I was away at meetings last week, but I traveled over and back to Spokane. On my way home I passed by Sprague Lake. The lake straddles the Adams and Lincoln county line and is about 45 miles west of Spokane. People will be interested to know that there is some open water at the very east end of the lake. Sprague offers some of the best trout fishing in this area when the ice comes off. I will be checking on the ice conditions at this year-round lake, to make plans to fish it as early as possible this spring. Expect to catch rainbow here that are 17 inches and larger. I stopped in Moses Lake for lunch and met my friend Brian Nielson for lunch. He spotted a buddy while we were eating, and he came over to visit. He had been to Curlew Lake the past weekend and had photos of what he caught. The photos showed a table full of fat perch. His party caught over 100 perch and they averaged 10 to 11 inches. The ice is still 20 inches thick at Curlew, so there is still time to get up there to fill your freezer with perch fillets.