Alan Liere’s fishing-hunting report for Oct. 21

Oct. 20, 2021 Updated Wed., Oct. 20, 2021 at 5:48 p.m.

By Alan Liere For The Spokesman-Review

Tip of the week

Disabled waterfowl hunters can enjoy good duck hunting out of two ADA blinds on wildlife management areas in the Idaho Panhandle. These are both in Boundary County and are managed specifically for waterfowl: McArthur Lake WMA and Boundary-Smith Creek WMA. Hunters must reserve a blind by calling the Panhandle Regional office at (208) 769-1414. Both blinds are drive-in accessible

Braggin’ rights

Steve Ketz of Milton, Washington recently caught a 17 pound Potholes Reservoir channel catfish while on a cast and blast trip with guide Levi Rodelo.

Cris Endicott of Meridian, Idaho caught a monster grass carp in the Snake River on October 10, setting a new state record while fishing for smallmouth bass. The fish weighed 46.7 pounds, and measured 50-inches long. Carp records are kept separately for rod/reel and archery anglers, and this fish surpasses the current 39.5-pound archery record set by Saige Wilkerson in 2012.Grass carp are native to Asia and may be found in parts of the Snake River, but are much less numerous than their cousins, the common carp.

Heads up

WDFW’s press release regarding their survey for testing deer for chronic wasting disease in Northeast Washington did not include information regarding where to get your harvested whitetail tested. If you harvest a deer in GMUs 105, 108, 111, 113, 117, 124, or 127, take it to one of these game check stations or locations:

Colville WDFW District Office, 755 S. Main St., Colville, WA 99114.

Chewelah, intersection of Sand Canyon Road and Highway 395, DOT gravel lot

Deer Park Weigh Station, 65 N. Arlington Road, Deer Park, WA 99006

Ione, Tiger Store/Museum, 390372 State Route 20, Cusick, WA 99119

Usk, Crossroads Restaurant, 421341 State Route 20, Usk, WA 99180

Highway 2 Weigh Station - across highway from Spokane Regional Solid Waste Disposal. Dates and times are as follows:

Saturday, Oct. 23 - Sunday, Oct. 24, 2021; 9:30 a.m. - 8 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 6 - Sunday, Nov. 7, 2021; 9:30 a.m. - 8 p.m.

Friday, Nov. 12 - Sunday, Nov. 14, 2021; 9:30 a.m. - 7 p.m.

Thursday, Nov. 18 - Friday, Nov. 19, 2021; 9:30 a.m. - 7 p.m.

You can also have your deer sampled on Mondays and Thursdays from 4-6 p.m. during the modern firearm season at WDFW Colville District Office, 755 S. Main St., Colville, WA 99114, the Spokane Regional Office, 2315 N. Discovery Place, Spokane Valley, WA 99216-1566 or Inland Northwest Wildlife Council

6116 N. Market St., Spokane, WA (call 509-487-8552 to make an appointment)

Fly fishing

Fall fishing has been good on the Spokane River, Silver Bow Fly Shop said. Fish are eating October caddis, fall caddis and blue winged olives off the surface. Nymphing and Euro rigs consisting of stones, caddis pupa and patterns with hot spots/beads are all good. Streamer fishing has been OK at times. Softer currents and slower water are more important . Good fishing also continues on the North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River and the St. Joe where the smaller bugs are playing a more important role as weather cools. Ants may still get fish, but that won’t last long.

Anglers fishing Rocky Ford or Crab Creek will find lots of summer weed growth which makes fishing difficult.

Trout and kokanee

The Lake Roosevelt trout fishing seems to be picking up with the cooler weather. The usual Apexes and Old Goat lures as well as flies tipped with a piece of nightcrawler have accounted for some near-limit catches. The Keller area has been good. The fish are up high.

Rufus Woods triploids are scattered and hard to come by without some current. Trolling bottom bouncers with spinners and nightcrawlers (as for walleye) has worked recently.

Trout fishing has been good this week at Potholes Reservoir in Grant County. Anglers trolling Wedding Rings with worms have done well in front of the Potholes State Park, the face of the sand dunes and at the mouth of Lind Coulee to Perch Point. If fishing from shore, throw Power Bait or marshmallows and worms at Medicare Beach.

Lake Chelan kokanee fishing has been slow at times, but anglers who find the kokes elusive are still finding quite a few cutthroat, and the kokanee bite often quickly turns hot.

This is a good time to fish for brown trout as they are congregating to spawn and have come up in the water column. Rock Lake is good, and so are Clear and Waitts lakes.

Salmon and steelhead

The catch and keep steelhead season begins Friday on the Clearwater River in Idaho. Reel Time Fishing in Clarkston said the earlier catch and release season indicated there are decent numbers of big fish in the river.

The Icicle River at Leavenworth should get better for coho. Anglers throwing spinners are catching a few, but nothing to write home about.

Spiny ray

The Spokane Walleye club will hold its next meeting Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Northwest Wildlife Council Building, 6116 N. Market St. The meeting will be followed by a question-and-answer period by experienced walleye fishing members. All are welcome.

The cooling water temperatures continue to improve the walleye bite on Potholes Reservoir as the fish move into their fall pattern. Pete Fisher at MarDon Resort suggests trolling a No. 7 or No. 5 Flicker Shad on the face of the dunes over the humps in 8-15 feet of water. A Slow Death/Smile Blade/crawler rig with a 2-ounce bottom walker at a 10- to 30-foot depth has also been productive, as well as the rocks around Goose Island, the mouth of Crab Creek and up in Lind Coulee.

Largemouth bass fishing has been good this week on Potholes. Fish the face of the sand dunes, looking for steeper drop-offs and work deep-diving crankbaits or Skirted Hula Grubs and jigs down the slope. Use a blade bait or jigging spoon for deeper fish. Spinnerbaits will produce on windy days. Topwater is working early and late in the day.

Other species

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife shellfish managers have approved the next round of razor clam digs which kicked off Tuesday on coastal beaches and runs through Monday. All open beaches (Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Mocrocks and Copalis) have increased limits through the end of 2021, with diggers allowed to keep 20 clams instead of the usual 15. Each digger’s clams must be kept in a separate container, and all diggers must keep the first 20 clams they dig, regardless of size or condition.

Hunting

Check stations are reporting fewer whitetail harvested this season. On opening morning from my stand in game management unit 124 where I always hunt on the opener, I saw one doe where on most past seasons, I’ll count 20 or more deer, including does and fawns and at least one shootable buck. The number of dead, bloated deer back in the woods on my property attests to the terrible effective of blue tongue.

Duck hunters, particularly in the Columbia Basin, report an opening day “maybe a little less productive” than previous years. After the initial opener on Saturday, ducks and geese close for two days after Sunday, then run from Wednesday through Jan. 30.

The general pheasant season in Washington begins Saturday. Many of the uncolored and unidentifiable birds of the early senior citizen hunts in September should be easier to identify as hen or rooster now. Prospects are for an average opener.

While some forest land in Northeast Washington and North Idaho seem devoid of grouse, there have been pockets in both states where deer hunters this week report seeing good numbers of grouse, both ruffed and dusty.

Chukar hunters on the breaks of the Snake River in Washington and Idaho report seeing fair numbers of chukars, a few pheasants and quite a few California quail. Mule deer hunters have scored on some nice bucks there. The modern weapon mule deer general season closes after Tuesday, as do whitetail in some units. Whitetail remain open for modern weapon hunters in GMUs 101, 105, 108, 111, 113, 117d, 121 and 124.

Contact Alan Liere at spokesmanliere@yahoo.com