Hunting and Fishing

Salmon and steelhead

Very few steelhead are passing over Lower Granite right now, but those that are seem to be stacking up in the cooler water at the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater Rivers. Fishing has been fair to good all week.

Lynn Schwenk won the annual Big One Derby on Coeur d’Alene Lake in the last hour of the last day with a chinook of 17.96 pounds. Second place went to early derby leader, Ryan Helbing with a fish weighing 17.5 pounds, and Ron James secured third place with a chinook weighing 17.48 pounds. All of the top five fish were in the 17-pound range, and a lot of 2-5 pounders were caught, too. This bodes well for next year’s chinook fishery.

The barometer is down and the fish are biting at both Westport and Ilwaco. Limits or near-limits of mostly big chinook are showing regularly. To get more bang for your bucks, you might even want to consider a combo trip – salmon in the morning and bottom fish in the afternoon. Info: 1-800-572-0177 (Ilwaco) and 1-800-562-0157 (Westport).

Chinook salmon are still hitting herring below Well’s Dam and at the mouth of the Okanogan River, though the dam area has been better. Rod Hammons of R&R Guide Service in Brewster reports that weeds are starting to become a problem at both places, so you should check your gear often.

WDFW has decided to open chinook fishing in the Okanogan River and the lower Similkameen River Aug. 20 through Sept. 30. The Okanogan opening is from the Highway 97 bridge near the mouth to the railroad trestle downstream of the Lake Osoyoos Control Dam in Oroville. The Similkameen River opening is from the mouth upstream to the county road bridge in Oroville.

Anglers fishing in ocean waters off Neah Bay are now allowed to keep up to two chinook salmon per day toward their two-salmon daily limit. This change in Marine Area 4 applies only to ocean waters west of the so-called Bonilla-Tatoosh line, which defines the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

A few steelhead are being taken from the Wind River, Drano Lake, and the White Salmon River, where chinook are also showing occasionally. Boat anglers on the lower Columbia below Bonneville Dam averaged a steelhead per every 4.4 rods, while bank anglers averaged one per every 7.8 rods. Some fall chinook are also being caught. From Aug. 1-14, a total of 4,469 adult fall chinook had been counted at Bonneville Dam – the lowest total since 1992

The San Juan Islands have remained inconsistent for kings on the inside but that could change at any time as the Samish fish start to show up. The west side of San Juan Island has improved. There are lots of pinks, and kings are showing, also.

The season opener of the steelhead retention fishery on the Snake and Grand Ronde rivers is Sept. 1, but the big fish are expected to lay low until water temperatures drop.

Trout and kokanee

Coeur d’Alene’s big kokes are a little more difficult to catch now, says John Kallas of Valley White Elephant. Nevertheless, he and a friend did well this week from Sunup east towards Harrison dragging a pink Mack’s Stacker with a green blade and tipped with red corn. Most of their fish came between 1-3 p.m. Kallas says the magic depth for a downrigger is 36 feet. If you are trolling mono and four ounces of lead, go out 80 feet.

Spirit Lake in Idaho is still good for small kokanee, and Loon Lake remains good in 34 feet of water at night. I have heard three unsubstantiated rumors of large kokanee coming from Deer Lake.

Surprisingly, Fishtrap Lake continues to boot out rainbow, even during the hottest weather. A little further south, anglers dunking night crawlers at dusk along the cliffs of Rock Lake are still reeling in big brown trout. The fish are suspended at 30 feet.

On Marshall Lake, Clarence Grimes of Marshall Lake Resort, reports continued good fishing for 12-15-inch cutthroat. He says trollers are using seven colors of leaded line to get to the larger trout, and still fishermen are dropping down 60 feet. He attributes the size of the fish to the lake rehabilitation in 2001, which wiped out freshwater burbot that were decimating the crawdad population.

Carryover rainbow are still swatting flies and plugs at Roosevelt, with the stretch from Lincoln down producing the most fish. There are a lot of smaller rainbow available, also. Big trout, but not as many, are showing near Hunters. Large kokanee are biting in 60-75 feet of water near Haystack and Swawilla Basin, says Ray Bailey of R/C Guide Service in Davenport.

Lake Chelan mackinaw fishing has been inconsistent. Best bet is the center of the lower basin from Rocky Point to Pat and Mikes in 205 to 250 feet of water. Fish early and within 10 feet of the bottom.

Spiny ray

Banks Lake walleye are running deep, but crankbaits have been very effective at mid-lake, near Barkers Flats, and on the lower side of Steamboat Rock. Hot Lips lures in perch color are taking a lot of fish in 20-30 feet of water.

A recent one-day bass tournament on Banks resulted in each of 66 teams weighing in limits of smallmouth. Big fish of 4.34 pounds was landed by the team of Dana Steimer of Bellingham and Eric Smith of Waverly, who also won first place overall with a total weight of 14.36 pounds. Participants reported catching a lot of walleye and trout.

Smallmouth averaging a pound each are still hitting on the Grand Ronde down river from Boggan’s Oasis down. Go upriver towards Troy for 10-12-inch rainbow.

Bass fishing – both largemouth and smallmouth – are slamming Senkos at Potholes Reservoir in the dunes, off the face of the dam, and near Goose Island. A few crappie are showing at Potholes, but walleye fishing has been slow both there and in Moses Lake.

Other species

Albacore tuna have moved further offshore at Westport and Ilwaco, reducing interest in that fishery among anglers with private boats. Charter boats, however, are still going out. Two-day tuna trips at Ilwaco will begin Sept. 1, reports Jim McBroom at Coho Charters in Ilwaco. Sea bass and Lingcod fishing is still good out of Ilwaco, and anglers may retain halibut caught on Fridays or Saturdays.

Sturgeon have been very active on the Snake River below Lower Granite Dam. Channel cats are also cooperating all day long, reports David Peterson at Boyer Park Marina.

Hunting

Hunters scouting for mourning dove in anticipation of the Sept. 1 season will find small flocks scattered across WDFW’s Swanson Lakes Wildlife Area in Lincoln County. Florence Lake, which lies in a long-recognized dove flyway on the east side of the wildlife area, has been hosting some birds, reports Mike Finch, wildlife area assistant manager. The summer’s heat and lack of rain, however, has left other traditional dove haunts near water high and dry. Finch says both Swanson lakes are completely dry now.

Overall, the dove population seems to be about average. Areas around Reardan, Sprague, Moses Lake, and Clarkston should offer good shooting on opening weekend.

Informal grouse scouting indicates this will be a good grouse year. Many of the new broods have six or seven birds, compared with fewer than three per brood the last two years.

Randy Pittman from Hancock, Md., is the first hunter in nearly a decade with an opportunity to bag a Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep in the Blue Mountains of southeastern Washington. Pittman recently won the raffle for a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife permit.