Alan Liere’s fishing-hunting report for Dec. 10

Dec. 9, 2020 Updated Wed., Dec. 9, 2020 at 6:40 p.m.

By Alan Liere For The Spokesman-Review

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Tip of the week

Dave Graybill, known to his many readers as “The Fishin’ Magician,” is a native of North Central Washington who has fished and written about fishing in his region for over 50 years. He has written a number of pocket-sized booklets that are available from the Okanogan County Tourism, Grant County Tourism and the Chelan/Douglas County Chamber of Commerce. In these three booklets, he describes his top 25 or more lakes and rivers in each area. Contact the tourism folks and the chamber, and they will send you a free copy.

Heads up

WDFW is looking for first-time hunt photos for the 2021 Big Game Hunting Regulations pamphlet. If you hunted for the first time this year or know someone who did, send your photos before Feb. 14 for a chance to win. Subjects must be wearing hunter orange or hunter pink where required above the waist and visible from all sides. Photos must be a minimum of 300dpi with a minimum of blood, and have no derogatory language or private advertising on clothing. To submit, visit https://wdfw.wa.gov/hunting/regulations/big-game/contest and fill out the form.
Be careful on the icy launches on Lake Roosevelt. Watching your truck slide down the ramp into the water is something you don’t want to witness. Take some sand with you and walk the ramp before attempting to back down.

Overheard

There is scientific evidence that fish caught in the winter taste better. The “muddy” taste you sometimes experience in fish can be caused by blue green algae, which can proliferate during warmer months. Blue green algae is gone or greatly diminished in frigid water, so it no longer affects the taste of the fish.
Many of the fish being caught at the net pens on Rufus Woods and all the way down to Chief Joseph Dam are from a plant of 25,000 made by the Colville Tribe earlier this year that was comprised of many fish weighing 4.5 pounds. Next April they will be releasing approximately 10,000 fish that will average 1 ½ to 2 ½ pounds and there will also be small releases of fish in the 6- to 8-pound class.

Fly fishing

Rocky Ford is probably going to be the best option for fly fishing this winter. Midges and scuds will be staples. Stripping streamers will also work. Silver Bow Fly Shop said to try flashy and weird patterns. As always, the Spokane River will be a possibility for some fly fishing action. Nymphing will be the most productive, but you must find deep, slow currents.

Trout and kokanee

Before this week, I had never eaten a trout from Long Lake, but a friend brought a couple of smoked fish along on a hunt this week and they were excellent. Trout fishing on Long Lake remained good, particularly for trollers.

As the water level on Lake Roosevelt goes down, the trout move toward the dam, but bank anglers are still having some decent days throwing orange Power Bait at Fort Spokane. The Lincoln area is starting to heat up, and the fish seem to be larger. Orange Kekeda flies tipped with worm have been most popular lately for those trolling at about 3 mph.

Rock Lake trout, particularly rainbow, are providing good fishing for trollers and decent fishing for those throwing bait from shore at the launch.

The Wicked Lures Trout Killer is a good option now for Potholes Reservoir trout. Troll in front of the Potholes State Park. From shore, fish Medicare Beach with marshmallows and Power Bait and worms 18 inches off the bottom. Corral, Soda and Long have been the top Seep Lakes for trout.

Ice fishing

Hog Canyon Lake is frozen at the access, but otherwise there is a lot of open water. Fishing from shore may be a possibility. Springs and wind are keeping Fourth of July reasonably free of solid ice except at the launch and around the edges. Bank fishing could be possible by today. Up north, Williams Lake is mostly open. Shore fishermen and boaters are catching trout.

Silver Lake is not an ice fishing option at this time. Jump-Off Joe has about 2.5 inches of ice; it may be ready soon. A friend who lives on Eloika Lake said there was someone ice fishing “all over the place” through clear ice on Monday, but he moved often and didn’t seem to be having any luck. Although Eloika provided excellent crappie fishing the spring, summer anglers had difficulty finding perch. At Fishermen’s Cove Resort on Curlew Lake, Jack Beck said there is little ice.

Round Lake in Idaho has about an inch of ice. Cocolalla is about half frozen with thin ice and Avondale has way more open water than ice. Hayden’s sportsman access is frozen in the bay, but the ice is thin.

Spiny ray

The water level on the Potholes Reservoir has come up recently. The water temperature is about 43 degrees, but the dunes are starting to freeze up. The largemouth bass fishing has slowed this week and walleye fishing continues to be fair in 18 to 30 feet of water. For smallmouth, fish Hula Grubs, swim baits and drop shot lures over the rock piles around Goose Island, the face of the dam and the face of the sand dunes.

Perch numbers in Idaho’s Cascade Reservoir increased in 2020. There are many more perch in the 8- to 11-inch size range than seen in several years. There has been a decline in the number of “jumbo” perch because previous surveys showed that perch larger than 13 inches in Lake Cascade are between 8 and 13 years old – extraordinarily old for perch. Low angling pressure is one reason Lake Cascade’s perch are able to reach such incredible sizes and old ages. A shift in perch sizes is good news for the future of the fishery because large numbers of adults can lead to low numbers of juvenile perch coming into the population for a number of years.

Other species

Winter is a great time to jig for squid in Puget Sound. Squid fishing is a fun, family-friendly activity that is easy to learn and doesn’t require a boat. Visit WDFW’s squid fishing webpage for more information on how to catch and cook squid.

Banks Lake whitefish are spawning, and fishing has been good at the far end by the inlet. These are the larger Lake Superior whitefish.

Hunting

Idaho residents can comment on moose, bighorn sheep and mountain goat season proposals starting Monday.

The easiest way for hunters to review proposals and weigh in will be visiting the moose, sheep and goat proposals webpage at idfg.idaho.gov/MSGhttps://idfg.idaho.gov/MSG>. Proposals will be posted on Monday, and the comment period will run from until Dec. 30.

A friend and I hunted the fringes of Banks Lake for quail on Monday. We found two pheasants but didn’t get a single covey flush on quail. On the way home, we drove many of the back roads around the Swanson Lakes hoping to find some habitat that escaped the summer fire; there was little – miles and miles of habitat were destroyed. The only quail we saw all day were almost on the highway where we couldn’t hunt, but there had to have been at least 500 birds in several large coveys.

Duck hunting has been fair this week in Grant County and is getting better as the temperatures drop.

Most of the action still comes on local birds with just a trickle of new birds.

Duck hunting has been good at Patterson on the Columbia River, but the spots are getting pounded as it appears to be the only place in the Yakima Valley with any birds.

There was beautiful sunny weather for pheasant hunters this week, but it made pheasant hunting difficult.

There are still plenty of birds out there, but they’ve put on their track shoes and are easily escaping over frozen ground. Four inches of snow would be nice.