Weekly hunting and fishing report

Thu., June 12, 2014

By Alan Liere spokesmanliere@yahoo.com

Tip of the week

I have removed single-barbed hooks relatively painlessly from human flesh by looping a piece of fishing line around the bend of the hook, pressing down on the end of the shank and using the looped line to jerk the hook out through the entry hole. Until recently, I had never had to deal with an imbedded treble hook. The process was the same, but each hook had to be removed separately and a wire cutter was needed to separate them. Fortunately, there was one in the boat. This tool would be a good addition to any tackle box.

Braggin’ rights

I had the pleasure of fishing in Devils Lake, North Dakota, last week with Al Rettmann and his son, Jon, both of Spokane. Jon put on a walleye-fishing clinic each day, catching numerous fish over 5 pounds. His father did well also, but I caught mostly northern pike and white bass.

Overheard

Juvenile sockeye salmon have been taking a beating somewhere in the vicinity of the mid-Columbia River’s McNary Dam, or at the dam itself, losing a lot of scales as they head toward the Pacific. Potential solutions implemented over the past two weeks do not seem to be resolving the issue, which weakens the fish.

Heads up

Saturday is Free Fishing Day in Idaho. Volunteers will be helping people with equipment and advice at the following locations in the Panhandle region from 9 a.m. to noon: Bonners Ferry, Snow Creek Pond; Calder, Calder Pond; Enaville, Steamboat Pond; Harrison, Harrison Marina; Mullan, Lucky Friday Pond; Post Falls, Post Falls Park Pond; Priest Lake, Priest Lake Golf Course; Rathdrum, Rathdrum City Park; Sandpoint, Round Lake State Park; Coeur d'Alene, Ponderosa Springs Golf Course (7 a.m. to 11 a.m.). Most of these were recently stocked with 9- to 11-inch rainbow.

Fly Fishing

Float tubers on Amber were all catching fish this week. Troll deep with leeches or buggers or try dragonfly patterns along the weeds.

The Lower Spokane is high but fishable. Look for slow current lines or concentrate efforts along the banks in back eddies.

Most of the Coeur d’Alene drainage is fishing well. Green drakes and golden stones have been getting the fish, but don’t ignore stimulators.

Trout and kokanee

At Sprague Lake, Bill Blosser reports the phenomenal fishing for big rainbow continues. Worm and marshmallow “sandwiches” are an excellent choice.

Tree 11 on Williams Lake is the go-to spot for still fishermen. Yellow PowerBait or corn has been most effective recently. Most trout are 12 inches, but there are 14- to 16-inchers too.

West Medical bank fishermen are doing well with chartreuse PowerBait, and trollers are using Wedding Rings tipped with worms. Clear Lake has been giving up fast limits of trout, many over 16 inches.

Davis Lake in Pend Oreille County is best fished from a boat. The same Wedding Ring setup as used at Diamond is enticing rainbow to 4 pounds.

Anglers fishing at the confluence of the Little Spokane are catching a lot of small trout.

Rainbow fishing in upper Coffeepot Lake is good. Anglers trolling Wooly Buggers say all fish are over 18 inches.

Lake Roosevelt anglers trolling in Swawilla Basin are catching trout on Kekeda flies in orange and chartreuse/orange at about 15 feet over 100-foot water. Recent net-pen releases can be bothersome.

Kokanee fishing on the west shore in 100-110 feet of water below the Yacht Club has improved recently on Lake Chelan. Colyar Ledge continues to provide good action in the morning for small macks.

Omak Lake is hot for Lahontan cutthroat. Last week, it was producing 10 fish an hour for anglers trolling Kingfisher Lite spoons in glow-green color. While some fish are 12 to 14 inches, every trip produces at least one bragging-size cutthroat.

Salmon and steelhead

Only the harvest of adipose- clipped jack chinook is now allowed downstream of Orofino Bridge and in the North Fork Clearwater River. Anglers may keep up to four of these per day.

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has opened two sections of the Wenatchee River – the first such openings in almost 20 years. The openings are from the foot bridge at Confluence Park to 400 feet below Dryden Dam and from the confluence with Peshastin Creek to the downstream side of the confluence with the Icicle River and from that point to a marker on the opposite shore. The season will run seven days a week until further notice.

The chinook bite on the Icicle River has picked up. They are now present in good numbers in the upper river.

Fishing for salmon continues to improve out of Ilwaco. The two-hatchery-chinook fishery closes Friday. Beginning Saturday, the limit is one chinook, clipped or not, and one or two clipped coho.

Spiny ray

Diamond Lake is hot for bass, both large and smallmouth. Fish the docks with soft baits such as a Senko.

Friends fishing near Northport in the area known as “The Dalles” did very well last weekend on 16- to 18-inch walleye. They were dropping ¾-ounce jigs in 25-35 feet of water, but noted they also took some fish much shallower.

Liberty Lake has been booting out big numbers of decent-sized crappie and perch. There are also a lot of throw-backs to keep the action non-stop.

Silver Lake largemouth are hitting on both sides of the lake. Topwaters and deep-running plastics are both working. There has been a variety of sizes taken – up to 4 pounds.

It’s pretty easy to catch a lot of smallmouth from Long Lake from the launch at Nine Mile all the way to Tum Tum. Many of the fish are small, but there has been a smattering of 2- to 3-pounders. Tube jigs are hard to beat. There are some big schools of 6- to 10-inch perch in the stretch. Target the outside of weed beds.

Anglers fishing the recent pike tournament between Box Canyon and Boundary Dams said there were a lot of fish caught. The winning fish was over 20 pounds.

Walleye fishing has been excellent on the Spokane Arm from the launch in Porcupine Bay to Buoy 5, but the fish are small. Anglers say the catch-to-keep ratio is about 6:1.

Potholes Reservoir walleye anglers are finding big concentrations of fish in Crab Creek. The key has been a Macks Lures Smile Blade/Slow Death Hook combination. The fish are hanging near weed lines in 8 to 15 feet of water.

The Moses Lake walleye bite appears to have slowed some, but perch fishing is picking up.

Smallmouth bass fishing on Banks is red hot everywhere on the lake. The fish are on shallow gravel flats and some are on their beds. Barker Flats is producing a lot of walleye under the 16-inch minimum, but there are enough 16- to 19-inch fish to keep things interesting. Troll Slow Death hooks with nightcrawlers and Smile Blades in 25-35 feet of water.

Smallmouth bass action is very good on most stretches of the Snake River. A black curlytail grub will put you in lots of fish, but the bigger ones seem to prefer crankbaits.

Walleye fishing was excellent last week in The Dalles and John Day pools.

Other species

It is prime time for Snake River sturgeon and Grande Ronde smallmouth says guide Toby Wyatt in Clarkston. Info: 208-790-2128.

Channel cat fishing in very shallow water on the Palouse River near Lyons Ferry has been erratic with an hour of nothing followed by several fish in a 10-minute span. Shrimp or nightcrawlers have been popular lately.

The biggest fish, so far, entered in the Lyons Ferry Catfish Derby weighed 11.1 pounds.

Beginning Saturday, anglers may not retain white sturgeon in the John Day Pool, as the harvest guideline of 500 fish is expected to be reached. Catch-and-release fishing for sturgeon will be allowed.

Over 64,000 shad passed Bonneville on June 10. Successful anglers are losing a lot of gear, but an alternative to the relatively expensive shad darts are crappie jigs in white, red and orange.

Contact Alan Liere by email at spokesmanliere@yahoo.com