Hunting+Fishing
Salmon and steelhead
About 2,800 steelhead a day have been swimming over Lower Granite Dam the past week, bringing the total over the dam to more than 55,000 fish out of up to 150,000 predicted over the dam this fall. The average steelhead return for the last ten years to Lower Granite Dam has been about 121,000 fish. Last week’s rain increased the flows and headed some steelhead up the tributaries.
“We saw the fishing pick up within two days of the rain,” said Bill Vail at Boggan’s Oasis near the Washington-Oregon border. “The flow came up to 900 cfs, but then it started going down again. People are catching fish upstream and downstream, but now I’d say the fishing at best is only fair – until we get some more rain.”
The best steelheading in the region apparently was in the 58-degree waters of the Salmon River, where Idaho Fish and Game surveys tallied one fish caught for every 12 hours of effort. The Snake, which was running 65 degrees, was next best at 19 hours a fish. The Clearwater, at 57 degrees, was 23 hours a fish.
Steelhead fishing on the lower Clearwater has become a bobber-only game since they shut down Dworshak Dam, says Tim Johnson of Fishhawk Guide Service in Clarkston. Enough water for braver souls to run boats upriver, but fish are scattered. A few are being caught at the mouth of the Salmon and around Heller Bar.
Hanford Reach chinook fishing is gaining some steam. Here are the most recent stats from Fish and Wildlife Department surveys: 491 chinook harvested last week in the Hanford Reach; anglers averaged 33 hours a fish. Total harvest for the season, 848 compared with 2,260 last year. Angler effort down about 15 percent this year.
A few steelhead were hooked in the Ringold area, a good sign for the start of the hatchery steelhead catch season that starts there Sunday. Water temps are in the low 60s, but the river flows have been low on weekends, making fishing more difficult. Best catches have been on Thursdays and Fridays at White Bluffs and Vernita for the past three weeks.
The Tri-Cities Salmon Derby is Saturday and Sunday on the Columbia and Yakima rivers. Enter at sporting goods stores in the Tri-Cities and Desert Aire.
Yakima River chinook fishing continues to get better, especially below Horn Rapids Dam. Success last week was 35 hours per fish. More than three times more fish have been caught this year compared with the same time last year.
Trout and kokanee
Many area trout lakes close Saturday, but several others remain open through Oct. 31, with some catch-and-release lakes going to Nov. 30.
Near Spokane, you can take trout for another month from lakes such as Clear, Deer, Diamond, Horseshoe, Loon, Marshall, Sacheen, and also Waitts, which is open through February. Rainbow fishing at Diamond has been excellent for still-fishers.
Chris Donley, Washington Fish and Wildlife Department fish biologist is just back from research in trout lakes from here to the Columbia Basin and Okanogan. Water temps are ideal in many lakes in the region and trout are on the feed, he said. A few of his observations:
Saturday is the last day to fish some of Eastern Washington’s top trout lakes, including Badger, Fishtrap, Medical and Williams. Fishtrap anglers are catching good numbers of fish, but most of the catch is comprised of this year’s plants, which are running 7-8 inches. Williams and Badger continue to fish well for both smaller fish and some carryovers. Fly fishers have been catching lunkers out of Medical, where the catch is running about 70 percent browns and 30 percent rainbow, according to Barry Pipella of White’s Outdoor.
Good fishing for browns will continue through October in Clear Lake, and don’t overlook Rock Lake in Whitman County.
Catch-and-release fishing will continue through November at some selective fisheries, including Amber, which has been pleasing fly fishers in recent weeks. Rat Lake near Brewster is a sleeper attraction for fly fishers who want to travel. “It was rotenoned in 2004 and it’s just coming into its prime,” Donley said. The catch-and-release season runs through November, then the lake opens to a catch-and-keep winter fishery.
The Hampton Lakes near Potholes don’t have a lot of fish left, “but the size of the fish is unreal,” he said.
Rufus Woods “fat boy” triploids have begun hitting again. Bucktail jigs baited with shrimp are a popular enticement. Best fishing currently is upstream toward Grand Coulee Dam.
Jigging deep for mackinaw is picking up at Deer Lake. Trout fishing on Loon is still good in 30 feet of water. Loon kokanee are getting dark. Curlew Lake is cooling and giving up quite a few rainbow in the 4-5 pound range.
At Kootenay Lake in British Columbia the water temperature is dropping, and a few kamloop are being taken on surface bucktails. Action will improve when temps hit 55 degrees. Woodbury Resort Rainbow Derby runs Oct. 7-9. Info: (250) 229-2113.
Evening fly fishing with caddis and streamers is good on the Coeur d’Alene River. Mid-day hopper fishing will improve as the water cools further. The entire St. Joe has seen good fishing this week. The Clark Fork and the Bitterroot have been fishing well since the closures were lifted. Tricos are working early, and Mahoganies and Baetis are coming on. The mayfly activity has been good all day long on the Bitterroot. On the Blackfoot, big streamers and double nymph rigs fished deep have been producing the larger fish, and smaller ones are still taking drys on the surface.
Spiny ray
Smallmouth bass are moving into deeper water at most local lakes and are a little harder to find. At Potholes Reservoir in Moses Lake, however, the Goose Island rock piles and face of the dam are providing action throughout the day with diving plugs and Senkos.
Largemouth are putting on their winter feed bags, and the action is picking up on lakes such as Newman, Eloika, Loon, Long, Hauser, and Hayden.
Snake River bassing is the best it’s been all year. Three-inch grubs, any color green with a little red flake, seem to be best.
Other species
The white sturgeon retention fishery from the Wauna powerlines to Bonneville Dam opens Sunday.The first Washington coast razor-clam dig of the fall season will open Oct. 6 if upcoming tests show the clams are safe to eat.
Hunting
Chukar hunting in Idaho’s Hells Canyon has not been good. Fewer birds than the last three years, and rains last week chased them up away from the river. Washington’s partridge and quail season opens Oct. 7, and the Columbia Basin may be the place to go. Grant, Adams and Douglas counties are the only areas in the region where the WDFW is reporting “high numbers of quail and excellent hunting opportunity.”
Fall turkey hunters in Washington saw lots of birds on last Saturday’s opener. The season runs through Oct. 6 in GMUs 101-124.
Beware of other seasons that are opening every week:
Idaho’s youth waterfowl hunt opens Saturday and Sunday for hunters age 15 and under. Older hunters will have to wait until Oct. 7 to hunt in North Idaho.
Oct. 10 is opening day for a major portion of Idaho’s deer and elk rifle seasons.
Washington’s early muzzleloader deer and elk season opens Oct. 7. Hunters will have to wait until Oct. 14 for the general waterfowl season and Washington’s general deer season. Pheasants open Oct. 21.
Deer hunter planning note: More north central region deer hunters may be using Chelan County and Columbia Basin units this year to avoid the access restrictions in the fire-plagued Okanogan.
(Outdoors editor Rich Landers contributed to this column.)