Hunting and Fishing

Trout

Judging by the aggregate winners at the Lake Pend Oreille Thanksgiving Derby, mackinaw fishing there is excellent. Buster Bandy recorded 540 pounds of mackinaw during the Nov. 19-27 derby. Also turning in big catches were Randy Meehes with 458 pounds and Jim Carothers with 448 pounds. All three anglers are from Sagle, Idaho.

Triploid rainbow in Rufus Woods are on the bite, with fish as large as 16 pounds coming last week. Bank anglers using Power Bait on a long leader and a slip sinker are faring well.

Fishermen are also having fairly good success at Whitman County’s year-round Rock Lake, where both rainbow and brown trout grow big from annual fry and yearling hatchery plants. Anglers casting Rapalas near the outlet are catching fish at first light, but a worm and bobber is never a bad bet. If you can get to the far end of the lake, the area around the inlet stream can be excellent casting Super Dupers.

WDFW biologist Todd Baarstad reported that fishing for net-pen-reared rainbow trout of up to 20 inches is outstanding at Lake Roosevelt, downriver from the town of Lincoln.

Banks Lake has also been providing good rainbow fishing, according to WDFW fish biologist Matt Polacek. “Fishing at Banks has been good for shore fishers from the jetty at Coulee City Park on the south end of the lake,” he said. “Anglers are using marshmallows and worms and getting morning and noon bites. Anglers trolling from boats at the north end near the canal are using apex spoons in 8 to18 feet of water. Boat anglers are averaging about four to five rod hours for a bag limit. The fish are averaging 20 inches.”

Winter lakes Fourth of July and Hog Canyon opened Thursday. Unfortunately, below-freezing temperatures have those waters iced over just enough to make boat launching difficult and ice fishing unsafe. “The low water level alone at Fourth of July in particular makes boat launching a challenge,” said WDFW biologist Chris Donley, “and now with the addition of ice, it will be a trying experience to reach any open water.” Both lakes should be fishing well. Trout at Hog Canyon are running 12-14 inches, and those at Fourth of July are 23-24 inches.

To the north, Williams and Hatch in Stevens County have also opened to winter fishing, and the ice may soon be safe enough to support anglers. WDFW district fish biologist Curt Vail said Williams Lake anglers can expect lots of 9- to 10-inch rainbows from this year’s fry plants, and a fair number of 14-inch or better carryovers from last year. Hatch Lake fishing will probably be poor since it has a growing infestation of small yellow perch and has not been stocked with hatchery trout.

The Methow Valley’s winter fishing lakes – Davis, Campbell, Cougar and Little Twin – will provide opportunities for rainbow trout after they are frozen enough to be safe. Little Twin shifted to a catch-and-keep season on Thursday; the others shifted earlier in September. Green and Lower Green lakes, near Omak, and Rat Lake, near Brewster, also shifted to the winter catch-and-keep season Thursday. Lower Green Lake should be a good bet when ice is solid. Sidley Lake, near Oroville is popular with ice fishermen who sometimes catch 18-inch rainbows. Roses Lake, just north of Manson in Chelan County, just received 101 hatchery rainbow trout, weighing almost 1 1/2 pounds each, and more than 20,000 one-third-pound rainbows.

Some of Yakima County’s year-round rainbow trout fisheries received surplus rainbow trout broodstock during Thanksgiving weekend. I-82 Pond No. 4 and Rotary Lake each received 22 10-pounders and 108 just less than 5 pounds each. Myron Lake received 15 10-pounders and 73 just less than 5 pounds each.

Spiny ray

The mid-Columbia has put out nice walleye this week for anglers jigging motor oil-colored plastics. Water temperature is in the low 50s.

Perch fishing is still good along weed beds in the north bays of Banks Lake. They are averaging about 10 to 12 inches. You can also catch perch from the docks at Coulee City Park, but the fish are smaller. Smallmouth bass fishing is slowing down as water temperatures drop.

Salmon and steelhead

Columbia River steelhead angling is slow, with best success on jig and bobber combinations. The fish are also sulking on the Snake River. The average catch rate among anglers last surveyed at all sites was more than 22 hours of fishing per steelhead caught.

The best Eastern Washington steelhead fishing is on the tributaries, including the Walla Walla River, where the average was just less than 7 hours of fishing per catch. The lower Grande Ronde River, from Boggan’s Oasis to the state line and down to Wildcat Creek, is averaging just more than 4 hours of fishing effort per steelhead.

There have been reports of good hatchery steelhead fishing on several Olympic Peninsula Rivers, including the Bogachiel, Quillayute and Queets. Other rivers, from the Cowlitz in southwest Washington to the Snohomish in northern Puget Sound, should be close behind.

The best steelhead fishing in Southwest Washington is upriver at Lake Scanewa (Cowlitz Falls Reservoir), where late coho are still providing plenty of action.

Other species

Thursday marked the opening of the pot fishery for crab on the coast, including Grays Harbor and Willapa Bay. The daily limit is six Dungeness crab (males only, 6 inches minimum size) and six red rock crab (any sex, 5 inches minimum size).

The next razor clam opening is tentatively set to run Dec. 30 through Jan. 1 on evening tides at five beaches, plus Jan. 2 at Twin Harbors and Mocrocks. WDFW will announce the final word on those digs about a week ahead of time, once the results of marine toxin tests are known.

Portions of the Chewuch, Entiat, Methow, Similkameen and Wenatchee rivers, and Sinlahekin Creek, opened to fishing for whitefish on Thursday. Only size 14 or smaller hooks can be used to avoid hooking steelhead or other off-limits fish. While the steelhead season remains open on the Methow and Similkameen rivers, whitefish gear rules will not apply. Thursday also marked the opening of whitefish season portions of the Bumping, Klickitat, Naches, Tieton and Yakima rivers in Southeast Washington.

Hunting

In Moses Lake, Gary Russell of Quackers Guide Service said duck hunting tapered off last week but picked up substantially just before the weekend. He said there are huge numbers of new mallards arriving daily. Info: (509) 750-7807.

WDFW enforcement officer Lenny Hahn reported muzzleloaders are successfully hunting the Cheney unit (130), which is the only unit open to both mule and whitetail deer.

I hunted pheasants at midweek near Winona, hiking about 5 miles for two shots. There were 7 inches of snow in Colfax, but almost none 40 miles to the west. I saw many birds, but I swear their legs are longer this year … or perhaps mine are shorter.