Regional fishing could worsen

Getting word about “hot fishing” this summer won’t necessarily be reason to head out with a fishing rod.

While post-runoff fishing should be up to par in most Northwest streams, drought and other woes are plaguing some of the region’s best fisheries, and conditions are likely to get worse as summer advances.

For example:

•Eastern Montana’s Bighorn River, which has been touted in some circles as America’s best trout stream, is losing its luster this year as low levels in Bighorn Lake have prompted state officials to reduce releases into the river to what they call the “absolute lowest” amounts.

While 1,500 cubic feet per second is considered to be the minimum flow for maintaining the river’s famous trout fishery, Bighorn Lake releases recently were cut to 1,300 cubic feet per second.

Surveys indicated the fish population decreased when similar reductions were made during the winter of 2002-2003. The flow will be returned to 1,500 cfs in mid-June for the state’s annual fish population survey but could be reduced again for the rest of the summer.

Record low inflows have plagued the 70-mile-long lake that straddles the Montana-Wyoming border for the last four years, with 2004 the worst ever.

“It’s just been horrible,” Tim Felchle, Montana reservoir operations chief for the Bureau of Reclamation, told the Associated Press. “People are going to remember the 2000s.”

•Trout at one Montana hatchery have become too “hot” to handle from chemical contamination.

Fish, Wildlife and Parks workers are killing 478,000 trout — nearly one-fourth of the total at its Lewistown hatchery — because they are contaminated with the suspected carcinogen PCB from paint used in hatchery runways.

The contaminated trout at Montana’s largest hatchery were raised to help stock Hauser, Holter and Canyon Ferry lakes along the Missouri River near Helena. The 82-year-old hatchery raises rainbow, cutthroat and brown trout, grayling and kokanee for many other waters, too.

•Although not necessarily related to drought, a localized epidemic of whirling disease has prompted Yellowstone National Park to prohibit fishing in a drainage that empties into Yellowstone Lake.

The angling season for the Pelican Creek drainage, a 50-square-mile area on the north end of Yellowstone Lake that’s rewarded canoeing anglers with stellar fishing in the past, has been closed indefinitely after scientists discovered that whirling disease apparently has wiped out the creek’s young fish.

So what’s an angler to do with all of this bad news floating by?

Go fishing, sooner rather than later.

In a continuing trend, precipitation across Montana has been about 75 percent of average according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service. The mountain snowpack, which already was below average going into spring, has been melting earlier than normal.

As of May 1, mountain snow water content in Montana was about 60 percent of average and 65 percent of last year, the NRCS reports.

The water outlook is only slightly better in the Spokane-Coeur d’Alene region, where the lower Clark Fork drainage is 65 percent of normal and 78 percent of last year, while North Idaho snowpack readings are ranging 50-60 percent of normal.

Remember a few years back when you had to wait until after the Fourth of July to find good fishing flows on the Coeur d’Alene and St. Joe Rivers?

Not this year. Barring torrential rains, expect the rivers to be in good shape for the season opening on May 29.

• The Blue Dun Fly Shop is having an open house clinic from 4:30 to 6 p.m. today to talk about techniques for fishing the Spokane River, which the shop predicted would be in good fishing shape much sooner than normal.

Indeed, reports from the river on Wednesday were good, said shop owner Bill Marts. “Jan (Sadlo) called and said to get down and fish it,” he said.

• Lake fishing for trout is prime in much of the region as water temperatures are in that perfect range before the dog days of summer.

Kokanee anglers are doing well while slow-trolling in the Harrison region of Lake Coeur d’Alene.

Dry Falls is unaffected by low water, and fly-fishing should be good through early June, although it’s been off-and-on because of unstable weather patterns, said Jeff Korth, Washington Fish and Wildlife Department biologist.

“You might also want to try the newest quality water in Grant County — Dusty Lake in the Quincy Wildlife Area,” he said. “Newly rehabbed last fall and stocked with 1,000-plus 1.5-pound rainbows and 3,000 10- to 12-inch rainbows, this 83-acre lake is about a half-mile hike in from the main road.”

Fishing for kids: Two kid-fishing events are coming up at lakes on the Colville National Forest. Both events, which run 8 a.m.-noon for kids under 16, include casting contests, fishing contests and other fun activities:

•The Big Meadow Lake Fishing Day is June 19. From Ione, drive west on County Route 2695 to Big Meadow Lake. Info: (509) 446-7500.