Hunting and Fishing

Fri., Oct. 7, 2005

The Spokesman-Review

Tip of the week

» There seems to be twice as many burrs and other clingy things out there this year, so if you have a long-haired dog such as my springer spaniel Gus, consider one last haircut before it gets really cold. I spent several hours Wednesday night trying to get the burrs from Gus' coat, but even a liberal dose of vegetable oil and a curry comb wouldn't do the job.

Overheard

» Quite a few muzzleloader hunters have complained about the simultaneous opening of deer and gray partridge. It seems some of the popular muzzleloading areas were ablaze opening day with orange bird-hunter vests.

Braggin' rights

» These old legs took me chukar hunting this week and held up nicely, thank you. Now, if I could just find something that would ease the burning in my feet. … I've been considering buying a helicopter.

Heads up

» •Idaho Fish and Game would like the jaw of your cow elk or doe mule deer, part of an effort to better estimate the age structure of certain elk and deer populations across the state. Hunters may leave the lower jaw from their harvested animal at a Fish and Game check station, Fish and Game regional office, or a jaw barrel placed at strategic points.

» •Monitoring for Chronic Wasting Disease will be stepped up in the central district of Washington, especially during the three days following the Oct. 15 opener. A new sampling station will be in Colfax from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Oct. 16 at the Chevron station at the north end of town. Deer hunters traveling through should stop so biologists can take a couple of tissue samples. Hunters can also bring the head of their harvested deer to the WDFW office at 2315 North Discovery Place in Spokane Valley (between Evergreen and Pines, off Mirabeau Parkway) between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Oct. 17-18. Heads should either be fresh, refrigerated or frozen.

Salmon and steelhead

To date, more than 300,000 steelhead have passed Bonneville. Recent dam counts at Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite are up substantially, with Lower Granite counting nearly 5,000 fish on Wednesday. The Tucannon and Walla Walla rivers are starting to produce fish, and there have been excellent reports from Lyons Ferry, the mouth of the Grande Ronde and the mouth of the Salmon. Many of the Clearwater confluence fish have moved upriver.

On the Columbia, steelhead are starting to show at Ringold. The White Bluff area is said to be stacked with salmon with lockjaw. However, Nick Crocker and Brian Plonka of Hauser Lake had the right touch last weekend. Of the 14 chinook the WDFW checker recorded at White Bluff, the Idaho pair produced seven of them, up to 42 pounds. They were using downriggers and fishing plug-cut herring. Vernita Bridge chinook are cooperating, but the area is crowded with anglers, especially on weekends.

Fishing for hatchery steelhead is scheduled to open Saturday in the upper Columbia, Okanogan and Methow. Selective gear rules will be in effect. The Similkameen River is set to open Nov. 15.

Coeur d’Alene chinook anglers are finding lots of fish at 75-85 feet trolling the usual squid and flashers.

Trout and kokanee

Amber Lake southwest of Cheney is kicking out nice-sized rainbow and cutthroat, but anglers need to comply with the catch-and-release rule that went into effect there at the start of this month. To the north, Diamond Lake has been consistent with foot-long rainbow hitting Needlefish.

On Lake Roosevelt, anglers are taking scattered rainbow all over the system with the stretch from Lincoln to Jones Bay being most productive. Two people dunking Power Bait and marshmallows recently took six 18-inch rainbow from shore near Hawk Creek.

River-based trout anglers can’t seem to catch a break. Drought conditions kept stream flows far less than normal for most of the summer, and sustained fall rains have made many of the rivers high and muddy. The Clark Fork and St. Joe have been decent, however, and should come back into shape by the weekend if heavy rains do not resume.

Jameson Lake in Douglas County opened for a fall season on Saturday. The catch rate has been a bit low, but the average size is higher than normal – 12-15 inches.

Lake Coeur d’Alene kokanee are still biting, although the males are getting pretty dark. The flesh should be okay for another week. Elsewhere on the Panhandle, Kelso, Fernan and Round lakes are providing good trout action for bank anglers.

Spiny ray

Perch fishing on Banks has been excellent with an average size of 10 inches. Fish the bays in the mid- to north end of the lake. Anglers have also taken big perch and limits of crappie (five of more than 10 inches) from the I-90 Bridge in Moses Lake. Jigs tipped with maggots are popular.

Walleye fishing is getting good again at Potholes Reservoir. Pull Shad Raps or big spinners in the Crab Creek channel, in front of the sand dunes, near Goose Island, or over Lind Coulee points. The firetiger and the crawdad colors are popular, trolled at 2.5 mph.

At the Onion Creek General Store, Mark Charbonneau reported good Roosevelt walleye fishing with bottom bouncers and Smiley Blades tipped with nightcrawler. He said the lake is way up. Downriver, the Split Rock area has seen good walleye action.

The recent Fall Open Team Tournament on Banks netted 315 smallmouth for 35 boats in two days, mostly at the north end. Big bass weighed 4.58 pounds, although there were numerous reports of larger trout also being caught by tournament anglers.

This is an excellent time for catching northern pike on Coeur d’Alene. Plugs, jerk baits and spinnerbaits take most of the fish.

Other species

Sturgeon fishing opened last Saturday from the Wauna power line near Cathlamet to Bonneville Dam, and quite a few keeper fish are being taken. It is open Thursday, Friday and Saturday each week. Sturgeon must be at least 42 inches to retain.

The first razor-clam dig of the fall season is scheduled to begin Oct. 15-17 if a final marine-toxin test confirms the clams are safe to eat. All five coastal razor clam beaches will open, plus an additional day – Oct. 18 – at Twin Harbors and Mocrocks.

Hunting

Another opportunity to harvest a wild turkey in Washington begins Saturday and runs through Oct. 14 in Units 105-124.

The modern-firearms season for deer, as well as the season for ducks and geese, begins Oct. 15 in Washington. Prospects for opening day look good, said Dave Ware, game manager for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Another mild winter, combined with favorable breeding conditions, has helped sustain populations of both deer and waterfowl.

The only gloomy deer report comes from WDFW district wildlife biologist Pat Fowler of Walla Walla. “We had low fawn survival here in the winter of 2003-04,” Fowler said, “and that will produce limited success this season under the three-antler-point minimum regulation, since those fawns are this year’s 2-year-olds. I think hunters will find deer hunting slower (in the Walla Walla area) than in the past, and success will be lower.”

There is good opportunity throughout the region for quail and partridge hunting, which opened last Saturday. WDFW regional wildlife biologist Matt Monda reported that bird numbers appear to be good in most areas and harvest should be up. Gray or Hungarian partridge look especially good in central Adams County. My quail/chukar/Hun hunt at midweek saw huge flocks of quail and partridge near the tops of the Snake River breaks. There weren’t as many chukar coveys as I would like to have seen, but I did bump one with nearly 60 birds.

Hunters who were not drawn for controlled deer and elk hunts in Idaho still have a chance to get a permit. Several hundred leftover deer and elk permits are still available for antlerless and youth hunts. For a list of available permits log on to the Idaho Fish and Game Web site at fishandgame.idaho.gov. Once there, look in the “Featured Pages” and click on “Leftover Deer and Elk Controlled Hunt Permits.”

Idaho waterfowl hunters have a long season with generous limits beginning in north and southeast Idaho Saturday. East and north portions of the state open Saturday while the southwest and the Magic Valley open Oct. 15.

The Idaho general deer season begins Monday. Winter survival was excellent, which should mean an ample supply of young bucks. Survival of adult bucks was also better than average last winter. Combined with excellent summer habitat conditions, this should result in improved antler development and body condition.