Alan Liere’s hunting and fishing report for Aug. 7, 2025

Fly fishing

The North Fork of the Clearwater River and Kelly Creek is a good option in August. Mornings are best and fishing has been decent. Hopper-dropper rigs and caddis have been best in riffle water and boulder gardens.

Hoot-owl restrictions have taken effect on the entire mainstem of the Blackfoot River in Montana.

Good fly fishing options for trout are the Kootenai River, high alpine lakes and the Yakima River. The Spokane River is always one of the best options.

Trout and Kokanee

Small Washington lakes with secluded settings and pretty good trout fishing in the Okanogan area include Round and Long lakes east of Tonasket and Beaver, Beth and Wannacut lakes west of Oroville.

Washington’s Waitts Lake is as close to a sure thing for rainbow trout and browns as you can get this time of year. Troll a Muddler Minnow sweetened with a piece of nightcrawler down the middle of the lake. Sometimes a small flasher three feet above the fly makes a difference, and sometimes just a plain fly and nightcrawler will be enough. If you’d rather still-fish, the evening hours into the night have been best with Power Bait or a salmon egg and worm.

Steelhead and salmon

The most anticipated salmon season on the West Coast has begun. The Buoy 10 fishery stretching from the mouth of the Columbia River upstream to the west end of Puget Island promises to be one of the strongest seasons in recent memory. Sport anglers have been allocated 16,600 chinook salmon and 49,860 hatchery coho for harvest – quotas that exceed last year’s guidelines. With total mortality allowances (kept plus release mortalities) set at 41,000 chinook and 34,300 coho for Buoy 10 anglers specifically, fishery managers predict an exceptional season. From Aug. 7 to Aug. 25, only hatchery-marked (adipose fin-clipped) chinook and hatchery coho may be kept. This selective period allows continued harvest while protecting wild spawning stocks during their peak migration.

Drano Lake is now open through Aug. 31 for hatchery steelhead retention. Summer steelhead counts at Bonneville Dam and historical run timing indicate that the A-Index return is likely to be significantly higher than the preseason forecast. Hatchery steelhead retention will also be allowed downstream of the Dalles Dam through Aug. 31.

Pink salmon cruise along the shoreline as they migrate back to their spawning grounds, so anglers can do well fishing for them from shore. Puget Sound offers several public beaches and access areas where some of the huge run will be swimming by from August through September. There are also many fishing piers in Puget Sound that offer easy access to this huge migration. Any lure in pink – Buzz bombs to curlytailed jigs to spoons will entice pink salmon.

Spiny ray

Long Lake walleye fishing has slowed as trollers are fighting weeds, many of which are stirred up and floating on the surface as a result of boat and jet ski activity. Perch fishing is more productive for anglers dropping bait into weedless pockets in 20 feet of water. Long Lake perch come in all sizes with some honest 11-inchers coming in.

August is a good time to troll weed edges along the flats for Lake Roosevelt walleye. Try the flat across from the Spokane mouth towards Seven Bays or in front of Bradbury Beach, Osborne Bay, and along the east bank at the mouth of the Colville River.

In Moses Lake, walleye and bass fishing is fair, especially early morning. On Potholes Reservoir, anglers are fishing the humps for walleye. Several hike-in lakes just west of Potholes Reservoir are a decent choice for anglers in search of largemouth bass that don’t get a lot of pressure.

Banks Lake rainbow and brown trout have gone deep, so anglers there are concentrating their efforts in the shallower bays for bass and big bluegill.

Potholes Reservoir bass, bluegill, channel cats and bullheads are abundant and available this summer as the crappie and bluegill (some quite large) move onto the face of the dunes and along the riprap on the dam. Anglers are also finding good numbers and good-sized perch along Medicare Beach and in the Crab Creek channel. Bluegill may also be found around the habitat boxes in front of the state park and center channel.

Walleye, smallmouth and catfish are biting throughout the Columbia and Snake River systems. The best fishing for these on the Columbia is in Lake Umatilla (John Day Reservoir) and Lake Wallula (McNary Reservoir). There is no minimum size and no limit on walleye, bass or channel catfish in the Columbia River.

The Grande Ronde and Snake rivers are very good for smallmouth bass, and if you want to try for hard-fighting carp, Banks Lake and the Columbia River are good.

Other species

Potholes Reservoir channel cats have finished up their spawn and now are feeding and protecting fry. Look for deep holes around Goose Island and the face of the dunes. After finding a deep hole, drop down cut bait or premade catfish bait. It shouldn’t take long to get a bite.

Recreational crabbing will get underway in Marine Area 7 North (San Juan Islands) beginning Saturday. Summer seasons for crabs in all marine areas are also posted on WDFW’s crab fishing webpage.

Hunting

General hunting seasons for black bear opened Aug. 1 in Washington. Successful completion of WDFW’s online Bear Identification Program is required if hunting bears in GMUs 101, 105,108, 111, 113, or 117.

Contact Alan Liere at spokesmanliere@yahoo.com