Hunting+Fishing: Steelhead and salmon

The only spring chinook fishery that remains open on the Upper Snake River is from the Dug Bar boat ramp upstream to Hells Canyon Dam, where fishing remains open Fridays through Mondays until further notice. A summer chinook salmon-fishing season on the Mainstem South Fork of the Salmon River begins Thursday. It will run seven days a week until notice of closure.

On July 1, ocean salmon fishing opens seven days per week off Ilwaco and Sundays through Thursdays off Westport. Inside waters opening for salmon fishing July 1 include Sekiu/Pillar Point, eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca, San Juan Islands, Seattle-Bremerton and Hood Canal. On July 3, ocean salmon seasons get under way off LaPush and Neah Bay on a Tuesday-through-Saturday schedule.

Hatchery chinook returns to Washington lower Columbia facilities are about half of what they were at the same time last year, though the Skamania Hatchery on the Washougal is up slightly. Counts at Bonneville Dam are also tracking behind last year. Below Bonneville Dam, the drop in Columbia flows over last weekend adversely affected the chinook catch but improved the steelhead bite.

Trout and kokanee

Besides the developing kokanee night bite at Loon Lake, veteran anglers like Pete Sobczuk of Arlington, Wash., are still bringing in an occasional laker. Last week, Sobczuk caught a 13- and 18-pounder. Kokanee are taking Glo Hooks and maggots in 27 feet of water.

If you’re looking for big brown trout, check out Waitts Lake. Trollers dragging flies, Flatfish or Needlefish have taken browns recently scaling almost 12 pounds. Waitts also has a good population of carryover rainbow, but most are closer to 10 inches.

On Lake Chelan, kokanee have been biting from Minneapolis Beach up to Wapato Point with the emphasis at Mill Bay. Anglers reported seeing a lot more 12-inch “footballs.” Target fish from 10 to 40 feet down with a Mack’s Lures Hot Wings and a 0000 chrome scale dodger about 40 inches in front of a green wedding ring. If you bait the wedding ring with green or orange Pautzke’s Fire Corn and tie a #16 treble “stinger” hook 2 inches behind the wedding ring’s single hook, it could improve your catch. Troll at 1.5 mph or slower.

Also on Lake Chelan, the deep-water hump below Wapato Point is holding huge numbers of lake trout, most running 5-9 pounds and some in double digits. The Yacht Club area has also been hot. Troll T-4 purple glow flatfish and K-Lures with glow-in-the-dark tape within 10 feet of the bottom at about 1.6 mph.

Coeur d’Alene kokanee are running a solid 12 inches, said John Kallas at Valley White Elephant. He said limited catches have come from the vicinity of Eastpoint.

On Pend Oreille, the lake trout fishery is becoming a deep-water game. Priest macks, too, are hugging the bottom, particularly the larger fish. Jigging for 2- to 3-pounders is relatively easy once you’ve located a column of fish. The dropshot technique popular with walleye anglers is also effective for lakers.

Kokanee fishing has really picked up at Dworshak Reservoir, said Larry Barrett, fish biologist for IDFG. He says the majority of fish are 9-11 inches, with reports of fish up to 14 inches. The best bite has been from the Elk Creek Arm to Magnus Bay. Be aware that the summer drawdown on Dworshak usually begins around July 1, making some of the launches unusable. Call the Corps of Engineers at (208) 476-1252 before heading out.

This is the time when Idaho trout anglers generally head into the mountains for cutthroat trout. The Locksaw, North Fork and Selway are all good bets. Anglers are catching rainbows on the Moyie River. Nymphs or streamers will entice the larger fish

Jameson Lake between Coulee City and Waterville is a good place to take a limit of 10- to 13-inch rainbow. Bank fishing with Powerbait has often been more effective than trolling. For information, call Jack’s Resort at (509) 683-1095.

The trout bite hasn’t slowed down much at little Downs Lake south of Cheney. Rainbow averaging 10 inches are aggressively hitting trolled Roostertails tipped with worm. Large perch are beginning to show, also.

In the same general area as Downs are Badger, Fishtrap and Williams – all of which still produce consistent trout fishing.

The St. Joe River flow was at 1,860 cfs Wednesday (wadeable). Hatches include big golden stones, yellow sallies, PMDs, green drakes, brown drakes and caddis. Evening caddis action on the lower river has been fair. The Clark Fork was running at 10,800 cfs on Wednesday with clarity of 3-4 feet.

The upper Bitterroot near Darby was running at 1,460 cfs early in the week, a little high. The West and East Forks continue to be the most consistent and, with a flow of 338 cfs, it is wadeable. Good fishing should be available this weekend.

Fly-fishermen are enjoying a good rainbow and cutthroat bite at Browns Lake in Pend Oreille County. Most of the fish are in the 10-12-inch range, with a few going 14 inches. Green nymphs are doing the damage. Marshall Lake is giving up nice catches of 10-14-inch cutthroat to both fly and still-fisherman.

Spiny ray

Anglers willing to navigate the channel into Bonnie Lake are finding excellent perch and crappie fishing. A recent report from Spokane’s Cory Condron indicated that one in five crappie was 11 inches or better.

I fished Lake Roosevelt out of the Kettle Falls launch early this week. The walleye bite was fair to good for 14- to 20-inch walleye, mostly in 20-30 feet of water. A gold spinner with pink beads caught the majority of fish. Smallmouth fishing in the Kettle River was excellent. Good walleye reports have come out of the Daisy/Hunter and China Bend areas this week.

The Okanogan River smallmouth fishing is picking up. As the water clears, walleye will begin to move up into the river. Most of the fish will be taken on spinner rigs from the Monse Bridge downstream.

Walleye fishing is good at Banks Lake, with the south end around the sunken islands particularly productive. Crankbaits are becoming increasingly effective. Mike Graham at Mike’s Bait and Tackle in Moses Lake says Moses Lake and Potholes have been slow.

Liberty and Coffeepot lakes have been mentioned several times this week as excellent largemouth destinations. Eloika, Newman, Long, Hayden, Hauser, Downs and Clear are also providing good bass fishing.

You’ll have to do some sorting to get enough Loon Lake perch for a fish fry, but 10- and 11-inchers aren’t that uncommon. A standard kokanee setup with maggots is effective.

Other species

Shad fishing below Bonneville is still pretty easy.

Channel cats are being caught from the Lewiston Levy. The waters below Lower Granite Dam are also a popular destination.

Fernan Lake in Idaho is hot for catfish right now. Night fishing is most productive.