Salmon and steelhead
The best steelhead fishing this week has been on the Clearwater, particularly downriver near Lenore. There are reports of some floating ice. Most of the Grande Ronde was clear of ice at midweek, and anglers were using plugs and jigs to take fish. Fly-fishermen were having trouble because of slush on the water. At Boggan’s Oasis, Bill Vail said air temperature reached 40 degrees Tuesday.
Steelhead are still being caught off the lower wall at Little Goose Dam. The Tucannon, too, is giving up a few fish now that most of the spawning chinook are out of the system.
In the Columbia River above John Day Dam and in the John Day Arm, steelhead angling was excellent this week with boat anglers doing much better than bank anglers.
The John Day Pool was also giving up a few steelhead.
Most of the coho being caught in West Side rivers are dark, but boat anglers on the Lewis River have caught some bright fall chinook.
Coeur d’Alene chinook are active at midlake in 70-90 feet of water between Carlin Bay and Laffs Bay. Most are hitting herring behind a flasher.
Idaho winter fishing
The Idaho winter stream season began Dec. 1. It allows anglers to catch and release trout and harvest whitefish in specific rivers. Brook trout may also be harvested during the winter stream season, but they are only found in any significant numbers in the Moyie River. The winter stream season applies to the following rivers in the Panhandle: Coeur d’Alene, Little North Fork Coeur d’Alene, North Fork Coeur d’Alene, Moyie, St. Joe and St. Maries.
The Lake Pend Oreille Angler Incentive Program is still in effect and has been funded through March. Anglers are being paid a $10 reward for every rainbow trout and lake trout more than 12 inches harvested from Lake Pend Oreille. The lake is so deep that areas of suitable depth are limited to the flats in the north end of the lake around the islands, off the mouth of the Clark Fork River, along the Green Monarchs, Garfield Bay, Whiskey Rock and in the south end around Cape Horn and off the Eagle Boat Ramp in Idlewilde Bay.
Winter fishing for mackinaw on Priest Lake is good. Try trolling slowly just off the bottom using big spoons, dodgers with hootchies or flies on a short leader, or plugs such as Flatfish, Kwikfish, Litefish, Apex, Rapala, Rebel or Lyman. Use a small strip of fresh cut bait to “sweeten” the hook. Troll near the bottom or jig over rocky outcrops and drop-offs. The only two deep water launches on Priest open in the winter are the Indian Creek launch at the State Park on the east side (Info: 208-443-2200 ) or at Priest Lake Marina on the west side in Kalispell Bay (Chains usually required; call 208-443-2405 for more information).
Most of the small Panhandle lakes were ice-covered at midweek, but may not be ready for safe fishing. They are:
Avondale: Perch 6-12 inches, fair for crappie, occasional largemouth bass, sunfish and bullhead.
Blue: (Bonner County) Perch 6-8 inches. Also: crappie, bass and occasional channel catfish.
Cocolalla: Lots of 6- to 9-inch perch and an occasional crappie. Some nice rainbow, brown and cutthroat trout.
Dawson: Perch 7-9 inches, with occasional crappie, bluegill and bass
Fernan: Perch 7-10 inches, with occasional crappie, bass and northern pike, rainbow and cutthroat trout.
Freeman: Perch 6-9 inches, occasional crappie, sunfish, bass, tiger muskie and stocked rainbow trout. Snow and a quarter-mile hike can limit access.
Hauser: Perch 7-10 inches, occasional crappie, sunfish and bass. Good for rainbow and cutthroat trout.
Hayden: Northern pike in the north end at Sportsman Park. Most run 24-30 inches Use dead smelt or herring under a tip-up. Fishing for bass and trout closed.
Jewel: Perch 6-9 inches, bluegill, channel catfish and stocked rainbow.
Kelso: Good lake for stocked rainbow trout and mixed spiny ray.
Killarney: Popular lake for 18- to 24-inch northern pike. Perch are small.
Medicine: Perch 6-8 inches with occasional bass and northern pike.
Mirror: Rainbow trout and occasional kokanee.
Perkins: Perch 8-11 inches with occasional crappie, sunfish and bass.
Robinson: Good fishing for 10- to 12-inch. rainbow, brook and occasional cutthroat trout. Some bluegill, pumpkinseed and bass. Bass closed to harvest until July 1.
Rose: Perch 7-9 inches, some crappie, bluegill and bass.
Round: Perch 7-9 inches, excellent fishing for stocked rainbow trout. State Parks Pass required for entrance.
Smith: Good fishing for 10- to 12-inch rainbow and cutthroat trout, some bass.
Spirit: Kokanee fishing is good with fish running 7-10 inches. Kokanee limit 15.
Thompson: Popular lake for northern pike, with most fish running 18-28 inches.
Lower Twin: Perch 7-10 inches. Nice-sized rainbow and cutthroat trout, and a few big kokanee.
Upper Twin: Perch 6-9 inches, bass and occasional northern pike.
Eastern Washington winter fishing
Hog Canyon and Fourth of July will probably have safe ice by this weekend. Trout fishing should be good. Sprague Lake is iced over and so is most of Moses Lake. There were anglers on the ice at Sprague this week. Try walleye jigging off the points.
In Stevens County, Williams and Hatch lakes are infested with small perch, most likely the result of an illegal “gunnysack planting.” Small lakes like Williams and Hatch cannot sustain a perch fishery for long. In just a few years, they overpopulate and become stunted. Though Williams was decent last winter for rainbow, the fish are small this year. As it makes no sense to waste the electricity on a dying fishery, the aerator on Williams will not run this winter.
Waitts Lake, also in Stevens County, was mostly open at midweek. Waitts will need another week of cold weather for ice to form. There is still an excellent population of rainbow and brown trout in Waitts.
Eloika Lake had a couple of inches of ice at midweek. It may be fishable by this weekend. You can catch almost anything from Eloika, though perch are the big draw in winter.
Rock Lake will not ice over. It has been fairly consistent for rainbow and brown trout, Troll the top 30 feet of water along the cliffs or over midlake wherever rocky structure comes near the surface.
Banks Lake has ice on the south end and the boat ramps are unusable. The north end around Coulee Playland Resort is open. Trout fishing is heating up on Banks.
Hunting
Hunters are seeing a few more pheasants, but they are extremely wild. Numerous flocks of gray partridge are using the wheat stubble between Steptoe and Colfax. Quail are in big coveys around Cheney, Reardan and Pine City, and close to the bottom in Snake River canyons, where they seem to prefer the blackberry tangles.
Geese are moving out of the Spokane area for greener pastures along the Columbia River. Puddle ducks have abandoned frozen scabrock ponds for bigger water. This is a good time to jump-shoot mallards along area creeks and rivers. There have been reports of good duck hunting on the Pend Oreille River. A lot of mallards and widgeon are rafted up on Lake Coeur d’Alene.