Fly fishing

Nearly the entire Clark Fork River is fishing well with pods of risers where they normally are. From about noon until 6:30 p.m., the fish are on the surface. Large parachute Adams are working well above Milltown and below Tarkio, but in the middle sections, mahogany Comparaduns, Sparkle duns or emergers in a size 14 have been best.

At Northwest Outfitters in Coeur d’Alene, Bob Drummond said the window for dry fly fishing on the North Fork Coeur d’Alene and the St. Joe is between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. and continues to shrink as the weather cools. Mahoganies are working, but it will soon be a nymphing game.

Grande Ronde fly-fishermen are having a tough go of it, said guide Rick Hedding. He said there are plenty of steelhead in the river, but they are spread out and there haven’t been any fresh fish for quite a while. The Ronde is clear and cold and pluggers are doing better than anyone.

Medical Lake is still having some small chironomid hatches and fly fishermen are catching enough 15- to 20-inch browns and rainbow to keep things interesting.

Trout

At Valley White Elephant, John Kallas emphasizes trout fishing at Sprague Lake. “You can’t miss,” Kallas said. “Most are 14-17 inches, but a lady was in here yesterday with a 31/2-pound triploid. She caught her limit in 45 minutes.” Fishing is so good, even bank fishermen are catching limits off the public access.

An excellent brown trout bite is packing the public access at Rock Lake. Anglers trolling Firetiger Apexes and either trolling or casting the new HummBait are taking limits of big browns. Anglers targeting rainbow have gone with an old standby – the Flatfish.

Lake Roosevelt rainbow have been productive at times for trollers near Lincoln and Sterling Point. Guide Lenny Mayo said clients limited early Tuesday and Wednesday trolling a Jim’s Perch Fly tipped with worm straight across from Jones Bay. The fish were holding at 18-20 feet. Mayo said one of the fish was small, but two were more than 22 inches and the rest were 14-15 inches. Info: 725-8447.

Try trolling flies early at the lower end of Rufus Woods Reservoir for triploid rainbows. After the sun has been up for a bit, cast Roostertails and Super Roostertails at shoreline structures and over big boulders. Black is the old standby, but try brown with a gold blade if the day is really bright. The bite is furious at times.

Trout fishing from 20 feet to the surface was said to be good this week at Hayden. Anglers there are also finding some crappie.

Spiny ray

At Fins and Feathers in Coeur d’Alene, Jeff Smith fished for pike two days early this week. “We caught nothing over 10 pounds, but we brought about a dozen fish to the boat,” Smith said. He was fishing north-end bays such as Mica, Wolf Lodge and Cougar, and said the key is finding weed beds in 10-12 feet of water that are standing rather than lying over. Smith prefers Daredevil and Cyclops spoons or Rapala Husky Jerks this time of year.

Potholes Reservoir is finally giving up some of her walleye. Anglers using blade baits along the face of the dunes are doing well. A recent WDFW netting survey on Potholes was more successful than last year, although there were a lot of small fish. Potholes bass are still biting aggressively, as are the bass in most area lakes and reservoirs. An angler fishing the middle of Eloika Lake with spinnerbaits said he caught 25 largemouth this week.

Salmon and steelhead

Snake River steelhead anglers have caught fish by trolling Hot Lips and Wiggle Warts in black and white or chartreuse near Wawawai, although bank fishermen are not doing nearly as well. Steelheading near Heller Bar has been excellent for anglers fishing with Beamer’s Guide Service. Info: 1-800-5-CANYON.

Clearwater River B-run fish are early this year. Pluggers and jig fishermen are having some good days, and quite a few 17-pounders have been in the take.

Steelheading near Pateros has been good, and there is a lot of pressure up the Methow River. Flies and jib/bobber combinations are working equally well, but the fish are being quickly educated. The fish are running a little larger than last year.

The Ringold steelhead fishery picked up this past week with bank anglers averaging one steelhead for each four hours of fishing. This steelhead fishery is open for retention of Ringold Hatchery-origin steelhead only, as identified by an adipose and right ventral fin clip. All adipose only and wild steelhead must be released. Retention of adipose-only fish will be permitted beginning Nov. 1.

A few 3- to 6-pound Coeur d’Alene chinook have been taken recently on Mini-squids at 90 feet near Harlow Point, Harrison Bay, off Tubbs Hill and in front of the golf course.

Hunting

The pheasant opener was the worst for me, although some gunners in the same area (Winona) managed to scratch down a few birds. A grasshopper infestation had eliminated a lot of the cover and the ranch I hunted had been grazed hard. On a more optimistic note, gunners near Rosalia and St. John reported seeing lots of birds, and the quail population is booming.

Area goose hunters say the honkers seem to be coming out to feed earlier than usual this season. King Goose Guides reported limits on three successive hunts – all by 8:15 a.m. Info: 979-8011.

Good duck shooting is still available, mostly on widgeon and teal, although there are enough mallards to keep things interesting. The little lakes around Coeur d’Alene have been good, as have small lakes and ponds closer to Spokane. It seems almost every bay on Coeur d’Alene Lake is loaded with geese.

The Moses Lake area is still good for waterfowl. The MarDon Resort Duck Taxi has had some excellent shooting days in the dunes.

The clear, cold weather combined with hunting pressure has caused whitetails to hole up during the day and feed at night. Your last chance for an early-season buck is this evening at last light. After not seeing a deer for five mornings, my friend Bob Aho switched to evenings and shot a nice three-point Tuesday with but 10 minutes of legal light remaining. General season modern rifle deer hunting closes until the late season, which begins Nov. 3.

The number of elk checked in at the Enaville and St. Maries check stations show better than expected numbers and almost identical to last year.