Hunting and Fishing

Salmon and steelhead

The Clearwater is providing hot fishing, with some bait anglers hooking as many as 10 fish a day. For trollers, lighted plugs below Memorial Bridge, early mornings and just after dark, seems to be the best in the catch-and-keep area, with the bobber fishermen doing well from daylight until midmorning. Things are still a little early for the Snake, but the drop in water temperatures should help hold the fish in the lower river. Dam counts, all the way from Bonneville to Lower Granite, are encouraging. Chinook and steelhead have begun to move upstream with the cooling mainstem Columbia. By midweek nearly 27,000 adult chinook and 4,000 steelhead a day were coming over Bonneville. On the Snake, approximately 250 chinook and 800 steelhead a day were passing Lower Granite. “The way the fish are coming,” said Tim Johnson of Fishhawk Guides in Clarkston, “I wouldn’t be surprised if we have some good fishing later this month.”

Steelhead are starting to show at “The Wall” at Little Goose Dam, and the mouth of the Toucannon is picking up, said Verna Foley at Darver Tackle in Starbuck, Wash.

Last week’s Buoy 10 coho catch rates were the highest of the season and the catch rate for chinook was the second highest. As of last Tuesday, anglers fishing the Buoy 10 area at the mouth of the Columbia River are required to release chinook salmon. Fishing for hatchery coho will continue through December.

The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission reversed a measure it approved last February that imposed a two-year moratorium on retaining any wild steelhead caught in state waters. Anglers will be allowed to retain one wild steelhead per year on the Bogachiel, Calawah, Clearwater, Dickey, Goodman, Green, Hoh, Hoko, Pysht, Quillayute, Quinault and the Soleduck.

Ilwaco and LaPush are still open for salmon, although Westport closed Tuesday.

Trout and kokanee

Trout are biting again at almost all area lakes, although Fishtrap is not at its best because of an algae bloom. Loon Lake kokanee are losing some of their shine, but the flesh is still in excellent shape. Two friends and I fished Loon Monday night, catching 30 kokanee, almost all males. We also caught a few 10-inch rainbow, and I lost a big one at the boat.

Coeur d’Alene kokanee seem to be biting best at the south end, according to John Kallas of Valley White Elephant. He said the fish are “a solid 13 inches” and have not yet started to turn.

Kokanee are ready to migrate out of Koocanusa Reservoir in Montana to spawn, but big rainbows are moving in—a couple of weeks earlier than normal. A 10-pound-plus fish was caught this week. Bull trout, too, are beginning to show on Koocanusa. If targeting these fish, you must obtain a catch card from the Kalispell Division office. Call 1-406-752-5501, or go online to www.fwp.state.mt.us.

Lake Roosevelt trollers are taking some big rainbow deep with Double Whammies or marabou Muddler Minnows, although Spokane residents Brian and Janet Hess had a nice catch just out of Fort Spokane with Muddlers tipped with nightcrawler at 20 feet.

Although steelheading wasn’t good on the Cowlitz River last week, fishing for sea-run cutthroats picked up from the I-5 Bridge to the trout hatchery.

Spiny ray

September is usually the best month for smallmouth on the Snake River, and the bite continues at Coeur d’Alene, Hayden, Roosevelt, Banks and Potholes. Largemouth bass will start putting on the feedbags soon in preparation for colder weather, and lakes such as Long, Eloika, Loon, Deer, Sprague and Newman will be good.

Now is the time to load up on perch at Long Lake as the fish are feeding at the edges of the weeds in about 12 feet of water. Good catches are coming from the south end near the DNR ramp. Downs Lake is also producing some big perch. Those at Newman and Eloika, although abundant, are smaller.

Walleye fishing has been good on Roosevelt near Kettle Falls, and is picking up in the faster water near Northport where jigging is popular. Bottom walkers and orange or green spinners tipped with a nightcrawler have been effective elsewhere.

Hunting

The Idaho Fish and Game Commission has set a five-duck limit for the upcoming season, but given hunters 107 days afield, two of which will be used in the Sept. 25-26 youth hunt. There will be a 60-day pintail and canvasback season beginning the first day of hunting, and a one-per-day limit on hen mallards for the season. The Southwest zone season runs from Oct. 9 through Jan. 21. The rest of the state runs from Oct. 2 through Jan. 14. Goose hunting will run concurrently, with the same bag limits as last year.

Dove hunting is almost over in the Spokane area, but there are still enough birds in Grant, Lincoln and Whitman counties to justify a drive south for the last few days of the season.

Washington grouse populations to the north appear to be lower than last year. Two friends who hunted some prime real estate near Waitts Lake this week saw two blues and no ruffs. Near Naches, however, hunters have found lots of ruffs in the mountains.

Hunters who have done their scouting are getting excited about the early goose season, Saturday and Sunday. There are a fair number of local birds in the area if you can get them off the golf courses. Limit is three per day — not four as in the general season. Don’t forget your migratory bird stamp.

Not since fall 1987 has the Brownlee chukar count been as high as this year’s. The count has never been higher along the Salmon River in the Clearwater Region. The recent Idaho Fish and Game aerial count performed at Brownlee Reservoir in the Southwest Region found chukars up 12 percent from last year.

Snake and Salmon river chukar trend routes also showed an increase in chukars. The 797 chukar counted on the Snake River route represents an increase of 179 percent from 2002. Biologists saw 1,722 chukar on the Salmon River route compared to 583 counted in 2002, up 195 percent.

This total represents the highest number counted on this survey route and exceeds the previous five-year average by 84 percent. The Idaho chukar partridge season opens Sept. 18 along with gray partridge, quail and sage grouse.

Big-game youth hunters in Idaho can have a reduced-fee junior mentored license for hunting alongside experienced big-game hunters.

An either-sex antelope hunt is set for Sept. 25-Oct. 24 in hunt area 32 and hunt area 52. Youth hunts for deer are set in controlled hunt areas 44-2 and 46.

Area descriptions and details are contained in the current big-game rules brochure available at Fish and Game offices and license vendors, or on the Internet at http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/.