Happy New Year everyone! Many of us can’t wait to put 2020 in the rear view mirror. What a crazy time. I hope your family and friends came through the year without any issues with COVID.

Can you believe that we were actually ordered not to go fishing for a while? Thankfully, we got the go ahead and were able to get outdoors and enjoy the sport. Many families added fishing as an outdoor activity. It is such a good option, and I am sure many memories were made with many more ahead.

Although things got off to a later start than usual, all our lakes were planted on schedule, so there were plenty of hungry rainbow available to folks. It was so great to see families lining the shores of these lakes or out in boats. Everyone was eager to get out of the house and fishing was a perfect activity for them to do that. You may have heard that sales of RVs and boats was off the charts last year. With no organized sports like baseball and soccer, families flocked to the outdoors.

We can go into the New Year enjoying some great fishing opportunities in our region. Lake Roosevelt is producing giant kokanee, and huge trout are being caught on Rufus Woods to name just a couple.

I was very fortunate, and I want to thank my loyal sponsors and advertisers for sticking with me during this difficult period. I also want to thank those listeners to my radio broadcasts, readers of my columns and website and Facebook posts for the many kind comments I received this past year. I love what I do and am pleased to hear that people appreciate my efforts to keep them up to date on the many great fisheries we have here in North Central Washington State.

I have been doing lots of reports about my adventures to Rufus Woods and Lake Roosevelt. Both of these winter fisheries are off to a great start. Whopper rainbow are being caught at the net pens on Rufus Woods, and giant kokanee are showing up in catches on Lake Roosevelt.

There is another terrific trout fishery that gets rolling in the winter, and that’s at Billy Clapp Reservoir. This lake is found about 16 miles east of Soap Lake and offers good fishing for big rainbow but also offers a particular challenge. The water level is dropped severely, like most of our irrigation storage reservoirs. This means that there is a good distance of sand that must be crossed to launch your boat. So, smaller boats are preferred, and four-wheel drive highly advised.

My friend James and I are eager to get out on Billy Clapp and we have bigger boats. The plan is to take both four-wheel drive rigs and some tow straps to make sure we can get our trucks out if one gets stuck. Why go to all this trouble? Billy Clapp is loaded with rainbow and many of them will tip the scales at 4 pounds, with some even heavier. This week’s photo is from Billy Clapp last winter.

We usually fish Billy Clapp the same way in the winter as we do in the spring. We like to run plugs. There is a wide range of them that we will troll. Everything from Rapalas to Flicker Shads will work. Small jointed Rapalas can be very effective and I have caught lots of big trout on the great big ones, too. Sometimes running them on side planers is best, and other times just running them out flat lined is just fine.

Plan on plenty of action. Both the winter and spring seasons offer terrific fishing, once you have found where the trout are hanging out. I would suggest that you run up above the big basalt island and then troll near the shore. Keep an eye on your depth sounder but you should know that the trout are often so shallow in the winter that most will not show up on the screen.

I got a comment on my Facebook Page recently that mentioned that they have been to Billy Clapp and found the sand very firm. I would still recommend caution if you plan to launch here. It’s no fun being stuck on a cold winter day.

It had been a while since I had checked in with Lou Nevismal at Coulee Playland on Banks Lake. I wondered what he was seeing in terms of activity in his area. Well, not much in the way of walleye fishing on the big impoundment. Although the weather has been warm, with many days with temperatures hitting 40 degrees, but high winds have kept anglers off the water.

I asked about the fishing for the big whitefish that occurs at this time of year. He said that there was a lot of activity in that arena. Anglers have been fishing from the dike at the very top end of the lake, mostly at night. There are some that fish the bay across from the Northrup launch, but again this had been hampered by high winds. He reminded me that the net pen, where kokanee were being raised in previous years, has been pulled.

He did say that he is getting lots of good reports of excellent fishing for rainbow trout on Lake Roosevelt. Also, there are some very big kokanee being caught on Roosevelt, too. Not a whole bunch but dandies when anglers get them.

I should mention that the fishing for big rainbow on Banks Lake in the winter can be pretty good, too. Tim Reichman invited me out on Banks last November and we got some really nice rainbow trolling plugs.

My niece Ellie Coen was on Chelan with friends recently, and although they didn’t get any of the Chinook they wanted to catch, they landed some dandy lake trout. I am trying to find a hole in my schedule to make a trip to Lake Chelan for kokanee. I made one trip in November and was pleased to see most of the fish we caught were 12 inches long. I have some friends that showed me some photos of their day on the water and they had three limits of kokanee—and three limits of cutthroat. That’s a lot of action, and I would like to spend a winter day doing this. What fun.

My niece Ellie Coen was on Chelan with friends recently, and although they didn’t get any of the Chinook they wanted to catch, they landed some dandy lake trout.