Hunting+Fishing

Fri., May 2, 2008

Alan Liere The Spokesman-Review

Tip of the week

» When fishing Banks Lake for walleye, pay attention to how much water is being pumped from the lake. During high-volume pumping, bait fish move into the shallows and are followed by the predator species.

Braggin' rights

» After seven fruitless hunting trips into the turkey woods, my season ended abruptly last week when I shot a big gobbler at 30 yards. Much to my amazement, the shot also killed a second gobbler of the same size that I hadn't seen. Thankfully, I had two tags.

Overheard

» Fish biologists electroshocking the Pend Oreille River recently tagged a northern pike that was close to the same length as the state record 34-pounder caught from Long Lake in 2004.

Heads up

» In the 2008 Idaho chinook rules brochure, the river location code incorrectly lists Section 03 as the Clearwater River from the Railroad Bridge at Lewiston to the Cherry Lane Bridge. The lower Clearwater mainstem Section 03 is actually from the Camas Prairie Railroad Bridge upstream to the Orofino Bridge.

“Anglers planning to fish the Wind River and Drano Lake should know that Skamania County is charging a fee to park or launch a boat in those areas. The one-day cost is $5, although annual passes can also be purchased

“The Bonneville Power Administration's 2008 Northern Pikeminnow Sport Reward Program starts Monday and runs through Sept. 28. Details are at www. pikeminnow.org/info.html.

Trout and kokanee

Cooler weather has put Washington’s lowland lakes about two weeks behind. This should ensure good fishing well into the summer. The top lakes in eastern Washington’s opening weekend were Deep and Rocky in Stevens County, Williams Lake in Spokane County, and Blue and Warden in Grant County. Perch Lake, another Grant County fishery that opened Saturday, averaged 3.6 trout per angler.

Arlington, Wash., resident, Pete Sobczuk again caught the biggest opening-day Loon Lake mackinaw – an 18-pounder. It was one of 10 macks checked in at Granite Point Resort. Sobczuk later bested his opening-day fish with a 20-pounder.

Although fishing was generally slow at Jump-Off Joe Lake last weekend, 9-year-old Mitch Kirkpatrick wasn’t complaining. Trolling a perch Flatfish, he caught his two largest fish – brown trout of about 16 inches.

Clear Lake hasn’t been kind to trollers, but anglers fishing 6 feet down with bait in 20 feet of water are catching rainbow and browns more than 18 inches.

Several March 1-opening fisheries in the Columbia Basin are continuing to produce good catches, including Quincy, Burke, Dusty and the Caliche lakes. Dry Falls Lake, a selective gear fishery that opened April 1, has also been good.

Art Viola, WDFW fish biologist, reported a slow Saturday fishing season opener in Chelan County.

In the Okanogan district, Bob Jateff, WDFW fish biologist, also reported a slower than usual season opener. He expects that when access and water temperatures improve, fishing should be good in traditionally popular waters like Conconully, Spectacle, Wannacut, Pearrygin and Alta lakes in Okanogan County, and Jameson Lake in Douglas County. North Silver Lake in southwest Spokane County has been good for rainbows, and Medical Lake is good for large brown, rainbow, and tiger trout under selective gear rules. Rock Lake in Whitman County remains excellent for browns and rainbow.

The Lake Pend Oreille Spring Derby ends Sunday. Many mackinaw and rainbow have been weighed in and many other smaller fish caught. The largest mack has been just more than 16 pounds and the largest rainbow 12 1/2 pounds. A perch weighing a phenomenal 2.2 pounds has also been recorded.

Salmon and steelhead

Even though only 400 spring chinook salmon were counted over McNary Dam last weekend, Jeff Knox of JB Guides in Pasco got two hookups while back-trolling Kwikfish in the lower Snake, which opened last week for the first time in decades.

“If hot weather doesn’t blow out the river, this could be great in a week or so,” Knox said Wednesday.

Elsewhere on the Snake, Verna Foley at Darver Tackle in Starbuck said five chinook were caught off “The Wall” Thursday morning. More than 6,600 chinook passed Bonneville Dam on Wednesday, 175 passed Little Goose, and 329 were counted at Lower Granite.

Spiny ray

The Pend Oreille River has been producing good catches of largemouth bass in sloughs between Newport and River’s Bend on the road to Usk. According to Kalispel fisheries biologist Joe Maroney, this same stretch can be excellent for northern pike, although the toothsome fish are being caught all the way to Box Canyon Dam. Maroney said the Kalispel Tribe has been monitoring the Pend Oreille River pike population for three years and while there is not a huge population, the fish there are putting on as much as 7 pounds a year.

Other species

The last razor clam dig of the spring season begins Saturday. Long Beach and Twin Harbors Beach will open for morning digs Saturday through Wednesday, while Copalis and Mocrocks are scheduled to open Sunday and Monday only.

Marine Areas 3 and 4 (Neah Bay/La Push) open May 13 on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Marine Area 5 (Sekiu) will be open May 22, Thursday through Monday.

The popular shrimp season opens throughout Puget Sound Saturday, and shad fishing opens from Bonneville Dam downstream May 16.

Hunting

The application period for Idaho deer, elk, pronghorn, fall black bear and fall turkey runs through June 5. Youths 15 or younger on Sept. 15 may apply for one of the 100 fall controlled hunt permits available for Unit 71 in the Southeast region. Any turkey hunter may apply for another 100 controlled hunt permits for Unit 71 where the fall controlled hunt runs from Sept. 15 through Dec. 31.

Idaho Depredation hunt sign-ups run through June 30.