Hunting+Fishing: Salmon and steelhead

Salmon are still being caught from “The Wall” at Little Goose Dam. The bite is dependent on the current, as slack water makes fishing difficult. Approximately 200-300 chinook are being counted daily at Little Goose.

Although the run isn’t expected to peak until July or August, summer steelhead are moving into the Cowlitz River in increasing numbers, and anglers may catch up to six summer-run hatchery steelhead per day.

Dry weather has caused the flows in the Kalama River to be drastically reduced. Beginning Saturday, night closure and non-buoyant lure restrictions designed to prevent snagging are in effect on the Kalama River from the mouth to the lower salmon hatchery intake pipe. Only fish hooked inside the mouth may be retained.

Spring chinook salmon fishing on the Skagit and Cascade rivers is going well. Catch rates are up for springers on both rivers.

In the lower Columbia River, catch rates for salmon and steelhead were generally poor this past weekend, but should improve with better tides this week. Anglers are beginning to encounter the first wave of hefty chinook salmon that can weigh 40 pounds or more.

Trout and kokanee

Water temperatures have dropped a little at West Medical this week and chironimid action has been hot. Medical Lake and Amber have also seen great fly action deep.

Free fishing last weekend filled the docks at many Eastern Washington put-and-take lakes. Anglers at Williams Lake were still taking limits of 10- to 15-inch rainbow. The bite at Fishtrap also remains strong.

Liberty Lake trout anglers are catching browns and rainbows in a variety of sizes. Still-fishing with Power Bait is popular, but trollers pulling Roostertails seem to get the larger fish.

Rock Lake is drawing a lot of attention lately, and some really large browns and rainbow are showing for trollers. Lake Roosevelt trout are showing up again near Split Rock, Hunters and in the Spokane Arm near the cemetery.

From the Aris Fly Shop in Coeur d’Alene, Pat Way reported excellent fishing on the Coeur d’Alene and St. Joe. He said green drakes and PMDs are bringing strikes all day long. The Clark Fork River is not yet prime for fishing. The flow on Wednesday was still 16,000 cfs.

On Curlew Lake, trollers are making big catches of rainbow trout to 16 inches. Curlew net pens recently received another 80,000 rainbow from WDFW.

A friend and I dunked single red eggs at Loon Lake in 25 feet of water this week. Although we took limits of feisty 15-inch rainbow trout one day, we were nearly skunked another. Loon Lake trollers are taking quite a few 10-inch kokanee. Deer Lake rainbow and eastern brook are biting along the edges and in the narrows.

The weather around Lake Koocanusa in Montana has been stormy, but fishing has been good for kokanee 10-14 inches. Wedding Rings and Kokanee Killers on three to five colors of leaded line are doing the damage from Five-Mile Creek to the dam.

Also in Montana, Lake Mary Ronan kokes are biting Glo-hooks and maggots in 25-30 feet of water. Info: Camp Tuffit (406) 849-5220.

Spiny ray

Walleye fishing in the Kettle Falls area has been good recently, with limits of 16- to 20-inch fish the rule. Several walleyes between 5-13 pounds have been boated. On the Spokane Arm, a lot of walleyes are being taken above Buoy 5 toward Little Falls.

Walleye fishing has improved near China Bend, but is not the lights-out fishing many anglers anticipated. The fish are smaller than expected. Anglers such as Dale Moffat of Spokane are catching limits of 17- to 20-inch keepers and are having best success on a drop-shot rigs with pearl-colored plastic minnows. Moffat said the fish seem to be moving right through rather than stacking up at the narrows.

Jeff Korth, WDFW Columbia Basin district fish biologist, said walleye fishing has been slow recently at Potholes Reservoir and Moses Lake.

Near Irrigon on the Columbia River, walleye fishing is also tough, but the smallmouth bass are taking up the slack. Tubes or plugs are both working. Use a fast retrieve at about 15 feet.

Smallmouth fishing has been excellent on Hayden and Coeur d’Alene lakes.

Other species

Recreational fishing for halibut will be open Tuesday and Thursday in Marine Areas 3 and 4, shoreward of a line approximating 30 fathoms from the Bonilla-Tatoosh line south to the Queets River. It will be open in all areas of Marine Areas 3 and 4 on June 23 only.

On Monday, sport crabbing opens seven days per week in marine areas 4 (Neah Bay east of the Bonilla-Tatoosh line), 5 (Sekiu) and 13 (south Puget Sound). On June 27, it reopens in Marine Area 6 (eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca), Wednesdays through Saturdays only.

Spokane shad-fishing guru Charlie Palmer recently returned from a fishing trip on the Washington. side of the Columbia below the third power plant at Bonneville Dam. He said he had good – but not phenomenal – luck. Palmer thinks he was a little early and that the big run will come closer to this weekend and last about a week.

Hunting

The application period for Idaho sandhill crane controlled hunt permits starts today and runs through July 15. In six eastern Idaho counties, 500 sandhill crane permits will be available. The crane season will run Sept. 1-7 and Sept. 8-15. Applications can be made at any license vendor, Fish and Game office, or by telephone at 1-800-554-8685 or 1-800-824-3729.

The application period for six leftover Idaho moose controlled hunt permits also starts today and runs through June 25. There are two permits each for antlered moose in hunts 3059, 3075 and 3076 in parts of units 12 and 17 in the backcountry of north-central Idaho. The season is Aug. 30 through Nov. 23.