Alan Liere’s hunting and fishing report for May 15

Fly fishing

The North Fork Coeur d’Alene River has been good. Silver Bow Fly Shop suggests throwing nymphs. Hatches have been great on the St. Joe; salmonflies are at their peak. The river below Avery fishes best at current water levels, but once they drop more, the upper river will start fishing better. Nymphing the margins tight to the bank or swirly eddies is always a reliable tactic if the fish aren’t showing interest in the dry fly.

Smallmouth fishing on the Lower Grande Ronde is exceptional this month. Smolt colored streamers, craw patterns and Sparkle Minnows will be good, but so are a lot of other flies.

There is still plenty of good lake fishing. Trout fishing on Amber, Coffeepot, Clear and Williams lakes has been productive. Chironomids, damsels and callibaetis have all been hatching, depending on where you are. For something different, try bass or carp fishing. Look for bass up shallow around structures like docks and laydowns, and carp up on shallow flats.

Trout and kokanee

Trollers are doing well on Long Lake on rainbow trout by dragging flies and small lures above the emerging weeds. The most effort is from Willow Bay to Tum Tum.

Trout anglers have a lot of options. Park Lake, north of Soap Lake, has been good from both boat and bank, and Jameson Lake in Douglas County is also producing well. Near Wenatchee, trout fishing has been good at Beehive Reservoir. Idaho anglers are also catching a lot of trout at the put-and-take lakes in the Panhandle.

Anglers at Williams, Clear, Fishtrap and Badger lakes are still doing well, with Badger picking up for kokanee fishermen following a slow start. The inclement weather has slowed participation, assuring more fish for summer.

On Lake Chelan, kokanee anglers are catching fish down lake from Mill Bay, particularly below Rocky Point. The fish are not particularly big, most running 8 to 11 inches.

Steelhead and salmon

Spring chinook are coming fast over Bonneville Dam, making their way to Idaho. Good numbers of fish should arrive in the Clearwater soon. State officials on Thursday expanded the season to seven days a week. The quota was originally set at around 1,100 chinook, but as the run has progressed, the Clearwater quota has tentatively bumped up to 4,354 fish.

As of Wednesday morning, more than 7,000 had arrived at Lower Granite, but all spring chinook salmon fishing on the Snake River will be closed as of Friday evening to ensure the fishery does not exceed harvest allocations.

In Drano Lake, the chinook forecast is 7,600, similar to the recent five-year average return of 7,400 but less than the recent 10-year average return of 8,100. The best action is in the area referred to as “Toilet Bowl,” a popular spot where anglers troll in a tight circle near the entrance of the lake

The Icicle River in Chelan County is to open for hatchery spring chinook one hour before official sunrise on Friday through one hour after official sunset on June 30. Daily limit is two hatchery chinook (adult or jack). Retention of hatchery chinook is mandatory this year.

With more than 60 public piers on Puget Sound from Seattle to Tacoma, you don’t always have to own a boat to fish for salmon. Numerous local municipalities maintain piers for a variety of uses, including fishing. Many are open from dawn to dusk, and some allow night fishing. Salmon fishing that is often closed to boaters is often open to dock fishermen.

Spiny ray

Crappie are biting everywhere. On Saturday evening, two friends and I fished Eloika Lake along the shores north of the public landing. We started out using 4 feet of line and a skirted 2-inch jig below a bobber, and were into a strong bite immediately. Many of the fish were just an eighth of an inch shy of the 9-inch minimum, but it nevertheless took us only two hours to keep three legal limits of 30. The largest were 10 inches. We also caught a few perch and sunfish. On some of the water we fished, we had only 2 feet of line below our bobbers.

For bigger crappie, try Long Lake, Banks Lake, Newman, Liberty, Coffeepot, Hayden or Hauser. Lower Twin Lake near Coffeepot also has some big crappie and perch.

Of the lakes in the region, Moses Lake is producing the best walleye fishing, and it also has excellent smallmouth fishing. Banks Lake is also good for both species. Anglers looking for big largemouth bass will find them on Potholes Reservoir. There are also plenty of big bluegill.

Fishing for Lake Roosevelt smallmouth bass usually gets good this time of year as long as the water temperature is 55 degrees or better. Fish have been taken recently by anglers tossing tube jigs against the shoreline downriver from Porcupine Bay,

Sprague Lake, Jumpoff Joe, Diamond, Clear and Silver have yielded some big largemouth this spring.

Eloika is always a good bet for 2- to 4-pound fish, and there have been some reports of 6-pounders.

Curlew perch have recovered from the spawn and are actively feeding, having left the 40-foot depths of winter for much shallower water. There have been good reports from 15-20 feet of water around the big island out from the public launch at the State Park.

Other species

Fishing for channel catfish and smallmouth bass gets good this time of year on the Yakima, Palouse and Walla Walla rivers, and along the dikes on the Snake River at Lewiston.

Shad are just starting to show at Bonneville Dam. The run will increase daily now until there are millions of migrating fish in the Columbia.

The northern pikeminnow sport reward fishery is in full swing.

The catch at The Dalles area of the Columbia River has been best.

Hunting

Turkey hunters are seeing less enthusiasm from the toms as the breeding season winds down. After trying my luck on nine days without success, I’m having a lot more fun fishing.

Contact Alan Liere at spokesmanliere@yahoo.com