Hunting+Fishing
Salmon and steelhead
At Darver Tackle in Starbuck, Wash., Verna Foley said long-liners and those fishing off the wall of Little Goose Dam are still taking a few chinook. The Snake is open to salmon fishing from the boat launch above the dam to Texas Rapids.
In the lower Columbia River this past weekend, catch rates were good for summer chinook and fair for summer steelhead.
The Icicle River salmon fishery reopened Wednesday after being interrupted last week by the theft of 200 broodstock fish from a federal fish hatchery. Since then, more than 1,000 fish have returned to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery, providing enough eggs to generate future runs.
Catch-and-release season for steelhead opens July 1 on the Clearwater River. The daily count at Lower Granite is in the single digits, but Bonneville is seeing a couple of hundred a day.
Idaho’s summer chinook salmon season on the South Fork of the Salmon River will open Thursday. The spring chinook season on the Lower Salmon River will close two days early, at the end of fishing Saturday, to leave a few more fish for anglers in the Little Salmon River.
Trout and kokanee
Idaho and Montana streams and rivers are coming down. Cutthroat densities in the St. Joe and Coeur d’Alene rivers are some of the highest on record, so fishing should be good throughout the season this year. Anglers may also want to try the Moyie River located in the far northern part of the Panhandle Region, or the Little North Fork of the Clearwater River in the far southern part of the region.
At the Silver Bow Fly Shop, Britten Jay said the Clark Fork is “solid,” with great caddis action. The Coeur d’Alene River is fishing well for smaller fish, and there are enough bugs to make the Big Spokane worth a cast or two. He suggests not wading too far out in the St. Joe, which is still pretty high, but rather fishing tight to the bank with stonefly imitations.
Anglers are taking advantage of the Lake Pend Oreille Angler Incentive Program by winning Idaho scratch lottery tickets and cash rewards for turning in the heads of rainbow trout and lake trout from on Lake Pend Oreille this year. IDFG has tagged 210 lake trout and 390 rainbow trout with PIT (passive integrated transponder) tags worth $100 to $2,000. Three anglers have won two $100 prizes and one $1,000 prize for PIT tags.
Many anglers have turned in spaghetti-tagged lake trout worth $100 and $10.
The Lake Pend Oreille Idaho Club has a Last Chance Predator Derby scheduled to run until July 16, or whenever the $15,000 in prize money runs out. In addition to the Angler Incentive Awards that will remain in place, the club will pay $10 for every lake trout and rainbow trout more than 18 inches harvested.
At Darrell & Dad’s Family Guide Service on Lake Chelan, Anton Jones said the great kokanee bite continues unabated in the lower basin with fish running 10-12 inches. He cautions anglers to watch for driftwood, as there are some real prop eaters. Low light conditions are hazardous.
Rainbows and browns 12-18 inches are biting at Waitts Lake. Deer Lake is seeing a fair number of big rainbow and small mackinaw. Rock Lake remains a pleasant surprise for large browns and rainbows. The southern lakes remain good, particularly Fishtrap, but also Williams, Badger, Clear and West Medical.
Dworshak Reservoir is 3 feet from full pool. Kokanee fishing is good, but the fish are small. Most of the action is from Dent Bridge down.
A four-hour midweek night expedition to Loon Lake resulted in 18 kokanee and seven trout for my group of three. We fished the northeast side in 25 feet of water for kokes averaging 10 inches and trout running 12-18 inches.
Spiny ray
The Governor’s Cup Walleye Tournament begins this weekend out of the Kettle Falls Marina. Walleye fishing has been good above China Bend, in the Hawk Creek area, and occasionally up the Spokane Arm.
“Fishing the free-flowing reach of the Columbia River from Northport to the Canada border could be a real adventure,” said district fish biologist Chris Donley. “We don’t conduct any creel census in that area, but I know there are some nice fish in that big water.”
Banks has been excellent for smallmouth, and walleye anglers say they are experiencing the best fishing in years by trolling at midlake. Nearby, Rufus Woods Lake is also giving up its share. Troll spinners with nightcrawlers downriver. If a lot of water is being dumped, ply the slack water with jigs and nightcrawlers.
Moses Lake is at the top of its walleye cycle and still cranking out fish. Potholes has given up more walleyes recently but does not appear to have the numbers this year.
Tiger muskie are hitting at Curlew Lake. A 46-inch, 29.5-pounder was taken two weeks ago, and a 44-incher was landed more recently
Northern pike are attracting anglers in the lower chain lakes in Idaho, and the bass fishing in Coeur d’Alene is excellent. Almost all local bass waters in Washington and Idaho – lakes like Newman, Hayden, Eloika, Long and Downs – are fishing well for largemouth. Dworshak Reservoir smallmouth fishing is excellent. The mouth of Elk Creek has been particularly productive.
Other species
Everyone on the upper Snake is catching sturgeon, said Tim Johnson at FishHawk Guides in Clarkston. On a trip this week, his boat landed six fish to almost 7 feet. At midweek, the Snake was running at 5,500 cfs at Heller Bar, and at 2,100 cfs at Hells Canyon Dam.
Sturgeon fishing is also good on the Snake near Little Goose Dam, and catfishing in and near the Palouse River has been exceptional.
The shad run is winding down, but there are still plenty of fish in the Columbia. A total of almost 3,400,000 have been counted at The Dalles. Three friends recently took 79 fish right below the dam at the boat ramp on the Oregon side. They were throwing small Dick Nite spoons in 15 feet of water.