By Alan Liere

Fri., Oct. 20, 2006

The Spokesman-Review

Tip of the week

» Storing your boat for the winter? Pick up a free copy of the Boat U.S. Winterizing Guide. It's full of tips to help prepare your vessel for the cold weather. Go to BoatUS.com/Seaworthy or call (800) 283-2883.

Braggin' rights

» Guide Tim Johnson of FishHawk Charters and his clients had great sturgeon fishing this week in Hells Canyon. They landed one 6-footer, two 7-footers and one 9-footer.

Overheard

» A fishing lure valued at $1,000,000, designed by a California jewelry and fishing tackle manufacturer, will be fished this week in the Bisbee's Black and Blue Marlin Tournament in San Jose del Cabo, Mexico. The company uses precious metals and gemstones, creating lures that normally range from $20 to $30,000. It makes my complaints about $1.49 maggots seem kind of petty.

Heads up

» Washington's mandatory hunter harvest reporting system has been fixed and the 10-day grace period for reporting fall turkey and big-game harvests began Thursday, the Washington Fish and Wildlife Department has announced. (Disregard a notice coming in the preprinted Sunday Outdoors section reporting that the system wouldn't be working until later this month.) Computer software problems have prevented hunters from filing their reports. Unsuccessful hunters must report their activity by phone or online by Jan. 10.

“Bird hunters ages 12-15 can sign up for a youth pheasant hunting clinic scheduled for Nov. 4 in Lewiston.

The free clinic is intended for first-time hunters who have completed a hunter education course and hold an Idaho hunting license. Preregister: (208) 799-5010 by Nov. 1.

“The Idaho Department of Fish and Game is seeking information concerning the recent shooting and wasting of a mature bull moose on the north side of Moscow Mountain. The entire moose, believed to be shot on Oct. 10, was left to waste. The shooters probably accessed the area from the Hatter Creek road. If you have any info, call Citizens Against Poaching hotline, (800) 632-5999. Callers may remain anonymous and a reward is offered.

Salmon and steelhead

Steelhead fishing will open on the upper Columbia River starting Saturday, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife announced this week. The season for adipose-fin clipped hatchery steelhead will run through March 31 from Rocky Reach Dam upstream to 400 feet below Chief Joseph Dam. Daily limit is two fish, 20-inch minimum size.

The Clearwater River’s harvest season for B-run steelhead opened Sunday above the Memorial Bridge on U.S. Highway 12 near Lewiston. Fishing has been poor with anglers averaging 29 hours per fish. The best luck has been near Orofino.

The Clarkston/Lewiston area did not get the heavy rains early this week and steelhead are still congregated at the confluence. Anglers there are putting in 15 hours per fish.

On the Grande Ronde, Bill Vail at Boggan’s said steelhead fishing is improving. He rated the fishing a C-plus at best on Thursday, but that could change any day with the current weather pattern.

The stretch of the Salmon River from Whitebird Creek to the Little Salmon has been best, with anglers averaging a fish every 14 hours. On the Little Salmon proper, the average is seven hours per fish.

At Darver Tackle in Starbuck, Verna Foley said the water hasn’t cooled much, but there are a lot of steelhead going through. She said the Snake around Little Goose Dam has been excellent, and the Tucannon and mouth of the Tucannon have been exceptional. A 22.2-pounder was recently caught on the north shore of the Snake by the canoe dock above the dam. You can drive across Little Goose Dam Mondays through Thursdays 7 a.m.-4 p.m.

In the Yakima River, an estimated 73 chinook were harvested last week. Anglers averaged 20 hours per fish.

An estimated 961 chinook and four coho were harvested in the Hanford Reach last week. Anglers averaged one fish for every 14.3 pole hours. Fall chinook counts through McNary Dam are roughly 30 percent lower than 2005.

On the John Day Pool, weekly checking showed seven steelhead kept for 40 bank rods, and 33 kept for 54 boats. Columbia River anglers may retain any legal-size chinook they catch downriver from the Highway 395 bridge in Pasco through the end of the year, although waters between Beacon Rock and Bonneville Dam will close to all salmon fishing Nov. 1.

At Ringold last week, bank anglers averaged 17 hours per steelhead, and boat anglers averaged 23 hours per chinook. Most boat anglers were targeting chinook.

Trout and kokanee

Lake Roosevelt rainbow fishermen are having their best luck near Keller fishing in the top 10 feet of water. This is the time of year to fish for brown trout as they are congregating to spawn and moving up in the water column. Rock Lake is one of the best spots for browns. Anglers are finding both brown and rainbows by trolling Needlefish along the cliffs to the right of the boat launch and also on the big shelf straight out from the launch.

WDFW district fish biologist Chris Donley said Clear Lake, which is open through the end of the month, is also good for brown trout. So are Waitts Lake and the Colville River.

Spokane County’s Amber Lake is open through November for catch-and-release, selective-gear fishing only. The fish are hitting Olive Stillwater Nymphs and Bionic Worms in the top 10 feet of water, said Barry Pipella at White’s Outdoor. He has also fished Lake Lenore recently and said the fish are spread out but coming on.

Spiny ray

The best walleye fishing on Roosevelt has been near Keller. Cooler weather this week should get the fall bite going. Two Spokane anglers reported catching seven walleye recently near Split Rock in 70-95 feet of water.

There is good perch and crappie fishing on Long Lake, where aquatic vegetation is dying back and fish are near the shoreline.

Other species

In the lower Columbia River last weekend, anglers were finding sturgeon in the Gorge. Bank anglers in the Longview area and boat anglers near Camas/Washougal were also catching some legal-sized fish

Fishery managers have announced three more razor clam digs through the end of the year, the first tentatively set to begin Nov. 3 at three ocean beaches. Long Beach, Twin Harbors and Mocrocks will open for digging from noon until midnight Nov. 3-5 if marine toxin tests show the clams on those beaches are safe to eat. A fourth evening of digging is tentatively scheduled Nov. 6 at Twin Harbors only.

Hunting

The modern-firearm general elk hunting season opens Oct. 28 with spike-bull-only rules in the Blue Mountains units; any bull in a few northeast units; and any elk in the central district and a few northeast units. Elk hunters who normally hunt game management unit 162 and 166 should plan to go elsewhere this year because of the Columbia Complex wildfires that have burned in the Blue Mountains since late August.

Good news from the Blue Mountains was announced Thursday: Umatilla Forest Road 64 (Touchet River/Skyline Road) has been reopened to public travel.

Eastern Washington’s pheasant season opens Saturday. While there will be pockets of birds, the overall picture isn’t good. In two days of mule deer hunting in an area near Winona where I saw hundreds of pheasants last year, I counted only three this year. Landowner reports from the Rosalia/St. John area might be more optimistic, but the consensus is the population is way down. The best pheasant habitat in Lincoln, Spokane and Whitman counties is agricultural acreage in the federal Conservation Reserve Program.

Opening weekend deer hunters complained of dry conditions Saturday that curtailed success, followed by wet conditions Sunday that curtailed enthusiasm. With the harvest slightly less than normal for an opener, there are a lot of bucks left for the rest of the season.

At the Deer Park check station in north Spokane County on Sunday, WDFW staff and volunteers checked 272 hunters with 41 deer. That was a similar success rate to last year. At a check station Sunday in Colfax in Whitman County, WDFW staff saw 21 deer, mostly whitetails, down from last year’s 35. Harvested deer numbers were also down at the Asotin County check station.

After a short closure, duck and geese are legal targets beginning Saturday. Columbia Basin duck hunters reported fair hunting on last weekend’s opener, with more mallards than usual.