Fishing Report
Spiny rays
If you want to catch a lot of perch, a few 11 inches long, fish Sprague Lake. Most keepers seemed to be 8 to 9 inches.
Mike Mielke, co-owner of the Sprague Lake Resort, said anglers caught numerous perch and walleyes during the weekend.
Mielke said the perch that customers brought to the resort were 9 to 11 inches long. The anglers also caught some good-sized bluegills, 10-inch crappies and a few 18-inch-plus walleyes.
A check of fishermen at midweek indicated they hooked numerous 4- to 6-inch perch for every 8- to 11-inch perch. They moved around a lot to find schools of perch they considered worth keeping.
“Most of the walleyes I saw would make a game warden happy,” he said. “They were shy of 18 inches.”
Walleyes must be 18 inches or longer to be kept.
Mielke said the resort is open only on weekends for the time being.
Most productive fishing has been in the upper end of the lake. If you go, watch anglers in other boats to learn the most productive spots. When you see fishermen hauling in one fish after another, anchor near - but not too close - to their boat.
Most of Idaho’s Panhandle lakes still are covered with ice that can’t be trusted for safe ice fishing, Jeff Smith, owner of the Fins & Feathers shop, reported. However, Fernan, which still has ice in the middle of the lake, has been providing good fishing for perch, crappies and an occasional bass.
He said Fernan can be fished from shore or from a boat. He suggested anglers fish jigs tipped with maggots or mealworms 3 to 5 feet under a bobber.
Smith said several North Idaho lakes have been producing good fishing for northern pike. Among them are Coeur d’Alene, Hayden, Benewah, Chatcolet, Killarney and Thompson. The latter are adjacent to the lower Coeur d’Alene River.
Surest way to catch the pike is to fish smelt or herring under a bobber. A few anglers have caught pike by casting and retrieving big pork rinds. Most productive areas of Lake Coeur d’Alene have been Harlow Point at Harrison and Cougar Bay. Fishermen have caught pike to 24 pounds in those areas.
Most of the pike hooked at Benewah and Chatcolet have weighed 3 to 10 pounds.
Anglers have been catching some pike at Hayden by fishing bait under bobbers and casting pork rinds. Popular areas have been Sportsmen’s, McLean’s and Mokin’s bays.
Trout, Washington
If you’ve been planning to fish the winter trout lakes in the Spokane region, do so soon. Fourth of July, Hog Canyon and Williams will be closed to fishing after March 31.
Fishing has been spotty at Fourth of July, with anglers doing well on some days and going home with only one or two rainbows on others. Insect hatches seem to be the key to fishing.
A rare, clear sky Wednesday encouraged 40 anglers to fish Fourth of July Lake. Fishing was slow, but some trollers and still-fishermen took home five-fish limits of 12- to 20-inch rainbows. Fly fishers reported poor fishing.
Although the lake has been fished more frequently by more fishermen than usual, the lake still holds a good population of rainbows, some more than 16 inches long. The yearling trout are 9 to 11 inches and the carryovers 14 to 19 inches long.
The water is high, making it possible for anglers to launch small boats from trailers at the public access area. Because the water is high, the lake is at least one-half mile longer than normal at the lower end.
Midges have been hatching throughout the lake and the rainbows have been eating the pupae and larvae. The trout also occasionally find active dragonfly, damselfly and mayfly nymphs.
Hog Canyon still holds some rainbows, but fishermen have cut the lake’s population considerably. Most of the rainbows are 13 to 14 inches. Fishing could be slow.
Williams, north of Colville, has been providing fair to good fishing.
One of the few pleasant surprises when more than 50 Columbia Basin lakes were opened March 1 was Coffeepot Lake. Trout fishermen have done exceptionally well, often taking limits of rainbows up to 24 inches long.
The Fish and Wildlife Department has released more than 20,000 catchable-sized rainbows in the lake the last two years.
Few of the lakes that opened to trout fishing March 1 are yielding limits. With the exception of Coffeepot, the most productive the next few weeks should be Pillar, one of the group of Pillar-Widgeon lakes; the Hamptons; Quincy; and Burke.
Largest rainbows are in the Hamptons. Most are 14 to 19 inches long.
Quincy and Burke, which were mostly ice-covered when they were opened, now are ice-free and yielding 9- to 10-inch rainbows.
Don’t waste your time fishing Lenore, southwest of Coulee City, or Lenice, Nunnally and Merry. The lakes are managed under the selective-gear regulations. Lenore’s Lahontan cutthroat population is low and fishing was poor March 1. Biologists don’t anticipate much of an improvement this year.
Steelhead
With most steelhead now in the Snake’s tributaries, most productive fishing spots are sections of the Clearwater, Salmon, Grande Ronde, Tucannon and Walla Walla rivers.
However, some steelhead are in the Snake and moving toward the tributaries. The Snake just below the mouth of the Grande Ronde is one of the few areas of the river worth spending time back trolling lures.
The Idaho Fish and Game Department’s checks for the Clearwater show the best fishing last weekend was along the upper river, where anglers averaged 18 hours per fish.
Some sections of the Salmon provided excellent fishing during the week ended Sunday. Anglers who fished the lower section averaged between 13 and 20 hours per fish. Average for the Little Salmon was 10 hours.
The steelhead are dark and the males have developed hooked jaws. Many anglers consider them too far along in their spawning cycle for good table fare and have stopped fishing; some are hooking and releasing fish; others are keeping the fish.
Trout, Idaho
If you would like to fish for rainbows and mackinaw trout at Lake Pend Oreille, launch your boat at Hope in the north end of the lake.
You can fish for the rainbows at the mouth of the Clark Fork River or macks around the islands near Hope, Smith said.
If you fish for the rainbows, troll lures or flies just outside the river’s mouth in order to intercept rainbows headed for spots where they will spawn.
To catch the macks, troll herring behind a dodger or a big Flatfish near the bottom around the islands.
Fernan is one of the few North Idaho lakes yielding trout. Until the ice has melted on other lakes, anglers will be confined to only a few areas.
Salmon
Immature chinook salmon have been hitting anglers’ trolled lures and bait regularly at Lake Coeur d’Alene.
Smith said three anglers guided by Rick Caddy on Sunday boated seven chinooks to 8 pounds. Caddy and his clients trolled near the surface out from Harrison. One of Smith’s clients caught a 10-1/2-pounder Sunday on a herring with a green glow helmet.
The salmon are near the surface, he said. Most fishermen have hooked the fish in the top 15 feet of water.
Trout, Montana
Skwala and capnia stoneflies are starting to hatch along the trout streams in the Missoula area, creating additional fly fishing opportunities.
The skwala is a good-sized stonefly. To imitate it, fly fishers use a gray-olive body Stimulator on a No. 8 or 10 hook. The capnia is a much smaller stonefly.
Fly fishers look forward to the skwala and March Brown mayfly hatches in late March and early April every spring. When the insects are on the water along the Clark Fork and Bitterroot during the prerunoff period, the fishers can experience memorable dry fly fishing.
The Kingfisher fly shop at Missoula said the best fly fishing has been along the Bitterroot River, even though only a few skwala and capnia have been hatching. However, fly fishers have experienced good fishing when the stoneflies hatch about noon on mild days.
Skwala patterns have been productive, as well as Nos. 8 and 10 Goddard Caddis patterns, during hatches. Before the stoneflies hatch, however, fly fishers have had the fastest action on San Juan Worms and bead head patterns.
Rock Creek is the next productive stream in the Missoula area. The fly shop said the trout “seem to be willing to eat about anything that hits them on the head” and advised fly fishers to make sure the patterns they use get down to the bottom.
“We’ve been doing well on everything from Kauffman stones sizes 6 to 12 to flashback Pheasant Tail Nymphs in sizes 16 to 10 and the red beaded San Juan Worm in size 10.”
Fishing along the lower Clark Fork has been improving gradually, the fly shop said. Some skwala stones have started to hatch, but midges are the predominant insect. Fishers have been using green lead head Crystal Buggers with a red San Juan dropper.