Monday, March 11

Spring fishing is well underway in the region. The lakes in the Quincy Wildlife Area continue to produce limits of nice rainbow, with a few real big fish showing up on stringers, too.

There is some excellent fishing being reported on some of the area's lakes that are open year-round.

I am getting reports of real whoppers being caught on Potholes Reservoir and some of the smaller lakes down there. Limits of rainbow are coming from the public access known as the Blythe Point Boat Launch. One of the fish was a 28-inch rainbow.

The area on the impoundment where the Frenchman Wasteway comes in is also very good for trout right now.

Some other spots that anglers are having very good success is right off the dock at MarDon, where one four-pounder was taken.

Canal, Heart and Windmill, which are open year-round are also producing good catches. Banks Lake is also known for very big rainbow this time of year.

I wanted to let everyone know that a full schedule of new Fishing TV Shows is available on my web site for the month, and WashingtonLakes.com has also added the show to their site.

A fresh set of Cooking Shows is also available now through both web sites.

Wednesday, March 13

I was at the counter at Hooked on Toys in Wenatchee the other day, and two of the people ahead of me were not buying fishing gear, they were getting their fishing licenses for the coming year. Remember, new licenses are due by April 1st.

I would advise everyone to get to their local tackle dealer and get their licenses renewed before there is a huge rush. It will save everyone time.

You'll need it for the next big opening of many lakes in our region.

The "April Fool" opener on April first will see more than a couple of dozen lakes become available to anglers.

These lakes are in the Columbia Basin Wildlife Refuge, and are scattered from just below Potholes Reservoir almost to Othello. Excellent trout fishing can be had on many of these lakes, while others offer great spiny ray fishing.

The weekend following is the first Triple Fish Challenge on Banks Lake, where anglers will compete to catch the biggest trout, walleye and smallmouth bass.

I mentioned that my Fishing TV Show can now be viewed through WashingtonLakes.com, and to find them on this site, do a search through their Forum Page and click on the link.

Friday, March 15

I had a great conclusion to my steelhead fishing season. I fished at Bridgeport and Chelan Falls with my fishing buddies Rollie Schmitten and Jim Passage, both of Lake Wenatchee.

Fishing was tough, but Passage saved the day with a hatchery fish taken where the hatchery creek enters the Columbia.

The next day I fished the Methow River with Keith Roe, maker of Raven Jigs. I spent most of the day watching him catch fish.

He caught and released five fish and kept a nice hatchery hen. We were about to leave the hot hole, figuring we had caught every steelhead willing to bite, when my bobber went down.

It took me over 20 minutes to get the fish within reach to release. It was estimated at 32 inches and 12 pounds! It jumped four times and had my knees shaking.

This will probably be my last steelhead of the season, which was a great one.

I expect the Methow to close to fishing very soon. My next trip will be to Lake Chelan for those big kokanee I have been hearing about.

I will be sure to let you know what I learn about the kokanee fishing; where they are biting and what to use.