Fly fishing

Flows on the Spokane River are down enough to make the river wadeable, and anglers fishing near the T.J. Meenach Bridge and elsewhere report taking numerous rainbow 12-18 inches on caddis pupa imitations and soft hackle patterns. Caddis hatches, while not huge, are constant.

The Clark Fork River continues to drop quickly and is plenty fishable both above and below Missoula. Golden stones, PMDs, green drakes and yellow sallies have fish looking up. Spinner falls before dark provide some excellent fishing. Hoppers have also started to be productive. The Blackfoot, Bitterroot and Rock Creek are also fishing nicely. It’s looking as if all the Montana fisheries will be like the old days this summer – great fishing in the heat of the day, even in August.

The Methow River has dropped into good fishing shape with fly fishermen reporting catches of rainbow to 15 inches and cutthroat to 16 inches. Large dry flies and nymphs under strike indicators are good. Check the fishing pamphlet closely, as sections of the Methow are closed to all fishing.

Fishing has really picked up on the South Fork of the Snake. Salmon fly hatches are occurring and the pale morning duns are working well, too.

Henrys Lake continues to be excellent for fly anglers, especially early and late near west side tributaries. Brook trout are hitting near Targhee Creek. Several good caddis hatches occurred during the morning hours last week.

Trout and kokanee

Chris Donley, district biologist, recommends trout fishing during early morning hours or in the evening at almost any trout water in the region. “Rainbows are really active now at night,” he said. “Lake Roosevelt continues to produce them, and a lot of the smaller lakes up north and around Spokane are still a good bet.” The lower Spokane River has nice rainbows and browns and is much better fishing this year.

Mountain trails are snow free, except at the very highest elevations, and alpine lakes should provide good fishing for cutthroat, rainbow and eastern brook trout. For general high lake fishing information and potential hike-in and higher elevation fishing destinations, look at the “Trout Fishing in Washington’s High Lakes” publication at http://wdfw.wa.gov/outreach/fishing/ highlake.htm

Fan Lake north of Spokane has a good population of trout, some more than 20 inches long. Many of these are sitting in a slot on the west side of the lake, holding at about 20 feet. Flies, small lures and spinners are all taking fish.

Rufus Woods Reservoir is still loaded with trout. Once again, walleye anglers say they are having difficulty getting their plastics through the rainbow.

On Lake Chelan, troll early for macks along Minneapolis Beach and near the Yacht Club with T-4 Purple Glow flatfish with an Action Disk at 1.5 mph. Target water from 110 to 170 feet deep. Some really big fish have come in recently.

Hopefully it was just a weather or a moon thing, but night fishing for Loon Lake kokanee slowed dramatically for me last week. Other anglers, too, were returning to the public access after midnight with minimal catches.

Salmon and steelhead

Chinook fishing has picked up on the mainstem Columbia River above Wells Dam, where anglers have been catching some good-sized chinook in the 20 pounds-plus range, along with some sockeye running 3 to 5 pounds.

Columbia River anglers will be able to catch chinook salmon throughout August during this year’s “Buoy 10” fishery, but they will be required to release any chinook they intercept upriver to Bonneville Dam until Sept. 1.

Several rivers on the Olympic Peninsula will open for salmon fishing in the coming weeks, with the Skokomish River in Mason County and the Naselle and Willapa rivers in Pacific County opening Aug. 1. The Puyallup River in Pierce County and the Quilcene River in Jefferson County open Aug. 16

Anglers fishing for salmon have been doing fairly well off Ilwaco and Westport where the average has been about one fish per person recently, said Doug Milward, WDFW ocean salmon manager.

“In Ilwaco, people are mainly catching coho, while the catch at Westport is about half chinook and half coho,” Milward said.

Effort and catch are increasing for steelhead at Drano Lake. Many limits were reported July 19. White Salmon River anglers report a lot of steelhead being hooked there also.

There are enough steelhead entering the Clearwater River in Idaho now to make the catch-and-release season worth trying. The run looks strong this year and will only get better.

Spiny ray

Lake Roosevelt walleye have been cooperative all over the lake. Anglers fishing downstream of the island in the Spokane Arm report good catches at midday in 20-25 feet of water

Rufus Woods is in good shape and the walleye have been hitting spinners and jigs in 25-35 feet of water. Banks Lake has also been good for smaller walleye and bass. Crank baits are popular at Banks.

Fan, Diamond and Sacheen are not normally known as bass fishing destinations, but all have been booting out some nice largemouth, as well as perch and bluegill. In Idaho, Hayden, Hauser and Coeur d’Alene bass angling is very good.

Spiny ray anglers can expect good catches of perch in Patterson Lake near Winthrop and bluegill/crappie in Leader Lake near Omak. There is no minimum size and daily bag limit on these species in Okanogan County.

There is no shortage of Snake River smallmouth, but catching one more than 10 inches has been a challenge of late. The Grande Ronde, too, is being stingy with its larger fish.

Silver Lake near Cheney has provided some excellent bass fishing recently. One angler reported catching “a ton of fish” last weekend, but said many had some kind of sore on their mouths.

Good perch fishing is available now at Downs, Coffeepot, Deer, Waitts and Long lakes. They are not along the shorelines like they were during spring spawning, so anglers should jig for them in 25 feet or more. Though bait is not allowed on Coffeepot Lake, small yellow or white plastics work fine.

Pend Oreille bass and pike are active, particularly in sloughs fed by streams. Chartreuse or white spinnerbaits worked well last week from Newport west.

Other species

In Marine Area 1, the halibut fishery off Ilwaco will reopen Aug. 1-2. The only recreational halibut fishery remaining open on an ongoing basis is the nearshore fishery in Westport, which is open Fridays and Saturdays.

Dungeness crab limits have been the rule in all marine areas except Hood Canal where the numbers are low even compared to last year.