Alan Liere’s weekly fish and game report

Wed., Nov. 25, 2015

Alan Liere

Tip of the week

If the Wenatchee River gets less than 2,000 cfs and there is some mild weather, steelhead will begin moving there out of the Columbia. These migrators are usually the largest steelhead of the year, so keep an eye on nighttime temperatures. Two nights in the mid-30s will usually start them moving.

Braggin’ rights

Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery employees worked all Sunday night to cope with Icicle Creek floodwaters and debris-plugged water intakes to save 1.2 million fingerling salmon. The hatchery faced two primary problems: the volume of water and the debris it carried. Employees had to climb down into the flooded water intake for the hatchery to drag out branches in order to get water moving again in the system. Their efforts succeeded, but 5 inches of mud fill every raceway and must be cleaned out now that the flood is subsiding.

Heads up

The Hoh Indian Tribe has closed its coho fishery on the Hoh River outside Olympic National Park until Monday. It will open back up for steelhead and other game fish on Tuesday.

The salmon season will be closed after Monday in Marine Area 10 between Seattle and Bremerton. It was originally scheduled to be closed after Jan. 31.

Steelhead and rainbow are closed on the upper Columbia and Methow rivers, as well as whitefish in the Methow. Waters that remain open include the Okanogan River from the mouth to the Highway 97 Bridge in Oroville, the Similkameen River from the mouth to 400 feet below Enloe Dam and the Columbia River from the Highway 173 Bridge at Brewster to 400 feet below Chief Joseph Dam.

The Columbia River from the Rock Island Dam to the powerlines crossing the Columbia at Doroga State Park is open to the harvest of hatchery steelhead. Sections of the Wenatchee and Entiat rivers are also open.

Overheard

Idaho will have some new fishing rules for 2016-1018. The four changes closest to home will affect Pend Oreille Lake, Spirit Lake, Hayden Lake and the Clearwater River. On the Pend Oreille, the rainbow limit will be reduced from six to two with only one more than 20 inches. The Spirit Lake kokanee limit will be raised from 15 to 25 to thin out the exploding population. The minimum length of Hayden Lake largemouth that can be retained will be 20 inches. On the Clearwater River, the July 1 catch-and-release season will be eliminated and the harvest season will run Sept. 1 through Dec. 31.

Fly fishing

Fly fishermen might have to find a good book and a warm fire this weekend as the trout fishing will be tough. The North Fork Coeur d’Alene has ice along the edges and is dropping fast. The Spokane is fishable and probably the best river option.

Best bets for scratching a fishing itch will be the Grande Ronde River around Boggan’s Oasis, where ice has not hindered the steelhead fishing. It is good at this time and fly fishermen are doing better than most. Farther down near Troy, the river is freezing. The Snake will probably be better than the Clearwater.

Rocky Ford gets good about this time every year. As usual, some really large rainbow are sucking in scuds and big streamers.

Trout and kokanee

Although the traditional eastern Washington winter lakes – Fourth of July, Hog Canyon, Hatch and Williams – will open on the day after Thanksgiving this year, skim ice could hinder fishing from shore. Moderating midweek temperatures will probably allow boat access at the southern waters.

A drive up north on Monday found ice forming on Eloika Lake, although Waitts was wide open.

Anglers trolling Lake Roosevelt from Gifford north had phenomenal fishing this week. Many have been flat-lining perch colored plugs at least 100 feet behind the boat. Trolled Kekeda Flies are also doing well at about 15 feet down.

Also on Lake Roosevelt near Whitestone, trollers probing the top 40 feet with pink flies and hootchies are taking some nice kokanee as well as rainbow. The kokes are running to 17 inches and the rainbow are around 14.

Kokanee anglers also report success in the Hunters area. Trout fishermen have done well at times with bait from shore in Spring Canyon near the swimming beach.

Banks Lake does not have red-hot rainbow fishing at this time, but several of the fish taken recently have exceeded 4 pounds. The best area has been up the lake from Steamboat Rock.

Rock Lake brown trout are hitting Rapalas cast toward shallow water. The bite at times has been torrid. Trollers are also doing well with Apexes and an assortment of plugs.

Roses Lake near Chelan received a 16,000-trout plant this fall. The fish are around 9 inches and excellent fishing is reported from shore.

The wind storm knocked down some trees at the WDFW access on Roses. Until the mess is cleaned up, anglers are parking along the road and walking in. The lake is still ice-free.

Excellent fishing for Lahontan cutthroat has been reported at Omak Lake, but the water level has dropped so much only car-top boats can be launched.

The Lake Pend Oreille Thanksgiving Derby ended this week. Right at the end, Mike Halford passed Scott Teneyck’s 18.54-pound rainbow with a beauty weighing 20.10 pounds. Scott Plue topped the mackinaw division with a fish that weighed 14.54 pounds. Derby organizers said the weather was terrible, but the fishing was great.

Spiny ray

Potholes Reservoir walleye are more likely to take a jig than the autumn favorite Slow Death Hook and nightcrawler. Fishing has slowed, but is still decent. Walleye anglers are beginning to take a few large rainbow near Medicare Beach.

Banks Lake usually begins kicking out whitefish this time of year, but anglers who find weed beds in 15-20 feet of water are also finding big perch.

Smallmouth bass are attracting angler attention on Lake Roosevelt in the Keller area. The fish are deep – 60 to 70 feet – hitting crawdad-colored jigs. It is not unusual to take several fish of 3 pounds or more.

Lake Spokane is usually good for a mixed bag. Anglers this week report taking some nice rainbow while targeting smallmouth with jigs in deep water.

Other species

Whitefish are moving into area tributaries, but the best bite is on the Columbia River above the Vernita Bridge. Artificial salmon eggs seem to be outfishing the more traditional white flies and green Glo Hooks tipped with maggots.

Recreational crabbing remains open in all coastal waters except Willapa Bay, which was closed earlier this month because of elevated toxin levels.

Crabbing is also open in Puget Sound, where marine toxins in crab have not been an issue. The commercial crab fishery is closed pending further tests for domoic acid.

Hunting

Thursday and Friday are two extra goose hunting days for waterfowlers in management area 4 including Spokane, Lincoln and Walla Walla counties.

A lot of lesser Canadas are in the Columbia Basin, but huge flocks are also hanging out around Reardan and Coffeepot lakes and in the Coeur d’Alene and Sandpoint areas. A few northern mallards were shot this week by friends hunting near Potholes Reservoir and on the Columbia and Yakima rivers.

The Washington fall turkey season is on. It runs through Dec. 15 in GMUs 105-154 and 162-186. The birds are in big sex-specific flocks and are abundant in Spokane and Stevens counties.

Contact Alan Liere at spokesmanliere@yahoo.com