At Least The Fish Are Big

District biologist Bob Peck’s evaluation of what anglers can expect when Fourth of July and Hog Canyon lakes open Dec. 1, contained both good news and bad news.

The good news is that Fourth of July seems to be full of rainbows as long as your casting arm. Well, maybe not quite as long, but long enough for bragging purposes.

When Peck and Jerry Hickman, also a Fish and Wildlife Department officer, fished the 4-mile-long lake south of Sprague a few days ago, they caught lots of trout and none under 15 inches long. All the fish they caught were 15 to 20 inches long. The average size was 16 inches.

The rainbows were in excellent condition and they fought hard.

Some anglers who would like to take home five trout may not consider that good news. Unless the yearling rainbows, which should be about 10 inches long, are active on Dec. 1, the fishers will have to be content with two rainbows.

The daily limit at the winter lakes is five trout. However, only two can be longer than 14 inches.

It may be nearly impossible during the first part of the season for fishers to catch rainbows that are less than 14 inches.

On past openers, some fishers, feigning ignorance of the regulations, have kept five rainbows, only two of them legal. They won’t be able to talk themselves out of a fine. If they get caught with five big rainbows and they’re cited by a Fish and Wildlife officer for possessing three fish that exceed the size limit, they’ve got only themselves to blame. As it’s said, ignorance of the law is no excuse.

It’s likely that some anglers will catch a few rainbows that are less than 14 inches. Peck and Hickman may not have found a place where there are yearling rainbows willing to compete with big trout.

For some reason, possibly because they don’t try to compete with the aggressive, big rainbows for the food the anglers feed them or they just haven’t adjusted to the change in weather conditions, the young fish haven’t shown up in catches the first part of winter seasons. After fishers have removed a high percentage of the 2- and 3-year-old rainbows, the young fish will no longer face competition for food.

Peck doesn’t consider the possibility that fishers will not be able to keep five trout bad news.

“Two of those big fish are plenty for a fisherman,” he said.

Peck’s bad news pertains to Hog Canyon Lake. It’s possible that there’s been a big die-off at the lake.

He and Hickman couldn’t catch a fish a few days ago. It was the second time in a week that Peck couldn’t catch a trout at the popular lake.

Jokingly, he said that he and Hickman “either are poor fishermen or something has happened to the fish.”

Of course, he and Hickman had no problem catching fish at Fourth of July the same day they fished Hog Canyon. They’re considered by their peers as good fishers.

Hog Canyon was extremely low while the dam was repaired last year. After the project was completed, the water came up and fish were stocked.

“No dead fish were seen at the lake,” he said. “We’ll just have to wait for the opening. Perhaps fishermen will do well.”

Unless temperatures rise dramatically and warm winds develop, Fourth of July and Hog Canyon lakes will be partially or totally ice-covered when they are opened Dec. 1.

Hog Canyon was mostly covered with ice early this week. Fourth of July was iced over for at least a mile; the lower end was at least partially ice-covered.

The ice was too thick for anglers to break so they could they could launch small boats, pontoon boats or rafts. It was too thin to support people safely.

Peck and Hickman found enough open water to fish last Friday. However, nighttime temperatures since then have dropped into the teens and even lower. The temperature hit 8 degrees above zero one early morning. Daytime temperatures mostly were under 32, but they rose to about 33 on a couple of days.

The weather forecasters think that mid-afternoon temperatures will be in the 40s the next few days. If they are right, the ice might not thicken. And if there’s a chinook wind, the ice might be so thin on Dec. 1 that anglers will be able to break out into open water.

Whatever the weather does, Fourth of July almost certainly will be the most popular winter lake in Washington. No other lake holds so many outsized rainbows.

But Hog Canyon may be a bust this year. That would be disappointing to many anglers. The rainbows at the little lake are much better tasting than those in Fourth of July.

Several other Eastern Washington lakes will be opened to fishing Dec. 1. Among them are Hatch and Williams in Stevens County and North Elton Pond in Yakima County. Four Okanogan County lakes that are managed as selective gear, catch-and-release lakes from April 1 through Nov. 30 will be opened to catch-andkeep fishing Dec. 1. They are Green and Lower Green, Little Twin and Rat.

Numerous lakes and reservoirs are open to fishing year-around. Among the best producers of big fish this winter will be Roosevelt and Moses lakes and the Potholes reservoir.