Alan Liere’s fishing-hunting report for Aug. 25

Fly fishing

The St. Joe River is one of the better August fisheries, Silver Bow Fly Shop said. Plan on the morning hours to be best. Check water temperatures before you fish in the evening. Rivers are not cooling off quickly, so if the water is 70 degrees, find something else to do. In all rivers everywhere, fish the riffles, faster slots, shade, boulder runs and heads of runs. Put droppers under your hoppers/Chernobyls. Try Euro or nymph rigs through faster slots for more/bigger fish.

Long Lake, above Republic, is a good bet for nice cutthroat.

The lakes south of Spokane have to be fished slow and deep. Amber Lake has provided some decent fishing lately.

Nymphing with an indicator should produce strikes throughout the day on the Yakima River. Both the Upper and Lower Yakima have great stretches; the most well-known is between Easton and Roza Dam. The Upper Yakima has easy access along I-90, between Easton and Cle Elum. Between Cle Elum and Ellensburg, there are multiple launch points for boats. There is accessible wading depending on flows, from the BLM campgrounds in the Lower Canyon.

Trout and kokanee

Unable to find maggots this week for our Sunday night kokanee trip to Loon Lake, two friends and I had to rely on white shoepeg corn to tip our fluorescent hooks. The corn didn’t stay on the hook as well as a maggot, but the kokes seemed to like it and we caught 20 hefty fish in the four hours between 8 p.m. and midnight.

Badger Lake has been good for trollers and still-fishermen. Trout action has been concentrated at the north end and in front of the public launch. Kokanee anglers are making some nice catches early and late. Clear Lake has also been good for trout – rainbow and browns.

Lake Spokane trout are a little more difficult to catch, but there are still a lot of 15- to 18-inch fish in the lake. Trollers are doing best with flies and flashers tipped with worm. Weeds can be a problem.

Salmon and steelhead

The Clearwater River steelhead season has been redesigned starting this fall. The new season will be: From Sept. 10 to Oct. 14, steelhead harvest will be open; from Oct. 15 to Nov. 9, steelhead will be catch and release only; from Nov. 10 to the end of the season, steelhead harvest will again be open.

The chinook salmon season began on most stretches of the Clearwater River last Thursday. The exception is the North Fork Clearwater, which opens Sept. 1. Over 1,000 fall chinook adults and 100 jacks have already been counted at Lower Granite Dam, and more will follow. Anglers typically fish for fall chinook as soon as possible. Unlike spring chinook that spend months in Idaho before spawning, fall chinook arrive almost ready to spawn. The quality of the meat starts degrading as the fish get closer to spawning time.

Chinook fishing at Brewster is still a good option as there seems to be a lot of big fish in the pool.

Another chinook fishery is at Lake Chelan, where fishing can be good in the evenings.

Ilwaco (Marine Area 1) is closed to the retention of chinook, but salmon fishing has reopened in the previously closed area from Columbia River north to the tip of Leadbetter Point and within approximately 3 miles of shore. The daily limit is two hatchery coho. This rule change is necessary to extend salmon seasons in Ilwaco.

Spiny ray

Bass fishing has been good on Potholes Reservoir this week. Top baits include a half-ounce jig with a craw trailer, three-eighths-ounce chatter baits, 5-inch wacky rigged Senkos, white spinnerbaits and topwaters. The rock piles between Goose Island and the face of the dam have been producing decent smallmouth, but use caution when running this area as the water is shallow. Walleye fishing remains decent on Potholes. Concentrate on the face of the dunes.

Sprague Lake trout aren’t providing much action, but the largemouth fishing has been good.

Perch and bass are good bets at Bear Lake (just north of Spokane off Highway 2) for youths 15 and younger, the adults who accompany them, senior anglers and anglers with a disability. This little lake is often overlooked in the summer.

Twin Lakes near Inchelium has some beautiful rainbow and brook trout, but anglers seem to get more excited in late summer with the big largemouth. Fishing for these has been good.

The Spokane Arm of Lake Roosevelt remains good for walleye anglers in the Porcupine Bay area. Some large fish are being taken, as well as a lot of “eaters.”

Jigs and plastics have been effective.

Other species

Big channel cats are being caught at night on the face of the Potholes Reservoir dunes where the main flows come in from the sand dunes, around Frenchman’s Wasteway and in Lind Coulee.

Hunting

Idaho deer and elk hunters will find mostly healthy, stable elk herds and potential growth in mule deer herds and harvest this year, but white-tailed deer hunting in portions of the Clearwater area are unlikely to have recovered from a disease die off last year. Because chronic wasting disease was detected for the first time in Idaho last year, management will affect hunting seasons.

There are two big dates coming up for Idaho hunters – Tuesday and Sept. 1. On Tuesday, forest grouse, pine squirrels, rabbits, fall turkeys and many archery deer and elk seasons begin. On Sept. 1, the dove season begins.

In Washington, Sept. 1 marks the beginning of seasons for dove, rabbits and hares, early cougar and turkey (in units 101-154 and 162). Forest grouse open Sept. 15.

Most grain fields have been cut. Although I haven’t seen any big flocks of doves around Spokane, there are quite a few in the Moses Lake, Yakima and Snake River areas.

Washington’s early goose season in Goose Management Areas 4 and 5 is Sept. 3-4. The daily limit will be five Canada geese.

Contact Alan Liere at spokesmanliere@yahoo.com