Open water fishing
The trout fishing on Lake Roosevelt remains very good for trollers and those fishing from shore. Boaters recommend including a bag of sand for the launches which can become ridiculously slick. Try green or orange plastics on the bottom for burbot. Sweeten with a nightcrawler or a hunk of northern pikeminnow.
Rock Lake can be counted on for winter trout action. Trolled Rapalas in a perch pattern consistently take browns and rainbows, most under 16 inches with much larger fish of both species a possibility. The Old Goat lure in a perch pattern and a perch pattern Apex accounted for a lot of strikes for a friend who fished the lake the day after Christmas.
Pend Oreille Lake trout fishing has been fair the past two weeks, but the fish have moved down in the water column. They aren’t deep, but neither are they on the surface. On Lake Coeur d’Alene, there has been a fair chinook bite for the smaller fish down deep.
Fly fishing
The Spokane Fly Fishers Fly Fishing School starts on February 16 and includes a great lineup of program presenters who will provide both indoor and outdoor classes. The Indoor sessions will be held at the Inland Northwest Wildlife Council Building at 6116 North Market Street from 6:00 pm to approx. 8:30 pm. Three outdoor casting classes will be at Franklin Park in North Spokane. The final class is Saturday, April 1 at Waterfront Park on Medical Lake. Current Spokane Fly Fishers members pay only $130. Non-member fee is $150 for ages 18 and over and $80 for ages 12 thru 17. (The non-member fee includes club membership through May 2024.) If interested, connect on the Fly School link on the website at spokaneflyfishers.com or contact Claude Kistler at fs@spokaneflyfishers.com or by phone at 747 2268.
Silver Bow Fly Shop has this to say about winter fishing: “The Spokane River has been back to being a winter fishing option these past few days. Trout spey or streamers fished deep with sink-tips has been productive. Productive in the wintertime means: (A) you got out of the house to fish (B) you didn’t freeze to death (C) you didn’t fall in. If you are lucky enough to catch 1 or more fish well then, that’s a hell of a winter day on the water.”
Steelhead
With the warmer weather, the Snake River will be a steelhead option, but the Grande Ronde is spiking quickly and the Clearwater is rising too, though not quite as fast. Shelf ice may still be a problem on the ‘Ronde.
Ice Fishing
The ice on some of the lakes that were okay for ice fishing last week has deteriorated. On Mirror Lake in Idaho, for example, a Christmas Day angler reported 10 inches of snow over 2 inches of frozen slush with 4 inches of wet slush beneath that. Below it all was a mere 2 inches of good ice–not enough for me. The kokanee are about 8 inches long.
Unfortunately, compromised ice conditions will be similar for any number of lakes in Idaho and Washington. A dearth of ice fishing reports since Christmas would suggest fishing enthusiast are finding other outdoor pursuits (like dealing with ice dams and collapsed metal sheds … as am I.) Still, another Idaho ice fisherman said the ice was “pretty good” at Hauser Lake and the slush wasn’t as bad as he had feared. He caught two dozen perch in a short time. He said they were stacked in about-20-25 feet of water. Most of the lakes in the Coeur d’Alene Chain had ice fishing last week, but this week, it’s anybody’s guess.
Fernan Lake has slush on top, but trout are biting and the ice is pretty good close to the buoy. Spirit Lake has perhaps four inches of hard ice with 8 inches of slush on top. Upper Twin was better with just 3 inches of slush on top of 8 inches of ice. Fishing, however, has not been good.
Hard water anglers in eastern Washington can still find some decent ice. Lakes like Hog Canyon, Sacheen, Jump-Off-Joe, Waitts, Eloika, Thomas and Curlew had a good ice cover before the big thaw. Gillette Lake has enough good ice for ice fishing. The trout bite there is better than the perch bite. Curlew Lake perch action is still good at the State Park, though melting snow has made it sloppy. Wherever you go, take it slow; be cautious.
Hunting
A friend and I braved the icy roads between Spokane and St. John last week in hopes of finding a pheasant or two, but we cut our trip short because of deep snow and drifts. Even our dogs were miserable as ice balls on their feet, and belly-high drifts curtailed their usual enthusiasm. Back home at last, I pulled into my driveway where 12 pheasants were scratching for gravel alongside a 15-bird covey of quail. No–I wasn’t tempted.
Goose hunters in the Columbia Basin haven’t been affected by ice as much as duck hunters, as most of their shooting is in fields. As the weather warms, geese will often search out food that isn’t as “hot” as grain, often preferring grass and winter wheat.
Contact Alan Liere at spokesmanliere@yahoo.com
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