Alan Liere’s fish and game report for April 27

Wed., April 26, 2017

Alan Liere

Tip of the week

Turkeys have excellent hearing and eyesight, but they evidently have short memories. While they will often gobble from the roost in the dark if inadvertently busted, they will calm down when the hunters sits down. The trick is to keep very quiet and still and don’t do any calling for at least 15 minutes.

Braggin’ rights

My son, Matt, came home from work Tuesday evening to find two big tom turkeys and 11 hens in his pasture. Dressed in his office clothes, he grabbed a shotgun and snuck out the door in his loafers, thinking ambush and revenge, for he had put in five fruitless hunts since the April 15 opener. His stalk worked to perfection, and after following the birds across the creek and into the woods, an easy 20-yard shot presented itself – but he didn’t shoot. “I didn’t want to kill my bird that way,” he explained. Good boy.

Overheard

More than 90 percent of the forecasted chinook return to Idaho is still below Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River. At midweek, fewer than 10 adults had made it over Lower Granite Dam downstream from Lewiston.

Heads up

—Idaho hunters, anglers and trappers will see new prices starting on Monday with the addition of a $5 Access/Depredation fee for resident adults and $10 for nonresident adults when they buy their first annual license. Licenses purchased before Monday will also be exempt from the increase for another year.

—An IDFG trailer, packed with drive nets, dart guns, and thousands of dollars in radio collars and other gear was stolen on the night of April 8 from the Fish and Game headquarters parking lot in Boise. Photos of the suspect and his vehicle were quickly secured, but he has yet to be identified. Persons with information about the trailer theft are asked to call the Fish and Game Nampa office at (208) 465-8465, the CAP hotline at 1-800-632-5999, or the Idaho State Police at (208) 846-7550. A reward is offered.

Salmon and steelhead

The Lower Yakima River will open for spring chinook salmon in two areas Friday through June 15. Area 1 is from the Hwy. 240 Bridge in Richland to the Grant Avenue Bridge in Prosser. Area 2 is from the Wine Country Road Bridge in Prosser to the State Route 241 Bridge. Yakama Nation and WDFW fishery managers are forecasting a harvestable return of 2,760 adult hatchery spring chinook to the Yakima River in 2017.

Trout and Kokanee

Rufus Woods remains good for triploid trout of around 1 1/2 pounds. Anglers report trolling a Slow Death and nightcrawler for good trout action, and they are also picking up a few walleye this way.

Last Saturday wasn’t the best Lowland Lakes opener on record, largely due to the cold weather. Although quite a few large broodstock and triploids were taken, the catchables were not very cooperative. The larger fish need more food and are thus required to feed more aggressively. Almost all the trout were in the top 10 feet of water because it was warmer there. Anglers who did their usual “bottom fishing” may have been out of the bite zone.

Liberty Lake, which has been open since March 1, is an exception to the reports from elsewhere and has been excellent for planter rainbow at mid-lake. Anglers are using eggs, Power Bait or worms – it doesn’t seem to matter.

Williams Lake anglers had a decent opening day with a lot of 2- to 4-pound trout taken. Fishtrap was evidently good too, as anglers on opening day reported 13-inch trout as well a lot that ran 16-21 inches. Take knee-high boots if you want to launch a boat.

Clear Lake, too, is high with the water above the ramps. On the opener, anglers caught rainbow and browns in a variety of sizes with more browns than rainbow. Troll deep for the browns, shallow for the rainbow.

West Medical anglers were amazed by some of the huge trout they pulled out on opening weekend, but were puzzled by their inability to find the catchables. Carryover rainbow as large as 6 pounds were netted there. Badger Lake was good to anglers who fished shallow.

Loon Lake was a little cold for good kokanee fishing last Saturday, but a friend caught five kokanee in roughly eight hours of trolling. He said his first fish was a 12-incher, but the others were closer to 10 or 11 inches. He used a Wedding Ring baited with maggots in the top 10 feet.

Waitts Lake yielded brown and rainbow trout in the 14-inch range. Fishing was fair. I talked with trollers at Diamond Lake on Tuesday who said they had fished six hours without a bite. Nevertheless, fish were planted, and it is assumed the bite will pick up in May. At Marshall Lake, 10-inch cutthroat were the norm, but the bite was slow.

The cold weather may be a blessing in disguise for all area lakes as there will be more fish available when the rain and cold give way to sun and warmth.

Lake Chelan is giving up 14- to 15-inch kokanee on some days and 10- to 12-inchers on others. Depths no deeper than 30 feet were the norm last weekend.

In Central Washington, anglers at Park Lake were catching plenty of 11-inchers on the Saturday opener. Nearby Jameson Lake produced an inordinate number of huge rainbow, some carryovers and some newly planted triploids. At Wapato Lake, most of the trout were 12 to 14 inches long

Conconully Lake kokanee anglers are catching some fat 13-inchers in the top 20 feet by dragging dodgers and an assortment of flies and small lures.

Hayden Lake kokanee are still on the bite and the fish are mostly 11 to 14 inches. A Mack’s dodger with a smile blade and hootchie and maggots will do the job, but a lot of other offering are also working.

Spiny Ray

Bass fishing has been excellent all over eastern Washington and north Idaho. Lakes such as Silver, Eloika, Newman, Downs, Coeur d’Alene, Hayden and the Chain Lakes have been good for largemouth, and Moses Lake smallmouth are beginning to take an interest in grubs jigged over rocks in shallow water.

Rufus Woods is running fast and murky, but walleye anglers are dredging up a lot of fish from backwater eddies. Jig about any plastic tipped with a worm or troll bottom bouncers and Slow Death rigs with nightcrawlers.

Banks Lake walleye are hanging in about 50 feet of water. The bite isn’t fast, but some nice-sized fish are being caught.

There has been excellent walleye fishing lately on the Columbia River below John Day Dam, and smallmouth bass are also biting.

An angler caught a 12-pound walleye from Long Lake this week, confirming other reports that Long is becoming a viable walleye fishery. Crappie are also available at this Spokane River impoundment, and it is not unusual to catch a mess of 10-12 inchers this time of year.

Hayden Lake anglers, too, are catching crappie. Hayden has a 10-inch minimum, but according to recent reports, it is possible to catch fish much larger.

A report from the Chain Lakes near Coeur d’Alene indicates most of those waters are muddy, but if you can find one with good clarity, you can catch pike – mostly small males which are hitting slow-fished spoons.

Other species

A six-day razor clam opening began April 26 and will run through Monday on various ocean beaches with an increased daily limit of 25 clams at Long Beach. Diggers at Twin Harbors, Mocrocks and Copalis can harvest the typical limit of 15 clams per day. Long Beach is open all six days of the new dig. Twin Harbors is open today through Sunday, Mocrocks is open today and Saturday, and Copalis is open Friday and Sunday.

Hunting

Area turkeys, it seems, do not mind the rainy weather as much as turkey hunters, but many shotgunners who weathered last week’s storms reported seeing more turkeys than ever before. Indications are the flocks are breaking up and the toms are becoming vulnerable.

Contact Alan Liere at spokesmanliere @ yahoo.com