Alan Liere’s hunting and fishing report for April 17, 2025

Thu., April 17, 2025

By Alan Liere The Spokesman-Review

Tip of the week

Tip of the week: When bringing a fish to net while fishing alone, leave a rod’s length of line out beyond the tip, and raise the rod to lead the fish to the net. Don’t chase the fish with the net, and never lift a big fish into the boat with your rod or by grabbing the line.

Heads up: The launch at Connelly Park on Moses Lake can be used from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., but will be closed on Mondays and Tuesdays through April. Only two lanes at the Mill Bay launch on Lake Chelan are usable and the docks at the State Park are out of the water.

The annual Kiwanis Kids Fishing Day in Idaho will be held from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday, April 26 at Moscow’s Hordemann Pond. Idaho Fish and Game’s fishing trailer will be stocked with rods and reels available for loan on a first-come, first-served basis. Casting demonstrations and fishing instruction will be provided to new anglers. Approximately 300 banana trout averaging 12 inches in length were stocked in Hordemann Pond in preparation for this event. Hordemann Pond is located off Eisenhower Street between D and F streets.

Overheard: The Recreation and Conservation Office, which offers grants to enhance public access sites like that at Chapman Lake, are is having a public meeting on April 22 Tuesday to finalize the list of projects to fund during this grant cycle.

Information about what projects are competing for grant funding this year and how they scored can be found on their websiteat: https://rco.wa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/BFP-Grants-2024.pdf. If you want to provide comments at the meeting (which has a virtual option), you can find the meeting agenda and information on how to comment at: https://rco.wa.gov/boards/recreation-and-conservation-funding-board/meetings/.

Braggin’ rights: Thanks go to volunteers from the Inland Empire Fly Fishing Club and Spokane Fly Fishers who put down and spread new gravel at the water access site at Amber Lake this week. The two clubs also split the cost of the gravel and rental equipment to compact it.

Fly fishing

The North Fork Coeur d’Alene is dropping and the best fishing has been on the lower end of the river. Skwalas, March browns and nemouras have been providing some good windows of dry fly opportunities. Midday into the afternoon has been best for the dry flies. Mornings have been better subsurface with nymphs and streamers. Recreational access and use of the river is restricted for 500 feet on both sides of the I-90 bridges near Cataldo Monday through Saturday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., as the Department of Transportation is doing some work there. Boat launches outside of the work zone will remain available for use, although no one will be able to pass underneath the bridge during working hours for safety reasons.

The St. Joe has been fishing well, Silver Bow Fly Shop said. Skwala dry flies have been favored by anglers there. March brown and nemoura hatches along with skwalas have trout looking up from noon until end of the day. Water levels may rise, but there are always fish to be found, especially on the lower river below Marble Creek.

Area lakes like Amber, Medical and Coffeepot are fishing well. Leeches, chironomids, callibaetis, damsels, water boatmen, daphnia (blobs) have all been finding fish lately. Coffeepot Lake anglers are enjoying access to the lower end of the lake due to the increase in lake level this spring.

Trout and kokanee

Kokanee reports from Dworshak Reservoir have been good. Contrary to initial reports of just small fish, many Dworshak kokes are 10 to 12 inches long.

After catching seven big trout from shore at Jones Bay two weeks ago, a friend and I returned late last week with great expectations. After four hours of plunking Power Bait, however, we drove back to Spokane without having had so much as a single bite.

Steelhead and salmon

Prime time for Drano/Columbia River spring chinook is now to mid-May. Reel Time Fishing said they have multiple boats available for this fishery beginning around Sunday. Forecasts are fairly similar to last year. For more information, contact Reel Time Fishing at (208) 790-2128.

March and early April catch rates have been lower than expected on the lower Columbia River, so the fishing season for salmon and steelhead has been extended through April 26 in the following waters:

•From the Tower Island power lines to The Dalles Dam, although fishing from a vessel is prohibited. Bank angling is allowed with hand-cast lines only.

•From a fishing boundary sign on the Washington north shore approximately 1,300 feet upstream of the Dalles Dam and Lock boat ramp, projected easterly across the Columbia River to a boundary sign on the Washington southern shore approximately 200 feet above the fish ladder exit upstream to Highway 730 at the Washington/Oregon border.

•From the mainstem Columbia River from Buoy 10 to Bonneville Dam.

Spiny ray

Soda Lake anglers in Grant County are finding limits of 14- to 16-inch walleye trolling a Mack’s Slow Death Smile blade worm harness in 15 to 25 feet of water at 1 to 1.2 mph. Reports indicate few walleye are being caught up the Lind Coulee. Focus on 12 to 20 feet of water where the water is moving.

Moses Lake bass and walleye fishing is getting good again. Fish are in prespawn mode. They will be staging soon, and catching will get even better.

Crappie anglers are starting to find fish scattered throughout the Dunes in Potholes Reservoir. Look for areas with heavy cover. When a school is located, throw 2-inch swim baits along the cover.

Friends who fished Eloika Lake this week said they caught some keeper crappie and a few big perch. The best bite was in 6 feet of the warmest water they could find. They said if one spot died off, they could often find another good bite just a short distance away.

Long Lake walleye anglers have taken some large fish the past two weeks by throwing blade baits and plastics in shallow water.

May through June is a productive time for Snake River smallmouth bass. Combination Hells Canyon sturgeon/bass fishing is usually best now through July. The walleye fishing gets good in many spots on the Snake and Columbia rivers.

Other species

At Potholes Reservoir, channel cats ae moving up into the shallows of flowing water to take advantage of the warmer temperatures and easy meals. Anglers are finding catfish over 10 pounds nightly in the Frenchman’s Wasteway and the Lind Coulee using cut bait or chicken livers sitting on the bottom.

WDFW has released some potential razor clam dates on morning tides if test samples indicate marine toxins and domoic acid levels are under guideline levels. These beaches are:

•April 26, 5:53 a.m.; -0.6 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis.

•April 27, 6:40 a.m.; -1.5 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Mocrocks.

•April 28, 7:25 a.m.; -2.0 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Mocrocks.

•April 29, 8:12 a.m.; -2.2 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis.

•April 30, 9 a.m.; -2.0 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis.

•May 1, 9:52 a.m.; -1.6 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis.

•May 2, 10:47 a.m.; -0.9 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Mocrocks (digging extended until 2 p.m.).

•May 3, 11:48 a.m.; -0.2 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Mocrocks (digging extended until 2 p.m.).

Hunting

Two friends from Alberta and I were absolutely surrounded by gobbling toms on the turkey opener Tuesday. There were birds on the ground and birds in the trees, but none came within 50 yards of our blind. For six years in a row, we had taken a tom turkey from this spot on opening day.

This time, we went to breakfast without a bird in the back of my truck. Still, it was a good show and a pleasant morning, and none of us was terribly disappointed.

Contact Alan Liere at spokesmanliere@yahoo.com