Opening-day Alternatives

Rather not fish with half of Spokane County? Try these three Channeled Scablands options for big rainbows and browns, and tucked-away spinyrays.

by Jeff Holmes

The Inland Northwest offers some fantastic still water trout opportunities, and all of those lakes and reservoirs become available by the fourth Saturday in April, when many lakes across the state of
Washington open for angling. Broad opportunities for excellent trout angling exist in Eastern Washington, North Idaho, Northwest Montana and Northeast Oregon, but no cluster of lakes draws anglers in late April like those situated around Spokane and elsewhere in Eastern Washington. Opening-day lakes stuffed to the gills with trout attract casual and serious anglers alike the way a Woolly Bugger or a perfect little glob of Power Bait attracts trout. The likes of Williams, Badger, Fish trap, Clear, West Medical and Fish Lakes, among many others, will draw thousands of anglers from around the state seeking trout on the April 27 opener.

A few will seek bass, panfish and other spiny ray species in the still-chilly waters of other lakes opening for action on that hallowed Saturday. Once again for 2024, lakes around Spokane and the greater whole of Eastern Washington and the greater Inland Northwest will be dotted by every manner of floating craft: from float tubes and 8-foot Livingstons to 26-foot jet boats and party-barge pontoons. These anglers will troll a plethora of different flashers, lures, flies and baits, and many will leave with limits of small rainbows, browns, tiger trout, cutthroats and brookies, plus maybe some holdovers, triploids and brood-stockers. Still fishermen will dangle or float off the bottom god-awful concoctions of flavored mallows, corn, and dough and live baits, much of it stuff that only hatchery trout would fall for.

FISHING IS NOT all that will happen on this most epic of angling occasions, however. Kids will fall in lakes. Impatient motorists will honk and shout as inexperienced trailer backer-inners struggle to set their boats free. Small boats and canoes will capsize. There will be fights. Drunks in 30-year-old speedboats will zig-zag between crafts jammed with anglers and gear. Hooks will be sunk in human flesh. Slobs will litter cheese mallows, night-crawler containers, sour-cream-andonion chip bags, empties, chew cans, dirty diapers and more. Yes, opening day can be a nightmarish orgy of boorish and ignorant behaviors and a people-watching spectacle to behold, but somehow, amongst all of the insanity, perfect moments will occur Opening day is the most important angling event in our state, period. Many children will catch their first fish; so will some adults. Other kids will cement their relationship with the sport after big catches and fun. Families will watch ospreys, just arrived back from their migration from Mexico and Central America, hurtle themselves toward the water in power dives, sometimes rising from the lake’s surface dripping water and clutching squirming trout. Turkeys will gobble in the early mornings and in the evenings above many lakeshores. Turtles will be caught by kids fishing worms under red and white bobbers. Parents will spend time with children they don’t get to see enough. Pictures will be taken of smiling kids holding stringers. Those pictures, and others of friends and families enjoying the outdoors, will adorn fridges and walls, as well as people’s memories, for the rest of their lives.

How many of us got hooked on fishing as kids based on our opening day triumphs, when lakes were
brimming with trout that did not discern between natural food and rainbow-colored Power Bait or a chunk of worm or a Super Duper dragged behind Cowbell flashers? Opening day is a big deal, and even some more serious anglers who are typically in search of bigger fish will take out a boatload of kids or will engage in the nostalgia themselves. For some of us who have been there and done that, however, opening day at a popular trout lake is not always the ideal aesthetic experience. But the big crowds at the opening lakes offer a bright side for those willing to seek alternatives. Lakes that are open year-round or those that opened March 1 offer smaller crowds and, in many cases, better fishing. Whether you stay close to the action around Spokane by hitting Rock, Bonnie or Amber Lakes … or you make the longer but accessible drive to largely deserted Priest Lake to fish for easy-to-nab shallow-water Mackinaw (see my story on page 103) … or you dream up your own alternative to the opening-day scene … think about leaving some room on the crowded opening waters for the kids and casual fair weather folk. The reward will be more solitude, probably bigger fish and less chance of being T-boned by a drunk in a 1962 fiberglass boat powered by a giant motor with no cowling.

AMBER LAKE
Amber Lake is managed for quality fishing opportunity for rainbows and cutthroats under selective-gear
regulations and is open from March 1 through November 30. Thanks to its unimproved boat ramp (best suited to cartoppers), ban on internal combustion engines and proximity to fish factories like Williams, Badger and Fish trap, the lake should be relatively uncrowded. During 17 years of my life living in Cheney, I spent hundreds of hours on Amber, bobbing around in a float tube or getting blown around in a drift boat. This fishing was and is fantastic, and wildlife abounds here. I’ve seen otters, a bobcat, elk, deer, raccoons, beavers and muskrats, as well as many bird species at this special little lake sitting in a coulee between the Cheney basalt formation and Palouse dunes. Amber is not a fly-fishing-only lake, but the vast majority who chase rainbows and cutthroats at this selective-gear fishery, located 12 miles southwest of Cheney, do so with fly rod in hand. The elitist minority of the fly crowd might hold their noses a little higher than they should if they see you casting or trolling lures, but don’t let it bother you. Just follow the rules: use a single barbless hook only, leave the bait at home and keep no more than one fish (18-inch minimum).

Barring high winds, a visitor to Amber will usually see a strong contingent of anglers still fishing around
the launch and to its right, at the shallow, weedy southwest end near the prominent windmill perched on a small basalt bluff above the lake, several hundred yards right of the public access. They watch strike indicators with chironomids (midge pupae) suspended beneath them. As the chironomids hatch, they move slowly upward in the water column until they reach the surface film and, ultimately, the surface, where adult midges emerge from their pupae, leaving their spent exoskeletons, or shucks, on the water’s surface. Anglers imitate the midge hatch in all of its stages, with a minority of anglers focusing most of their efforts on scoring fish on dry flies. Most times during spring, anglers will see shucks all over the water, a sign that midges are what’s for dinner, but the lake also offers a callibaetis mayfly hatch that provides some dry fly opportunities. Trout can even be targeted on large floating damsel and dragonfly imitations. Generally, though, the fish eat subsurface, and other popular menu items include water boatmen, damselfly nymphs and leeches Anglers in pontoons, float tubes and small boats also troll using a wide variety of Woolly Buggers, Carey Specials, Woolly Worms, leech and damselfly nymph imitations, and Muddler Minnows.

Whether dragged behind a full-sink fly line, leaded line or a sinker, trolling flies is a great option for terminal tackle anglers too, and so is their standard assortment of trout lures, fitted with a single barbless hook. Triple Teazers, Needlefish and other fluttering spoons work great, as do small Kwikfish and FlatFish. My choice here is definitely to use fly gear, and I recommend a full sink line, a little tippet and one of the above streamers for reliable action and an easy introduction into the fly game. Plus you’ll get fewer looks of dismay from the faces of fly fishermen framed under Filson hats. Amber is managed to produce big catches of chunky fish for fly anglers eager to catch and release large numbers. As such, trout fishing can be excellent, but it can also be tough, especially in the wind during weather changes. Even in tough conditions, catching fish is usually not difficult. Amber is a great place to escape the Jet Ski crowd and the dangers of opening-day anglers who launch all manner of motorized craft with minimal launching and boat-handling experience. You won’t hear a boat motor unless someone comes way too close with an electric, an unlikely event.

ROCK LAKE
I’ve featured Rock Lake’s robust fisheries many times over the years, but the lake really shines in winter and spring for its big rainbows and browns. Because it is almost 7 miles long and almost 400 feet deep, its water remains much colder much longer into the season than most lakes, extending good trout fishing into the summer. Provided there hasn’t been significant precipitation and the lake’s water clarity is good, which it usually is on opening weekend, anglers at Rock will catch the highest quality trout in the Spokane area outside of Lake Roosevelt, where you will very seldom catch a brown trout. The rustic launch can attract a crowd on opening day during nice weather, but with your fellow anglers spread out over 7 miles, you’ll be alone most of your time on the water. Abandon the Power Bait at Rock, and grab a casting or trolling rod. If you intend to cast to rocky structure along the lake’s steep dropoffs, ledges
and its scarce flats, fit your casting or spinning reel with 10-pound braid or fluorocarbon, affix a monofilament or fluoro leader and tie on something meaty. Both the large browns and rainbows are extremely piscivorous at Rock: they eat fish. Suckers, sculpins, carp, other trout and crawdads make
up much of the diet of the lake’s biggest fish. All manner of plugs, swim baits, spinners and spoons work well in late April. Everything from Rebel Wee Craws up to 8-inch swimbaits or Jointed Rapalas will take both species. Take a large assortment of dark and earthy-colored spinners (size 3 or 4), sinking and floating minnows, and shallow- and medium-running cranks like Rapala Shad Raps and Bomber Model As in trout and crawdad finishes.
A key to triggering bites at Rock is not to stagnate on a specific lure or lure type. Make casts – lots of
them. Cover lots of water. Focus on underwater structure along the lake’s shoreline. Plan to get stuck – a lot – and to have to unstick lures. Trout sometimes suspend, especially rainbows, away from structure and the lake’s edge, but far more fish, especially browns, orient to the shoreline. As such, trollers should also focus on the shorelines, watching their electronics and the water around them for sudden changes in depth. Rock is notoriously windy and dangerous, and its high cliff walls preclude exiting the lake in the event of a wreck. Boats should be run full speed only in the lake’s very center.

Trollers utilize downriggers, leaded line, diving cranks, weighted offerings and even surface planers to run lures close to shore while running the boat a distance away to avoid spooking fish. All manner of trolling offerings work, including large flies like Woolly Buggers, crawdad imitations and Bunny Leeches. Rapalas, Apex Lures, banana plugs, spinner rigs, spoons and other meaty trolling lures are the best bets for hardware-oriented angler I’ve logged at least 200 days on the water at Rock in my life, many of those days dedicating all my efforts to fly fishing with fast-sinking fly lines and medium to large streamers. Over time I learned that large lures focused on shorelines reveal a larger class of browns, but I’ve landed scores of brown trout between 18 and 27 inches on fly rods at Rock and many hundreds of rainbows. Moreover, I’ve enjoyed much faster fishing trolling flies compared to casting or dragging hardware. The same tutorial for getting started with full-sink lines at Amber will do nicely for your efforts at Rock.
In my considerable experience with lots of experimenting, dull brown and dull olive Woolly Buggers and Bunny Leeches yield the most strikes, with black flies trailing a close third. If you happen to see one of the worst fishing shows ever filmed, featuring Rock Lake in 2023, do not do what they do: trolling in circles in the middle of the lake catching tiny, recently stocked trout and marveling at that class of fish. Those little fish are out getting fat on little invertebrates and get eaten by the much larger trout along the shorelines. Troll your flies and lures near shoreline structure and near the scarce shallow-water flats on the lake. Cast your lures and flies in the same places. As always, be careful at Rock and beware underwater pinnacles and outjutting points and ledges.

BONNIE LAKE
Rock Creek starts on Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge and drains south through Chapman Lake, then further south through Bonnie Lake, then Rock Lake and further yet through the Channeled Scablands to its confluence with the Palouse River. Of these three lakes, Chapman has historically been the easiest to access until a rhinestone cowboy who married into a family shut off access to the lake, my favorite lake of all time and home to kokanee and trophy smallmouth and largemouth bass. Thanks to the dogged and heroic efforts of Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Chris Donley and the recent transfer of 530 acres from the state Department of Natural Resources, WDFW is about to punch in a road and a new launch in the next couple years, availing access once again to a lake so special that I sometimes still dream about it. Bonnie Lake, however, has always been one of the most difficult-to-access waters in the area, yet also one of the most rewarding. The lake is home to confirmed 10-pound bass and big perch and crappie. Accessible only at Hole-in-the-Ground via a 1-mile upstream paddle or motor in a small boat on Rock Creek, anglers glide through a cow pasture and wetland before arriving at Bonnie’s shallow south end. Just before reaching the lake, on the left-hand shoreline, an impressive natural
arch looms above the creek.

The rocks below the arch and everywhere along the lake’s private shorelines are prime tick and rattlesnake habitat; stay in your boat. A large, public island sits halfway up the lake. Bonnie’s relative inaccessibility does not make it a stocking candidate. The fishery here is for spinyrays, and, as Donley reports, the lake’s jumbo-sized perch, crappie and bass begin to turn on at the end of April. “As water temperatures warm, the fishing gets better, but good catches are very possible in April. It really starts to turn on around the time of the opener. People should fish early and late; those are the best times for big perch and crappie,” the state manager-angler says. Focus efforts on the lake’s bottom, and bring two good anchors or a trolling motor with spot lock to cope with midday winds. Try a range of depths between 10 and 30 feet throughout the day during the early season, and try a variety of colors of jigged and drop-shotted plastics and baits. Experiment shallower as well, especially as temps warm, and especially early and late in the day. A range of crappie jigs in combinations of chartreuse, red, white and yellow are standard for perch and crappie Baited Swedish Pimples, Teardrop Tungsten jigs and micro-jigs, and spoons are good starting points. As fish move shallower during the mornings and evenings and as water temps rise, Beetle Spins, fly gear and all manner of small offerings become viable panfish lures at Bonnie.

Crappie are more likely to orient to underwater structure and cliff walls, and perch can be found on and below shelves near the lake’s shallow areas. They can also be found together and are likely to be encountered shallower and shallower throughout spring until early summer returns fish to deep water during the day. Much of Bonnie is surrounded by 200-foot basalt cliffs, so identifying likely spinyray water is not difficult, especially with electronics. The south and north ends offer the best pan fishing, and a few small bays along its length offer good opportunities as well.
Accessing the lake is tough in a big boat, as well as unnecessary. This is a classic paddle for families and other recreationists, and kayaks and canoes are the preferred mode of transit. Small- and even medium-sized boats can also negotiate the creek to reach the lake during the early season when there is enough water, but the “launch” at the bridge at Hole-in-the-Ground on Belsby Road is rustic and makes the dreaded Rock Lake launch seem plush. It’s best to stick to cartoppers, paddle craft and small trailers. Once on the lake, especially south and north of the island, watch out for big winds and potential white caps. Winds tend to lie down on all the Cheney-area lakes in the evenings. Bonnie is no exception. Bass topping 10 pounds – a true rarity in the Spokane area – have been caught from Bonnie in the past, probably due to light pressure and abundant feed. Late April is prime time to target prespawn largemouth, which begin in April to seek out warm water bays in preparation for their spawn in May. These fish dine heavily on the lake’s abundant crawdads, perch and minnows. Look for bass sneaking in shallow towards the warmest waters; fish a variety of depths inside of 12 feet to locate fish. In late April,
big females will seek out solar-heated shallow water in the lake’s shallowest areas. Keep offerings slow. A number of popular bass baits will take fish, but especially good options, depending on depth, include white and chartreuse willow-leaf spinnerbaits, fished slowly; crawdad-imitating plastics; unweighted 5-inch Senkos in greens and browns; and shallow- through deep-running cranks in crawdad finishes. NS