The Fishin' Magician Weekly Report
Dave Graybill
Wednesday, February 27
On March 1st several lakes in the Columbia Basin open to fishing. In the Quincy Wildlife Area there are several that are popular with anglers.
Quincy Lake offers very good shore access and fair to good trout fishing for 11- to 13-inch trout in most years.
Quincy is shallow and is often mostly ice-covered on the opener.
Next to Quincy is Burke Lake. This is the site of the Quincy Valley Tourism Association's Derby on March 2nd, and provides excellent trout fishing.
The catch of 11- to 13-inch rainbow is supplement with larger fish for the derby, including some that weigh up to 6 and 7 pounds.
Dusty Lake is a popular with fly anglers and produces rainbow and brown trout to over 20 inches and tiger trout that can be even larger.
To the east of the town of George is Martha Lake, and it is the most productive of all the March 1st opener lakes. Anglers take limits of 10- to 14- inch trout and a surprising number of carryover rainbow to 18 inches and larger.
To the west are the Caliche lakes. I'll bet that the largest of the three lakes will produce good catches of rainbow of 11 to 13 inches this year.
Friday, March 1
Today is a big day here for anglers in the Central Washington region. In addition to the lakes that open in the Quincy Wildlife Area, and near the town of George, the Methow River has reopened to steelhead fishing.
The Methow River is a real favorite of fly anglers. They travel from all over the state and beyond to fish for steelhead on the Methow.
Bobber and jig fishers, and Corky and yarn anglers also do very well on the Methow, which is a selective fishery stream, meaning only single barbless hooks and no bait.
The main stem Columbia remains open from Rock Island Dam to below Wells Dam and from the Highway 173 Bridge in Brewster to 400 feet below Chief Joseph Dam.
The Okanogan River is open to steelhead fishing, too, but there are two short sections of the river that will close on the 17th of March. See the WDFW web site for the boundaries.
The Wenatchee River remains open and the fishing has been very good at times. Fishing is best in the upper reaches of the river now.
Don't forget the Quincy Tourism Associations Trout Derby is being held this Saturday.