Trout and kokanee

Cool weather has definitely extended the good fishing in lowland lakes, and anglers hoping for a mess of rainbow shouldn’t have to work too hard at it. Williams, Fishtrap, Clear, Fish, Amber, Badger – take your pick. Farther north, Loon, Deer and Waitts are good, with Loon putting out some nice kokanee for trollers. Farther north still, try Marshall for cutthroat or Curlew for rainbow. The 8- to 11-inch plants at Curlew are becoming active, but if you can get through them, a lot of fat 14-inchers are waiting.

There is still no great news for fly fishermen hoping to fish area rivers, as most remain high and fast. The St. Regis is getting close.

Spokane’s Brian Stauffacher has averaged 20 fish a day trolling for Pend Oreille macks. He said you need to kick up sand with the downrigger ball in 150-200 feet of water in the usual places around Pearl and Warren Islands. Stauffacher has also had good luck on Priest jigging Glo Grubs or hootchies in Mack Alley and around the island points.

In the Okanogan, fishing continues to be good for Lake Chelan kokanee. Landlocked chinook fishing has been good enough that WDWF has extended the season until further notice.

Successful anglers are using leech patterns under strike indicators for Hayden and Cocolalla Lake trout. Cocolalla has several varieties – cutthroat, brookies, browns and rainbow to 15 inches.

Kokanee fishing at Lake Koocanusa in Montana is good, especially around the Five Mile area and around the dam and island. The fish, running 8-14 inches, are healthy and thick. Limits (50 per day) are common. Rainbow fishing at Koocanusa is getting better. The bull trout season started Sunday. After purchasing a Montana fishing license, you can apply for a bull trout catch card at www.mt.gov/fishing.

Salmon and steelhead

Anglers are taking a few chinook from the Clearwater, particularly near Orofino. The water is described as “high but fishable,” finally running at less than 50,000 cfs. Eighty percent of the fish are 9-13 pounds, but there are more 20- to 28-pounders than usual. Anglers fishing the North Fork Clearwater River below Dworshak Dam and the Snake River just below Hells Canyon Dam are finding fish.

The Yakima River spring chinook season has been extended through June 30 in the lower and middle reaches of the Yakima River. The late return and high flows and turbidity from quickly melting snow pack have made the river unfishable to this point.

Drano Lake chinook effort and catch is declining quickly, though boat anglers are still catching a few spring chinook. The fishery will be closed to non-Yakama tribal members on Wednesday only.

Kalama River anglers are catching a few steelhead. Lewis River anglers are catching spring chinook and steelhead from the mouth upstream. Spring chinook appear to be moving through in small spurts. The Klickitat River still has a tinge of brown, but bank anglers are catching some spring chinook and summer-run steelhead in the lower river.

Spiny ray

The Inland Empire Bass Club, held its second bass fishing tournament May 17 and 18 on a cold, flood-stage Pend Oreille River. The winner, Thad Schultz of Newport, weighed in 10 fish for an astounding 44.90 pounds.

On Banks Lake, Spokane’s Inland Empire Bass Club swept the state’s 37th annual Bass Club Jamboree last weekend, an event that drew 170 participants from 17 clubs. They won the team victory as well as first and second places in individual adults division, with Jim Louie placing first with a three-day total of 32.95 pounds. Joey Nania placed second with a total of 31.83 pounds. Inland also placed Martin Bixby and Bobby Forster in ninth and 10th overall, respectively. Louie said the fish were prespawn, hitting mostly crank baits.

Banks Lake walleye anglers note that fish are still deep and scattered. A lot of 14-inch-plus perch are coming in. Spokane tournament angler Shawn Bonger of Skipper Bills noted that everything in Banks is bigger than usual this year.

There haven’t been many walleye reports from Potholes Reservoir, but Moses Lake is excellent. This weekend’s tournament out of Cascade Park should produce big numbers for the winners. The final weigh-in is Sunday beginning at 2 p.m.

Walleye fishing was generally spotty for small fish on the Spokane Arm opener last weekend, though John Norsada of Sportsmen’s Warehouse said his party had excellent luck on larger fish by throwing crankbaits into the shallows. Anglers who went upriver from Porcupine Bay to fish the skinnier water also found slightly larger fish. Excellent fishing was reported north of the Kettle Falls Bridge and at Northport.

Largemouth are close to spawning in area lakes. Good fishing is reported in the usual early June hotspots – Newman, Eloika, Downs, Silver, Clear, Sacheen, Diamond, North Twin, Hauser and Hayden. Liberty Lake is cranking out some decent fish, as are some of the backwater sloughs on Lake Coeur d’Alene. Smallmouth anglers on the Bonneville Pool caught nearly nine fish per rod last weekend.

Other species

The Snake River is high and muddy, slowing down what had been excellent walleye fishing near Lyons Ferry. Channel cats 3-9 pounds are biting well in the Palouse.

The Bonneville Dam shad counts are off to the slowest start in more than a decade. At midweek, the count was around 80,000, compared to nearly 1 million last year.

Hunting

June 18 is the deadline for submitting Washington deer, elk, mountain goat, bighorn sheep, moose, turkey and spring bear special hunting permit applications.

The second controlled hunt application period for 26 leftover Idaho moose hunt permits runs from June 15-25. The application period for leftover tags for deer, elk, antelope and fall black bear hunts will be Aug. 5-15.

Tip of the week

An excellent way to cook large trout is to fillet them, rub with olive oil and lemon pepper, and place directly on the grill over charcoal. When cooked, use a spatula to remove the flesh from the skin. Once the grill cools, the charred skin will peel right off and cleanup is easy.

Braggin’ rights

Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. I just returned from a one-week black bear hunting trip to Alaska with a beautiful 61/2-foot bear hide and 100 pounds of excellent meat. I had fallen asleep overlooking a tidal flat, and when I awoke to noises, the big boar was feeding toward me at 10 yards. It was my first bear hunt.

Overheard

A few tight-lipped anglers have been catching Lake Coeur d’Alene chinook from the Big Spokane River near the Millwood Bridge southeast of Spokane.

Heads up

Hunters have until June 18 to apply for special fall hunting permits, but wildlife managers suggest they submit their applications as soon as possible to avoid potential delays and complications.

•The salmon boundary in Idaho’s spring chinook pamphlet’s list of river location codes was incorrect. Section 03 is from Railroad Bridge at Lewiston upstream to the Orofino Bridge

•Idaho’s Free Fishing Day is Saturday and fishing events are planned around the state. Rods are usually provided at these, as well as some basic instruction. In the Panhandle Region, contact Pete Gardner, (208)769-1414. In the Clearwater Region, contact Mike Demick, (208)799-5010.