I hope everyone had a great Christmas and traveled safely back home. The really cold weather and conditions like freezing rain put a damper on getting outdoors for most people. I checked in with Keith Roe at North 40 Outfitters in Omak, to see what anglers in that area were doing. He said that very few people had stopped by the fishing department in recent days. He said that was weird, as there are usually people in for supplies for a Holiday fishing trip with friends and family. He was getting reports from ice fishermen saying that the ice fishing had been good at Curlew and Bonaparte lakes. He also said that he has seen people going into Leader Lake to fish. Also, Patterson is certainly covered with a good layer of ice, but he hadn’t talked to anyone that had been fishing there. I looked through my photos to see what was I doing this time of year last season. I found a great photo of Tom Verschuren holding a nice triploid at the net pens on Rufus Woods. There wasn’t any snow in the background. This is a very different year. Warmer weather is in the forecast, and I hope to get to Rufus soon.