Hunting & Fishing

Waterfowl

To most Inland Northwest residents, the cold, rainy weather, punctuated with a little snow, is foul. It puts an ice or snow sheet on roads at night and creates a multitude of problems for drivers and others.

To waterfowl hunters, it isn’t quite foul enough. They know that tens of thousands of ducks and geese have migrated into North Idaho and Eastern Washington, but they also know that most of the birds have been leaving big water just before the end of shooting time and feeding all night in harvested grain fields and winter wheat fields.

Typical of freelance hunters are a couple of Spokane men who drove all over the Columbia Basin last weekend trying to find a place where they could shoot a few birds.

They spent a day on the Columbia River in the Ringold Springs area and bagged only a couple of ducks. They saw only a few birds, so they decided to move to the northern Columbia Basin.

They watched thousands of ducks that had left the Potholes Reserve and other areas off-limits to hunters flying to grain fields. Unfortunately for them and other hunters, the birds didn’t leave their sanctuaries until just before the end of shooting time.

The hunters wanted to hunt the Lind Coulee, but didn’t see enough birds to make it worthwhile, so they gave up and drove home.

The Mar-Don Resort reported water in the sand dune area is ice-covered, making it nearly impossible to hunt back among the islands.

The resort also said hunting has been poor.

Some waterfowl hunters who are members of the so-called “duck clubs” in the Basin did well enough to take some limits or near limits. Goose hunting has been better than duck hunting, and scores of goose hunters who follow the geese to the fields where they are feeding and then set up decoys the next morning have taken limits.

Incidentally, most of the potholes and small lakes in the region are partially or entirely covered with ice. Some are leased by hunters who are now looking for other places to hunt.

Best hunting will be when the weather is cold enough for them to feed all day. However, hunters don’t like to see too much snow; it covers the birds’ food and causes the birds to leave for the lower Columbia.

Steelhead

This is the time of year when the Snake and its tributaries either are too cold and clear for good fishing or rains or melting snow have turned the streams too muddy for good fishing.

It’s also the time of year when many steelheaders give up trolling or back-trolling near the surface with wobbling lures and resort to using steelhead eggs, prawns and nightcrawlers. Steelhead become sluggish, stay on the bottom and refuse to move very far for a lure.

The Snake River Laboratory’s figures for the week ended Sunday indicate fishing was tough along the lower Snake River and most of its tributaries.

Biologist Joe Bumgarner said low water temperatures was one of the factors. Temperatures ranged from the upper 30s to low 40s.

Figures showed the following: Ice Harbor, 47.2 hours per fish; Little Goose, 31.3; Tucannon, 8; and Walla Walla, 34.

Jim Koch, owner of Hells Canyon Tours, said that both the Snake and Grande Ronde were clear enough for fair fishing earlier this week.

However, he noted that most anglers now are drifting bait and only a few are trolling and back-trolling lures.

He said he thinks most steelhead have moved up the Grande Ronde River and the Salmon.

Upland birds

Hunters who have been shooting pen-raised rooster pheasants on release sites throughout Eastern Washington will have to hunt for birds raised in the wild. The Fish and Wildlife Department has ended the pheasant release program. Since hunters usually kill the pen-reared birds a day or two after they are released, there will be few roosters left.

The wild pheasants are still extremely skittish. They leave cover when they hear the slam of a hunter’s car door or hear a human voice. Few roosters will hold in cover long enough for a hunter to get close enough for a shot.

Best time to hunt the wild birds is after they’ve settled down a little and there are a few inches of snow on the ground. Hunters who don’t have dogs can track birds to their hiding places after a fresh snowfall.

The pheasant season ends Dec. 31 in both Washington and Idaho.

Quail and Hungarian partridges are plentiful enough for good hunting. Hunters who have good dogs and work brushy draws and brushy areas throughout the region have had lots of shooting. The Huns are on agricultural land above the Snake and Columbia River breaks and on farm land in many places.

Incidentally, hunters and non-hunters have been seeing unusually large numbers of wild turkeys in places where they’ve never seen them or where they’ve seen only a few. Good-sized flocks have been seen in and near Spokane.

A few days ago, drivers saw a turkey perched on the trunk of a car at the Greenwood Cemetery. They drove in to get pictures and got close enough to fill the frames of their point-and-shoot cameras.

Unusually large flocks of wild turkeys also have been spotted throughout Stevens and Ferry counties and in north Lincoln County.

Trout, Idaho

Anglers who fished Lake Pend Oreille during the fall derby that ended last weekend kept a lot of rainbows that didn’t qualify for the derby. However, about half the fishers who caught small rainbows ranging from 12 to 18 inches released them.

Biologists of the Idaho Fish and Game Department had urged anglers to kill all the predator fish they hooked in order to cut down the number of big fish in the lake and help preserve the all-time low population of kokanee.

The department’s biologists believe, after surveys, that drastically reducing the population of rainbows and mackinaws will be a factor in preventing a kokanee population crash. However, many anglers, including nearly all the guides, don’t believe what the biologists have said and they’re continuing to release predator fish.

Guides have urged their clients to release most of the rainbows and macks they catch. If the populations of the two species are reduced drastically, they believe their business will go down the drain.

Levi Hubbard of Spokane, president of the Lake Pend Oreille Idaho Club, said there’s a lot of controversy over the department’s assertion that killing most of the predator fish can help preserve the kokanee population.

The club is siding with the department.

“Without kokanee,” Hubbard said, “we won’t have big fish. Once the kokanee are gone, we won’t have any big fish.”

He said a lot of fish were kept and a lot were released. If he had to guess, he said, about half were kept.

Hubbard said that 489 adults and 29 juveniles entered this year’s derby, or 200 fewer than last fall. He attributed this year’s lower participation to a feeling by many anglers that fishing wasn’t expected to be particularly good. Some anglers also complained that the cash prizes weren’t large enough.

Trout, Washington

Fourth of July, Hog Canyon and several other lakes in Eastern Washington were opened to fishing today.

Several Washington lakes were closed Thursday, including Dry Falls and Amber.

Fishers, however, can hook trout, some weighing 2 to 3 pounds, at reservoirs and lakes that are open the year-round. As usual, fishers have been catching big rainbows at Moses and Roosevelt lakes and the Potholes Reservoir and some lakes south of the Potholes Reservoir and the Lind Coulee.

Salmon

Five- to 10-pound chinook salmon are taking herring and hitting minisquids towed behind flashers at Lake Coeur d’Alene, Jeff Smith, owner of the Fins & Feathers shop, reported.

Smith, who guides anglers, said his clients caught 6- and 7-1/2-pounders last weekend.

Numerous others hooked salmon.

Most of the salmon are being caught at the 100-foot level of the lake, he said. Most productive areas have been from Squaw to Bennett bays in the north end and in the main channel in front of Carlin Bay.

Although fishing can be tough some days, he said, the fishing has been more consistent the last week than in previous weeks.

Spiny rays

Anglers are still catching lots of small crappies at the north end of Sprague Lake, according to Monika Metz, co-owner of the Sprague Lake Resort. In most cases, she said, they’re finding crappie schools near the resort.

Perch fishing is still good at Moses Lake, with anglers taking home some perch 14 inches long. Long (Spokane) Lake fishers have had a tough time getting to the perch schools because sheets of ice have covered shallow bays.

Many small lakes in Washington and Idaho that had provided fair-to-good spiny ray fishing now are covered with ice too thin for ice fishing and too thick to break for boats.

Big game

For most hunters, the big-game seasons are over in Washington and Idaho. North Idaho’s popular deer season ends today. Washington’s late buck season has ended.

However, archers and those who hunt with muzzleloaders are looking forward to the late seasons this month. Details of the hunts are in the 2000 hunting pamphlets.