by Dave Graybill, January 06, 2014

We had a bit of rain in our area this past week, but temperatures remained low keeping ice thick enough for fishing on some of our lakes. I checked on a few of the ice fishing hot spots and also traveled to Medicare Beach to see if I could fish for big winter rainbow trout on Potholes Reservoir. Here’s what I learned about the fishing from north to Chelan and down south to the Potholes Reservoir area.

On our way to Roses Lake this past Friday, to check on the ice conditions, I made a short stop at the Mill Bay boat ramp. I wanted to see if anyone was fishing for trout off the dock there and ran in to a couple of anglers that had just come off the water. They had given up fighting the brisk breeze on Lake Chelan. They said they marked quite a few fish, particularly in the 30- to 50-foot depth, but only turned up one rainbow for their efforts. They did mention that there had been 60,000 rainbow released into the lake, and fishing for them this spring should be very good.

When we got to Roses Lake, I could see that the lake was now completely covered with ice. No one was fishing on the thin ice. A week or so ago there was a large area of open water at the bottom end of the lake. Walking out on the fishing dock I could see that there had been some test holes drilled. There were also a couple of brush piles down lake from the dock that were marking some soft ice. There may be a spring under the surface here, and it is nice that someone has put this brush here as a warning to stay away. Although Roses Lake is completely ice covered now, I still wouldn’t recommend that people plan a trip to ice fish here, as I consider it too dangerous.

On Saturday I traveled east from Leavenworth to see what the fishing would be like on Potholes Reservoir. I had fished off Medicare Beach down there in the past, and although the action isn’t very fast, the trout that are caught make the trip worth while. As I passed through Moses Lake I saw a couple of groups of anglers fishing on the ice near the I-90 Bridge. The ice is still good here, but there weren’t near the numbers of people as I saw here a couple of weeks ago.

To get to Medicare Beach I take Highway 17 to Othello from Moses Lake. Then I turn where the signs direct me to Mar Don Resort. I take Road M SE to the right, which goes over a bridge on Lind Coulee. I continued up the hill past the public launch and restrooms and saw an amazing sight. There were a couple of hundred people out on the ice on Lind Coulee. It was by far the largest group of anglers I have seen this winter, even more than I have seen on Moses Lake ice fishing. I stopped to take a photo and then continued on to Medicare Beach. I turned off Road M at Road 6 SE to the left and then followed it for a few miles. When I go up a small rise and pass through a small community of trailers I know I am at the turn to the lake. There are public fishing signs and the dirt road leads to the beach and there are even restrooms at intervals along this shore. When I got to the beach I could see fishing was going to be difficult. There were large chunks and sheets of ice right up to the shore. There was no wind so it wasn’t going anywhere. I still hauled my gear down to the shore, and by 10:30 the slight wave action had spread the ice out enough to allow me to cast to open water. The area I was fishing has a very shallow slope, and even though I cast a great distance from shore I was still in pretty shallow water. I didn’t fish here very long, given the conditions, but will be coming back here closer to spring when the ice isn’t such an issue. Rainbow over 20 inches are not unusual off this beach.

I went back to the highway that leads to Potholes and Mar Don Resort and turned at the public fishing signs to the right that took me down to Lind Coulee in the area that I saw people fishing. There were cars parked on both sides of the road leading down the ice. There were people pulling sleds out on the ice and even a few shacks set up. Most people were fishing to the middle or to the far side of the coulee, and I learned that the perch fishing has been very good. There are also some nice walleye being caught in this area, too. This is definitely the hot spot for ice fishing in the region right now. If you want to fill a bucket with nice perch this is the place to go.

I am really excited about the coming week, as I have a trip planned to Lake Roosevelt. This time I am taking my boat and will be trying to get some of the big kokanee that can be had off Spring Canyon this time of year. I know that it won’t be difficult to catch plenty of nice rainbow, but I am most eager to see if the kokanee are biting. It is not unusual to get kokanee of 2 to 3 pounds or even larger. Eric Granstrom will be going with me to capture the action for a Fishing TV Show, and Shane Magnuson and Kyle Kelly will also be with me to help run the gear. It’s going to be great!

We are going into the show season, and if you click on the Pepsi Calendar on my Home Page you can see a schedule of them. The first one that I plan on attending is the annual Tri-Cities Sportsmen’s Show in Pasco. It starts on Friday, January 17 and runs through Sunday the 19th.

There are some good winter fishing opportunities right now. Ice fishing on Lind Coulee or Fish Lake, near Lake Wenatchee. I will let you know how I do on Lake Roosevelt. I have a feeling it’s going to be one of the best winter prospects in the region.

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