Hunting + fishing
Fly fishing
Fish Lake is a good bet for recently planted tiger trout of about 10 inches. There are larger fish, with holdover tigers running 16 inches and the odd brookie up to 19. Mayflies, chironomids and a few damselflies are on the water.
Most of the scab rock lakes near Cheney are seeing wonderful hatches this week.
Anglers may want to wait until next week to try the Clark Fork. At midweek, it was running high and brown. There are lots of bugs out, so when the river drops back into shape, fishing should be excellent. The St. Regis is also high.
There has been some great bug activity for fly fishermen on some of the small northeast Washington cutthroat lakes in Pend Oreille County.
Bug activity on the Yakima River has been excellent.
Salmon and steelhead
Although the Snake River has closed for spring chinook, the Clearwater River is still open and anglers are catching fish. The Guide Shop in Orofino reported most salmon weigh in the teens, but fish as large as 27 pounds have been landed.
Chinook effort and catch has dropped at the mouth of the Wind River, while fishing in the gorge has improved.
About one in four boat anglers at the mouth caught an adult spring chinook last week. More than half the bank anglers sampled in the gorge had caught a fish.
Drano Lake catch rates remain good though a little slower than the previous week. The daily limit will be increased to four hatchery chinook starting Saturday at Drano and Wind River.
An estimated 18 hatchery spring chinook were harvested in the lower Yakima River last week.
Trout and kokanee
Williams Lake is almost a sure thing for limits of 9- to 13-inch rainbow. Trolling Flatfish or flies or dunking Power Bait off the bottom are effective, but don’t forget the appeal of a single salmon egg on a size 14 hook.
Friends who fished Waitts Lake last week – and caught nothing but small plants – fished it again this week. This time, half their limit catch were fish more than 14 inches.
Clear Lake trout aren’t big, but occasionally a 20-incher comes in. A fast troll along the cliffs on either side has been productive.
West Medical trout are on the small side, but there are a lot of them.
Lake Roosevelt is still booting out beautiful rainbow running 15-24 inches, the best-tasting trout in Washington. The fish are deeper now. Troll 3-4 colors or more over deep water.
Jameson Lake anglers seem to do best in the late afternoon. Power Bait just off the bottom has accounted for numerous limits between Jack’s Resort and the public campground.
Anglers trolling Park Lake in Grant County are not experiencing fast fishing, but those they get are running 14-18 inches. A green Roostertail trolled just below the surface has been good.
Rufus Woods Reservoir has not given up many huge triploids recently, but it is producing good numbers of 2- to 5-pound fish.
The net pens are always a good place to start. Try trolling plugs or drifting dark jigs or bait.
Kokanee catches are picking up on Coeur d’Alene and continue good on Dworshak Reservoir in Idaho. The fish are small. On Loon Lake, anglers are beginning to take some kokes trolling but are finding the fish deeper than would be expected for this time of year. The average size is said to be 13 inches.
Loon also holds quite a few rainbow 16 inches and up, and the tiger trout are reaching a foot in length.
During their annual mid-May family fishing trip to Montana’s Lake Mary Ronan last weekend, Jeff Jordan reported “fabulous fishing” for 14-inch kokanee. He said they caught fish all day trolling a fly, but the mornings were sensational.
More than 200 rainbow trout implanted with microscopic tags have been and released in Lake Pend Oreille. These undetectable tags are worth values ranging from $50-$1,000.
All interested anglers must sign up for the Angler Incentive Program, clearly fill out the form, and place harvested heads in freezers around the lake.
Spiny ray
Liberty Lake anglers are finding both crappie and largemouth in good numbers.
Waitts Lake spiny ray anglers are also finding good bass action, though they are smaller than those at Liberty. Eloika Lake is hot. Any dock holds fish, but the entire east side has been productive.
Deer Lake bass are active. Fan Lake is better known for trout, but anglers have taken some large crappie and bass recently. Fish the docks and the blow-downs.
Lake Spokane is giving up largemouth and smallmouth in the Tum Tum area. This lake warms up more slowly than other area lakes, so look for a more consistent bite around June 1.
Fishing was slow last weekend for the 32 anglers entered in the tiger musky tournament at Silver Lake. Herb Zielke of Spokane won the tournament with a 37-inch fish. For membership info in the local chapter of Muskies Inc., call Craig Dowdy, (509) 999-0717.
An angler throwing plastics caught and released 30 bass in three hours on Downs Lake Wednesday – three more than 5 pounds. There are also a lot of small trout.
There is a big walleye tournament on Banks Lake this weekend. Anglers who have fished the lake say they are finding fish, but not big numbers.
A surprising number of largemouth and a few big perch are coming in. The smallmouth bite is good.
In the Columbia Basin, Moses Lake has heated up. Troll spinners in shallow water for walleye and throw crawdad- colored plugs for smallmouth. A few perch in excess of a pound have grabbed walleye presentations. Walleye are also being taken at Lind Coulee.
Other species
Sturgeon fishing is good in the gorge below Marker 82. Shad are beginning to show at Bonneville Dam, but it’s early for good fishing. Once they start, shad numbers build quickly.
Hunting
Hunters planning to apply for Washington state special hunting permits for fall deer, elk, mountain goat, moose, bighorn sheep and turkey seasons have until midnight Wednesday to submit applications.
Don’t wait until the last minute. A rush could cause computer logjams.
According to records kept by IDFW, the best period to hunt spring bears in that state is May 10-25. Two units (7 and 9) are open through the end of June.
There’s not a lot of harvest in those units, but they do have the oldest bears in the region.