The bright spot in the fishing scene here in Central Washington remains the lakes in the Quincy Wildlife Area and the lakes near George. Many of the other lakes in the region stubbornly remain ice capped. The small lakes near Quincy make for nice trip, though. There is plenty of shore access and the catch rates experienced by anglers on the March 1st opener indicate there are plenty of hungry rainbow available. I checked in with Darc Knobel at the Desert Fly Angler in Ephrata about ice conditions at Lenore which is a very popular spring fishery for fly fishers, and he reported that the lake just won’t shed its ice cap. He thought it would be clear by now, but freezing night temperatures are maintaining the ice cover. It should go quickly when it does decide to break up. A good option for fly anglers this spring, when the wind isn’t blowing too hard, is the quality lakes near Beverly. Lenice and Nunnally produced well on the opener and fishing will improve as the weather warms. Rocky Ford Creek near Ephrata continues to provide excellent fishing for very large rainbow. Fish this one during the week if at all possible.