Alan Liere’s fishing-hunting report for June 18

June 17, 2020 Updated Wed., June 17, 2020 at 8:01 p.m.

By Alan Liere For The Spokesman-Review

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Tip of the week

When water temperatures get into the low 60s you have the highest probability of catching a trout from moving water. At these temperatures fish are eating much more aquatic food than they do when the water is colder. Look for deeper pools with a standing wave and high-flowing riffles, as trout will nose into the fastest parts of riffles and gorge on everything that comes by.

Heads up

An Idaho hunter education class is required if you were born after Dec. 31, 1974, unless you can show proof of previously having a valid hunting license in Idaho or any other state. For more information and to register, log on to http://www.hunter-ed.com/Idaho/sign-up/.

Braggin’ rights

Three Idaho anglers won $1,000 each after catching reward-tagged fish in the Pend Oreille walleye lottery during the month of May. These are the first reward tag winners since the program launched in March 2019. Mike Gordon of Sandpoint caught his winning fish in the Clark Fork River. Tony Butler of Hope caught his wining walleye in northern Lake Pend Oreille. The third anglers, from Idaho Falls, wished to remain anonymous.

Overheard

After a relatively mild winter in Idaho, statewide survival of radio-collared mule deer fawns and elk calves was above average through the end of May, the final month of Fish and Game’s monitoring period. Statewide, 73% of radio-collared elk calves and 63% of mule deer fawns survived through the winter.
Farragut Public Shooting Range in northern Idaho reopened on June 13 as the state moved into Stage 4 of Gov. Brad Little’s “Idaho Rebounds” plan. Visitors should expect some changes to range operations in accordance with the plan’s guidelines for COVID-19.

Fly fishing

At Swedes Fly Shop on Garland, owner Allen Peterson says a few adventurous souls are venturing down to the lower Spokane River. From the Meenach Bridge, they are following Downriver Drive almost 7 miles to spots on the river where either structure, deeper pools, seams and lesser water volumes invite the rainbows to remain out of the strong currents. Peterson recommends using nymph patterns such as the bead head lightning bug or bead head stone flies fished on sink tip fly lines with short fluorocarbon tippets to keep the fly patterns deep. A short stripping retrieve usually brings desired results.

There have been favorable reports from fly fishermen who frequent Amber, using chironomids and subsurface nymphs. The 18-inch fish of the past are scarce, but fish of 12-16 inches are available.

This month is the premier month on the North Fork Coeur d’Alene says Silver Bow Fly Shop, and most tactics and patterns will find fish. They also note that the St. Joe is coming into prime shape. There is great fishing on the lower end for people floating and now that the levels have dropped so much there are many opportunities upriver as well.

Trout and kokanee

Lake Roosevelt trollers are beginning to see more of the big kokanee everyone has been waiting for. Reports of 20-inch fish are becoming more numerous – both rainbow and kokanee – but there are a lot of the smaller net pen trout also being caught.

Fishtrap Lake continues to provide nice catches of rainbow trout, some as large as 20 inches. Williams Lake also remains good for 10- to 12-inch rainbow and Badger Lake is almost a sure thing for a limit of 9- to 10-inch rainbow. Badger has a 10-fish bonus limit on kokanee of about the same size.

Waitts Lake rainbow and browns are readily available. Most of the trout are catchables, but every now and then a jumbo-size fish is netted. The best method at Waitts is a fly tipped with worm trolled in back of a three-ought dodger.

As good as it is for perch, Curlew Lake still attracts a lot of trout fishermen. Most anglers there troll with dodgers and lures such as Wedding Rings, but still-fishing or drop-shotting are sometimes more productive. A simple jig and worm setup will catch a lot of fish. Nearby Bonaparte Lake also offers good trout fishing, and there are some very large tiger trout being caught, as well as kokanee. The 10- to 12-inch kokes are suspended at roughly 25 feet over deep water.

In the Okanogan, Spectacle Lake has been booting out a lot of kokanee and some are stretching over 16 inches. Spectacle also offers good bass fishing. Palmer Lake is producing rainbow trout to 3 pounds, as well as kokanee, bass, and good-sized perch.

The kokanee fishing on Lake Chelan is described as “phenomenal,” and Lake Coeur d’Alene is also excellent with kokes running up to 15 inches.

Steelhead and salmon

Chinook fishing will start June 26 on about 38 miles of the Upper Salmon River in Idaho, starting near Clayton and going upstream to near the Stanley Fish Hatchery. About 300-350 adult chinook are expected to be available for harvest.

With Marine Area 4 reopening, sport anglers will have the opportunity to reel in salmon off Washington’s coast starting Saturday when all four marine areas open daily to fishing for chinook. The season begins with a chinook-only fishery with a one-salmon daily limit for all areas June 20-28. Coho may not be retained during this period. Beginning June 29, daily limits increase to two salmon per angler in all areas, and unmarked coho must be released. In areas 1 and 2, only one of those two salmon may be a chinook.

Also beginning June 29, Marine Area 2 will be open Sundays through Thursdays, and closed Fridays and Saturdays. Areas 1, 3 and 4 will remain open seven days per week. Willapa Bay (Area 2-1) and the portion of Grays Harbor (Area 2-2) west of the Buoy 13 line also open Saturday under the same rules as Area 2.

The recreational catch quotas for 2020 are 26,360 chinook and 26,500 marked coho. The chinook quota is up slightly from 2019, but the coho quota is substantially lower than 2019. Throughout the summer, anglers can check WDFW’s webpage at wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/reports/creel/ocean for updates.

Spiny ray

Two friends and I drove to Curlew Lake last week to check out the perch fishing. Launching at the State Park, we didn’t have to go far. As we had never fished Curlew except though the ice in winter, we looked for weeds on the bottom near the big island and were soon anchored in 14 feet of water. The bite began immediately and continued through the morning, and it didn’t seem to matter what bait we used. Worms, maggots and perch meat were equally effective, and we stopped fishing only when we had as many 9- to 10-inch perch as we wanted to clean.

Banks Lake smallmouth are numerous along the shore on the highway side across from Steamboat Rock, but a lot of smaller fish are showing. That said, most anglers will take at least a couple fish approaching 2 pounds in a day’s fishing.

Big bluegill and crappie are being taken from Potholes Reservoir at the mouth of Crab Creek and in the sand dunes. The same areas have been good for largemouth. Trolled Flicker Shad, size #7, and Wicked Lures Trout Killer in perch colors are taking both walleye and large trout.

Other species

Marine Area 4 (Neah Bay), which includes the waters from Cape Alava on the Olympic Peninsula north to the mouth of the Sekiu River along the Strait of Juan de Fuca, will reopen to bottom fish and shellfish including mussels, clams, and oysters on Saturday. Crabbing also reopens west of the Bonilla-Tatoosh line.

Shad continue to pour over Bonneville Dam, and there are a lot more yet to come. A report from below the dam on June 16 indicated 17 bank anglers were checked with 265 shad.

Hunting

If you are planning to hunt big game in Idaho as a nonresident, you may want to consider confirming your plans sooner than later. The quota for nonresident elk tags is expected to be sold out by July 1, and the expected sell out date for nonresident deer tags is Aug. 1.

Contact Alan Liere @spokesmanliere@yahoo.com.