Fishing Report
Salmon techniques So you want to catch a couple of those silvery spring chinook salmon everyone’s talking about?
If you go, take a rock to stand on or equip your boat with bumpers. The crowds of eager bank-fishing anglers can be overwhelming and the boats can be so close you’ve got to watch your backcast.
Spool 10- to 15-pound test monofilament on a spinning or casting reel. Be sure your rod has enough backbone to beat an 8- to 20-pound-plus springer into submission.
Decide what kind of terminal tackle you want to use. Anglers have been using a variety of lures and bait. All of them deceive springers, but some are more effective than others.
Perhaps surprisingly, some techniques are popular in one or two areas and anglers swear by other methods in other places.
At Ringold Springs, for example, the preferred method is casting Blue Fox spinners. That’s not surprising. Blue Foxes are the lure of choice by hundreds of anglers who fish for the upriver brights in August and September in the Hanford Reach.
Blue Foxes are deadly. For my money, they’re the most productive lures. I’ve caught chinooks in the reach with the lure nearly every time I’ve fished the area. Of course I’ve caught salmon on Wiggle Warts and even shrimp fished deep. But drifting a Blue Fox down a channel where the chinooks migrate is easy and exciting. At any time, a chinook will pick up the lure.
Most of the estimated 800 adult chinooks in the Ringold Springs area are salmon hatched at the Ringold hatchery, fisheries biologist Jim Cummins said. Most are 8 to 12 pounds; a few to nearly 20 pounds are caught. Fishers periodically catch and keep “jack” or immature chinooks up to 20 inches.
If you go to Ringold Springs, you’ll be fishing elbow-to-elbow with other anglers. The open area is only 1,000 feet long and on weekends 100 to 150 fishers line up along the area. Most of the anglers who fish the 3-mile-long section of the Icicle River that’s open to fishing for chinooks plunk herring, drift salmon eggs or cast Quick Fox lures. Biologist Art Viola said that fishing baited jigs under bobbers still hasn’t caught on.
The chinook run up the Icicle has been late this year, Viola said. An estimated 13,000 to 17,000 are headed for the river. As the fish move up the Icicle the crowds will increase dramatically.
Some anglers fish from banks of the river, Viola said, but access to the river is limited. Most drift from the launch area to the take-out launch along the Wenatchee one mile below the Icicle’s mouth.
When the fishing’s hot, boats will literally be so close to one another that some confrontations will occur.
A high percentage of anglers who have been fishing Idaho’s Clearwater River in the Orofino area use baited jigs under bobbers. Other methods include drifting lures and bait and plunking with salmon eggs, shrimp and nightcrawlers.
Until recently, most of the chinooks, which average 10 to 11 pounds, were concentrated in the Clearwater just below Orofino. Now they’re in the North Fork, Lochsa and South Fork, according to Region 2 fisheries biologist Ed Schriever of Lewiston. The area open to fishing is only 1.9 miles long.
He said an estimated 7,000 are in the North Fork below Dworshak Dam. Competition is almost unbelievable between shore and boat anglers. Some boaters anchor overnight in choice spots. Shore anglers pick spots to fish at 2 in the morning make sure they can start at 5 a.m.
At exactly 5 a.m., he said scores of jigs and bobbers go sailing out into the river. The best time to catch salmon, he said, is from 5 to 7 or 8 in the morning and from about 7:30 to 9 in the evening. However, salmon are caught during the day.
Anglers use weighted bobbers and 3/8th-ounce jigs baited with shrimp.
The Lochsa, a Clearwater tributary, could be productive as some of the chinooks look for spots to spawn later this year. It’s impossible to say for certain how many chinooks will move up the Lochsa and South Fork, Shriever said. However, he suggested that between 1,000 and 1,500 may be in the two streams.
Shad
If you are planning a trip to the Oregon coast and are not in a hurry to get there, consider stopping near the Bonneville Dam and fishing for shad.
This is the time when the annual shad run reaches a peak in the lower Columbia River. You can fish from a boat or from shore both above and below the dam.
An average of more than 2 million shad are counted at Bonneville Dam every year. More than 1 million are counted each June. One of the favorite spots with shore anglers is near Cascade Island below the dam. Spin and fly fishers have been hooking an average of about three each and the average could go up the next week or so.
Later, you can fish from shore below John Day and Ice Harbor dams.
Use small lures. Shad have small mouths and often will ignore large lures.
Kokanee
Hundreds of the region’s anglers who have been fishing for trout the last couple of months are switching over to trolling and still fishing for kokanee at a half dozen or so lakes and reservoirs in the Inland Northwest.
Among the most popular will be Loon, Roosevelt and Chapman lakes in Washington, Coeur d’Alene Lake and Dworshak Reservoir in Idaho and Mary Ronan and Koocanusa lakes in Montana.
Most of the kokanee trollers have been catching at Loon are 11 to slightly more than 12 inches. Immature fish are 8 to 10 inches. Expect still fishermen to start fishing at night the next week or so. The Bureau of Reclamation is refilling Lake Roosevelt as fast as possible. The long lake was drawn down to 1,234 feet late last month and soon will be raised to more than 1,270, the elevation that makes possible the launching of boats at most ramps.
Anglers will troll for both rainbows and kokanee at Roosevelt. Kokanee in Chapman are small but seem plentiful.
Lake Coeur d’Alene’s kokanee are 11 to 13 inches long. Because they’re larger than usual, the kokanee population may be smaller than normal.
Trollers have been taking limits of kokanee just above Dworshak Dam.
Lake Mary Ronan quickly became popular with Eastern Washington anglers when a high percentage of anglers who fished the lake on opening weekend took home 20 good-sized kokanee. The limit is 10 a day. The lake should continue to be popular for several more weeks.
Trollers are catching kokanee and big trout at Koocanusa Lake.
Trout, Washington
Some trout-only lakes are continuing to yield five-fish limits, but fishing has slowed down considerably since the season opening. As the water temperatures increase, trout will spend less time in shallow waters.
Both trollers and still fishers will fish deep. Their best luck will be in the early mornings and late evenings when the trout move into shallow water for brief times to dine.
Many anglers who have been fishing popular lakes near their homes now are turning to the small lakes in Pend Oreille, Stevens and Ferry counties. The fishing may not be any better, but the fishers want a change in scenery and many of them take their families to Forest Service campgrounds.
Among the lakes that attract anglers during the summer months are Browns, Yocum, Black, Hatch, Cedar, Davis (Ferry), Long, Swan and the lakes in the Little Pend Oreille chain. Most have Forest Service campground.
Dry Falls, Ell, Aeneas, Chopaka and Blue (Sinlahekin) are good choices for big trout. Best for big trout are Dry Falls and Ell, all either fly fishing-only or selective-gear lakes.
Trout, Idaho
Most trout fishers have been switching from small North Idaho lakes to the Coeur d’Alene, St. Joe, Lochsa and Selway rivers and Kelly and Cayuse creeks.
The streams are low and clear enough for good fishing. In fact, the Coeur d’Alene and St. Joe have been producing good to excellent fishing the last couple of weeks.
The famed Green Drake hatch is getting under way along the Henry’s Fork of the Snake below Last Chance. Hundreds of fly fishers from throughout the world usually fish the slow-moving, shallow river during the hatch, which ends about June 30.
Spiny rays
Anglers have been catching walleyes, bass and rainbows at Sprague Lake, Monika Metz, coowner of the Sprague Lake Resort, reported.
They’ve been hooking walleyes in both deep and shallow water, she said. An average of two out every 10 they hook is 18 inches or longer.
She said she’s seen some nice bass catches. Bass fishers told her they caught the bass in weeds in shallow water around the lake.
Both the Potholes Reservoir and Lake Roosevelt have been producing fair to good bass and walleye fishing.
Trout, Montana
Trout streams in the Missoula area are providing fair to good fishing, the Kingfisher fly shop reported.
Best fishing along the Clark Fork has been below Missoula. Fly fishers are casting Pale Morning Dun and Blue-Winged Olive mayfly patterns and stonefly and caddisfly patterns.
Fishing has been excellent along Rock Creek, the shop reported. Hatching have been salmonflies, PMDs, stoneflies and caddisflies.
The Missouri below Holter Dam is low, clear and easy to wade. Fly fishing has been excellent.