Black Hills and West River Area Fishing Forecast: Unstable weather patterns coupled with wind, wind and more wind have limited fishing activity recently, as anglers await a week or two of warm weather before fully committing. The inconsistent weather has most likely slowed walleye spawning in some areas as well.

Angostura Reservoir: Walleye bite remains very slow as fish prepare to spawn. What success there has been on the lake has been largely restricted to some crappie activity around tires near marina.

Belle Fourche Reservoir (Orman): On days when wind subsides, the walleye bite in the diversion channel has been steady for anglers pitching jigs and minnows. Success elsewhere has been mostly on the south side of the lake.

Black Hills Fly-Fishing: Midday dry fly-fishing remains excellent along Rapid Creek with midges and blue-winged olive hatches spurring the action. For dry fly enthusiasts, black stoneflies are hatching and are the best bet at higher elevations. Nymphs and streamers are working at times as well. Contact Dakota Angler & Outfitter for specific details.

Center Lake: A few reports of trout activity gaining steam on the lake, with powerbait working best.

Deerfield Reservoir: Though ice remains, conditions have deteriorated — one angler fell through last week, though fortunately in shallow water. Gold run area might have some safe ice, but extreme caution is advised. Accentuating the positive, a number of nice lake trout were caught on spinners last week and limits of perch were being caught, a situation that will likely change for a while as ice gives way to open water.

Lake Waggoner: Bluegill and crappie action has picked up over the last week or so, with small jigs and minnows working best in 6 to 10 feet of water.

New Wall Dam: Some nice largemouth bass were caught last week on shiners, and a 15-pound northern pike was landed as well.

Pactola Reservoir: A few northerns were showing up last week on either smelt or shiners. Also, bluegill activity continued near south side marina and adjacent bays. Small jigs and crawlers were the baits of choice.

Sheridan Lake: Fishing activity remains slow.

Stockade Lake: A slow week with little success reported.

Sylvan Lake (Center and Horsethief as well): A nice trout bite reported on powerbait and spinners.

Tisdale Lake: Largemouth bass bite reported last week, with golden shiners the most effective presentation.

Lakes Oahe: Windy weather continues to keep angling numbers down on the big lake, though shorelines and bays have been producing nice catches of northern pike, with smelt the bait of choice. Limited walleye activity reported is largely in the Cheyenne River arm.

Lake Sharpe: Lots of walleye activity reported from the bridges to the Bad River last week. Bite continues farther south as well, in West Bend and Ft. George areas.

Lake Francis Case: Walleye bite has been somewhat slow, though some anglers have had some success using jigs and minnows along rocky shorelines as fish move in, preparing to spawn. Also, hot spots at present seem to be located south of Chamberlain.

Upcoming Fishing Tournaments:

April 16-17: Angostura Iron Man Fishing Tournament: two-person team, two-day walleye tournament. $120 per team with entries limited to 60 teams. Email angosturaironman@gmail.com for more information. 

April 30-May: Angostura Walleye Classic Tournament sponsored by Walleyes Unlimited; call 605-381-9457 between the hours of 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. for more information.

May 7-8: 2016 Spring Tournament at Keyhole Reservoir; three in one tournament limited to 60 teams; visit keyholewalleye.com or call Dave at 307-680-7372.


Source

lake Mead — Striper fishing continues to be slow in the Vegas Wash area; three bags were caught on jigs in approximately 40 feet of water. Striper fishing in the Overton Arm was fair; boats launching out of Echo Bay did slightly better than those out of Boulder Harbor. The biggest bag came from trolling with crankbait. Some pretty big bags were brought in during last weekend’s bass tournament. The winning bag was 17.6 pounds, and the biggest fish was 4.6 pounds.

lake Mohave — Striper fishing is picking up; lures are working for several fishermen. Swimbait and anchovies have been successful in getting the bigger stripers. From the tournament reports on Mohave, bass fishing has been great the past few weeks. The last report had a winning bag of 24.93 pounds, with a 5.5-pound fish. Average size for the entire tournament was about 3 pounds.

laughlin — Striper fishing has picked up on the river. The average size has been 2 to 5 pounds. No sign of the big fish lately; however, bigger stripers have been caught on trout-imitation lures in the past. A fisherman trolling in the casino area caught a 3-pound smallmouth bass using anchovies. Anchovies have been working well for all bass.

las Vegas Urban Ponds — Rainbow trout continue to hit on a variety of lures, such as rainbow powerbait, yellow or orange power eggs and small spinning lures. Bluegill and bass are starting to become active, and the Nevada Department of Wildlife requests leaving any fish on nests in peace, as natural reproduction is the only way to increase those populations. Catfish stocking is scheduled to begin next week.

kirch Wildlife Management Area — With the warmer weather, the campground has been filling up on the weekends. One group that stayed three days last week had mixed results. There was not one day when all of the group members caught a fish, but they each had catches at some point during their trip. They said the trout were biting on anything green and shiny at Dacey Reservoir. When they tried shoreline, none had any luck. They also ventured down to Hay Meadow Reservoir and said it was OK there, the best being on Wednesday afternoon. Everything still is full, and things are starting to green up nicely.

eagle Valley Reservoir — Fishing action was good this past week, and one angler recently brought in a 7½-pound tiger trout. The tigers have been hitting the best on the upper end of the reservoir and have been taking small Rapala’s. Rainbows have been hitting throughout the entire reservoir, taking most small lures, various colors of Powerbait and night crawlers.

echo Canyon Reservoir — It still has been too cold for the crappie and bass, but the rainbows are hitting well on a variety of baits and lures. Small Mepps spinners and Rooster Tails have been working well.


Source

Bridgeport, Conn. (wtnh)- A Bridgeport based company is trying to make it easier for veterans, active members of the military and the unemployed to get out there and do some fishing this spring and summer. For the eighth consecutive year the Aquarion Water Company is offering to pay for permits for those who qualify.

The permits will  be available on Wednesday, April 6th and Wednesday, April 13th at Aquarion’s Aspetuck Environmental Center at 714 Black Rock Road in Easton. Permits will be issued from 8 in the morning until 3-thirty in the afternoon on both of those days. Those interested in a free permit need to bring a valid Connecticut fishing license, official proof of unemployment or a military identification.

salmon And Steelhead

Cowlitz River – 155 boat anglers kept 132 steelhead and 15 adult spring Chinook plus released 4 steelhead.  153 bank anglers kept 20 steelhead and 18 adult spring Chinook.  The trout hatchery area is still the best bet for steelhead; spring Chinook are being caught more throughout the river.

Under permanent rules, night closure and anti-snagging rule is in effect from Mill Creek upstream to the barrier dam through November.  Only fish hooked inside the mouth may be retained.

Last week Tacoma Power recovered 700 winter run steelhead and 900 spring Chinook adults, 27  spring Chinook jacks, and one cutthroat trout during five days of operations at the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery separator.

During the past week Tacoma Power employees released 62 winter-run steelhead adults and one cutthroat trout into the Tilton River at Gust Backstrom Park in Morton, 284 spring Chinook, seven spring Chinook jacks, and 18 winter-run steelhead into Lake Scanewa above Cowlitz Falls Dam and 496 spring Chinook adults, 19 jacks, and 34 winter-run steelhead adults into the Cispus River near the mouth of Yellow Jacket Creek.

River flows at Mayfield Dam are approximately 6,820 cubic feet per second on Monday, April 4.

East Fork Lewis from mouth to top boat ramp at Lewisville Park and Washougal River from mouth to Mt. Norway Bridge – Open to fishing for hatchery steelhead Saturday April 16. Through the first Friday in June, selective gearrules are in effect; no bait may be used.

Wind River – A few anglers are prospecting without much success.  2 boat anglers had no catch.   The area from Hwy. 14 bridge upstream to 400 feet below Shipherd Falls is open for hatchery spring Chinook and hatchery steelhead.  Above Shipherd Falls opens for Chinook and hatchery steelhead May 1.

Drano Lake – Light effort.  1 bank and 4 boat anglers had no catch.  April 13 is the first of the scheduled Wednesday closures that run through June.  Effective April 16 through June 30, bank fishing only west of a line projected from the easternmost pillar of the Hwy. 14 Bridge to a posted marker on the north shore.

Lower Columbia mainstem below Bonneville Dam – Effort and catch continue to increase.  There were just over 1,800 boats and nearly 600 bank anglers tallied during last Saturday’s effort flight count.

During the first 3 days of April we sampled 2,228 salmonid anglers (including 759 boats) with 469 adult and 2 jack spring Chinook and 2 steelhead.  404 (86%) of the adult spring Chinook and both of the steelhead were kept.  79% of the fish sampled were upriver stock based on Visual Stock Identification (VSI).

Sat. April 9 is currently the last day scheduled to be open to fishing.

Bonneville Pool – No effort was observed.

The Dalles Pool – A bank angler caught a hatchery adult spring Chinook there last week, the first fish to be found in the sample this year.

John Day Pool – Light effort though some steelhead were incidentally caught while fishing for other species.

Hanford Reach – Wdfw staff estimates that 959 anglers fished for steelhead in the Hanford Reach (Hwy. 395 to Hanford town site) in March.  Wdfw technicians interviewed 122 anglers with 54 steelhead. The majority of the steelhead were caught and harvested by the boat anglers.  Fishing picked up slightly in March but was slower in March than in many prior years, especially from the shore.

Based on the sampling data, an estimated 403 steelhead were caught in March with 325 hatchery steelhead harvested. This season, 6,214 anglers have fished for steelhead in the Hanford Reach catching 1,839 steelhead and harvesting 1,369 hatchery steelhead.

This fishery is now open for “bank fishing only” through April 15.  The boundary area for the “bank fishery” is from the Wdfw marker ¼ mile downstream of the Ringold irrigation wasteway outlet to the marker ½ mile upstream of Spring Creek.  Boats are no longer permitted to fish for steelhead in the Hanford Reach.

sturgeon

Lower Columbia mainstem below Bonneville Dam – All the attention is on the spring Chinook fishery.  There was little to no effort during the current catch-and-release fishery.

The Dalles Pool – Boat anglers are catching some legals.  Light effort and catch from the bank.

John Day Pool – Boat anglers are keeping and releasing some legals.  Fishing is slow from the bank.

walleye And Bass

The Dalles Pool – Boat anglers kept/released over 2 walleye and nearly 5 bass per rod.

John Day Pool – Boat anglers averaged over 2.5 walleye and 12 bass per rod when including fish released.

trout

Recent plants of catchable size browns and rainbows.  No report on angling success.