Fishing Report

Trout, Washington

If the weather is reasonably fair, Fourth of July Lake south of Sprague may be the most popular trout fishing lake in the region this weekend.

Surprisingly, the lake is mostly ice-free.

It’s impossible to launch a car-top boat at the public access area. The ice was about 2 inches thick at the launching area earlier this week and extended out into the lake for several hundred yards.

Beyond that point, however, the lake was ice-free.

Biologist Bob Peck of Spokane said that he talked with two shore anglers who had five rainbows, all 13 to 18 inches long.

Some anglers, primarily fly fishers, probably will backpack float tubes to the open water this weekend. Other fishermen will fish from shore.

It’s unusual for Fourth of July to be mostly ice-free this time of year, Peck said.

“The lake may not be covered with enough ice the rest of this season,” he said. “On the other hand, the temperatures might go down below zero and put a thick ice cover on the lake.”

The long, narrow lake has been fished hard since it opened Dec. 1, but it still has a fairly large population of 10- to 19-inch rainbows.

Some anglers continue to ignore the regulations and take home four to five rainbows in the 14- to 18-inch range. Law-abiding fishermen say they’ve seen fishermen with strings of big fish. It’s illegal to kill more than two trout that are more than 14 inches long. The limit is five trout, only two of which can be 14 inches or longer.

Unlike Fourth of July, Hog Canyon Lake is fully ice-covered and some fishermen are taking rainbows through the ice.

Peck said that two fishermen were on the ice when he visited the lake earlier this week. Because he felt the ice was too thin to support people safely, he didn’t go out on the lake. Fishing has slowed since the lake opened. Anglers apparently have reduced the rainbow population considerably.

Williams Lake north of Colville still yields enough rainbows for anglers to take home a few during a few hours of fishing. Most are 12 to 15 inches long.

Several Columbia Basin lakes and reservoirs are yielding rainbows. Biggest have been coming from the Potholes Reservoir. Most were released from net pens at the Mar-Don Resort last spring and are 14 to 18 inches long.

Now that the duck season has ended, anglers can troll near the sand dune islands just north of the big, open water and not irritate duck hunters.

If you are near a group of ponds and small lakes in the Yakima region the next few days, drop a line and hope you can hook one of the big rainbows the Fish and Wildlife Department released into the lakes.

Most of the lakes in the Columbia Basin either are ice-free or have thin ice covers. The 4- to 8-pound broodstock rainbows that were released no longer are needed at the Goldendale hatchery. About 80 big trout were stocked in each of the following waters in Benton, Kittitas and Yakima counties: Columbia Park Lagoon, I-82 pond No. 4, I-82 pond No. 6, Rotary and Myron lakes, North Elton Pond, North Fio Rito and Matoon lakes.

Spiny rays

This is the time of year when large numbers of the region’s anglers spend hours on the ice trying to catch enough good-sized perch for a meal or two.

Many lakes have big populations of perch. However, those that hold large numbers of 9-inch-plus perch are few and far between, especially in Eastern Washington.

Jeff Smith, owner of the Fins & Feathers shop at Coeur d’Alene, said numerous North Idaho lakes hold perch, crappies and northern pike.

Little Avondale Lake near Coeur d’Alene holds some of the largest perch in the Panhandle. However, fishermen have had better luck catching crappies than perch through 6-inch-plus ice. He said he and friends caught 8- to 11-inch crappies through the ice at night this week.

“Night fishing can be more productive than day fishing,” he said. “We took along a shelter and had a good time catching the crappies. Night fishing is the time to go for crappies, but I’d recommend night fishing for other species at North Idaho lakes.”

Smith said the perch population in Avondale apparently is small. One of the most productive lakes for good-sized perch is Fernan, a popular lake in the north end of Coeur d’Alene. The perch are 9 to 10 inches long.

Other Panhandle lakes that yield perch include Upper Twin, Gamble, Hauser, Perkins, Dawson and Herman. For some reason, perch fishing has been slow at Hauser.

Some of the lakes hold northern pike. Largest pike caught this month was a 27-pounder taken through the ice at Upper Twin. The fisherman used smelt as bait. The fishing isn’t fast, but some of the pike are huge.

Fishermen have been hooking a few pike through the ice at Hayden Lake, he said. Only a few bays are covered with ice thick enough to support fishermen safely. Largest pike caught at Hayden this year was an 18-pounder; most of the pike weigh 2 to 4 pounds. Smith emphasized that pike fishing has been slow at all the lakes.

He said the ice is safe for ice fishermen at most of the lakes north of Coeur d’Alene, but it’s still marginal at the lakes adjacent to the lower Coeur d’Alene River. He said fishermen should be cautious when they fish the chain lakes.

Several lakes in the Spokane region hold perch, but none has been yielding many perch more than 9 inches long. Among those being fished are Eloika, Newman and Spokane (Long) Lake.

So far, fishing at Sprague Lake has been slow. Sprague Lake was ice-free, except in bays and boat launching areas earlier this week.

Numerous waters in the Columbia Basin hold small perch, including the Potholes Reservoir, Moses and Long lakes.

Trout, Idaho

Several small lakes in Idaho’s Panhandle are yielding pan-sized trout, according to Smith. Among them are Kelso, Round, Mirror and Fernan.

Kelso, Round and Fernan are stocked with rainbows. Mirror holds brook trout as well as kokanee.

“Fishing has been fast at times,” Smith said. “It doesn’t take long to catch six trout when the fishing is good.”

Hauser usually provides good trout fishing, as well as perch, during the winter months.

However, the fishing has been slow. Smith suggested anglers try ice fishing at night.

Steelhead

The Snake River and several of its tributaries continue to yield steelhead. However, fishing has been exceptional only along a few stretches of the Snake and such tributaries as the Tucannon and Touchet.

Salmon

Chinook salmon in Lake Coeur d’Alene had lockjaw much of last week and early this week, Smith said. He reported his clients couldn’t catch a salmon one day late last week; other clients caught two small salmon on Saturday.

The salmon have been about 75 feet deep. Smith said helmeted herring has been the favorite bait.

Trout, Montana

Rock Creek, 20 miles east of Missoula, is the best bet for trout fishing, according to the Kingfisher fly shop. If you are near Missoula and want to wet a line, drive to the internationally known stream, but don’t expect to catch a lot of trout. After all, this is winter and insect hatches are few and far between.

You should have a good supply of mayfly and stonefly nymphs, San Juan Worms and Prince and Hare’s Ear nymphs. Fish the patterns as slowly as possible.

Once in a while, when the sun emerges from behind dark clouds, midges hatch and fish feed near the surface along Rock Creek and the Clark Fork and Bitterroot rivers.

It’s not worth a fly fishers’ time to drive to the Missoula area especially to fish. But a fisher can kill a little time by casting fly patterns between the ice cakes.

Whitefish

Most productive spot to catch good-sized whitefish is the Columbia River below Priest Rapids Dam. Anglers can fish from shore or boats.

The whitefish are 12 to 14 inches long. Most anglers use small flies or lures baited with maggots.

The deep holes along the lower Coeur d’Alene and St. Joe rivers also are fairly productive at times.

Kokanee

Spirit Lake in North Idaho will be open to kokanee fishing until Feb. 15. So far, however, few anglers have been fishing for them, Smith said. Only one part of the lake had an ice cover thick enough for safe ice fishing.

The kokanee are small, running only 7 to 8 inches. The Fish and Wildlife Commission has reduced the limit to 15 a day to prevent over-fishing of the mature fish.