It sure has been nice to have clear and sunny days throughout the region for many days. There is even more daylight with the change to daylight savings time. It’s a great time of year, with springtime changing the hills to green and soon the balsam root plants will decorate them with bright yellow flowers. Fishing opportunities continue to expand as water temperatures warm.
I am always interested in how the fishing is on Moses Lake, and I had a chance to check out the action at the I-90 Bridge last week. I arrived late in the day, so I am sure I missed the usual crowds on the rip rap banks and on the bridge itself. There were still some anglers fishing along the shore, and even some just arriving when I was leaving. I was able to visit with one angler who was getting some good sized perch from the bridge. He was nice enough to pick one out of his bucket to show me. He said the perch fishing is holding up really well, and there are some very nice crappie being caught near the bridge, too. I remember that there were swarms of crappie here last year, but you had to sort through them to get some keepers. Maybe there are a lot more crappie keeper size this season, which is at least 9 inches. I will remind folks that the limit is ten on Moses Lake. While I was on the bridge a bass boat headed for the launch. Could the bass bite be early this year? I hope so! This week’s photo is of an angler with a perch he caught from the bridge.
When I was out checking on the activity on the March 1st opening of several lakes in the region, I made it all the way up to the Coulee City Marina. The reason was that with the very unusual weather we’ve experienced in the region there could be people already looking for walleye on Banks Lake. Sure enough, there were several trucks and trailers parked here, and I saw one boat as it was just leaving the marina. You may recall that I posted the Walleye Fishing Prospects graphs from the netting surveys conducted by the Department of Fish and Wildlife on Banks Lake and Potholes Reservoir last fall. The results of this survey on Banks has some interesting aspects to it. Although the overall abundance of walleye in Banks is down just slightly from the survey done in 2022, the abundance of certain sizes of walleye was up. The number of walleye in the 16 to 20 inch class made up almost 40 percent of the population of walleye and there will be more walleye of 20 to 24 inches (which most anglers release) that are in the previous survey as well.
I was curious about how the kokanee derby came off on Lake Chelan. Many think this one is done too early in the season, but the fishing is usually good for kokanee this time of year. According to what I have been told, the fishing was very good for the derby, and everyone had a great time. Fishing starts at 6 in the morning and by 8 some of the boats were done, having taken their limit for the day. They only allow 50 boats in the derby each year. Word is that most of the fish were taken at around 50 feet. It turns out that two Leavenworth anglers took first place in this year’s derby. The 20 fish that they turned in weighed a total of 8 pounds. Obviously, the kokanee aren’t very big on Chelan this year, but the action is great. I wanted boaters to know that I got a message from Nate Stull, of Stully’s Guide Service, saying that there is a lot of debris in the water on Chelan right now. So, better take it slow when you are driving up and down the lake looking for fish.
One of the popular lakes in the Quincy Wildlife Area doesn’t offer fishing in early March. It’s an irrigation fed water and the level is way down this time of year. Evergreen Reservoir is a terrific spiny ray lake, with a variety of species that attract anglers when it fills. I got word that the irrigation canals will start filling on March 18th and soon after, when the boat launches are usable it will get busy. Not as busy as some of the larger reservoirs in the region, but anglers in the know will be on Evergreen looking for the walleye, largemouth and smallmouth bass, perch, crappie and even tiger muskie. I have been fishing Evergreen for many years and have had many memorable days on the small reservoir. My wife and I had a terrific day of fishing for largemouth bass and have spent countless days catching smallmouth. Probably the most memorable was the time I hooked a tiger muskie and Eileen was able to net it. We were thrilled when we released it and still marvel at the experience even now. I will be keeping tabs on Evergreen and will let you know when the water is high enough to launch a boat.
It has been confirmed that the planned special release of 1,500 trout into Burke and Quincy lakes for the March 1st opener didn’t take place, due to a mechanical issue with the truck. According to the folks at the Region 2 office in Ephrata the plant should happen this week. As I mentioned in my earlier report, anglers were disappointed at Burke and Quincy and much happier at Martha and Caliche. I also checked the lakes further up the valley. I saw a few trucks parked at the public access at the upper end of Lake Lenore and also at the very top end of the lake. I wasn’t able to talk to anyone there and continued up the highway to Dry Falls Lake. I stopped at the overlook and took a shot of the fly fishers that were paddling around on the calm water. This should have been a productive day for those who made the bouncy drive into the lake which is accessed above the State Park across from Park Lake. I also watched a boat take off from the Coulee City Marina on Banks, where there were several trucks and trailers in the lot. I’d bet they were looking for pre-spawn walleye.
