I am very excited about my plans for this week. I will be heading over to Lake Coeur d’ Alene to spend a few days. This will be an “almost” annual trip and in previous years it has been a wonderful time.

There is nothing better than getting together with family for a fun weekend. For the third time my wife and I will be meeting her two sisters and their husbands for three days on Lake Coeur d’ Alene. We went two years in a row and then COVID hit, and we missed a couple of trips. We are back on this year and are looking forward to it. My brother-in-law Tom Verschueren has been able to find us a house on the lake with a dock. I tow my boat over and we spend many hours either fishing or sightseeing on the big lake. The first year we hit the tail end of the kokanee fishing and had a blast catching big kokanee. The next year we missed the kokanee action, so we switched to bass fishing. There are tons of docks lining the shores of Coeur d’ Alene and we would cast Senkos and catch smallmouth bass. I checked in with the folks at Fins and Feathers and they said that there are kokanee to be caught but they are small, so not many people are fishing for them. We’ll see how big they are, and there’s always the bass! This week’s photo is from our first trip when we got in on the kokanee bite.

I wanted to remind anglers that there are many lakes in Eastern Washington that will close to fishing at the end of September. Fishing can be excellent in the region’s waters in the fall, and I didn’t want you to miss out on a trip to one of your favorite lakes before it closes. I can’t list them all, and anglers should check the Washington Sportfishing Pamphlet to be sure the lake you plan to fish is open. In Grant County Blue, Park, Deep, Quincy, Burke and Warden lakes will close, as will most of the lakes in the Seep Lakes Wildlife Area. In Okanogan County Badger, Beaver, and Spectacle lakes close. Lincoln County lakes to close include Coffee Pot, Deer, and some areas of Sprague. Spokane County lakes that will close at the end of September are Fish Lake, Fishtrap and Williams. In Adams County Deadmans, Halfmoon, McManaman, and Shiner close. There are a significant number of lakes that close at the end of October, but there are plenty of year-round lakes to keep anglers busy through the fall and winter. As temperatures cool many spinyray species come on the bite in anticipation of the onset of winter and dwindling food sources.

Salmon fishing on the upper Columbia is winding down and Buoy 10 fishing is closed for kings now. Everyone is turning their attention to the fall fishing on the Hanford Reach. Here’s an update:  Fall chinook returns to the Columbia River are running 24% above the ten-year average. Cumulative adult fall chinook count through the Bonneville Dam fish ladders is 189,630 (Aug 1-Sept 4) compared to the ten-year average of 152,234. 30,020 adult fall chinook have been counted at McNary for the same time period, 6% below the ten-year average (30,020 v 31,821). Fishing was slow this past week but is picking up throughout the Hanford Reach. WDFW staff interviewed anglers from 155 boats (311 anglers) with 40 adult chinook, 4 jacks, and 1 coho harvested. Based on sampling, an estimated 140 adult chinook, 14 chinook jacks, and 4 coho were harvested from 1,089 angler trips. For the first three weeks of the fishery there have been 2,843 angler trips with 672 adult chinook, 49 chinook jacks, and 4 coho harvested. In addition, 17 sockeye, 14 adult chinook, 7 chinook jacks, and 47 steelhead were caught and released. Boats averaged one salmon per 3.5 boats, 34 hours per fish.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) is considering opening a currently closed section of the Chelan River to fishing and is seeking public input on the topic. The Department will hold a virtual meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 14 at 6 p.m. to accept public comment. The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission earlier this year accepted a petition to initiate rulemaking to open the upper Chelan River from the Chelan Public Utilities District (PUD) powerhouse up to the Lake Chelan Dam to fishing. That section of river was closed in 2015 to evaluate efforts to restore resident game fish to the area and was necessary to eliminate the effect of angler harvest and/or catch-and-release mortality on fish. Results from the evaluation show that populations of resident gamefish in the upper Chelan River are abundant enough to support recreational fishing.

More information on the rule making can be found on the Petition Chelan River Fishing webpage and will be explained during the virtual meeting prior to the start of public comment. The commission will be briefed on the topic, and input received, at a meeting on Sept. 23. A decision is scheduled to be made on the topic at the regularly scheduled commission web conference on Oct. 7.
To join the Sept. 14 meeting virtually, please register in advance or join by phone at (253) 215-8782 and enter webinar ID 861 1255 8305. For those who cannot attend, more information on this petition can be found at https://publicinput.com/PetitionChelanRiver. Comments can also be submitted there or by leaving a voicemail message at 855-925-2801 and entering project code 7813.

The WDFW has announced that fishing for white sturgeon on Lake Roosevelt will close one hour after sunset on Friday, September 30th. The area on the reservoir to be closed includes from Grand Coulee Dam to China Bend boat ramp (including the Spokane River from Highway 25 Bridge upstream to 400’ below Little Falls Dam, Colville River upstream to Meyers Falls Dam and the Kettle River upstream to the Barstow Bridge). Anticipated harvest and fishery impacts will have been achieved for the 2022 season. Fishery managers will evaluate the 2022 Lake Roosevelt white sturgeon catch and harvest prior to establishing the rules for the 2023 season.

Well, we are off to Coeur d’ Alene and I will give you a full report when I get back!