by Dave Graybill, March 25, 2015

I spent some time last week at the Annual Big Horn Show in Spokane. It was my first time at the show and was very impressed. I got to meet a lot of new people in the outdoor industry. On my way to the show I got a call from Olympia, telling me that I had been appointed to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Commission. The letter from Jay Inslee is in the mail.

Governor Inslee also appointed Kim Thorburn, of Spokane, to fill a vacant eastern Washington position. Thorburn has degrees from Stanford University and the University of California at San Francisco. She previously worked as a professor of medicine for the University of Hawaii, as the director for Spokane Regional Health District and, most recently, as the medical director for Planned Parenthood of the Inland Northwest. Thorburn has held offices for the Spokane Audubon Society and Washington Ornithological Society and was the recipient of WDFW's 2010 Volunteer of the Year award for her efforts to help bring sage grouse and sharp-tailed grouse back to Lincoln County.

Most people know me as an active angler here in Eastern Washington, but don’t about the time dedicated to the conservation and enhancement of salmon and steelhead. I have served on the Columbia River Salmon and Steelhead Endorsement Board since it was formed, and also serve on the Upper Columbia Salmon and Steelhead Recovery Board Citizens’ Advisory Committee. The Friends of Northwest Hatchery Board and the Salmon Fest Board are among the other boards and committees that I have served on in recent years.

Many of you have brought your children or grand children to one of the Kids Fishing Days that I have helped organize here in Central Washington. I was named Volunteer of the Year by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Chelan office for these efforts, and the Mary Ware Volunteer Memorial Award for my work with the Wenatchee River Salmon Festival. The help with these events from groups like the Wenatchee Sportsmen’s Association and the Icicle Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited made these awards possible.

Last year I drove over 25,000 miles in Eastern Washington, many of these miles with a boat in tow. I believe that my familiarity with the issues that face those that enjoy the outdoors in this region is what made this appointment possible. I want to thank Senator Linda Parlette and past commission member Rollie Schmitten for their help in getting this appointment. I also want to thank the various groups and associations that sent letters of support to Olympia. I will do my best to represent this region’s interests.

There is good news for anglers that enjoy fishing the Columbia River between Wanapum and Rock Island Dams. The repairs to the Wanapum Spillway have reached a point that allows the Grant County PUD to refill the reservoir behind Wanapum Dam back to normal levels. The refill began earlier this month and depending on river flows the utility expects to be at normal levels soon. This is the last major milestone for this project and the reservoir is anticipated to be fully restored and functional to pre-existing conditions for public access and utilization. All Grant County PUD boat launches and shorelines, with the exception of those areas under construction will reopen to the public ahead of schedule.

One of the many challenges that were met by Grant County PUD during the process of repairs to the spillway was finding solutions to fish passage at Wanapum Dam. Last year a record breaking 800,000 plus number of fish passed over the dam.

The Manson Business Association is conducting a trout derby on Lake Chelan Saturday, April 11th with a different twist. Sure there will be prizes awarded for the biggest rainbow trout caught in both adult and youth divisions, but everyone that enters the derby has a chance at winning $50,000.00! The way it works is that everyone that registers for the derby is entered into a drawing. The person that is drawn gets to guess the pre-selected fractional weight of the largest fish caught. If they match the entrant wins $50,000.00. This is a very clever way to get people to come to Lake Chelan and see how great the trout fishing is. The entry free is $25.00 for those over 15 years of age and $10.00 for those under the age of 15. It is really easy to enter, too. All you have to do is log onto www.moretomanson.com and click on the derby link. The weigh in will be at 2:30 p.m. on April 11th. You can register the day of the derby, but there is an extra $5.00 fee. If you really need an excuse to come and try the fishing at Lake Chelan, the Manson Business Association has come up with a good one. This will be fun day whether there is a big cash winner or not.

There is another derby that anglers can plan for this spring, and that is the Banks Lake Triple Fish Challenge that will be held April 25th and 26th this year. This will be the third annual and the top prize of an Achilles inflatable boat and motor is still available. The derby challenges entrants to catch the biggest walleye, smallmouth and trout each of the two days of the event, and no angler has yet to hit the hat trick of catching all three species. This could be the year and maybe you will be the angler to do it. You can learn all about the derby and even enter on-line by visiting www.grandcouleedam.org.

I am very excited about my first trip to Potholes Reservoir. I was there in February and caught fish, but expect much faster action by going later in the spring. This could be another fantastic year for walleye on Potholes and I am eager to get over there and sample the early-spring action!

In other news, several of the popular lakes in the Columbia National Wildlife Refuge will not have catchable rainbow in them for the April 1st opener. Many lakes will open on the first but Upper and Lower Hampton lakes, Sago, Hourglass and Widgeon were treated to remove pumpkinseed sunfish last October. The lakes are located within the refuge, which is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the agency doesn’t allow the planting of catchable trout. These lakes will be planted with trout fry this spring and will have rainbow ranging in size from 10 to 13 inches by next year’s opener. There are many other lakes in the refuge that will offer good trout fishing on the April 1st opener, though. Some of the lakes that anglers will want to try including: Pillar, Snipe, Cattail, Gadwall, Poacher, Shoveler and Lemna. Fishing should be particularly good this year at North and South Teal lakes. In the mean time anglers can expect to find good action for trout at Burke and Quincy lakes near Quincy and at Caliche Lake near George. Our early spring weather has fish especially hungry this year.

I decided to check out some of the other lakes that opened on March 1st to see how they were fishing. Quincy Lake, which is right next door to Burke, was producing at about the same rate as Burke Lake and there were fair numbers of holdover rainbow in the 15- to 16-inch class being landed. The first lake you see when you enter the Quincy Wildlife Area is Stan Coffin. The lake is full this year and it attracts spiny ray fishers. The main target is largemouth bass, and I want to remind everyone that bass fishing is restricted to catch and release on Stan Coffin. It is also known to produce good numbers of bluegill, perch and some catfish.

Just east of George is a very popular March opening lake, which is Martha. It is one of the most consistent each year, but this year was a huge disappointment. When I stopped by I was shocked to see an angler or two where I am used to seeing big crowds. I was told that this year the opener on Martha was a complete bust. Lots of people and no fish. I will try to find out what is going on there, but it looks like the water was way down, and that may be a reason for the poor fishing.

It was a different story at Caliche Lake, which is west of George. Here the anglers I saw were getting limits of rainbow. I didn’t see any boats on the water when I was there and all the fish were being taken from shore, with either bait or lures. Although the trout were abundant they were on the small side. All of them were cookie cutter 10-inches. It didn’t matter to the anglers that were there, though, they were happy to fill their stringers.

FishingMagician.com