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Only selective anglers fish these lakes

Anglers have been catching football-size rainbows at Amber Lake, which is located south of Cheney. (Rich Landers / The Spokesman-Review)
Rich Landers Outdoors editor
Anglers have been catching football-size rainbows at Amber Lake, which is located south of Cheney. (Rich Landers / The Spokesman-Review)

Quality not quantity is the prize for fishing Eastern Washington’s selective fishery lakes, where rules require anglers to use only artificial lures or flies with single, barbless hooks. Bait is prohibited. Types of boats and motors often are restricted. The daily limit usually is one or two fish.

Fly fishers in particular flock to these quality waters. Standouts for this season include:

Spokane region

Amber (115 acres) – Fly fishers have been having a ball here for more than a month, or should we say “football.” That’s what the lake’s hefty rainbows resemble. Two weeks ago, anglers were hooking 18-inchers in the shallows with chironomids just two feet under an indicator. The lake has a long list of special rules to study.

Coffee Pot (315 acres) – Ice kept anglers off the lake for the March 1 opener, but the fishing for nice-size rainbows didn’t take long to heat up. Overlooked is the great perch fishery. You can’t use bait, but try streamer flies or even scented curlytail softbaits and Beetle Spin lures with single barbless hooks.

Medical (50 acres) – One of the few selective fisheries that doesn’t open until the last Saturday in April, this lake takes time to learn how to fish. But state fisheries biologist Chris Donley says it’s worth pursuing.

“It’s the only lake in the area where you can catch tigers, browns and rainbows all into the mid 20-inch range. I was fishing chironomids last year in 18-20 feet of water and just whacked them.”

Columbia Basin

Dry Falls (100 acres) – A stunning lake below a cliff that once roared with Ice Age floodwater, has good fishing for rainbow and brown trout.

Dusty (80 acres) – Browns and triploid rainbows up to 6 pounds are lurking in this often overlooked fishery on the Quincy Wildlife Area not far off I-90.

Lenore (1,670 acres) – Lahontan cutthroat average 2-4 pounds with lunkers up to 8 pounds in this excellent fishery south of Coulee city. The lake fishes best in spring and fall.

Okanogan

Ell (20 acres) – Low lake levels have curbed the number of fish in this lake southeast of Tonasket, but it still holds nice trout ranging 14-16 inches.

Blue (185 acres) – Rehabbed in 2003, this lake south of Loomis is in prime shape for producing big rainbows and browns. Tip: it’s popular in spring and almost ignored in fall.