Weekly hunting and fishing report

Thu., June 4, 2015

By Alan Liere spokesmanliere@yahoo.com

Tip of the week

Choosing the perfect fillet knife for fish involves a lot more than just looking at the price tag. A 10- to 15-inch fish should be filleted with a blade 7 1/2 inches long, but a fish 15-25 inches requires a 9-inch blade. Most of the cutting is done with a blade’s widest half, and good flexibility is a must. A 15-20 percent flex close to the handle is a necessity, but the tip must also be flexible to ensure easy skinning.

Braggin’ rights

With volunteers from Spokane Fly Fishers and the Spokane chapter of Trout Unlimited, the SFF Trout in the Classroom event was again a success. The event for area fifth-graders was hosted at three lakes on four successive Saturdays in May. The kids were taught some basic casting techniques and were exposed to ecosystem biology and fishing etiquette. They also were assisted in releasing the fish they had raised this spring in tanks in their classrooms.

Heads up

Washington’s Free Fishing Weekend is Saturday and Sunday. During these two days, no license will be required to fish or gather shellfish in any waters open to fishing in Washington State. Also, no vehicle access pass or Discover Pass will be required to park at any of the nearly 700 water-access sites maintained by WDFW. Anglers will not need a Two Pole Endorsement to fish with two poles on selected waters where two-pole fishing is permitted. They also won’t need a Columbia River Salmon and Steelhead Endorsement to fish for salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River and its tributaries. June 13 is Free Fishing Day in Idaho. Anglers of all ages, residents and nonresidents, may fish anywhere in Idaho without a license.

Fly fishing

For the larger cutthroat, the North Fork Coeur d’Alene River is best up high. Fishing has been fair this past week, but the recent heavy rains may delay an increase in action. PMDs and Rusty Spinners have been the best flies recently.

Now that Idaho’s St. Joe has dropped and warmed up some, fishing should pick up. Double dry rigs or dry/dropper rigs will be good choices.

The lower Spokane River below the falls opened earlier this week, but the upper will not reopen until Saturday. Trout have been showing interest in Pat’s Rubber Legs and caddis flies.

Friends fishing Crescent Lake in Pend Oreille County this past weekend had 11- to 15-inch cutthroat slurping flies all day. Dark gray patterns seemed to be most effective.

Spokane Fly Fishers “one fly” contest on June 13 is being moved to West Medical Lake. Check in your fly between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. Fishing begins at 10 a.m. Info: Dan Ferguson (509) 325-8885.

Trout and kokanee

Rock Lake has been fishing well. Bank anglers at the public access are catching a lot of smaller rainbows, and boat anglers are finding some larger fish. Trollers are picking up quite a few browns and rainbow trout of 16-20 inches.

Sacheen Lake rainbow have been running about 13 inches and are fairly easy to catch by trolling a brown Roostertail. Sacheen is also a good destination for largemouth and crappie.

Diamond Lake trout aren’t getting much attention, but the 10-inch rainbow are fairly abundant. Trollers are getting bit at about 30 feet.

The trout bite at Lake Roosevelt is still on with easy limits taken from the bank in several areas. Try the shoreline near Spring Canyon boat ramp or fish Geezer Beach upstream from Grand Coulee Dam. The occasional kokanee ups the potential for a bountiful catch.

Nighttime kokanee fishing at Loon Lake will pick up as the weather settles down. Thunderstorms seem to put the fish off the bite, but a couple of calm days in a row will stir things up.

Long Lake continues to produce good catches of 14-inch rainbow from last year’s stocking program. The program continues this month with another scheduled release of 155,000 rainbow trout.

A number of Idaho Panhandle lakes will be stocked with 10- to 12-inch rainbow trout in time for the free fishing day. Fernan, Lower Twin, Bloom, Round, Brush and Mirror will receive 1,800 fish each. Kelso and Freeman will get 900 each; Priest Lake will receive 500. Additional stockings will be made in dozens of lakes through June and into early July in the Panhandle and Clearwater regions.

Salmon and steelhead

Spring chinook salmon fishing will reopen on three locations on the Snake River, beginning today below Little Goose Dam. Each location, identified as Areas A, B and C, will only be open three days per week. Review WDFW’s emergency rule change webpage for specifics.

Hatchery adult summer chinook and steelhead may be retained on the lower mainstem Columbia below Bonneville Dam effective June 16 through July 6. Early forecasts anticipate strong runs of 73,000 summer chinook and 394,000 sockeye this year. The salmon and steelhead daily limit will be six fish. Up to two may be adult salmon or hatchery steelhead or one of each. All salmon other than hatchery chinook and sockeye must be released. Sockeye are part of the adult salmon daily limit.

The salmon run on the Klickitat River is early and way above the 10-year average. The spring chinook and steelhead seasons opened Monday with increased daily limit of three hatchery steelhead and two hatchery spring chinook. Spring chinook passage at Bonneville Dam continues above 2,000 salmon daily.

The chinook season on the Upper Salmon will open on June 13, but sections of the Lower Salmon will close at the end of fishing hours on Sunday. Visit IDG online at http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/public

/fish/?getPage=140 for details.

Grande Ronde anglers will be encouraged to hear that a mid-June opening season for a spring chinook salmon fishery looks promising. Those interested should monitor WDFW’s emergency rule change webpage for upcoming announcements.

Spiny ray

Deer Lake largemouth are late to spawn this year and fishing has been erratic at best. A few beds were beginning to show this week and the bite should speed up soon. Smallmouth fishing has been fair.

Good smallmouth fishing is available at the mouth of the Grande Ronde. When the upper river opens Saturday, there will be a lot of hungry fish waiting for a plug or plastic.

Spokane Arm anglers on Lake Roosevelt are still finding big aggressive smallmouth along rocky shorelines. Friends who launched at Porcupine Bay this week and went upriver said they caught “ridiculous numbers of smallies” – many up to 18 inches.

Jump-Off Joe and Waitts Lake are more noted for their trout, but anglers at both have been catching some decent perch. Jump-Off Joe has some big largemouth bass.

Moses Lake and Potholes Reservoir continue to produce good catches of walleye, with the overall size running much larger than those being caught in Roosevelt. Jumbo perch are a bonus for anglers dragging a Slow Death outfit on a bottom bouncer.

Other species

Channel cats that have spawned in the Palouse are moving into the Snake River and taking up residence in some of the deeper holes off the mouth. There are still spawning fish in the Palouse and will readily take almost any kind of bait. The trick is in getting a boat through the shallow water to the fish.

The shad count at Bonneville has risen dramatically this week.

Hunting

Spring turkey hunting ended Sunday in Washington. Unless hunters plan to hunt turkeys this fall, reporting spring hunting activity is mandatory, whether turkeys were harvested or not. Hunters can file reports by phone: 1-877-945-3492, or online at https://fishhunt.dfw.wa.gov/wa

/Hunterreport. Hunters who intend to chase fall turkeys should wait to report spring activity with their fall activity at the close of fall season.

The application period for fall’s Idaho deer, elk, pronghorn, black bear and turkey controlled hunts ends Friday. Apply for controlled hunts at any hunting and fishing license vendor, Fish and Game office; with a credit card by calling 1-800-55HUNT5; or online at http://fishandgame.idaho.gov.

Contact Alan Liere at spokesmanliere@yahoo.com