I was out and about this past weekend and I saw anglers everywhere I went. There was great turnout for the Quincy Chamber of Commerce Trout Derby on Burke and Quincy lakes, and I saw a lot of fly fishers on Lake Lenore and Dry Falls Lake on my way up to Coulee Dam. The parking lot was packed with trucks and trailers at the Northrup launch on Banks Lake.
I visited the Quincy Wildlife Area on Saturday to see how the annual Quincy Valley Chamber of Commerce Trout Derby was going. I saw one of the biggest crowds I had ever seen at Quincy and Burke lakes. There were all manner of motor homes, trailers, campers and tents set up everywhere. There were boats all over both of the lakes and people at most of the shore accesses as well. I talked to several anglers, and they reported that the fishing on Friday was very good with lots of big rainbow landed. Fishing was slower on Saturday, but people were enjoying the day. It started out cloudy and chilly but warmed up and the skies cleared later in the day. Once again, the Quincy Chamber had amassed a huge number of prizes and thanks to a generous donation from the Quincy Valley Medical Center it looked like every child would get a rod and reel. The results of the derby will be posted on the Quincy Chamber Facebook page. While I was there, I checked on the boat ramp at the top end of Evergreen Reservoir. The water is up and a small boat had launched, but there was a lot of debris in the water. A recent wind had pushed it up against that shore. This week’s photo is of the mass of prizes that were handed out at the Quincy Derby.
I wanted to do a video and to do it on the water. The Quincy Wildlife Area would be a good place, and Tom Vershueren came along with me. Tom and I had fished for bass on Evergreen Reservoir a few times, but he had never fished for trout on the other lakes. As we entered the Wildlife Area, I pointed out Stan Coffin and H lakes and even showed him the trailhead and view of Dusty Lake. At Quincy Lake I used a casting bubble and fly and gave Tom a Lil Jake lure. We had no success and we pushed on to Burke Lake. I tried casting near the handicapped platform and Tom walked out on the dock at the boat launch. While I didn’t get a sniff, Tom had a couple of trout chase his lure and even landed a couple of one-pounders. I took a shot of the boat launch at Evergreen and then we drove to Martha Lake where Tom landed another fish. We ended the tour at Caliche Lake were we didn’t get a bite. Tom was amazed at how many great lakes were so close to Quincy.
One of the lakes in our region that gets less attention that it deserves, in my opinion, is Omak Lake, on the Colville Indian Reservation. I have been fishing this big, beautiful lake for about 30 years. Although I have had feature stories published in magazines and posted numerous reports and photos of my trips to Omak, I am often the only boat on the lake when fishing there. In April last year a friend and I traveled there to inspect the condition of the boat launch on Nicholson Beach. It has always been very rough and the boat I was driving that season was much larger than usual. It didn’t take long to determine that there was no way I was going to put the boat, which was 23 feet long overall, in the lake at this launch. In the short time we were there we watched a group of fly fishers casting from the shore, land fish. It reminded me that the big Lahontan cutthroat that inhabit the lake cruise close to the shore in the spring. Casting spoons and spinners works very well. Tribal permits and licenses are required to fish this lake, and others on the reservation.
With the mild weather we had this winter I am thinking that some spring fisheries will blossom earlier than usual this year. One could be the bass fishing on Moses Lake. In past years I spent very little time fishing for bass, as I was focused on the walleye fishing. So, when I dedicated some time to the bass fishing the results were very impressive. I got an assignment to do a video on the bass fishing on Moses Lake. I tried a couple of areas that I really hadn’t explored before. One of those spots was the reef I had talked about in earlier reports and shared its location with a photograph. I had anticipated catching some smallmouth on that reef but didn’t expect to get as many largemouth as we did. The nearest launch to reach this reef is Connelly Park. The same day my friends and I fished around Gaileys Island at the other end of the lake. This also produced both big smallmouth and largemouth bass. We were casting Brush Hogs and lizards to the shore at Gaileys and on the reef where we started. I am very excited to get out on Moses Lake for some pre-spawn bass fishing!
Looking back a year ago, I came across a photo of my fishing buddy Dennis Beich with a nice rainbow he landed on Rufus Woods Reservoir. This is usually the time of year that the Colville Tribe makes releases of triploids into Rufus. We hit the reservoir right after there had been a release of thousands of them. I launched at the middle net pens and then ran up a ways and watched my depth sounder until I found a good mass of fish on the screen. We tied on either marabou jigs or plastics, pinched the barbs down and had a blast catching and releasing trout. I got a notice that indicated that the releases have begun, and that as many as 25,000 were released recently. The average weight of the trout was just over a pound, which I believe is smaller than many of the previous plants. This is just one of several plants that the tribe typically does in the spring. Some of the releases are of a smaller number but of much larger fish. I have announced a derby that is being conducted by the tribe, and these releases should spark interest in participating.
