Weekly hunting and fishing report

Fly Fishing

Red’s Fly Shop in Cle Elum (509-933-2300) is voluntarily shifting to morning-only guide trips in the Yakima Canyon.  Water temperatures in the canyon are currently at a “safe” level, so this applies to only guided floats and is not mandatory for the do-it-yourself anglers at this time. Fly fishing in the Yakima has been very good.

At Silver Bow Fly Shop, Sean Visintainer says the Spokane River has the coldest water around but Hoot-Owl restrictions are in effect. In the lower river you can get some fish up on caddis and as things warm up, hoppers have been good in the riffles. Nymphing through any of the oxygenated riffles and mid-river trenches has been the best, he adds.

St. Joe water temperatures are cool enough to provide guilt-free fishing for cutthroats. The North Fork Coeur d’Alene cooled off some last week, and with slightly cooler weather ahead, it may remain fishable early and late.

Trout and kokanee

Despite rumors of poor fishing at Williams, one angler said catching a limit of trout was pretty easy. He drifted with the wind, dragging a nightcrawler near the bottom.

Many trout and kokanee anglers are heading north to cooler water, and a lot of them are fishing at night. Deeper lakes like Deer, Loon, Waitts, Diamond, Marshall, Bead, Curlew and Sullivan still have cool water and decent hot-weather fishing. To the south, Rock Lake is giving up nice rainbows and browns and should provide good fishing into the fall when the thousands of planted steelhead will be catchable size.

The Keller Ferry area remains hot for catches of 15-to 17-inch unclipped kokanee. Troll a pink Apex at about 50 over deep water. Spring Canyon has also been good.

Rufus Woods has provided excellent fishing for triploids running about 18 inches. Successful anglers are tossing Roostertails and small Rapalas against the shorelines. Fishing from the public access near the upper net pens is good.

Loon Lake kokanee have been cooperative at several sites on the lake for night fishermen. The fish are in 33 feet of water and usually don’t begin biting hard until after 10:30. Depth seems to be more important than location. Trollers are also having good luck in the early morning, though the fish caught still-fishing at night seem to be larger.

Salmon and steelhead

Sockeye salmon are stalling and some are dying at Bonneville and The Dalles dams. Some 486,000 have passed Bonneville, most headed up the Columbia River to the Okanogan River. Because the Okanogan River is so hot, however, many are pulling in at cool spots, such as Drano Lake on the Washington side of the Columbia River or have stalled at Wells Dam. A Canadian fish biologist recently said “It’s probably fair to surmise that we may lose the majority of the nearly 350,000 wild adult sockeye destined for Canadian portions of the Okanogan if Wells Pool, where they are currently holding, warms to temperatures much greater than 18 degrees Celsius for an appreciable length of time. Regrettably, this is highly likely to occur …”

A friend who fished the mouth of the Okanogan three times this week said some guides are limiting but most boats are only taking a few sockeye. On one of the days his boat (two people) took seven fish and the wardens said he was the top boat checked. He also said a few (very few) Chinook are being caught and that water levels have been fluctuating greatly, stranding boats anchored in the cove at the City Park.

A good spot to catch a hatchery Chinook right now is below Wells Dam. Another friend who fished there this week said there was a pretty good ratio of hatchery to wild fish and they’re fairly cooperative. Most of the hatchery fish are running 18-23 pounds.

The Baker Lake sockeye bite has been erratic but some anglers are doing very well. The most consistent setup has been a 00 chrome dodger with prizm tape, a 16-inch leader with double pink or red hooks with a small pink hootchie and red-dyed coonstripe shrimp. The middle of the lake has been better than the edges. Some Baker Lake sockeye are over 8 pounds. Anglers fishing for sockeye are also catching kokanee.

Anglers fishing for Chinook out of Seiku are catching more pinks than anything with coho coming in second. The pinks are in the 4 pound range.

At other ocean destinations in Washington and Oregon, Chinook and coho fishing has been excellent. Unprecedented numbers of fall Kings and Coho are predicted to return to the Columbia River System this year and the Buoy 10 fishery takes off in August. Last year was excellent and this year is predicted to be even better.

Spiny ray

Banks Lake walleye fishing has been good throughout the hot weather. Anglers trolling cranks in relatively shallow water are taking a lot of small fish and an occasional one between 15-20 inches.

Largemouth bass are hitting in Potholes Reservoir along the edge of the dunes. Some good-sized perch and channel cats have been taken recently from Potholes. In Moses Lake, anglers are also finding some nice largemouth along the shorelines in five feet of water.

Downs Lake perch are finally biting, but there are a lot of small fish this year in addition to the 12-inchers anglers are hoping for. Best success has been in open water on the duck club end of the lake rather than next to the lily pads. Downs Lake largemouth are also active.

Tiger muskie at Silver are kind of finicky right now, as are Long Lake pike, but bass fishing is reported to be good at both lakes. At Curlew and Newman lakes, it is still possible to get a tiger muskie to strike. Sometimes, especially at Curlew, anglers have luck sight-fishing, putting a diving plug right on the muskie’s nose.

Northern pike are evidently affected by the hot weather, too, as anglers at Coeur d’Alene report little action. The fish that are willing to strike have been hitting spinnerbaits.

Smallmouth bass in Priest Lake are fairly easy to catch along rocky shorelines now. Plastic grubs and Curlytails in crawdad colors are effective.

Hunting

Idaho Fish and Game is seeking public input on sage-grouse hunting proposals before August 11 when the commissioners meet. Current sage-grouse lek data indicate many populations could be hunted at the “Restrictive” level. The public comment period runs until Aug. 2. Learn more and provide comments at: http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/ content/public-involvement