Alan Liere’s hunting and fishing report for April 25, 2024

April 24, 2024 Updated Mon., April 29, 2024 at 3:08 p.m.

By Alan Liere The Spokesman-Review

Tip of the week

On a warm spring afternoon when the turkeys are quiet, my favorite “tool” for success in the woods is a good book. Without the adrenaline rush of a gobbling tom, I get antsy and sometimes leave my spot of concealment to search elsewhere. This has resulted in being busted by a bird sneaking in silently. If I have a book to read, I can stay with my decoy a lot longer. Eeven if I don’t eventually get a shot, I feel like I’ve accomplished something.

Heads up: The Inland Northwest Wildlife Council and WDFW are again hosting a May 11 Spokane Kids’ Fishing Event at the Fairchild Recreation Area on Clear Lake. A large number of rainbow trout will be contained in the lake, creating a “pond” full of trout accessible from the shoreline, and each youth between 5 and 14 years of age will have the opportunity to catch up to three of these. Afterwards, they will be allowed to keep their fishing rod, a T-shirt and their fish, which will be cleaned and bagged for them. Fish that are not taken home will be donated to the North County Food Pantry in Elk. With the donation of at least two canned food items, also to be donated to the Food Pantry, donors’ names will be entered in a drawing for some fantastic prizes. Register your child for this fishing event by Friday by going to www.wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/contest/youth.

Overheard: Anglers up near Northport on the Columbia have been reporting a slimy white “gunk” in the water which fouls their lines and looks somewhat like paper pulp with some green algae mixed in. It has been prevalent for several weeks.

Braggin’ rights: A talented young artist from Oregon has taken top honors at the National Junior Duck Stamp Art Contest. A king eider by 17-year-old Emily Lian will grace the 2024-2025 Junior Duck Stamp, which raises funds to educate and engage our nation’s youth in wildlife and wetlands conservation and outdoor recreation. A panel of five judges chose the oil, from among best-of-show entries from 50 states and Puerto Rico. The second-place winner is Madison Grimm, 17, from South Dakota, with an acrylic painting of a northern pintail. Third place went to 16-year-old Victoria Hickerson, from South Carolina, who entered a wood duck hen painted in oil.

Fly fishing

Silver Bow Fly Fishing reports good fishing on the lower St. Joe River. Skwala dries have been effective and there are a few fish up eating March Browns. Streamer and nymph fishing fill in the gaps when dry fly fishing slows.

Prespawn bass fishing with streamers has been good on many of the lakes this spring and should remain so for a couple of more weeks.

Trout and kokanee

Ahead of the Saturday fishing opener, district fish biologist Randy Osborne prefished some of the lowland lakes south of Spokane. He is especially high on Badger and Williams . Badger Lake anglers can expect to see 10½-inch rainbow trout and cutthroat trout over a foot long. Badger Lake kokanee are about 10 inches long, but Osborne noted that Badger lake kokes grow fast.

Williams Lake was rehabbed in 2022 and has a good number of 10½-inch rainbow trout as well as carryovers running 14 to 15 inches and some brood fish of 18 inches or better. Williams also has 11- to 12-inch cutthroat and a few tiger trout.

Osborne said Fish Lake is not doing well. It has some tiger and brook trout, but the huge population of stunted perch competes for food and discourages future plantings.

Clear Lake looks good with rainbow 10 to 11 inches long and brood fish up to 19 inches. The lake also has some big brown trout, many running 16 inches and up to 23 inches. Clear also has spiny ray, and some big largemouth bass are caught there every year.

Fishtrap Lake is seeing some sunfish, but still looks good for 10- to 11-inch rainbow, some carryovers and some brood stock. Unfortunately, West Medical is loaded with goldfish and is being considered for rehabilitation this fall. There are not many catchable-size rainbow available, but some big rainbow and browns up to 6 pounds are caught occasionally. Sadly, a few anglers are mostly responsible for the goldfish infestation because they use them for bait, tossing them into the lake at day’s end or when they fear detection. If you witness anyone fishing with goldfish, contact 1-877-933-9847 to report this violation.

No one seems to know what Loon Lake will be like this year. Last season, the kokanee were big but few and far between and few younger fish were caught. It is likely this year will be even worse.

A friend who lives at Long Lake reports catching big trout and some walleye off his dock. The biggest trout weighed 6¾ pounds. With the weeds still down and the water warming some, trolling for Long Lake trout is becoming more productive.

Lake Chelan is giving up good catches of nice-sized kokanee across from 25 Mile Creek, and even somewhat larger fish off Chelan Shores where there have been reports of 16-inch fish.

They are open year-round, and the Idaho Panhandle is home to plenty of lowland lakes with great fishing possibilities this spring. Some of these are Post Falls Park Pond (Kootenai County); Spicer Pond (Benewah County); Shepherd Lake (Bonner County); Brush Lake (Boundary County); Kelso Lake (Bonner County); Round Lake (Bonner County); Hauser Lake (Kootenai County); and Dawson Lake (Boundary County). Some of these are multispecies waters.

To find maps to these lakes and more, use Idaho Fish and Game’s Fishing Planner.

Spiny ray

One of the first places to look for walleye on Potholes Reservoir in the spring is in Lind Coulee.

Some walleye move up into this channel for spawning in the spring and then move out into the reservoir.

If you’re careful, you can run all the way up to the outflow of Warden Lake. The walleye spawn appears to be a little late on area waters this year.

At this time of year, northern pike can be targeted from shore by using a bobber and bait. Catch rates typically aren’t high in the early spring, but it is when some of the biggest fish are caught. Action has been reported in Idaho’s Chain Lakes.

Coeur d’Alene Lake offers outstanding smallmouth bass fishing in the spring and the 10 Chain Lakes offer good opportunity for bass, bluegill and crappie. Rose Lake also has channel catfish. Idaho’s Fernan Lake offers anglers the chance to catch all these species and has rainbow trout. Fernan is stocked with nearly 25,000 catchable rainbow between April and October. Docks and boat ramp access are abundant at the east and west ends of the lake and from the road that runs along the north side.

Other species

WDFW has approved another seven days of coastal razor clam digs that started Tuesday and additional tentative digs planned for May 6-12 when some excellent minus tides will be available. Not all beaches will be open. Some clam diggers are doubling their fun by casting for surf perch after the dig. This has been good at times.

Hunting

Just about every turkey hunter I know has shot a tom. There have been a lot of jakes reported this year, whereas last season they were scarce. There are still lots of birds in the woods and fields, but gobbling around my house north of Wandermere has tapered off.

Contact Alan Liere at spokesmanliere@yahoo.com