Alan Liere’s hunting and fishing report for Sept. 14
Fly fishing
This is a good time of the year to hit the St. Joe River. Look for late summer tactics and patterns to still apply for a while – terrestrials, attractors and small chubbies with droppers (jig perdigons, tungsten caddis pupa, for example.) More selective risers in the calmer pools can usually be picked off with small parachutes, midges, or trico types of patterns. Silver Bow Fly Shop said to start packing some October caddis and mahoganies.
The North Fork of the Clearwater and Kelly Creek have been fishing well. Terrestrials and attractors are still on the menu, but October caddis and mahoganies should be part of your collection.
Lake Lenore Lahontan cutthroat are biting again, and many of these fish can run to well over 20 inches. One fish over 18 inches may be retained through Nov. 30.
Trout and kokanee
Fishing for big rainbow at Rufus Woods has been good all summer and a lot of the fish are over 3 pounds. Launch at Seatons Grove for the run down to the net pens where most of the action begins.
On Potholes Reservoir, some big trout are being caught in front of the state park and off Medicare Beach. Troll Shad Raps of Flicker Shads, Wedding Rings and Needlefish. From shore cast rooster tails, Vibrax spinners or 5-inch curlytail grubs or fish the bottom with Power Bait.
Trout have been awakening at area lakes. Good reports have come in by anglers fishing Diamond, Clear, Fishtrap, Amber and Badger.
Salmon and steelhead
Both bobber fishermen and trollers are finding steelhead and salmon at the confluence of the Clearwater and Snake. A friend who was bobber fishing there with red-dyed shrimp this week said a recent 8 hours of boredom was followed by 10 minutes of chaos while he and his partner landed three nice chinook.
The current run size estimate for Puget Sound pink salmon shows the return coming in above forecast, allowing for two additional pink salmon daily in Marine Area 10 (Seattle/Bremerton) and Marine Area 11 (Tacoma/Vashon Island).
Salmon anglers are still taking a few chinook from the Wells Dam area. That fishery should hold up through the month. Angling effort for chinook at Hanford Reach has been good, a friend who fished there last week said. He was trolling a sardine wrap Kwikfish.
Spiny ray
A friend who went looking for perch on Loon Lake this week found them in abundance on the west shoreline. He said he also caught lots of sunfish and bluegill, including a few that were hand-sized. All the perch he kept were 9-10 inches. The best depths were 20-25 feet, right near bottom over weeds. The Loon launch is still usable, but the one at Deer Lake is bad. The rocky backwash from power-loading boats has come close to blocking the channel.
Anglers targeting 50-foot holes near buoys 1 and 3 in the Spokane Arm of Lake Roosevelt were jigging up a lot of walleye earlier this week. Many of these were small, but there were also a fair number of 15- to 18-inchers. Most of the walleyes were stuffed with 3- to 4-nch perch and smallmouth. Another productive spot on Lake Roosevelt has been Bradbury Flats, where successful anglers are trolling spinners. The bite, though, has been all or nothing. China Bend has also been good at times. Snake River walleye are hitting bottom bouncers and spinners around Little Goose Dam.
Potholes Reservoir has been producing some good walleye fishing, but it’s the large bluegill that are creating the biggest stir. There are lots of them, and some are almost round – the size of dinner plates. These bluegill are out on the face of sand dunes. Troll a small Flicker Shad or locate a school and use a slip bobber set to a depth matching the top of the school. Use Bobby Garland Baby Shads or DS Fry on a 1/32nd-ounce Moon Eyed jig. At Mardon Resort, Pete Fisher warms anglers to use extreme caution while running in the sand dunes, the face of the dunes, and between Goose Island and the face of the dam. There are many hazards just under the surface and not visible to the boater.
Several of Washington’s best walleye fisheries in September are in the Snake and Columbia rivers, including Wallula Junction, the Snake River below Ice Harbor Dam, and the Columbia River from Boardman upstream to McNary Dam. Smallmouth bass share the same habitat with walleye, but sometimes run as deep as 50 feet. They move into the shallows as waters cool and food sources become available before going deep again for winter.
Other species
At Potholes Reservoir, channel catfish are being caught back in the sand dunes as well as on the face of the sand dunes. Many fish are in the 8– to 12-pound range.
Contact Alan Liere at spokesmanliere@yahoo.com