Hunting+Fishing

Ice fishing

After a promising start, ice-fishing possibilities have narrowed with this week’s warmer weather. Ice on Idaho’s Fernan Lake is thin. This doesn’t bode well for fishing possibilities on other Panhandle lakes, as Fernan is usually one of the first to freeze.

Newman Lake ice is still too thin to walk on safely, and at Hog Canyon and Fourth of July, the ice is less than 2 inches thick in places. There were about 20 anglers on Hog Canyon last weekend, but those that stayed in one place too long were soon standing in water as the ice sank around their fishing holes.

One of the few possibilities for area anglers is Eloika Lake where 7- to 9-inch perch are the main attraction. There were 4 inches of ice on Eloika at midweek, but there is a lot of slop on top. Eloika has just about every species and occasionally a nice German brown or rainbow comes flopping into the sunlight. Park at the public access on the road that runs west from Miller’s One-Stop and walk to the left through the reeds to find solid ice near shore. Try a green and silver Swedish Pimple baited with maggots or perch eyes on a single hook.

In the Columbia Basin, there is skim ice on most waters, but even the seep lakes do not have enough to safely fish.

Trout and kokanee

Triploid anglers are having consistent success from the bank right at Chief Joseph dam by fishing power bait 5-6 feet under a slip bobber. The most fish have been 2-5 pounds. Trout fishing remains excellent in the entire Rufus Woods system, with walleye anglers complaining they can’t get their Double Whammy’s through the trout.

Lake Roosevelt seems to be getting more consistent, with trollers taking limits in the top 20 feet in the San Poil Arm and near Whitestone. The Hunters area has also been producing fat 18- to 22-inch rainbow. A few silvers are showing in the Swawilla area. The best fishing has been before noon.

Buffalo Lake on Colville Tribal Land near Nespelem opens to winter fishing Jan. 1. Buffalo is a multispecies fishery with everything from kokanee to spiny ray.

The winter trout fishery is just kicking off at Kootenay Lake in British Columbia. Though no 20-pound fish have been reported, there are plenty in the high teens. Successful anglers are pulling bucktails on the surface or trolling plugs deeper. Bull trout, which are legal in Canada, are coming from the Kootenay River near Balfour. For information or to book a charter: Balfour Gill and Gift, (250) 229-2113.

The Idaho winter stream season allows anglers to continue to catch-and-release trout through the last Friday in May and harvest whitefish and brook trout. The list of rivers open during the winter includes the North Fork, Little North Fork, South Fork, mainstem Coeur d’Alene, St. Joe, St. Maries and Spokane. The Moyie River is open all year, as is the Coeur d’Alene.

There have been some blue-winged olive hatches lately at Rocky Ford, said Sean Visintainer at Silver Bow Fly Shop. He says black gnats, scud imitations and little red chironomids are enticing some large trout.

Steelhead

Clearwater steelhead fishing has improved dramatically. Back-trolled plugs and shrimp are most popular on the lower river, but on the upper river around Orofino, jigs are enticing fish in places like the Spaulding Hole, the Pole Yard Hole and the McGil Hole. There are numerous places to fish from shore on the upper Clearwater and the North Fork Clearwater. They get crowded on weekends but are mostly empty during the week.

The Snake River has been consistent this winter – no phenomenal days, but not so many skunks. Pulling plugs or drifting eggs are the most common techniques. Guide Tim Johnson of FishHawk Charters said he has not gone above the Oregon/Washington line and is hooking 10 fish a day. Those fishing the mouth of the Salmon are doing about as well, but fishing may get tougher on the Snake now that Idaho Power is again playing with the flows. On the Grande Ronde, water levels are maintaining at about 985 cfs and there are plenty of fish in the system. Nymphing has been decent for fly fishermen. The Methow River has also been good. Pink egg patterns are working.

WDFW staff interviewed 29 anglers with seven steelhead at Ringold this week. The average catch was one steelhead for every six hours of fishing.

The storm that hit western Washington during the first week of December got the steelhead moving upstream. Fishing for hatchery winter steelhead usually peaks between Christmas and New Year’s. This year should be no different. The Skagit River has continued to produce good numbers of steelhead over the past week. The most consistent fishing has come from the upper portions of the river from Concrete to the mouth of the Cascade River.

Spiny ray

A few Banks Lake walleye anglers still bring in an occasional fish, said Dave Altier at Coulee Playland City, but the perch have not stacked up in the Coulee City Marina. Altier suggested Thompson Lake in the State Park for small perch.

Other species

Effective Jan. 1 through March 31, smelt dipping is open seven days per week, 24 hours a day from the mouth of the Columbia to Bonneville Dam. The limit is 25 pounds per person per day. Starting Jan. 5, the Cowlitz River will be open to smelt dipping from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. each Saturday through March 29. All other tributaries to the Columbia River in Washington State will remain closed to smelt fishing until further notice. Most indicators point to another year of poor smelt returns.

The Lochsa, Lower Selway and Clearwater rivers are excellent destinations for winter whitefish, said IDFG biologist Larry Barrett. Of these, he said the Clearwater has the biggest and most fish. Clearwater whitefish are commonly 16-20 inches long, and they don’t slow down their feeding habits in winter the way trout do. Many whitefish anglers also hook steelhead on their small flies tipped with maggots.

Hunting

While pheasants are few and far between, they are concentrated now. Find one and you’re liable to find a bunch. Pheasant, quail and partridge are open through Jan. 21. Forest grouse close Dec. 31.

Goose hunters throughout the region will get several extra days with the Christmas and New Year’s holiday – Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, next Friday and Jan. 1. The season runs through Jan. 27. Indications are there are still a lot of geese in the Columbia Basin.

Depending on whom you talk with, ducks hunting in the Basin has ranged from “the worst ever” to “phenomenal.” When we get a good ice covering on the big water, Winchester and Frenchmen Hills wasteways and the Crab Creek channel should improve.