Weekly hunting and fishing report

Fly fishing

The Spokane River is on a slow rise and has been decent lately at midday. Nymphs and streamers on the bottom are taking some nice rainbow and an occasional brown trout. Blue wing olive patterns on top are even bringing strikes.

Water levels on the Grande Ronde are good for steelheading and the fish seem to be slightly larger than last year. Both the mouth and the Boggan’s Oasis stretch have been good.

Ice flows are gone from the Yakima River. As long as night temperatures stay out of the teens, fishing can be productive. Fish the slow deep buckets in 3-4 feet of water.

Fly fishermen report “fantastic fishing” this past week at Rocky Ford near Ephrata.

Salmon and steelhead

At Northwest Fishing, Bart Jarrett said the Clearwater River has been better recently than at any other time this year. When the Snake River levels shot up, it filled the Clearwater with steelhead running about 40 percent hatchery. Jarrett’s boat is drifting shrimp for double-digit catches. Info: (208) 790-2277.

Steelhead fishing was red-hot from the shore at Wawawai last weekend but tapered off considerably on Monday. The best bite is dependent on a number of sometimes-unpredictable events such as rising water and water temperatures.

The Columbia River near Bridgeport, Washington, is a good place to find steelhead. The most successful anglers are drifting a jig and bobber from a boat.

Another good steelhead spot on the upper Columbia is near Pateros. The estuary was ice free at this writing. Drift bobbers and jigs along the shore off the points. If the Methow River freezes again, steelhead will go back to the Columbia. Fishing should get good below the bridge, where bait is allowed.

The Grande Ronde is cold, but steelhead fishing has been pretty good. Keep your Corky and yarn bouncing the bottom.

The Gene Fink Memorial Tournament on Coeur d’Alene Lake last weekend had around 100 participants and almost everyone caught chinook. At Fins and Feathers, Jeff Smith said the big lake seems to be getting the November bite a month late. Many of the fish are under the 20-inch minimum, but there are plenty that are larger. Smith said the best setup is an 8-inch flasher followed by a 24-inch leader tied to either a Mini squid or helmeted herring and fished at 85-105 feet.

Spiny ray

Open year-round, Moses Lake in the Columbia Basin usually provides good winter perch fishing as the fish bunch up into large schools. The lake is mostly open and while good for waterfowl hunters, ice fishing possibilities are nil.

Good numbers of good-sized walleye are still being caught on Potholes Reservoir in front of the sand dunes by both trollers and those working blade baits.

It’s still possible to take northern pike on jerk baits or slow-retrieved swim baits from Lake Coeur d’Alene if you can find some standing weeds. Bait fishing the bays is picking up.

Although there has been little participation on Banks Lake, Lou Nevsimal at Coulee Playland Resort said water temperatures are still in the 40s and there is no reason the walleye and smallmouth fishing shouldn’t be good. He said nearby Rufus Woods has been decent for walleye.

Trout and kokanee

Rainbow fishing on Rufus Woods Lake is excellent from the Seaton Grove launch to the net pens. Most of the fish have ranged from 16-24 inches. Dark-colored and crawfish-colored jigs have been effective.

Trout anglers on Lake Roosevelt are using the phrase “nonstop action” a lot in their reports. During the past week, it didn’t seem to matter where you went or what you used, the husky rainbow were cooperative. A friend who fished from shore at Lincoln said he caught his limit in short order using PowerBait on bottom. The smallest fish was 13 1/2 inches and the largest was 18 1/2 inches.

Friends who went to Hatch Lake last weekend said the ice might have been OK then “for a skinny guy,” but they didn’t feel comfortable venturing out on 3 inches. There is even less now. At Williams Lake near Colville, fish biologists have been pleasantly surprised with the quality of the trout as it was feared a goldfish infestation would have a negative impact. Carryovers have been a robust 16-17 inches and this year’s catchables are up to 13 inches. Shore fishing is a possibility at Williams.

At Hog Canyon, ice has gone from thin to worse. The lone angler with whom I spoke went out last week and said fishing was fast for small trout. There should be plenty of open water at Fourth of July this week, but the launch is still frozen up. Recent reports from the lake indicate fishing is holding up for rainbow more than 14 inches from the east side.

The Medicare Beach area, across from Mar Don Resort on Potholes Reservoir, is beginning to dish up its usual winter serving of big rainbow. Banks Lake is producing rainbow of more than 20 inches.

On Lake Chelan, trollers are finding some nice carryover rainbow and the occasional kokanee.

Other species

Shellfish managers have announced a new schedule of proposed digs for early 2015, extending an opening tentatively set for Dec. 31. The schedule proposes six more days of digging during the first week in January and three more multiday digs through February.

Burbot are on the bite at Lake Roosevelt, reports Craig Dowdy at YJ Guide Service. The fish aren’t particularly large at this time (around 19 inches), but that depends on the day and the location. Usually, he says, the average is closer to 5 pounds. Dowdy is targeting 40 feet of water in the vicinity of Hawk Creek using jigs and nightcrawlers. Info: (509) 999-0717.

Hunting

Duck hunters are finally getting the flights and conditions they want. Not only are big numbers evident, particularly in the Columbia Basin, but there is a lot of open water and no snow to cover their food. The Moses Lake area was “phenomenal” last week, said several waterfowl hunters. Potholes Reservoir is wide open and the dunes are loaded with birds. McNary Wildlife Refuge is holding thousands of birds and conditions are not likely to change soon.

Pheasant hunters are still waiting for a good snow to slow the birds down and make them hold. Although there are pockets of pheasants, this has shaped up as a pretty poor season. Bird hunters might be better off to chasing grouse, which seem to have made a slight recovery. That season remains open through December.