Last Saturday was the busiest fishing day of the year, as thousands of anglers turned out for the opening day of the lowland lake trout fishing season. I had a great time visiting some of our area lakes and observing the fun people were having catching trout.

The weather was great on the morning of the opening of the lowland lake trout fishing season here in North Central Washington. I traveled to several of our area lakes to see how anglers were doing and shooting a video as well. My first stop was at the public boat launch on Blue Lake, where I visited with a WDFW enforcement officer while anglers were coming off the water. The officer told me that participation was down significantly from previous opening days. There were large gaps in the line of RVs and campers along the highway, which is very unusual. However, the fishing on Blue Lake was excellent, with most anglers getting their limits of fat rainbows. I then drove up to Park Lake, and it was busy. There were lots of boats on the water, the docks and shore line were lined with anglers and there was a big crowd at the cleaning station. On my way to Deep Lake one of the State Park folks mentioned the fishing was excellent on this lake and that if you wanted a very quick limit you should try Perch Lake, which is often ignored by anglers. When I was setting up my camera at Vic Meyers Lake, I heard some excited yelling and laughter. One of the youngsters in the group had just landed his first fish ever! What a great experience. Fishing was also very good at Jameson Lake. There is excellent shore fishing access on Jameson, and I think more people were here on the opening day than last year. Ginger and her crew at Jack’s Resort will be having their famous prime rib dinners every weekend for a while, so call get a reservation, and be sure to get a slice of the wonderful pies. This week’s photo is of a pair of anglers with their catch at Park Lake.

Anglers are eager to learn if the walleye are starting to bite on Moses Lake. When my friend Brian Nielson invited me to join him and James Lebow for a trip to the lake I jumped at the chance. We launched at Blue Heron Park as Brian wanted to hit several spots on our way up the lake, which was terrific, as I wanted to video some of the hot spots for walleye fishing on Moses Lake. We first trolled off the island near what is known as the Horse Ranch, and then just above it at the Rock Pile, which is a shallow ridge. A little further up the lake at the bend, we got our first walleye, but didn’t get a bite on the flat above Connelly Park. We then drove all the way up to the very top end of the lake and trolled with side planers and bottom bouncers in the shallow water. This is typically where the walleye bite begins on Moses Lake, due to the shallow and warmer water. The water temperature was still just barely 60 degrees. We landed three walleye and missed some bites before the wind and rain drove us off the water.

I will try to keep an eye on the walleye fishery at the north end of the lake. Right now, the weeds haven’t grown enough to be a problem, but that can change quickly when we get some warmer weather. There can be a narrow window for this side planer fishing in shallow water. When the weeds grow, and this end of the lake turns over it just isn’t possible. The good news is that when this happens you can usually find good numbers of walleye in different areas of the lake.

My long-time fishing friend, Brian Anantatmula, had his boat ready for the first trip of the season and wanted me to join him on Lake Chelan. We both had heard that the kokanee were running exceptionally large this year and wanted to see for ourselves. We launched at the State Park and began trolling just above Rocky Point. There were several boats trolling just below us, so we figured we were in a good area. We ran out two rods on downriggers and two on lead balls, and it didn’t take long for the first rod to go off. I could tell it was a good one the way it fought, and sure enough when we got it netted it was clearly one of the 16 inch kokanee we were hearing about. We weren’t really marking that many schools but still picked up some fish as we trolled past Rocky Point toward the Red Roofs. Then the bite died, and we wanted to try the area off the Blue Roofs. However, the batteries were too low, and we limped home on the bow mount. We did confirm that there are 15 and 16 inch kokanee in Chelan this season! I can’t wait to go back.

The annual Trout Derby put on by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife kicked off on the opening day of the lowland lake fishing season. There are thousands of prizes to be awarded to lucky anglers who catch a tagged trout on one of our state’s lakes. I got a note from Travis Maitland, District Biologist for Region 2 out of the office on the Chelan Highway. He was pretty excited. He managed to get some real whoppers tagged and released into some of our area lakes, and he sent me a photo of one of them to prove it. He said the fish he is holding in the photo is probably 3 or 4 pounds, and there are others in the release that are 6 or 7 pounds. These big fish were released in Jameson Lake, Beehive Reservoir and Wapato Lake. If you go to the WDFW website and look up the Trout Derby you will find a list of other lakes that will have tagged trout in them, and there are instructions on how to claim your prize.

It was wonderful to see all the families out fishing on the lakes I visited. Fishing was terrific everywhere I went. So, get out there and join the fun!