Fishing Report
Kokanee
If you want to stay cool while fishing for kokanee, fish at night at Loon Lake. Temperatures that are in the high 80s during mid-day hours drop into the high 40s and 50s at night. You’ll probably have to put on a jacket to keep warm.
Night fishing has been terrific the last few weeks, with some experts taking 10-fish limits of the 10- to 13-inch kokanee in less than an hour.
Joe Haley, manager of the Granite Point Resort, said that the Sockeye hole just north of the resort has been the hottest spot in the lake to catch kokanee in the evenings. There are so many kokanee in the area that some fishermen have put out their anchors and immediately started catching fish.
Trolling also has been excellent, with the best fishing early each morning. The experts troll before the water skiers and speed boaters start churning up the water.
Haley recommended that trollers let out 3-1/2 to 4 colors of leaded line ahead of two-bladed flashers or OOO dodgers. Red lures or lures that have red in them seem to be the most effective. Most anglers bait the hooks with maggots or corn; maggots are usually more effective than corn.
Trollers have not been getting down deep enough to catch the 11- to 13-inch kokanee at Lake Coeur d’Alene, Jeff Smith, owner of the Fins & Feathers shop at Coeur d’Alene, said.
The kokanee have moved to about 50 feet below the surface. To get to that depth, he said, fishermen have several options. They should use downriggers, let out four colors of leaded line and then add 1 or 2 ounces of lead or attach at least 3 ounces of lead to a monofilament line.
Trout, Montana
Unless the trout can be lured into taking a hopper imitation or another terrestrial pattern, fishing along Missoula area streams during mid-day hours can now be deadly dull. The most fruitful time, fly fishers have learned the last few days, usually is when caddisflies start coming off the water during early and late evenings.
The Blackfoot River is one of the best mid-day options in the Missoula area now, the Kingfisher fly shop said. One reason is that the water is cooler than the Clark Fork and Bitterroot.
Pale Morning Dun and Green Drake mayfly imitations have been effective along the Blackfoot from about 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Then fishing slows down until the caddisflies start hatching in the evening. Parachute Adams and cream Paraduns, Green Drake emergers and Chernobl Ants have been productive.
Fly fishers have had good luck in the mornings on PMDs, stoneflies and Green Drake patterns along the Clark Fork River. When hoppers are on the water, anglers have lured fish with good imitations. Elk Hair Caddis and Goddard Caddis patterns have been the ticket in the evenings. However, mid-day fishing can be slow.
Fishing has been fair to good along Rock Creek. The stream is low enough for easy wading. Most of the patterns that have been productive on other rivers in the are also have worked along the stream.
If you don’t mind fishing alongside scores of other fly fishers, try the Missouri River below Holter dam. Take along PMD, BWO and Trico patterns, as well as caddisflies for evening fishing.
Trout, Idaho
The St. Joe River below Prospector Creek was a little too high last weekend for wading fly fishers, but the stream was in excellent shape for spin fishers.
Fly fishers should find the stream in excellent condition this weekend.
The Coeur d’Alene River is relatively low and clear. The catch-andrelease sections, though, are becoming too low for floating. They’re in good condition for wading.
Kelly Creek and its major tributary, Cayuse Creek, are clear and low enough for comfortable wading. The further you get away from the road that crosses Cayuse the better the fishing.
The upper Lochsa has been attracting lots of anglers, most of them fly fishers. Because a major highway parallels the river most of the way and because there are several campgrounds, the stream has been popular with anglers who want to spend several days on the river.
Hauser Lake has been yielding 14- to 16-inch rainbows, Smith said. Most fishermen have been trolling Muddler Minnow flies or No. 5 Rapalas.
Pend Oreille and Priest lakes are continuing to give up some mackinaw trout to anglers who troll deep.
Trout, Washington
To catch good-sized trout, troll the big lakes and reservoirs of Eastern Washington. Or fish the fly fishing-only and selective-gear lakes.
Rainbows raised in net pens at the Potholes Reservoir range in size from 13 to 22 inches long.
Most anglers have been trolling off the mouths of the Winchester and Frenchman Hills wasteways, in the Crab Creek channel and off the face of the O’Sullivan Dam.
The trout were raised at net pens at the Mar Don Resort. As a result of the net pen project, trout fishing has become popular at the big reservoir.
Moses Lake also holds a fairly good rainbow population. Fishermen have been plunking bait off Interstate 90 and trolling in various parts of the lake.
With Lake Roosevelt about as high as it will get this summer, anglers are trolling in all their favorite places and plunking at spots from just above Grand Coulee Dam to the northern part of the long reservoir. They occasionally hook good-sized kokanee while trolling for rainbows.
Although anglers have cut trout populations drastically since the opening of the 2000 season, some lakes still have enough trout to provide fair action, especially in the early mornings and evenings. Among them are Fishtrap, Badger and Williams in Spokane County and the cutthroat lakes in Pend Oreille, Stevens and Ferry counties.
Fishing has been slow at most of the fly fishing-only and selective-gear lakes. However, fly and spin fishers have caught a few fish at Dry Falls, Ell, Blue (Sinlahekin) and Chopaka lakes. Inasmuch as the massive chironomid, damselfly and dragonfly hatches are over, midges continue to hatch, sometimes during mid-day hours. Best fishing has been in the evenings.
If you want to catch a Lahontan cutthroat, fish Grimes. You’ll have to fish deep, primarily in the evening, but you’ll have a better chance of hooking a big cutthroat there than you will be at Lenore. Fishermen have just about given up fishing at Lenore, where a big dieoff drastically reduced the trout population. The Fish and Wildlife Department is trying to rebuild the Lahontan population, but biologists think fishing won’t improve until next year, possibly longer.
Most of the trout lakes that were opened March 1 will be closed after next Monday. Check the regulations before fishing the March 1 lakes.
Warden and South Warden, which were opened March 1, will remain open through September. Fishing has improved at Warden since the lake was opened; however, don’t count on catching a limit.
If you plan to fish Williams Lake next week, keep in mind that the public access area ramp will be closed for repairs for about five days starting Monday. The work by the Fish and Wildlife Department will include making the launch deeper. Two private resorts at the lake have launch areas.
The department crew will start repairing the public launch area at Davis Lake in Pend Oreille County Lake after the Williams Lake work is completed.
Spiny rays
Walleye fishing has been outstanding at Sprague Lake, according to Monika Metz, co-owner of the Sprague Lake Resort.
She said the largest caught in the upper end of the lake last weekend was a 7-1/2-pounder. Although anglers catch a lot of walleyes less than 18 inches long, which they have to release, they’ve also taken many keepers.
One of the most productive areas has been the springs just west of the resort.
Metz said some 12-inch crappies have been caught by fishermen.
Mike Mielke, also a co-owner of the resort, said that anglers have shown little interest in fishing for the bluegills and crappies. They could be missing some good fishing, he said. The fish have been dimpling the water surface along the shorelines in the evenings.
He said anglers are continuing to catch 13- to 22-inch rainbows.
Some anglers have hooked fair numbers of walleyes at Lake Roosevelt by fishing jigs in 10 to 20 feet of water. Some favorite areas have been the lower Spokane River arm of the big lake, the Seven Bays area and the east side of the lake north of the Spokane River’s mouth.
A few big walleyes are taken each week at the Potholes Reservoir, but fishing for them has been mediocre.
Anglers are still catching a few big tiger muskies at Hauser Lake, Smith said. The largest reported caught during the last 10 days was a 31-pounder; it was caught by Tom Donelan of Hayden. The next largest, a 28-pounder, was boated by Greg Willette of Coeur d’Alene.
Hauser also gave up one of the largest channel catfish caught this year. Larry Matthews of Coeur d’Alene caught a 14-pounder.
If you want to catch smallmouth bass at Lake Coeur d’Alene, fish deep, Smith said. The bass have moved to water that’s at least 25 feet deep. Smith recommended using a Carolina rig and 4-inch plastic worm.
Salmon
Good-sized chinook salmon are starting to show up at Lake Coeur d’Alene.
Smith said that a client guided by Rick Caddy caught a 20-pounder Saturday on a helmeted herring behind a flasher off the golf course in 80 feet of water. Another client caught a 12 pounder.
An angler guided by Don Hauk caught a 17-pounder.
Most of the salmon caught during the last week were under 10 pounds.
Smith said that the salmon fishing went from extremely slow early last week to excellent on Saturday.
If you’re planning to fish out of Westport, make arrangements to do so by the middle of August. That’s the advice of Mark Cedergreen, executive director of the Westport Charterboat Association.
With almost unbelievable numbers of salmon a few miles out of Westport, he said, most anglers are catching their two-fish limits.
The fishing is so good, Cedergreen said, that the quota of 28,900 cohos and 7,400 chinooks likely will be caught by mid-August. The chinooks are running 10 to 25 pounds and the cohos 6 to 7 pounds. On some days about 80 percent of the catch consists of cohos; on others, the ratio is one-half cohos and one-half chinooks.
Charter boat rates vary from about $70 to $80 per day, with the bigger boats charging the least and the smaller boats the most.
W. Medical Lake hearing
A public meeting for the purpose of outlining plans to rehabilitate West Medical Lake will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. on Aug. 3, at the Medical Lake City Hall, according to district biologist Bob Peck.
Populations of goldfish and sunfish have increased dramatically since the lake last was treated with rotenone in 1993. As a result, fishing has deteriorated.