Weekly hunting and fishing report

Fly fishing

The deeper pools in The North Fork Coeur d’Alene River have not been as productive as the smaller slots along the banks. The cutts are feeding heavily on March browns.

The midriver areas and lower river below Avery are best on the St. Joe. Look for some action on stonefly and the mayfly patterns.

In Montana, the Clark Fork River is still running a little high, but so is the bug activity. Once the flows go down a little, fishing should be great.

Flows on the Yakima River are low – perfect for wade fishing. Unlike the Coeur d’Alene, the trout are moving into the deeper water.

Damsel and dragonfly nymph activity has been consistent on all the local lakes. Chironomid activity is also good. Fish are in less than 20 feet of water.

Spiny ray

Coeur d’Alene Lake pike are on the prowl again and anglers throwing spinnerbaits and frogs are finding them in shallow water next to emerging weeds.

Walleye fishing continues to provide excellent action for anglers on Potholes Reservoir. It took well more than 40 pounds of walleye to win The Walleye Spring Classic held by Mar Don Resort on Potholes last weekend

Moses Lake is also giving up big catches of walleye and 18- to 20-inch fish are common.

Lake Roosevelt water levels are still dropping and there is some unusually shallow water near Buoy 5 in the Spokane Arm. Fishing remains excellent for walleyes of all sizes there, including some long, skinny fish that appear to be spawned-out females.

Eloika Lake largemouth are on beds, but it is almost impossible to fish now that the weeds have taken over. Bass anglers are having better luck in deeper lakes such as Loon, Deer, Silver and Long. Soft plastics are enticing some big bass.

Long Lake crappie are worth searching for, as some schools are composed primarily of 11- to 14-inch fish. Anglers who find them in shallow water along the edges are cleaning up.

Trout and kokanee

Williams Lake has been good for rainbow fishermen this spring, but the fish are smaller than in years past with fewer carryovers. Troll the edges with Wedding Rings or similar lures, or still-fish with Power Bait.

Clear Lake is holding its own with trout fishermen trolling along the cliffs putting a lot of 12- to 14-inch rainbow in the boat. Reports of brown trout are minimal. At West Medical, rainbow fishing is excellent. Most fish are 12-14 inches, but fair numbers of 16-inchers are also biting. Fishtrap Lake is still good for limits of 12- to 13-inch rainbow.

As usual, Waitts Lake trout are cooperative, but the top 20 feet of water will yield mostly small rainbow. For larger rainbow and browns, go deep. The Kekeda Fly, which has been so effective on Lake Roosevelt, is also a good choice for Waitts.

Loon Lake kokanee are jumping all over trolled Wedding Rings sweetened with a couple of maggots or white shoepeg corn. The north end of the lake has been best for fish in the top 20 feet. Nighttime still fishing will begin soon. It could already be an option, but for me, the cooler temperatures make the thought of sitting in a boat in the dark less than pleasing.

Long Lake rainbow have put on a lot of weight since they were planted last year. Trolling is the preferred method for taking them, but anglers throwing Power Bait from shore by Long Lake Dam are also doing well.

At Sprague Lake Resort, Monika Metz said the steelhead are around 16 inches. Anglers are also catching a lot of the recent plants running 10-12 inches, and the “surprise rainbow” – carryovers up to 4 pounds – keep things interesting. Metz also noted that the largemouth fishing has been excellent for the few anglers participating, with fish as large as 5 pounds.

Park Lake in Grant County has been giving up a few huge brown trout as well as good-sized tiger trout and rainbow. Successful anglers are trolling a variety of lures and flies. As always, orange is the go-to color. Trout fishing out of Rainbow Beach Resort on Twin Lakes (by Inchelium) has been excellent with most fish running 15-16 inches but some much larger. Bass fishing is good.

Kokanee fishermen on Lake Roosevelt were taking some 14-inch fish below Keller this week. They were finding their fish at a depth of 40 feet. Hayden Lake kokanee anglers trolling Pink Assassins had a good week. Those fish have also been in the 14-inch range.

Mackinaw anglers on Priest Lake are finding lots of 3-pound fish by drop-shotting, and some much larger fish while trolling.

Salmon and steelhead

The strongest push of Chinook over Bonneville appears to be over, but there are still more than 2,000 salmon counted each day.

The Clearwater River will close to all Chinook salmon fishing from the Cherry Lane Bridge upstream to the Orofino Bridge at the end of the day on Friday. Chinook salmon seasons continue on the Clearwater River upstream from the Orofino Bridge and the North Fork Clearwater, as well as the South Fork Clearwater, Middle Fork Clearwater, Lower Salmon, Little Salmon, Lochsa and Snake rivers.  

There is a high return of springers to the Icicle and Wenatchee rivers this season with abundant numbers of hatchery fish. The Wenatchee opens Saturday until further notice and the Icicle opened recently and remains open through July 31. There will be no gear restrictions on the Icicle fishery. The Wenatchee River fishery will be under selective gear rules, except that bait is allowed.

Other species

The summer-season recreational fishery in Bonneville Reservoir opens to white sturgeon retention for three three-day periods in June and July. Effective dates are June 19-21, June 26-28 and July 3-5.

Clam digging will remain closed on Washington ocean beaches for the remainder of the razor clam season because of elevated levels of domoic acid.

Hunting

Spring turkey hunters in Washington have until the end of the month to shoot a bird, but participation is light as most hunters have already tagged out for the spring.