Fishing Report

Trout, Washington

Fish early or late to have the best chance of catching a limit of trout at most Eastern Washington lakes managed primarily for trout.

Water temperatures have climbed dramatically the last 10 days, with the result that fish, when there are not major bug hatches, stay in deep, cool water during mid day hours. Even still-fishing in deep water can be unproductive in the heat of the day.

Surface temperatures of most lakes are above 60 degrees and will continue to climb.

As usual, Badger, Williams and West Medical in the Spokane area are still the most productive lakes. However, anglers have reduced the trout populations considerably since April 15. The remaining trout have more space and don’t have to compete as much for insects, scuds and leeches.

That’s true in most Spokane-region lakes. But some lakes in Pend Oreille, Stevens and Ferry counties weren’t fished hard the early part of the season. They still hold large numbers of trout.

Among those still yielding good numbers of fish are Yocum, Cedar, Marshall, the Skookums, Deep, Heritage, Gillette, Leo, Swan, Thomas, Little Twin and Ellen.

If you want to catch a big trout or two, consider such lakes as Clear, Silver, Rock, Waitts or Jumpoff Joe. All hold both rainbows and brown trout. Some of the browns are 18 inches or longer. If you fish one of those lakes, you won’t have nearly as much competition as you’ll have at the lakes where most of the trout are 10 to 12 inches.

Blue and Park lakes southwest of Coulee City are still the best bets for pan-sized rainbows in the Columbia Basin. However, there are enough rainbows, some 16-18 inches, in the Potholes Reservoir for good fishing.

Mike Meseberg of the MarDon Resort at the reservoir said trout fishing has been excellent, with many anglers leaving the reservoir with two-day possession limits.

He also reported Soda Lake has been hot for rainbows and Warden churned out five-fish limits during the Memorial Day weekend.

Many of the trout-managed lakes in Okanogan County were jammed with fishermen Memorial Day weekend. Since they hadn’t been fished hard during much of the season, they provided good fishing.

Idaho streams

As expected, North Idaho’s major trout streams were high and off color during the Memorial Day weekend. Fly fishing was difficult, often impossible, on the big, fast water. However, spin fishermen found spots where they could hook a few fish.

Surprisingly, fishing was fair to good along the Coeur d’Alene River, Jeff Smith, owner of the Fins & Feathers Shop at Coeur d’Alene, reported. The stream had dropped considerably from the highs of last week and the water wasn’t too milky for the fish to see lures and flies.

Smith said several of his customers reported good fishing, some hooking and releasing a half-dozen cutthroat. The catch-and-release section above Yellow Dog Creek was popular with campers and fishermen.

Some tributaries of other rivers that opened Saturday were low and clear enough for fair to good fishing.

It’s unlikely the St. Joe, Lochsa, Selway and Kelley Creek will be low and clear enough for good fishing until at least mid-June, perhaps longer. The water is high and fast.

The big lakes weren’t as crowded as usual with fishermen during the weekend, Smith said.

Kokanee

If you do what the experts do at Loon Lake, you’ll likely catch 10 kokanee averaging 12 inches long.

Joe Haley, manager of the Granite Point Resort, said anglers “who know what they’re doing” are taking 10-fish limits in 2 hours or less.

“Many fishermen have been catching limits,” he said, “but some don’t bother to find out how and where to fish. They don’t do well.”

The kokanee are in big schools 25 to 30 feet under the surface. Those who troll maggot-baited lures through the schools get strikes.

Some fishermen use only leaded line and dodgers of multiple flashers. Some use downriggers. And some use the “poor man’s downrigger,” all of which take lures down to the fish.

Best times to fish, Haley said, are in the early morning and evening. However, limits can be caught any time of the day. Still-fishing at night, he said, hasn’t been productive. There are kokanee schools in both the north and south ends of the lake.

Kokanee in at least two North Idaho lakes suddenly started taking anglers’ lures last weekend. Smith said kokanee fishing was good at Coeur d’Alene and Spirit.

At Lake Coeur d’Alene, he said, the kokanee were in 15 feet of water. Fishing was good from Arrow to Hudson points and in front of Kidd Island and Mica bays.

Smith said he watched anglers in one boat catch a half-dozen kokanee while his clients trolled for chinooks. The kokanee are 9 to 10 inches long, with most 9 inches.

Most kokanee fishermen at Spirit Lake jig early in the mornings, using glow hooks baited with maggots. The fishing has been so good, Smith said, experienced fishermen have been catching 25-fish limits of the 9-inch kokanee.

Kokanee fishing continued slow at Lake Pend Oreille.

Specially managed waters

For the first time this year, some knowledgeable anglers hooked and released 10 to 20 big Lahontan cutthroat trout when Grimes Lake in Douglas County opened for a short season Tuesday.

Fishermen who like to hook the big, beautiful cutthroat have been disappointed when they’ve fished Lenore, once a highly productive lake for the Lahontans. A big dieoff last year apparently cut the population of adults drastically.

Few who have fished Lenore this year have caught more than two or three of the Lahontans.

But Grimes seems to have plenty of the Lahontans for good fishing, at least for a brief period.

For most anglers, the most productive period to catch the cutthroat is the first week of the season. Many fishermen know that; consequently, the lake is apt to be crowded this weekend. The cutthroat usually move to deep water after water temperatures in the shallows rise into the 70s.

Grimes is open through Aug. 31.

Several of the fly fishing-only and selective-gear lakes of Eastern Washington continue to provide good fishing.

For example, even though the surface temperature of Bayley, a fly fishing-only lake on the Little Pend Oreille Wildlife Refuge, was 63 degrees, the big rainbows and brook trout took chironomid pupa patterns readily a few days ago. Last week, using a No. 14 black Swannundaze pattern with a gold bead, I hooked and released more than 30 in a few hours of fishing, starting at 9:30 a.m.

Fly fishers who fished Chopaka and Blue lakes in Okanogan County reported good luck.

Chopaka, a fly fishing-only lake northwest of Loomis, was dotted with fly fishers most of the Memorial Day weekend. The Callibaetis mayflies are hatching at the lake and fly fishers hope the daily hatches will be long enough for them to hook and release a halfdozen big rainbows.

The first generation of Callibaetis mayflies have hatched at Blue, south of Loomis, but the rainbows and brown trout fed actively at times on chironomid pupa during the long weekend. Scores of anglers, most from the Coast, camped at the lake.

Damselflies are hatching at some specially managed lakes, creating opportunities for fly fishers to take trout with damsel nymph patterns just under the surface or adult patterns on the surface.

The damsels are hatching or just starting to hatch at Dry Falls, Lenice, Nunnally, Amber and Blue (Sinlahekin).

Spiny rays

Several region lakes have fair to good fishing for crappies.

One of the most productive is Idaho’s Hauser Lake, where the slab-sided fish, some 11 inches long, have been taking crappie jigs and streamer flies. Other Idaho lakes worth fishing for crappies are Hayden and those adjacent to the lower Coeur d’Alene River.

Mike Mielke, co-owner of the Sprague Lake Resort, said the warm weather last weekend turned on all fish species at the popular lake west of Spokane. Anglers caught walleyes, bluegills, perch, crappies, bass, rainbows and even bullhead catfish, he said. The catfish, now spawning, pleased some anglers. Catches of up to 40 were common.

Mielke said fishermen caught some 10- to 12-inch perch. Fishing for spiny rayed species also picked up in the Columbia Basin, with some anglers reporting catching walleyes and bass.

Meseberg said smallmouth bass are “exploding on top-water lures” at the Potholes Reservoir when the weather cooperates.

He also said walleye fishing continues only fair at Crescent, Long and Soda lakes.

Salmon

Relatively few anglers trolled for chinook salmon at Lake Coeur d’Alene during the Memorial Day weekend, Smith said. Some of those who did, however, hooked good numbers of the chinooks.

Smith, who guides pike and salmon fishermen, said one of his clients caught a 15-pound salmon, one of the largest reported taken this year. The salmon took a minisquid behind a flasher in 42 feet of water at the mouth of Squaw Bay.

Smith said the clients hooked two smaller chinooks on helmeted herring.

“We had bites in water 15 to 60 feet deep,” he said.