Mixed bag for northern lakes

Many of northeastern Washington’s fishing lakes were still iced up last week when state fisheries biologist Bill Baker was trying to survey the fisheries.

But he had some educated guesses on what fishermen could expect in Ferry, Stevens and Pend Oreille Counties.

Perennial opening day favorites such as Starvation Lake should continue to be good. Curlew and Waitts lakes provide longer range good fishing, bolstered by net pen operations. And Curlew offers the bonus chance to catch a huge tiger musky.

Ellen Lake should be decent this year, propped up with plants of catchable-size trout.

Baker had high hopes for Frater Lake as it gained a fishery coming off a lake rehabilitation. But winter kill appears to have crippled the fishery, he said.