The Fishin' Magician: Spring trout

Families making plans for the annual opening of the lowland lakes at the end of the month should consider traveling to Okanogan County. Fishing this spring is expected to be very good on the many trout lakes in this region. All of the lakes are ice-free now so trout are already feeding and getting aggressive.

Fish Lake, which is not far from Omak, should offer excellent fishing for rainbow of 10 to 12 inches. Limits should come easy here. Blue Lake, which is a quality lake in the Sinlehekin Valley, will be one of the best this year. It has both rainbow and brown trout and 12- to 16-inch fish are common, and there are good numbers of them to 18 inches at Blue.

In the hills above Palmer Lake is Lake Chopaka. A long-time favorite of fly fishers, Chopaka has been terrific the past two seasons, and is expected to be great again this year. There are plenty of 16- to 18-inch rainbow in Chopaka and triploid rainbow were introduced to the lake three years ago and could be getting really big by now.

Wanacut Lake, north of Tonasket is lake deep and cold, and produces rainbow excellent table quality. Near here is Spectacle Lake, which is another popular trout lake that opened on April 1.