Fishin' Magician: Dave Graybill

I get a log of e-mails this time of year from people wanting to know what the ice conditions are on some of the lakes in our region. Two of the most popular lakes are Fish Lake, near Lake Wenatchee and Roses Lake, near Manson at Lake Chelan. When it comes to safe ice, I like to check on it myself, before I recommend fishing on it, so I decided to visit both Fish Lake and Roses Lake on Tuesday. It was a dreary morning in Leavenworth, but as I drove up the Tumwater Canyon the skies cleared and it was sunny. It was beautiful at Fish Lake, and I saw three groups of anglers fishing on the clear ice, that was at least five inches thick. I then drove up to Roses, and walked down to the small dock by the boat launch. I could see that someone had drilled a couple of test holes from the dock, but I could see some very soft spots just above the ramp. There is also a large area of open water at the bottom end of the lake. It will be a while before anyone should venture out on the ice on Roses Lake.