Hunting and Fishing

Salmon and steelhead

There “may or may not” be a sockeye season on Lake Wenatchee this year, said Region 7 fish biologist Art Viola. There have been fair numbers of sockeye over Bonneville, but an announcement will probably not be made until mid-July. In the meantime, summer chinook anglers can begin preparing for an anticipated July 16 opening on the Columbia near Wells Dam.

Summer chinook are being caught from both the Kalama and Lewis rivers. The Wind River and Drano Lake, however, are closed to fishing for salmon until August.

Anglers on the Lower Columbia from the Rocky Point/Tongue Point line upstream to the I-5 Bridge averaged a summer chinook/steelhead per every four rods last week, while bank anglers averaged one per every six rods.

Sekiu opened July 1 for hatchery chinook, but few fish have been taken. The consensus is that they are late, and keepable hatchery fish are really scarce.

Trout and kokanee

Loon Lake kokanee anglers are blaming the unsettled weather for erratic fishing. During the warm Fourth of July weekend, however, friends took a lot of kokes while night fishing in 27 feet of water halfway between Granite Point and Morgan Park. They reported the bite was especially hot after midnight.

Lake Coeur d’Alene kokanee are slamming “anything pink with Glo Beads,” said John Kallas at Valley White Elephant. The bite is particularly strong on the south end of the lake, and a slow troll – less than 1 mph – is most effective at 20-35 feet of water. Spirit Lake is also kicking out kokanee, but they are considerably smaller than the 12-inch average on Coeur d’Alene. On Dworshak, the kokanee are moving up the reservoir. They aren’t as large or as abundant as those in Coeur d’Alene.

Some really large kokanee – up to a reported 6 pounds, 2 ounces – have come form Banks Lake recently at around 55 feet. Best luck has been south of the Million Dollar Mile off the west shoreline slides. Small wobbling spoons and spinners are doing the damage. There have also been some large kokanee caught on Lake Roosevelt in the San Poil/Keller area, as well as inside the log boom at Spring Canyon. Best bite has been between 4 and 9 a.m. Kokanee Killers and Apex lures are working well.

On Lake Chelan, the kokanee are thinning out in the lower basin and moving both deeper and up lake. Most are from 35-45 feet deep. From Mill Bay to the yacht club should be better for the next month. A green wedding ring behind a Flashlite tipped with anise-scented shoepeg corn and trolled about 1 mph has been effective.

A lot of small (12-inch) rainbow are available in Roosevelt from Seven Bays down. Larger fish have come form the waters below Lincoln and also near Split Rock. A 7-pounder was taken recently from the Spokane Arm on a Muddler Minnow.

Rock Lake brown trout fishing has been excellent for the few anglers who have tried. The fish are running 17 inches and better. Also somewhat ignored is Marshall Lake up north, where Pautzke eggs or green Carey Specials are hammering cutthroat in front of the public access. Diamond Lake is giving up lots of small rainbow, Deer Lake is producing net-pen rainbow to 17 inches, and Williams and Fishtrap remain good. Night fishing has become popular as the weather warms.

The St. Joe is at August flows already but fishing quite well. There are many caddis on the water. Golden stone patterns and Renegades are drawing strikes. The North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River has slowed down. Early and late is best with imitations such as the Parachute Adams and Yellow Sallys. Kelly Creek is fishing well with Green Drake patterns. The Spokane River is running at about 2,200 cfs. Caddis imitations will get you a few trout. The channel at Grimes is all plugged with weeds, and fishing is nearly over there.

Trollers are taking a lot of Priest Lake mackinaw in the 3- to 7-pound range on F-7 and U-20 Flatfish. Jiggers are getting larger fish.

Spiny ray

Potholes water level continues to remain high enough to allow large boats in the sand dune area. Surface water temperatures are approaching the 80-degree mark, so the top water action for largemouth is picking up. Buzz baits are a good choice.

Walleye are being caught throughout the Potholes sand dune area in shallow water. Trolling spinners and crawlers and Rapala Shad Raps has been producing walleye all over the dunes in water as shallow as 3 feet. Moses Lake seems to have slowed down.

Roosevelt walleye in the Spokane Arm seem to be on the skinny side. Bigger fish are coming from the Hunters area. Fishing has been good north of Kettle Falls. Roosevelt is at full pool and there is a lot of debris in the water.

The Snake River can still be hot for smallmouth with tubes and grubs if you add an inch of night crawler on the end of the hook. Tubes, incidentally, are outfishing grubs 4-1. Smallmouth are still active all over Lake Roosevelt.

According to Lou Nevsimal at Banks Lake, “You couldn’t put another drop of water in here.” As a result, there is a lot of flooded shoreline attracting bass, crappie and walleye. He suggested fishing the inside weed lines for large walleye, which are twilight feeders in the shallower water. The water is still a little cold for topwater bass action, he adds.

Other species

Anglers are still catching a variety of species at Sprague Lake, reported Monika Metz at Sprague Lake Resort. The rainbows average about 15 inches, and channel catfish seem to be in two classes – 5-10 pounds and 20-plus pounds. Night crawlers are the ticket.

Effort and dam counts for shad are waning. Bonneville is down to 20,000 fish per day. Nearly 6 million shad were counted at The Dalles Dam through Monday. The previous record was 5.5 million counted there last year.

On the Snake River, Tim Johnson of Fishhawk Guides reported good sturgeon fishing at times. He said the best bait of late has been anchovies, and that the radical fluctuation of the river has accounted for the erratic fishing. He also noted that below the Salmon, water conditions don’t change so much, as the Salmon is still running at 12,000 cfs and thus integrates with the Snake without as much fluctuation.

Hunting

If my property is any indication, this should be a good season for quail. I was worried what the rain would do to newly hatched chicks, but brood numbers on Wild Rose Prairie are huge. I’m also seeing a lot of young turkeys. If you’re working your dog in the field, be sure you can readily call him off.