Hunting+Fishing

Fri., Nov. 3, 2006

Alan Liere Correspondent

Tip of the week

With big-game hunting season in full gear, the Fish and Game departments are working to monitor harvest and presence of disease. To help speed up your visit to a check station, remember to put your harvested game with proof of sex and the tag attached where check station staff can easily access it.

Braggin' rights

On his first elk hunt, this year's Eastern Washington opener, Freeman High School junior Jake Hamilton took a 5x5 bull. Two veteran hunters with him on the same trip filled their cow tags.

Overheard

Bass have been on their fall feeding binge, and anglers are finding them spread out throughout the water column. The most consistent success has come from jigging in weeds at about 25 feet.

Heads up

Idaho hunters with A Tags in the Bannock Zone for the any-weapon antlerless elk hunt that runs from Oct. 25 through Nov. 15 should note that Unit 73 was inadvertently left out of the Fish and Game regulations as a legal unit for hunting. The legal units for this particular elk hunt are 70, 71, 72, 73, 73A and 74. Unit 56 is not included in this hunt.

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game is seeking information concerning the waste of a mature bull elk found 1.5 miles up George Grade road near Cottonwood Creek in Unit 11A east of Lewiston. The elk was thought to have been killed on or about Oct. 20. The entire carcass was left to waste, with only the head and antlers removed. Anyone with information should contact the Fish and Game office in Lewiston at 208-799-5010, the Citizens Against Poaching hotline at 1-800-632-5999, or any law enforcement agency.

Salmon and steelhead

Clearwater River steelhead fishing has been slow, running about one fish a day, with the Orofino area best. Several Grande Ronde fly-fishing guides have also had one-fish days. At Boggan’s Oasis, Bill Vail said the water is low, clear and cold. Pluggers are picking up four or five fish a day, however, and those throwing jigs and shrimp have also done pretty well. If the rain projected for today materializes, things could get much better quickly.

The Snake is fair on both sides of Heller Bar. There have been lots of fish over Lower Granite recently, so fishing should pick up soon.

Steelheading in the Columbia near Brewster is only fair with an equal split between plugs and the bobber/jig combinations. There are still salmon in the river, so avoid spots where they are congregated, as they tend to run off the steelhead. Both the Okanogan and Methow rivers are closed to steelhead fishing.

WDFW district fish biologist Bob Jateff of Omak reported steelhead fishing has been “pretty good” on the mainstem Columbia River from Wells Dam to 400 feet below Chief Joseph Dam

At Ringold, bank anglers averaged one steelhead for every 17 hours fished last week. Boat anglers are still picking up a few chinook, but angler effort has declined with the closure of the salmon season above the wooden power line towers. Good table quality fall chinook are getting more difficult to find, but there have been reports of some anglers limiting on chromers. As of Wednesday, all hatchery steelhead may be retained.

Anglers are still catching some coho near tributary mouths in the lower Columbia, and chinook fishing is fair in the gorge. Boat angling for salmon is prohibited in the area from Beacon Rock upstream to Bonneville Dam effective Wednesday through Dec. 31. Catch rates for steelhead have declined in the John Day Pool.

Salmon anglers are hooking a good number of bright coho in the lower Columbia River and many of its tributaries, and chum salmon are showing up in several Puget Sound rivers.

Lake Coeur d’Alene chinook are hitting reasonably well in 80-90 feet of water. The usual mini squid lures or trolled herring are taking the fish.

Trout and kokanee

From Potholes Reservoir, there are reports of 18- to 22-inch rainbow off Medicare Beach

Lake trout fishing on Lake Chelan continues to be good. The fish are coming mainly off of “Mack Bar” which is straight out from the Mill Bay Boat launch and down lake from Wapato Point. The fish are being caught on U-20 Flatfish in either the Luminous Chartreuse or Purple Glow patterns off the bottom.

Lake Roosevelt trollers are catching 15- to 22-inch rainbow in the top 10 feet of water from Swawilla to the San Poil Arm. Guide Ray Bailey said good bank fishing is still a month away, as most of the fish are holding over deep water.

At Pend Oreille Charters this week, guide Kurt Arnter said the lake is giving up a lot of small rainbow, and that temperatures are just about right to begin taking bigger fish on the surface.

At Priest Lake, anglers jigging glow-in-the-dark rigs such as Berkeley Power Grubs are finding plenty of mackinaw in 80-100 water, and up to 300 feet.

Montana Rivers are nearing the tail end of fall fishing, but there are good reports coming from The Bitterroot, Blackfoot and Rock Creek. Streamers down deep are taking nice prespawn browns. The big streams are overflowing with mahoganies in the afternoon. Baetis and caddis patterns are producing some consistent fishing on the Missouri. The Clark Fork is fishing only fair.

Spiny ray

Largemouth bass have been hitting spinner baits in the sand dune on Potholes Reservoir. Walleye continue to be tough.

Walleye fishing is reported to be good on Banks Lake. Jigs in 3/8- or 1/4-ounce sizes do best in water ranging from 50 to 120 feet. The perch bite is still good on Banks. Nice catches are coming from Barker Canyon.

Coeur d’Alene and Hayden Lake pike anglers are finding a few fish on spoons and spinnerbaits along the weed lines.

Other species

The whitefish season opened Wednesday on the Kettle River in Ferry and Stevens counties. Fishing gear is restricted to one single point hook, maximum size 14. Catch limit is 15.

The second razor clam dig of the fall season starts today on evening tides. Digs will commence at Long Beach, Twin Harbors and Mocrocks beaches. They will be open through Sunday. One beach – Twin Harbors – will also be open for a fourth evening of digging Monday.

Anglers continue to catch good numbers of legal-size sturgeon from Bonneville Dam downriver to the Wauna power lines.

Hunting

Even persistent pheasant hunters with young legs are burning a lot of boot leather and finding precious few birds. In Eastern Washington, this may go down as one of the worst pheasant seasons in half a century.

There have been few reports of northern mallards in eastern Washington, but the prairies of northern Alberta have a ton of birds, which should be moving soon. Waterfowl hunters on the West Side report seeing new birds already. More than 35,000 snow geese have arrived at Fir Island in Skagit County, and thousands of cackling geese have touched down at their wintering grounds in southwest Washington.

Local Canada goose hunters have done pretty well. Wednesday morning, a friend and I shot quick limits of honkers in a winter wheat field west of town.

Stratford or Brook Lake and Round Lake, well-known resting areas for large concentrations of the small races of Canada geese, are holding approximately 20,000 geese, with 95 percent of them on Stratford. These geese usually depart Grant County before Thanksgiving.

The general and permit seasons for modern firearm elk hunting continue through Sunday.

Modern firearm elk hunters will take to the field Saturday through Nov. 13 in southwest Washington. “There’s lots of bulls available and good areas for elk hunting in this region,” said Jack Smith, WDFW regional wildlife manager. He mentioned Willapa Hills, Williams Creek and the Olympic Mountains as hunters’ favored spots. Southwest Washington had the highest success rate (12.7 percent) and accounted for more kills (2,031) than any region of the state in 2005