Some people prefer these cooler temperatures; others miss the heat of summer. Either way, everyone agrees fall is a wonderful time of year in this region — still warm enough to fish in a t-shirt, with the bite picking up for many fisheries.
If you’re deciding where to fish this week, here are a few ideas. The hot ticket right now is whitefish on Banks Lake — anglers working the bottom in 100 feet of water in the Deavis Lake area are getting excellent numbers on dyed shrimp. Use small hooks, even egg hooks, since these fish have small mouths and are light biters, and bring some scent along; I’ve found they like garlic. Walleye fishing on Banks continues to be slow, but conditions are changing. Cooler water and the fading full moon should help. I’m hoping for a good topwater bite on smallmouth too. On Lake Chelan, kokanee are still being caught farther up the lake, with trolling from above the State Park to Mitchell Creek producing fish. For anglers near Spokane, Fish Lake recently dropped its size restrictions and limits. It will close to fishing on October 18th.
Mark’s Marine has always supported local community organizations, and this year we’re taking part in the Northwest Guardian Riders event on September 12th at Rathdrum City Park. It’s a fundraiser for a group involved in many community efforts, running from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with food, drinks, and music, plus a free veterans raffle and a 50/50 raffle. I’ll be there with the new Thunder Jet Luxor on display, showing youngsters a variety of tackle, talking about local fishing opportunities, and teaching a knot they can use for the rest of their angling lives. There will be other fishing-related displays and demonstrations in the park as well. I’m looking forward to meeting area youth and their families and to represent Mark’s Marine at an event put on by the Northwest Guardian Riders. So, I hope to see on September 12th and plan to spend the day at Rathdrum Park. This week’s photo is the poster for the event.
September is when I start checking dam counts for fall Chinook moving up the Columbia. Counts at Bonneville look good, tracking close to last year’s pace, and while the forecast calls for fewer fish than last year, the numbers are still well above the ten-year average — as many as 22,000 fish passed Bonneville in a single day. McNary Dam is seeing good numbers too, and a large push of fall Chinook is now turning up the Snake, with reports of good catches around Lewiston-Clarkston. It’s still early for the Hanford Reach and the Columbia above it — the fall run is only just starting to pass Priest Rapids Dam, though a friend and I have caught fish below Wanapum, off Crab Creek, as early as late August in past years. Anglers will be planning Hanford Reach trips soon, so if you want to fish that stretch, book a guide now — boats will fill up fast.
Cooler weather and sunny skies will inspire many anglers to get outdoors this fall. Trout anglers know that the fishing in this season can be best of the year, and they visit their favorite lakes for their last trout fishing trips of the year. I want to remind anglers that many lakes in the region will close to fishing at the end of September. By far the largest number of lakes that are closing are in Grant County. The popular early-season lakes include; Burke, Quincy, Caliche, Stratford, and a score of lakes in the Seep Lakes National Wildlife Refuge will close, along with Stratford and Vic Meyers. In Spokane County, Badger, Williams and Medical Lake West are only open until the end of the month. In Pend Oreille County, just one lake is closing, and that is Fan Lake. In Adams County, Hays Creek Ponds, Halfmoon Lake, and Sprague Lake will be closing at end of September as well. Just Coffee Pot Lake will close in Lincoln County. So, if one of your favorite lakes is on the list, you still have time to give them a try. I hope to get out on Sprague Lake. Fall fishing can be outstanding for big rainbow on Sprague. I have been told to wait until after the first frost.
As firefighters continue battling multiple large fires across the region, forest officials are urging the public to plan ahead for significant closures now in place across the OkanoganWenatchee National Forest. The forest has a closure order in place for the Three Queens, King, and Goat Fires, restricting access to a large portion of forest land in Kittitas County. The expanded closure order also closes trails from the Esmeralda Basin Trailhead and De Roux Campground, up the North Fork Teanaway Road — though De Roux Campground itself remains open. The closure also includes the Longs Pass and Ingalls Way Trails and part of the Ingalls Creek Trail. Officials also note active closures for the Ptarmigan and Sinlahekin Fires, affecting parts of the Pasayten Wilderness and trail systems in the Methow Valley and Tonasket areas. In Chelan County, a broad closure remains in effect for the Little Giant Fire, limiting access to roads, campgrounds, trailheads and sections of both the north and south shore of Lake Chelan, and portions of the Entiat, Chelan and Wenatchee River Ranger Districts. For more information, call the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest office at 509-664-9247 or visit https://www.fs.usda.gov/r06/okanogan-wenatchee/alerts.
WDFW plans to periodically dredge an outlet channel at Lake Lenore in Grant County, where vegetation, muck, and other material have created conditions that can trap and kill Lahontan cutthroat trout. The agency issued an environmental addendum Aug. 24 for the Lake Lenore Outlet Channel Restoration project, outlining plans to remove about 120 cubic yards of material from the channel roughly once every 10 years. The work would take place in late fall or winter, in an ephemeral channel between Lake Lenore and Soap Lake near a WDFW fish collection weir, about nine miles north of Soap Lake and 15 miles southwest of Coulee City. Areas outside the channel disturbed by the work would be replanted with hard stem bulrush seed.
