Fishing Report

Trout, Washington

Sub-freezing nighttime temperatures have kept water temperatures at popular Eastern Washington lakes in the high 30s the last few weeks. As a result, fishing has been slow one day and fair to good the next.

With rising temperatures, midge hatches will increase and trout will become more active.

Fourth of July Lake has a big rainbow population, but most of them are in fairly deep water. For example, two fly fishers fished hard for several hours in 3- to 10-feet of water a few days ago and caught only a couple of fish.

When they saw large numbers of fish on their sonar screen in 20 feet of water 2 miles from the launch area, they fished nymphs where the fish were located and hooked one trout after another.

As the water warms and more insects hatch, the trout will move into shallow water.

Because Fourth of July is higher than it’s been in several years, there’s more water than usual for fish to forage for insects, shrimps and leeches. In past years, water in the lower end has been too shallow for fish. This year, however, the water is 3 to 6 feet deep and extends for nearly a mile farther than in past years. As a result, the rainbows are more spread out than they’ve been in past seasons.

The winter fishing trout lakes will close March 31. That means there are only two more weekends to fish the lakes. It’s possible that Williams and Hatch lakes in the Colville area will be mostly ice-free by this weekend, fisheries biologist Curt Vail said. Ice was rotten at Hatch, and Williams was partly ice-free earlier this week.

Once the ice is gone from Williams, Vail said, anglers will be able to move around in boats and stand a better chance of taking limits of rainbows.

Only a few rainbows to 18 inches are in little Hatch. Best fishing at that lake has been for 9- to 11-inch perch. At times, fishing has been so good anglers have caught all the perch they were willing to fillet.

Rainbows that average 16 inches long have been hitting anglers’ lures and flies at Lake Roosevelt, guide John Carruth of Davenport reported.

Fly fishermen have been trolling Woolly Bugger and other big patterns near the surface and others have been trolling baited lures.

Several Columbia Basin lakes that opened March 1 have continued to provide fair fishing. Among the most productive for good-sized trout have been Upper and Lower Caliche, Dusty and Lenice.

With the warming of the water, fishing may pick up at Warden, South Warden and the Pillar-Widgeon chain of lakes. The Warden lakes hold catchable-size rainbows. Checks of the Pillar-Widgeon lakes indicate the survival rate of fish planted last year was low.

Coffeepot Lake is a good bet for 10- to 16-inch rainbows. Pacific Lake, which is open the year-round, was heavily planted with rainbows last year after most of the trout left the lake during high water. If the rainbows released after high water last year haven’t moved down the Crab Creek channel, fishing could be good for a few weeks this spring.

Several lakes that are open the year-round are better choices than most of the lakes that opened March 1. Among the best producers have been the Windmill lakes, Corral, Blythe, Heart and Canal, all rehabilitated recently, and Homestead. The latter, managed as a selective-gear lake, holds some big trout.

It’s still too early to fish Lenore Lake, home of big Lahontan cutthroat. Hatches of midges have been sparse and the immature fish haven’t been feeding actively.

Rocky Ford Creek, a fly fishing-only stream north of Moses Lake, is attracting fly fishers from throughout the state. Although the trout population is small, fishing occasionally has been good. Baetis mayflies and midges have been hatching.

Spiny rays

Ice is rotten or going out at most lakes in Idaho’s Kootenai County, but it’s still thick enough to support fishermen safely at many popular lakes in Bonner and Boundary counties, according to Jeff Smith, owner of the Fins & Feathers shop at Coeur d’Alene.

Smith said fishermen can catch perch at Dawson and Perkins lakes, which are still covered with several inches of ice.

Walleye fishing has picked up at Roosevelt and Sprague lakes.

Carruth said fishermen have been catching walleyes, some weighing up to 5 pounds, in 10 to 30 feet of water from the Spokane arm to Hunters. Most are fishing jigs.

The walleyes are starting to move up the Spokane arm to spawn, he said. Fishermen also are hooking a few walleyes at Sprague. Perch fishing has been spotty lately.

Salmon

Trollers have been catching fair numbers of chinook salmon in the 8- to 9-pound range at Lake Coeur d’Alene, Smith said.

“The best bite has been near the mouth of the Coeur d’Alene River,” he said.

He recommended anglers troll either big Rapala plugs or helmeted herring from the surface down to 20 feet. The largest chinook reported caught during the last week weighed 13 pounds, 4 ounces.

Northern pike

“It’s pike time again in North Idaho,” Smith said. “Fishermen have been catching pike in Hayden and Coeur d’Alene lakes and at several of the chain lakes along the Coeur d’Alene River.”

Biggest pike, which weighed 30 pounds, 14 ounces, was caught by Gary Sylte of Athol at Hayden Lake. It was the second huge pike caught at Hayden the last few weeks. A 29-pound, 2-ounce pike was caught earlier.

Fishermen also have been catching lots of smaller pike at Hayden, where the limit has been removed.

Male pike have moved into shallow water at Lake Coeur d’Alene and fishermen have been hooking lots of 3- to 5-pounders. The bigger females soon will follow the males to the shallow water for spawning.

Fishermen have been catching lots of small pike at Blue and Swan lakes.

Steelhead

If tributaries to the Snake River are not muddy this weekend, fishermen likely will catch numerous steelhead that have moved to the areas where they’ll spawn.

Most productive streams the rest of the season are likely to be the Clearwater, Grande Ronde, Salmon, Tucannon, Touchet and Walla Walla.

Turkeys

It’s time to scout for turkey flocks in Eastern Washington and North Idaho. Big flocks have been breaking up into small flocks and moving to spring ranges.

Some dedicated turkey hunters already have been spending time scouting likely locations. Many have made arrangements with property owners to hunt their land.

If you are a new hunter, you can get a lot of information about turkeys and turkey hunting at the booth of the Inland Empire Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Foundation at the Big Horn Show this weekend at the Interstate Fairgrounds.