Weather cools steelhead fishing
With this week's chilly temperatures and snow coming on, steelhead fishing on the rivers to the south, including the Snake, Grand Ronde and the Clearwater, is taking a bit of a break, said Pat Way, co-owner of Northwest Outfitters in Coeur d'Alene.
Way expects fishing on those streams to heat up again later this month and into February and March.
"We hope steelhead fishing will be good in a couple weeks," Way said, referring to the cold, rain and snow weather patterns lately.
Way said if you head south for steelhead fishing, the Snake is the best bet.
"I'd concentrate on the Snake more than the Clearwater or Grand Ronde only because it typically runs considerably warmer than the other two," Way said. "I'd give the fly shop a call before heading down because you have to be pretty suspect of flows."
For steelhead, sink tips with big leech patterns are a good bet.
Way said some anglers get wrapped up into believing a certain fly pattern far exceeds the others, but he doesn't believe that's the case.
"I truly don't think that it matters what color or how big it is," he said. "As long as you get that in front of a fish's face, you should be in pretty good shape."
Way said the Coeur d'Alene River can prove to be a good winter trout fishery with it being open year-round.
"But it needs to be more than 7 degrees," he said.
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Fishermen have their pick of lakes for ice fishing, according to Jeff Smith of Fins and Feathers Tackle Shop and Guide Service.
But attracting fish might take some patience.
"You wouldn't think they'd move so much," Smith said on Tuesday. "You can either keep moving to try to find 'em, or try to hunker down and hopefully they'll swim back through. They're kind of milling around."
The ice is a hefty 8 inches on Fernan Lake and growing every day, Smith said, an appealing location to fish for perch, trout and bass.
"I wouldn't say it's on fire, but everything is pretty good sized," he said, adding that the perch are around 9 inches and trout roughly 12 inches. "They're not like, big fish, but it's fun ice fishing."
He added that trout will be best on the west end of the lake, and the rest in the middle and east end.
A glow jig with maggots works well, he said, though many are buying night crawlers.
"We've got lots of good glow jigs. We sell the most of Ratsos and Ratfinkes," Smith said. "They're just weird little lures. You can use them all over."
The Chain Lakes are hardened, too, he added, and many fishermen are heading there to snag northern pike.
Smith advised using smelt or herring with a tip-up rig. Up to five rods and five tip-ups are allowed per person, he said.
"You can go down there with a couple of guys, and you can really cover some ground," he said.
Round and Kelso lakes are still good for trout, Smith added.
"They're summer stocked, so there's a lot of carry-over fish," he said.
The trout can be snagged at 15 foot depths with a suspended nightcrawler, Smith said.
"The fish are hungry," he said.
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Winter is here in force, but local anglers can escape cabin fever onfrozen lakes.
Tina Padgitt of Black Sheep Sporting Goods said ice fishermen are hooking perch and trout on smaller lakes in the area. A Swedish pimple might draw some strikes, she suggested.
Pike fishermen are having luck on Hayden Lake, Fernan Lake and the Chain Lakes. A few anglers tried the ice out in Cougar Bay on Lake Coeur d'Alene, Padgitt said, an area known for big northerns. A dead smelt or herring should do the trick, fished on a pike hook or a double treble. Hook that bait through the back and let it dangle.
"Some guys use tip-ups, some guys use regular rods," Padgitt said.
Make sure that bait is dead, though, she advised, because the Idaho Fish and Game regulations prohibit live bait fishing.
Padgitt said she'll be out on the ice pretty soon herself.
"I like the kokanee, so I'll be heading up to Spirit Lake I think," she said.
Down south, river fishermen are reeling in steelhead near Orofino and Lewiston, Padgitt added. The fish are hitting jigs or eggs.