Hunting+Fishing

Salmon and steelhead

Steelhead fishing on the Snake River is excellent. Guide Tim Johnson of Fishhawk Guides said clients are averaging nearly five fish per rod, with more than half being keepers. Johnson also said fly fishermen are doing well on the Grande Ronde, although there isn’t enough water to comfortably float a drift boat. The Clearwater opened Monday for consumptive fishing, but hours fished per fish taken was 19 at midweek. Other waters in the system are even slower.

At Lyons Ferry Marina, Ed Merritt said steelhead fishing has been “spotty,” but a few B-run fish are showing. Fishing at the Tucannon mouth has slowed considerably as the steelhead have moved into deeper water.

Bob Jateff, WDFW Okanogan district fish biologist, said steelhead fishing on the Columbia River above Wells Dam, including the Okanogan and Methow rivers, has been good.

“Anglers are averaging a steelhead every eight to 10 hours of effort,” Jateff said. “Dark patterns seem to be working the best for both fly anglers and jig and bobber fishers.”

Jateff said anglers should remember that selective-gear rules are in effect for both the Okanogan and Methow rivers. Some areas are closed to all fishing.

Drano Lake and White Salmon River are kicking out a few coho, but effort has been light. On the Yakima River, chinook anglers averaged 11 hours per fish. Monday is the last scheduled day to fish the Yakima for salmon. Harvest has been slow at Ringold, with a lot of wild fish showing. Hanford Reach effort and catch dropped last week. Anglers averaged one fish for every 13.4 pole hours. The salmon season from the Old Hanford townsite wooden powerline towers to Priest Rapids Dam will also close after Monday.

Recent rains have turned the Cascade River in the North Cascades into a hotspot for coho salmon, and anglers fishing the Cowlitz River in southwest Washington have been averaging one silver per rod.

The popular chinook fishery at Vernita Bridge has not really kicked in, although Spokane author Pat McManus said he hooked a 35-pounder there last week.

“The really amazing thing,” McManus said, “was that by the time that fish got off, it weighed 50 pounds.”

Trout

With cooling temperatures, cutthroat trout in the St. Joe and Coeur d’Alene rivers have started moving down from the upstream reaches to where slower and or deeper water occurs. Fishing can be good in these rivers during the warmest part of the day with caddis, small mayflies and midge hatches occurring.

Jameson Lake in Douglas County continues to provide good fishing for 9- to 10-inch rainbows, with carryover fish up to 14 inches. Lahontan cutthroat are hitting flies at Lake Lenore. The bite seems to be best in a slight breeze.

Rock Lake is giving up quick limits of 14- to 15-inch rainbow and browns. Try trolling a fly in about 20 feet of water.

Many regional Washington lakes close Oct. 31. A few of these are Chapman, Clear, Loon, Deer, Jump-off Joe, Diamond and Sacheen. Some of the best fishing of the year is right now.

Spiny ray

Two friends and I fished the Columbia near Northport for walleyes at midweek, catching eight – half on jigs and half trolling crankbaits. Many of the fish were holding at 8-12 feet over deeper water.

Walleye and bass anglers at Banks Lake are still making some good catches. Lou Nevsimal at Coulee Playland Resort said the phenomenal walleye catch at Banks this summer was probably not so much a sudden plethora of fish, but more likely because anglers have figured out how to catch suspended fish.

Eloika Lake is producing red-hot fishing for bass and all species of panfish. The evening bite, right before dark, produces the most crappie.

Other species

Catfish are abundant and biting on the Snake River near Lyons Ferry in 12-20- feet of water with a current. The walleye bite, too, has been solid.

One in three boat anglers fishing right below Bonneville Dam has been taking home legal-size white sturgeon in recent days. Bank anglers are also catching their share of keepers.

Hunting

Deer hunters report finding pockets of habitat holding good numbers of pheasants in the Palouse. The season opens Saturday. Pheasant brood numbers throughout the region have been averaging three to five birds, said Joe McCanna, a WDFW upland bird specialist. Some private acreage with good habitat, including federal CRP and grasslands, are in WDFW “Feel Free to Hunt” or “Register to Hunt” programs, (noted with posted signs), especially in Whitman and Lincoln counties and south of the Snake River.

After a short midweek closure, waterfowl hunting resumes on Saturday and runs through Jan. 27. Hunting has been good for local birds on the Pend Oreille River and in the Columbia Basin. The early migrant species, including northern pintail and green-winged teal, are arriving in large numbers

The deer check station at Deer Park on Sunday indicated an 18 percent success rate in northern Washington counties. That compares to a 15 percent success rate in 2006. WDFW wildlife biologists also surveyed deer hunters at a check station in Colfax on Sunday. Only six deer, harvested in Game Management Units (GMU) 139 (Steptoe) and 142 (Almota) were checked this year, down from about 30 deer last year from a similar number of hunters.

A total of 72 southeast district deer hunters were checked at WDFW’s Asotin station on opening weekend with 32 bucks. Overall season success rates in those units usually average around 26 percent. Those hunting GMU 186 (Grande Ronde) complained of fewer deer. Modern firearm deer hunting continues through Sunday in most units in the region, through Oct. 26 in GMUs 105-124 for white-tailed bucks and through Oct. 28 in GMU 101 (Sherman) for white-tailed bucks

Modern firearm elk hunting opens Oct. 27 in Washington, with any elk fair game in some northeast and central district units, any bull available in GMUs 111 (Aladdin), 113 (Selkirk) and 117 (49 Degrees North), and spike bulls only in the Blue Mountains units. The largest herds of elk in the region are in the Blues.

WDFW northeast district wildlife biologist Steve Zender said that young hunters can continue to hunt antlerless white-tailed deer through the elk season.

“While everyone else is concentrating on elk in the mountains, this is a great time to work with landowners in lower lying areas to schedule a youth hunt,” he said, “while the pressure is off both the farmers and the deer.”

Idaho wildlife biologist Jim Hayden said there were about the same number of opening-day hunters in the woods this year as last, with fewer through the Enaville station but more through the St. Maries station. Check station results showed 47 bulls checked compared to 59 last year. The 22 deer checked this year is up from the 15 last year. This weekend is the big weekend for elk hunters in the Panhandle – cow elk are legal through Sunday everywhere in the region except Priest Lake