Hunting and Fishing

Fri., June 18, 2004

Alan Liere, Correspondent The Spokesman-Review

outdoor insights

Tip of the Week

» Make an accurate estimate of a fish's weight by multiplying girth times girth times length and then dividing by 800. A fish with a 12-inch girth and 24-inch length would be measured as follows: 12 x 12 x 24 divided by 800 equals 4.32 pounds. To convert the .32 to ounces, multiply by 16. Thus, .32 x 16 equals 5.12 ounces.

» Most fishermen will then round the 5.12 ounces to a half-pound. If you're like me, you'll then round the estimated weight to "around 10 pounds."

Braggin' rights

» Two Washington residents will never again have to buy a license to go fishing or hunting in this state after they came up winners recently in a new drawing offered by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Michael H. Mackey of Chelan and Curtis Darrin Easterbrook of Tenino won the state's first drawing for lifetime recreational license privileges.

Overheard

» A few fly fishers have been taking some huge (up to 45 pounds) carp from Long Lake (Lake Spokane). Rock Creek, too, has given up some big carp.

Heads up

» Idaho Fish and Game still needs input from Pend Oreille lake trout anglers. Anyone who catches lake trout sporting green spaghetti tags can enter those tags in a drawing for 10 prizes worth $250 each. Send the tag, along with fish length and weight, and angler name and phone number to Mark Liter, IDFG, 2750 Kathleen Ave., Coeur d'Alene, ID 83815.

» •The Washington Governor's Cup Walleye Tournament will run June 26-27 on Lake Roosevelt out of the Kettle Falls launch. Info: Marv Sandow. (509) 935-4148.

» •Sturgeon release is required between Bonneville Dam and The Dalles Dam June 25-Dec. 31. The section of the Columbia River between the Dalles Dam and McNary Dam will remain open to sturgeon retention.

» •Idaho Fish and Game is offering $2,000 in rewards for solid leads in the poaching of two large Snake River sturgeon. The reward is bolstered by $1,000 pledged by the Western Whitewater Association. A head recently found dumped along Interstate 84 east of Mountain Home came from a sturgeon that may have been as long as 8 feet. In May, a 9-foot sturgeon was caught below Swan Falls Dam and loaded into an older blue Ford pickup. It is illegal to harvest these prehistoric fish in Idaho no matter what the size. Got info? Call Idaho's poaching hotline, (800) 632-5999.

Salmon

Salmon fishing on the main stem Clearwater, Middle Fork Clearwater and North Fork Clearwater rivers will close on Sunday, the Idaho Fish and Game Department announced Thursday.

Chinook fishing opens Monday on the South Fork of the Salmon and on the main Salmon River from Hammer Creek upstream to a posted line at the uppermost Vinegar Creek boat ramp, adding 25 miles to the existing fishery. Limits remain at three fin-clipped chinooks a day, nine in possession and 20 for the season, statewide.

The entire main stem Salmon River will close to chinook salmon fishing on July 5 or possibly sooner.

Fishing has been good on the popular Little Salmon River and the chinook fishery is expected to continue until waters warm considerably. Fishing in the Riggins area runs through Aug. 1 or further notice. The Hells Canyon reach of the Snake River should be open through Aug. 1.

Fisheries also continue in the South Fork Clearwater and Lochsa rivers, which are just starting to provide successful fishing and could possibly remain open through the July 4 weekend.

Updates on Idaho regulations and fisheries are available at http://fishandgame.idaho.gov.

Washington’s summer salmon fisheries in Puget Sound and tributaries opened Wednesday. Salmon-fishing opportunities include a catch-and-release fishery in Marine Area 10 north of a line from Point Monroe to Meadow Point, catch-and-keep fisheries in marine areas 11 and 13, and a selective fishery for hatchery chinook in the Skykomish River from the Lewis Street Bridge in Monroe upstream to the confluence with the Wallace River.

Westport’s chinook season opens June 27, although charters are already going out regularly for rockfish and lingcod. Info: (800) 345-6223.

About 2,000 summer chinook a day are being counted at Bonneville Dam this week, and sockeye are coming at seven times the 10-year average, although the sockeye numbers are still grim.

Washington rules this year prohibit anglers from totally removing salmon or steelhead from the water if they are not legal to be kept. Biologists hope the new rules will reduce the number of wild fish that die because of improper handling.

Trout

The North Fork Coeur d’Alene River is fishing well, says guide Steve Putnam. A fly he calls the “American Stimulator” — a regular Stimulator tied in red, white, and blue — has reportedly been phenomenal. Info: (208) 682-3031.

The Clark Fork was back up at midweek, but Brooks Sandford at Clark Fork Trout and Tackle says the lower river has seen decent dry fly fishing all day. He also reports the St. Joe River is crystal clear and the edges are wadeable. Try big attractor patterns in the riffles and small mayfly and midge imitations in the flat water.

The St. Regis has been good but has dropped to around 700 cfs and will probably be too low to float by next week. Stay deep early in the day with stonefly nymphs and San Juan Worms.

Closer to home, Badger, Williams, West Medical, and Clear lakes are giving up good numbers of trout. Sacheen Lake brookies have not been showing, but there are plenty of 8- to 10-inch rainbows. Diamond, too, is loaded with smaller rainbow.

The ‘bows in Banks and Roosevelt are still hitting, with a lot of fish in the 3-pound range.

Lake Pend Oreille is full of floating debris. Trolling along the edges of driftwoood is a good ploy for taking large kams and macks.

Kokanee

Dworshak Reservoir is full and kokanee fishing has been good. Anglers say they’re catching fewer but larger fish this spring, with some already up to 13 inches. Recent surveys have found that young kokanee did not survive well last year in Dworshak.

A few large kokanee are coming from Lake Roosevelt’s Swawilla Basin. Go shallow in the morning and deeper in the afternoon.

Coeur d’Alene is providing good action for kokanee trollers, as is Loon. Still-fishermen are now picking up Loon Lake kokes during the day. The Morgan Park dock has been red hot for nearly a month.

Bass and walleye

On Banks Lake, smallmouth fishing has been excellent, but the largemouth spawn is still on, and most fish being caught are deep in the weeds. Senkos in all colors have been working well. Western Bass Anglers will be having a tournament on Banks this coming weekend. For more information contact Coulee Playland Resort, (888) 633-2671.

Walleye fishing on Banks is getting better, but most of the fish are small. Anglers have been catching 20 fish for each keeper. On Roosevelt, the best reports have come from the Kettle Falls area.

Moses Lake walleye are getting tougher to entice, and Potholes ‘eyes really haven’t taken off, yet. Smallmouth on both lakes have been much more cooperative, as have those in the entire Snake River system.

Other species

Both bank and boat anglers are still pulling in shad on the lower Columbia below Bonneville Dam.

The pikeminnow program on the Snake River is going great guns, says Dave Peterson at Boyer Marina. “A lot of guys are already into $8 fish,” he said, “and we haven’t even hit the spawn yet.”

Eloika and Long Lake perch are biting well, but crappie have slowed way down. Bonnie Lake has provided good crappie fishing, however

Bullheads (yellow-bellies) are working the shallows at night in many area lakes. It is not difficult to fill a washtub with 10- to 15-inch cats by resting a nightcrawler on bottom in 3-5 feet of water. Deer and Loon lakes are full of these tasty, bewhiskered fish.

The Snake River from Pasco all the way to the mouth of the Clearwater is heating up for channel cats.

Hunting

The application deadline for special Washington fall hunting permits is Sunday. Corrections to the 2004-2005 Big Game Hunting Seasons and Rules Pamphlet released this week by the WDFW could influence your choices. Among them;

Page 29: Hunt choice 1102 Cheney B is redundant with a general season during the same time period. Hunters can hunt the general season, so there’s no reason to apply.

Pages 35-37: Changes in elk hunting seasons are not listed in blue.

Page 54: The Stampede GMU should be numbered 466 on the map; Page 64: GMU 368 area description is incorrect;

Page 75: The order form for the Status and Trend Report should be for 2003.

These and other corrections pertaining to Western Washington are posted on the WDFW’s web site at http://wdfw.wa.gov/

(Outdoors editor Rich Landers contributed to this column.)