Walleye are starting to bite in Eastern Washington

By Wayne Kruse

For The Herald

Many knowledgeable fishermen say the best time of year to catch walleye in the big Eastern Washington impoundments is at ice off, and Mike Meseberg at MarDon Resort on Potholes Reservoir agrees.

“That is a good time,” he said, “and our ice is breaking up. There’s a lot of open water, but we had so much ice – 14 to 16 inches this winter – that everything’s a little later than usual and there’s still a lot of floe ice on the main lake. The top opportunities right now include Lind Coulee and off the mouth of Frenchman Wasteway.”

The fish are shallow, Meseberg said, most being caught in just 15 to 20 feet of water. Males are in pre-spawn mode and are running 17 to 20 inches.

Silver blade baits have been a productive lure, Meseberg said, while a few anglers are working spinner/nightcrawler combinations. “That latter setup probably works better a little later in the year,” he said.

The walleye limit is eight fish, minimum length 12 inches, and only one over 22 inches.

Walleye are considered the top table-quality freshwater species Washington offers, and if the table is what you have in mind, your walleye should be bled and iced down as soon as possible.

And a tip from one who knows: “The only thing you can do wrong when cooking walleye is to cook them too long,” Meseberg said.

Fresh trout

A couple of lakes in this area were planted with half-pound rainbows last week, and the fish should be acclimated to their new digs by now. Lake Cassidy received 3,500 trout, and Grandy Lake, in Skagit County, got 2,000.

Lake Cassidy is not only a trout fishery, but contains perch, crappie, brown bullheads and bass as well. From Highway 9, two miles north of Lake Stevens, turn east on Lake Cassidy Road.

Grandy, a small lake in the Lyman/Hamilton area of the Skagit Valley, also holds cutthroat. It’s a nice little fly-fishing lake in the spring and summer. A county park and boat launch are on the north shore.

From Highway 20 east of Hamilton, turn north up the Baker Lake Highway and travel five miles to the lake.

Springers

A handful of hardy anglers on the lower mainstem Columbia, fighting cold, dirty water and floating debris, have hit a scattering of spring chinook, according to state Fish and Wildlife Department biologist Joe Hymer in Vancouver. Hymer said the water temperatures are rising, but the river is risky at this level and warrants extra care. He said the Cowlitz might be a better bet for springers at this point in the season.

The lower river is open now and scheduled to remain open through April 6, but could be extended if guidelines haven’t been met. Forecasts for a less than robust spring chinook run on the big river make that an iffy proposition.

At any rate, fishing is slow and, with the heavy snow pack in the Cascades still to come down the hill, the lower river tributaries could be the go-to water this year. But it’s still early. Hymer said fishing doesn’t usually heat up until the latter part of the month.

The Bonneville Pool, which includes Drano Lake and the mouth of the Wind River, opened Thursday morning.

Turkey seminar

A free turkey-hunting clinic comes to this area at 6 p.m. March 30 at the Marysville Rifle Club (1601 Lakewood Road, Arlington). It’s one of a series of hunting clinics sponsored by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, which includes, at different times and different places, clinics on waterfowl, upland birds, deer and elk. Participants are asked to arrive 10 minutes early, and to bring a turkey call if they have one.

The clinic is designed to give the beginning hunter the tools and knowledge to hunt turkey in Washington. It will cover turkey subspecies, hunting methods, basic calling, equipment and game care. Space is limited, so register right away at www.wdfw.wa.gov/hunting. Click on “Hunting Clinics.” At that site you also can access a clinic calendar, find clinic booklets available for download, and sign up for notifications of future clinics.

Questions? Call the department’s Hunter Education Division at 360-902-8111.

Razor clams

So far, this winter’s coastal razor clam season has been pretty much a repeat of last year, according to Dan Ayres, the state’s coastal shellfish manager. Last year, clams drew about 120,000 diggers to the beaches, but that included Long Beach, which hasn’t been available this winter because of marine toxins.

“If you eliminate Long Beach, you come up with about 88,000 diggers, similar to this winter at this point,” Ayres said. “The average harvest is also similar to last year, at about 12.7 clams per person so far.”

Twin Harbors has been a standout this winter, and has been worked over hard, but it hadn’t been dug for a while and is holding up well, Ayres said.

He also had an interesting “visiting fireman” story:

“I gave a presentation on the resource in D.C., last year, and ended up saying ‘Come on out and try it if you have the chance.’ So last week, here they came — 10 folks, mostly NOAA people. We took ‘em to Mocrocks, dug 10 limits of clams, cleaned 10 limits of clams — one of my techs gave me a hand — held a clam feed and sent ‘em on their way.”

The next tentative digs are scheduled for March 24 at Mocrocks and Twin Harbors; March 25 at Copalis and Twin Harbors; March 26 at Mocrocks and Twin Harbors, and March 27 at Twin Harbors.