Alan Liere’s fishing-hunting report for April 27

Wed., April 26, 2023

By Alan Liere For The Spokesman-Review

Tip of the week

I thought it was too cold for ticks, but the one on my pillow last night this week suggested I was wrong. I always shower before going to bed, but I didn’t shake out my hunting clothes before dropping them on the bedroom floor. Although I found no ticks on my dog the next morning, I applied PetArmor Plus to the base of her neck. It has worked well for me in the past.

Braggin’ rights

In less than ideal conditions, Willie Parsons and Corey Tolmich won the recent Potholes Bass Club Open Tournament. They put together a two-day weight of 33.34 pounds of largemouth with ten 10 fish over the two-day event.

Heads up

There has been some confusion regarding the name of the mackinaw fishing tournament being held May 5 and 6 at Deer Lake. It is officially called Deer Lake Resort Lake Trout Tournament. It costs nothing to enter and has cash prizes for most and biggest fish.

The Moses Lake Carp Classic, a bow-fishing event, is scheduled for May 20th at Connelly Park in Moses Lake. Registration starts at 6 a.m. Blast off is at 7 a.m. Weigh in starts at 5 p.m. with awards ceremony to follow.

Sunday, April 30 is the deadline to apply for Idaho moose, bighorn sheep and mountain goat controlled hunts. You can apply for one of these three species in a year, but those who apply for a moose, sheep or goat hunt are ineligible for most deer, elk and pronghorn controlled hunt drawings. If assistance is needed, contact the Idaho Licenses Office no later than Friday. Hunters can apply online or at any Fish and Game office, license vendor or by telephone by calling (800) 554-8685.

Overheard

Lake Roosevelt’s water level has been up and down, but some anglers say they have been able to launch at Porcupine Bay. As things stand, launching may be possible there Thursday through Sunday before it begins its erratic fluctuations again.

Fly Fishing

Guides at Silver Bow Fly Shop said there is a great window of opportunity to fish on Idaho streams like the St. Joe and the North Fork Coeur d’Alene rivers.

They suggested packing some dries like March browns, nemouras and Skwalas, as anglers should find some fish up feeding midday. Nymphing and streamer fishing will also find them.

For nymphing, try using a stone/worm combo, but don’t overlook some jig PTs, perdigons and hare’s ear jig. Continue to focus on softer currents.

Trout and kokanee

Randy Osborne, fish biologist for the Washington Department of Fish and Widllife, said the best opening day fishing was Fishtrap Lake, where most anglers limited on 12-inch rainbow trout.

Clear Lake fishing wasn’t quite as good as Fishtrap, with an average of 3.7 trout per angler. Most ranged from 13-16 inches with a few as large as 20 inches. Osborne noted that a lot of 11-inch fish were released as anglers looked for the larger ones.

Badger Lake anglers caught about three trout each, running 11-12 inches.

As expected, West Medical Lake wasn’t as good as normal, but several of the rainbow and browns landed were quite large.

Bill Baker, WDFW Region 1 fish biologist, said the lakes in Pend Oreille and Stevens counties were “pretty slow,” as expected. Cold weather not only kept people away, it negatively affected the fishing.

“It will be good eventually,” he said, “particularly Rocky, Cedar and Starvation (lakes.)”

Some of the kokanee trollers at Loon Lake caught limits of fish on opening day.

They said the bite picked up in the afternoon, and many of their fish were 13 inches long. The bite began almost immediately in the bay near the public launch and continued from there past the point on the right and across the lake to the next shoreline. The size of the fish was unusual for this early in the season.

Salmon and steelhead

The Snake River spring chinook fishery opens Tuesdays and Fridays beginning Tuesday in Location A (below Little Goose Dam upstream to the Tucannon River) and on Wednesdays and Thursdays starting Wednesday in Location B (below Ice Harbor Dam.)

The salmon fishery in Marine Area 5 (Sekiu and Pillar Point) has reached 90% of the chinook-salmon-sublegal encounters and is closed to all salmon fishing through Sunday. This does not affect the scheduled halibut season in that area.

Spiny ray

Water in the Spokane Arm of Lake Roosevelt is up a couple of feet from last weekend.

The flow is also faster and the water is stained. Walleye anglers have been doing well but were forced to move around a lot.

Better fishing has been experienced in the main lake in 30 feet of water. The best bites came from flashy silver or chrome lures. The smallmouth bass bite is picking up on Roosevelt and also near rocky shorelines on Moses Lake and Potholes Reservoir.

Largemouth bass are just getting started at Potholes. Fish are being caught on black and blue jigs, swim jigs, chatter baits, Senkos and lipless crankbaits in 2-10 feet of water.

Walleye fishing on Potholes Reservoir has been fair this past week. They are finishing up their spawn and will be in recovery mode for a week or so.

Anglers should focus on the rocks and humps around Goose Island and the Crab Creek channel.

Usually by this time, Eloika Lake crappie are biting. But there have been zero positive reports . The warmer temperatures this week, should kick-start that fishery.

One report from Fernan Lake near Coeur d’Alene indicated at least a few crappie are being caught.

There is not much happening on on Lake Coeur d’Alene. The lake is still down about 3 feet, so many of the bays are without water. Some of the northern pike are spawning. Others have spawned and more are just preparing to spawn.

Curlew Lake perch have recovered from the late-winter spawn and are beginning to bite regularly in 20 feet of water. Anglers don’t need anything fancy to catch them: a No. 6 hook and a piece of worm will catch as many fish as anything.

Hunting

The Idaho application period is Monday through June 5 for fall 2023 Idaho swan controlled hunt in the Panhandle Region.

Successful controlled-hunt applicants will be notified by July 10.

Hunters with a valid 2023 Idaho hunting license may apply for controlled hunts at any license vendor, Fish and Game office, or with a credit card online at gooutdoorsidaho.com or by calling 1-800-554-8685.

Starting June 1, the WDFW will no longer offer fully remote hunter education courses. The department will continue to offer in-person hunter education courses as well as hybrid courses that combine online and in-person learning.

This week was one of the strangest hunting excursions for me and two friends from Alberta, who join me each year to hunt turkeys.

After shooting one big tom, we had to pass on a big flock that hung up at 40 yards without separating enough to offer a shot without endangering several other birds.

We then went four days without seeing a shootable bird or even hearing a gobble.

The closest I came to a turkey the rest of the week was the huge tom that ran across the emergency room parking lot at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center and began pecking at my shoes.

Contact Alan Liere at spokesmanliere@yahoo.com