Fish moving on up with cooler water

With the weather expected to cool off - and the water temperature dropping as a result - kokanee fishing on Lake Coeur d'Alene should be getting even better, said Steve Holweg of Cabela's.

"You won't have to fish quite as deep," Holweg said. "If you run downriggers, start at 35 feet and watch your electronics."

Chinook, meanwhile, remain 65 feet and below.

"Lakes had slowed down because of the warmer temperatures, but I noticed the water temperature is now dropping so fishing should be getting better and better," Holweg said. "We're getting to the point where the old standbys are working even better because the fish are feeding and putting on weight to make it through the winter."

For kokanee, try either a Ford Fender with a wedding ring or triple teaser tipped with maggots and corn.

Holweg said he hears that fishing on local rivers remains phenomenal.

Jerry Brown of Cabela's said steelhead fishing on the Snake and Clearwater rivers is also heating up. Bobbers and shrimp are working well, along with lighted lures at night.

•••

"Whenever waves come through, they're getting fish," Brown said.

Slowly but consistently, fishing always perks up as the temperatures cool.

Signs are already out there, assured Jeff Smith with Fins and Feathers Tackle Shop and Guide Service.

"It might be a hair early. The water hasn't cooled down real good," Smith said. "But once it starts to drop a little bit, that picks everything up."

He pointed to successful kokanee fishing on Lake Coeur d'Alene.

"Pretty much the whole eastern arm has been pretty good, from Bennett Bay all the way to Wolf Lodge," he said.

Two basic setups will do the job, he said. Either use a multi-blade flasher with a wedding ring spinner behind it, baited with corn or maggots, or a dodger with the same type of spinner.

Stick to a 40-foot depth, Smith advised, and the 15-fish limit won't take too long to reach.

"In most cases, if somebody's not doing that well on 'em, they probably just aren't quite deep enough," he said.

Most chinook salmon in the lake aren't quite up to the 20-inch catch requirement yet, he cautioned.

"A lot of them you catch are 16 inches or so, so you have to watch that," he said. "We've caught a handful of 20- to 24-inch fishes. Nothing real big yet."

The heftier trophies will become more prevalent as the leaves turn and fall progresses, he added.

Meantime, he said, hunt for chinook around Arrow and Higgens points, as well as off Tubbs Hill, at roughly 65 to 90 foot depths.

"They've been fairly deep," he said.

The reliable bait is an 8-inch flasher with liter and a mini squid.

Smallmouth are around 20 foot depths on the lake, he added.

They are caught up with consuming crawdads, he added, so a double tailed grub or a crawdad imitation plastic should do the trick.

Most are found on the fray of weedlines, he added.

"You can jig 'em, but they'll hit crankbaits," Smith said. "The only problem is you're very close to pike territory and will get bit off. But that's just the way it goes."

Small lake fishing has been tough, he acknowledged.

Trout fishing has been slow at locations like Rose and Hauser lakes, he said.

"Try for the trout, but have a back-up plan if you go to the little lakes," he said. "You can catch some panfish."

He advised using nightcrawlers or small jigs with bait for the panfish, he added.

•••

The summer bite is winding down, and next week could mark the beginning of fishing pattern more befitting the fall.

That means as temperatures drop, anglers should look to shallow waters for pike and small and largemouth bass swimming in to feed.

"It will be a big change this week after it starts getting colder," said Blake Becker of Black Sheep Sporting Goods. "They start coming up and focusing on a shallower area."

Right now, smallmouth bass are deeper, about 15 to 30 feet out in lakes Coeur d'Alene, Hayden, Fernan and Pend Oreille, going after Zoom Finesse worms and Powerbaits.

When it cools, toss lines in the shallows loaded with spinner and crank baits like Rapalas. Look for stumps or grass patches that are alive and still green to find where the fish, including pike and largemouth bass cluster.

They start coming up and focusing on a shallower area," Becker said. "That's when we start getting that good fall bite."

Steelhead season is open as well, so fall fishing will focus on the Clearwater River as well, so anglers can catch trout using fresh shrimp, with oils, off lines that use divers in the front to sink the bait.

Bobbers with Steelhead jigs also work well, and should through the winter and into the spring and winter.

•••

Fishing the local rivers has been fruitful during the recent heat wave, said Mike Beard at Orvis Northwest Outfitters in Coeur d'Alene.

With hunting season open and kids back in school, the Coeur d'Alene and the St. Joe are opening up to fly-casters again.

"They keep saying it's going to cool off which would make it even better," Beard said.

Hoppers and ants have been fishing extremely well, he said. Some smaller mahoganies are also starting to show up on the rivers.

Pale morning duns and caddis are a solid choice to get the job done, especially if things cool off, Beard said. Some larger caddis should start making an appearance as October approaches.

To the south, steelhead are snatching flies on the Clearwater near Lewiston.