Salmon and steelhead

Chinook angling at Wells Dam and the Okanogan is “just OK,” say several guides in the area. One or two fish per trip is the average, though the fish are running larger than last year at 20-30 pounds. There are still plenty of salmon in the river; they just aren’t hitting.

WDFW has opened the Okanogan River from the Highway 97 Bridge near the mouth to the Highway 97 Bridge just south of Oroville, and the Similkameen River from the mouth upstream to the county road bridge in Oroville.

While anglers are still picking up some summer chinook below Bonneville Dam, catch rates have been best for hatchery steelhead. During the week of July 17, boat anglers fishing from the mouth of the Cowlitz River downstream averaged one steelhead for every three rods. The Cowlitz itself is still the best-producing tributary for steelhead, but those feeding the Bonneville Pool should start heating up as the Columbia mainstream continues to get warmer

The mouth of the Columbia River at Buoy 10 opens for salmon fishing Aug. 1. Although the fishery doesn’t usually peak until the end of the month, anglers often pick up some nice fish on opening day. Shore-bound anglers also have some options. Fishing off the North Jetty, where anglers can cast in either direction, is open seven days per week when the fishery for either Buoy 10 or Marine Area 1 is open.

Fishing is finally picking up off the Washington coast, with average catch rates ranging from one to 1.5 salmon per angler. Starting Aug. 11, the fishery will open seven days per week coast wide and anglers will be able to keep up to two chinook per day.

Things are still quite slow in Sekiu, with just a scattering of chinook being brought in each day. As of July 16, Seiku was 34 percent through its chinook quota. Using that information, the projected closure date for chinook would be around Aug. 16

Resident coho fishing is good from Edmonds to Tacoma, said Steve Thiesfeld, Puget Sound recreational salmon manager for WDFW. He noted that anglers are catching a good number of 2- to 5-pound coho in Marine Area 10, especially near Jefferson Head and in the Elliott Bay fishery.

Monday is the last day to fish for hatchery spring chinook on the Grays and Elochoman Rivers and hatchery steelhead on the Grays.

Trout and kokanee

Not only did my friend Mike Sweeney out-fish me for kokanee three nights in a row at Loon Lake, he topped off our Wednesday excursion with a 23-inch rainbow. The bite came late – after 11 p.m. – but after moving around quite a bit, we finally found fish in 28 feet of water.

Lake Coeur d’Alene kokanee anglers are still looking for the “hot bite” of last year. Persistent strollers like Dale Moffat of Spokane, are picking up fish to 14 inches, but even Moffat is puzzled by the lack of consistency. He and a friend fished twice last week, taking 33 kokes one day and 19 another. Moffat says the optimum trolling speed with a flasher is 1.4 mph. District Fish Biologist Curt Vail says that Davis Lake in Ferry County and Yocum Lake in Pend Oreille County are producing nice cutthroat trout. Summit Lake in Stevens County has nice rainbow trout and Elbow Lake just to the west has eastern brook trout. Elbow Lake, at just 48 acres, is best suited for float tube or shore fishing. At about 4,300 feet elevation, Big Meadow Lake west of Ione in Pend Oreille County is a good bet for reeling in 12-inch and larger rainbows. The Little Pend Oreille chain of lakes, from Frater and Leo lakes in Pend Oreille County to Heritage, Thomas, Gillette and Sherry lakes in Stevens County, are producing rainbows in the 10-inch range and tiger trout up to 14 inches.

Curlew Lake near Republic in Ferry County continues to produce 10- to 12-inch rainbows and near-state-record-size tiger muskies.

Spiny ray

The Pend Oreille River is producing good catches of large northern pike. The river is also a good bet for largemouth bass, especially from Ione to Box Canyon Dam, and smallmouth bass in the Metaline Falls area.

Below Bonneville Dam, boat anglers are catching walleye, but the better fishing seems to be for smallmouth in the Pool itself. Anglers on The Dalles Pool averaged nearly three walleye per rod last week, while John Day Pool boat anglers averaged nearly six bass and a walleye per rod.

Walleye anglers fishing nights on Roosevelt have been picking up fish south of Kettle Falls around sand points. Mid-lake humps seem to be yielding smaller fish than those caught closer to shore.

Other species

Bullhead fishing in shallow water at night is a nice summer diversion when it’s this hot. Eastern Washington and North Idaho lakes like Long, Loon, Deer, Newman, Sprague, Hayden, and Hauser have good populations of yellow bellies, and the fillets are wonderful. Gobs of nightcrawlers on the bottom will bring bites. The bullheads at Deer and Long lakes run to 14 inches.

Hunting

On Wednesday, Aug. 2, a single bighorn sheep hunting permit for the Blues will be drawn at the Spokane WDFW Valley office. This is just the second year for this special permit. Last year, more than $61,000 for sheep work was generated by the raffle. It is the last public hand-drawn permit in the state.