Alan Liere’s weekly fish and game report for Jan. 7

Wed., Jan. 6, 2016

Tip of the week

To quickly and easily measure the thickness of lake ice, put marks an inch apart on the handle of your skimmer with a black felt-tip marker. Put the skimmer in the water at the edge and lift it far enough to hook the bottom of the ice with the top of the scoop.

Braggin’ rights

Sometimes the best thing you can say about a winter outdoor adventure is “I survived.” Monday, a friend and I drove all the way to Banks Lake to hunt quail and found a foot of new powder in the sagebrush which had caused the birds to vacate the area and made walking an ordeal. We followed that up with a frigid, fruitless attempt in sweaty clothes to catch a perch through the ice in the Coulee City Boat Basin.

Overheard

Fully 95 percent of Lake Coeur d’Alene chinook come from a natural spawn in the Coeur d’Alene River, and more reds (spawning beds) were counted there this year than ever before.

Heads up

The annual Northwest Ice Fishing Festival is set for Saturday, Jan. 16, on Sidley and Molson lakes in Okanogan County. Info: Robin Stice, Oroville Chamber Volunteer, Eden Valley Guest Ranch, (509) 485-4002 or email to info@edenvalleyranch.net.

Steelhead and salmon

Anglers continue to reel in hatchery steelhead from portions of the Columbia and Snake rivers. Typical of the winter fishery, catch rates have been up and down in recent weeks. Some of the best catches have been reported in the Ringold area of the Columbia River, but fishing has also been good on the Wenatchee River and in the Bridgeport area.

In the Clearwater River and North Fork Clearwater in Idaho, steelhead anglers are averaging a fish caught every eight hours. The Grand Ronde is iced over.

Open Water Fishing

The Rock Lake steelhead bite has been hot. Anglers fishing from shore at the access are catching five-fish limits in a few hours. Those with boats say the rainbow bite is also excellent almost anywhere on the lake.

Two friends and I trolled Lake Roosevelt for five hours on Tuesday between Fort Spokane and Sterling Point, missing the few bites we had. Then, between 2:30 and 3:15 p.m., on the way back to the launch, we landed eight chunky rainbow just out from the swimming area at Ft. Spokane State Park. Go figure.

For the most part, it appears the trout and kokanee bite is back on Lake Roosevelt with most trollers reporting excellent results along The Wall just below Keller, out of Fort Spokane and at Spring Canyon. The fish are coming from high in the water column and Keller has been best for big kokanee.

There have also been reports of good kokanee fishing on Rufus Woods Reservoir with limits of 17- to 19-inch fish coming quickly at 25 feet near Chief Joseph Dam. Lake Chelan has also become a good option for winter kokanee.

While walleye fishing can slow down during the winter months, both the current and previous record-holders were taken at this time of year in the Columbia River near Tri-Cities.

Ice Fishing Washington

Silver Lake is good to go with about 5 inches of hard ice in the bay. The perch have been cooperative but small.

Eloika Lake has good ice now, and anglers are catching the usual assortment of perch and bass with an occasional crappie showing.

Banks Lake can provide excellent fishing for whitefish in January, when they are usually fished through the ice. At this time, however, only some of the bays are frozen. Moses Lake usually provides good perch fishing at this time of year when the fish bunch up into large schools. There were about a hundred anglers on 5 inches of ice near Blue Herron Park last weekend, but only a few caught any of the big perch the lake is noted for.

Rat Lake near Brewster and Big Green and Little Green lakes near Omak are providing good ice angling for 10- to 12-inch rainbow.

Patterson and Davis lakes in the Winthrop area are providing good ice fishing. Both have rainbow in the 10- to 12-inch range, and it is reported that Patterson perch are running as large as 13 inches. The road to Leader Lake is open and anglers are catching a mix of trout, perch, crappie and bluegill. A Discovery Pass is needed. Bonaparte Lake is producing kokanee through the ice. It is also good for perch and some trout. Palmer Lake also has kokanee and perch but the ice may still be a little thin.

Fish and Roses lakes in Chelan County are providing good ice fishing. Fish Lake has perch and Roses Lake has rainbow trout. Most of the perch are 8-9 inches.

Ice Fishing Idaho

Cocolalla Lake is kicking out buckets of 8- to 9-inch perch and a few rainbow. The best bite has been in about 25 feet of water. The perch are in schools of similar-sized fish, so if the ones you are catching are too small, move to another hole. Round Lake, also near Sandpoint, has trout and some larger rainbow. Fishing is said to be slow but steady.

Pend Oreille fishermen are finding some big perch in the frozen bay off the Long Bridge into Sandpoint near the condos. A report from Priest Lake indicated a few of the small bays had ice, but boats are still being launched at Indian Creek to access the mackinaw.

Hauser Lake has good ice but the fishing has been slow. Ditto Kelso, Fernan and Lower Twin, though Upper Twin is producing small perch. At Spirit Lake, Bronze Bay is the most popular spot for small kokanee through the ice. The water in Spirit averages about 40 feet deep but the kokanee are suspended at less than half the depth.

Other species

For the first time this winter, razor clam digging will be allowed on Long Beach after marine toxin tests showed the clams are safe to eat. All other beaches remain closed to recreational razor clam digging except for a Friday and Saturday dig at Copalis. The Long Beach season runs through Jan. 14.

Now is a good time to try for lake whitefish in Lake Roosevelt, where they are currently in spawning aggregations in 40-50 feet of water.

Mountain whitefish, a smaller native species found in some of the region’s waterways, including the Spokane and Little Spokane rivers are also a possibility. A whitefish season runs through March 31 on the stretch of the Little Spokane River from Highway 291 upstream to West Branch. There’s no minimum size and the daily limit is 15.

The winter whitefish season is open through Jan. 31 on the Naches River (mouth to Tieton River) and on the Yakima River (Sunnyside Dam to 3,500 feet below Roza Dam and from Roza Dam to Easton Dam.) The catch limit is 15 per day. Target deep pools below riffles. Most whitefish are caught with a small fly tipped with a maggot. The individual limit is 15 whitefish per day.

The John Day Pool (Lake Umatilla) has reopened for retention of white sturgeon measuring 43-54 inches from their snout to the fork in their tail. Paul Hoffarth, a WDFW district fish biologist, recommends that sturgeon anglers hit John Day Pool sooner rather than later, given the 500-fish annual quota for sturgeon in the reservoir.

Another sturgeon option is McNary Pool (Lake Wallula) which reopens for sturgeon retention Feb. 1. There is no quota in this section of the Columbia River, allowing anglers to keep fishing until the area closes to sturgeon retention on Aug.1.

Hunting

The Washington upland bird season runs through Jan. 18. The waterfowl season runs through Jan 31. Geese in Management Area 4 are open Saturdays, Sundays, & Wednesdays and then every day of the week from Jan. 25 to the end of the month. Ice and snow have sent the majority of waterfowl south to the Tri-Cities, though there are still a few in the Lake Roosevelt area.

Contact Alan Liere at spokesmanliere@yahoo.com