Okanogan County is famous for it’s fishing lakes, and it offers some of the best fishing for trout and perch through the ice of any county in our region. With the cold weather we have experienced, I figured that some of the better lakes would be frozen. I called one of my fishing buddies in Omak to learn what the ice conditions were late last week. According to him there was good solid ice on Leader Lake, which is known for great spiny ray fishing and some good trout. He mentioned that if Leader was frozen that Patterson Lake had to be solidly frozen, too. It is at much higher elevation. I have fished Patterson several times over the years and have caught good numbers of very nice perch and some rainbow to 16 inches through the ice. Green Lake is another one that had a good layer of ice and is popular for good-sized trout in the winter. He hadn’t heard of anyone fishing Rat Lake and thought that the ice was pretty thin. When the ice is safe anglers should expect very good fishing for rainbow and brown trout on Rat Lake. Keep your fingers crossed for more cold nights to thicken the ice on these winter lakes.