potholes have been too small to keep. But one angler, George Roybal of Yakima, caught a 1-pound, 7-ounce crappie while trolling near Perch Island.
Fishing for 6- to 11-inch bluegills has picked up at Sprague Lake, Mike Mielke, co-owner of the Sprague Lake Resort, reported.
Most are being caught in 3- to 7-feet of water by fishermen who use Beetle Spins tipped with a worm. However, some have been caught at depths of 12 feet.
“Most bluegills show signs of nest building,” he said. “Their tails are worn down.”
Mielke said perch fishing has been good for those who fish deep. Anglers who fish the shallow water catch the small perch. He also said walleyes have been hitting plugs and Beetle Spins by anglers who have been fishing for bluegills.
The northern pike in Lake Coeur d’Alene are hitting top water plugs, Smith said. Some have been taken on spinner baits. The largest reported caught in recent days was a 25-pounder hooked by Vince Peterson during a bass tournament. Peterson hooked and released the pike in the Harrison area.
Salmon
Good-sized chinook salmon are starting to hit trolled lures and bait at Lake Coeur d’Alene.
Smith said several 15- to 18-pounders were caught last weekend. “Salmon fishing finally is improving,” he said.
He suggested anglers troll lures or bait at 50 feet from Arrow Point to Moscow Bay. Some have been trolling flashers and squid, dodgers and flies. A few fish have been caught on herring.
Trout, lakes
Most of the trout-only lakes in Eastern Washington have been yielding some fish, but some multiple-species waters, such as Clear, Silver, Waitts and the Potholes Reservoir, have given up trout to 18 inches.
Although Sprague Lake is managed for spiny rayed species, many who fish it troll or still-fish for the rainbows stocked by the Fish and Wildlife Department.
Mielke said the trout are moving to the spring areas of the lake. For those who know the location of the springs, trout fishing can be good. Most of the rainbows are a foot long, but there are still a few carryovers to nearly 5 pounds.
Meseberg said trollers have been limiting on rainbows every day at the Potholes Reservoir. Most productive area has been near the mouth of Frenchman’s Wasteway. Other popular areas are along the Crab Creek channel and off Medicare Beach. The trout range from 12 to more than 20 inches long.
Soda and Blythe lakes also have been turning out rainbow limits. A few of the trout in Blythe weigh 4 pounds.
Best time to fish for the brown trout in Silver, Clear and Waitts lakes is just before and after sundown. Some of the browns are 16 to more than 18 inches long.
Trout stocked in trout-only lakes as fry (2 to 3 inches long) last April are big enough to pester fishermen. Best way to avoid hooking the 6-inchers is to fish deep.
Specially managed waters
If you want to have a lot of fun hooking and releasing fairly large rainbows, fish Coffeepot Lake, now a selective-gear lake.
Carruth said he watched fly fishers hook and release numerous rainbows while he was fishing for bass Sunday. The fly fishers said most of the trout they hooked were 15 to 16 inches long; however, one hooked one that was more than 20 inches.
The fly fishers told him they caught rainbows on dry flies early in the morning. Later, however, they changed over to Six Pack fly patterns and fished deep to catch the fish.
Pressure on fly fishing-only and selective-gear lakes has dropped dramatically the last couple weeks. Only a few are fishing Amber, Bayley, Medical, Lenice, Nunnally, Ell, Aeneas, Blue (Sinlahekin) and Chopaka.
Most insects have hatched and some anglers are now fishing with leech and terrestrial patterns. Grasshopper patterns have been productive at lakes where the hoppers are plentiful along the banks and fall into the water.