Monday, December 16

I made another trip up to Lake Roosevelt to see if could get some more of those nice triploid rainbow, and I had mixed results.

The first day I fished the afternoon from an area known affectionately as "Geezer's Beach", which is on the north side of Roosevelt just above the dam.

This is a very popular area for shore fishing, as you can drive right down to the water.

A Colville Tribal license is required to fish here, but people are willing to pay the fee for the convenience of this particular spot.

There was one angler there when I arrived and another one set up while we were fishing. Still another stopped by to see how we were doing.

However, the fishing here was very slow last week. One veteran angler said the fish hadn't shown up here yet, implying that it will get better later in the winter.

The next day I went back to Spring Canyon Park and was joined by another angler who had read my report.

Fishing was very slow that day, and he got one rainbow and I got two. One of my fish was 22 inches, though, so I called it a success.

Wednesday, December 18

When the Methow and the Okanogan rivers freeze it has a positive effect on the fishing in Pateros and Bridgeport.

That's right, the fishing actually gets better off the docks, in the area known as The Rocks, and even on the Columbia in the Bridgeport area.

The reason is that the fish leave the Methow and the Okanogan and head back into the Columbia for the warmer water. The very cold weather we had that froze these two rivers has already had an impact.

Fishing in the area of The Rocks has already picked up. My buddy Shane Magnuson has been getting limits for his clients here.

Also, warm weather may make it possible to fish some of the Methow River. Local guides are watching the river closely and may book trips soon.

Word is that Patterson Lake is mostly frozen and ice anglers are fishing from the boat ramp area to the south end. There is some open water at the very top end of the lake.

Fish Lake, near Lake Wenatchee is also ice covered, but not yet thick enough for drilling holes for ice fishing.

Check out www.lakewenatcheeinfo.com to see if folks are out on the ice.

Friday, December 20

I get a log of e-mails this time of year from people wanting to know what the ice conditions are on some of the lakes in our region.

Two of the most popular lakes are Fish Lake, near Lake Wenatchee and Roses Lake, near Manson at Lake Chelan.

When it comes to safe ice, I like to check on it myself, before I recommend fishing on it, so I decided to visit both Fish Lake and Roses Lake on Tuesday.

It was a dreary morning in Leavenworth, but as I drove up the Tumwater Canyon the skies cleared and it was sunny.

It was beautiful at Fish Lake, and I saw three groups of anglers fishing on the clear ice, that was at least five inches thick.

I then drove up to Roses, and walked down to the small dock by the boat launch.

I could see that someone had drilled a couple of test holes from the dock, but I could see some very soft spots just above the ramp.

There is also a large area of open water at the bottom end of the lake.

It will be a while before anyone should venture out on the ice on Roses Lake.