When I traveled to Keller recently, I took a route that would let me check on some of the popular ice fishing spots along the way. I found groups of anglers on the ice at the bottom end of Banks Lake and also near Coulee Playland at the very top end. Although the ice looked good at these locations, there were huge spaces in the ice on the lake from Northrup down, and large areas of open water on Banks. The warm weather will really go to work on the remaining ice and if we get some strong winds it will go fast. I also took a detour to take a look at Bill Clapp. I was surprised to find it almost free of ice. There was about 20 yards of so of thin ice along the edge at the beach where folks launch small boats. People will be able to get fish for big rainbow trout at Billy Clapp very soon. Only those with small, light boats risk backing over the sand to reach the water, but it's worth it! I checked out Fish Lake, near Lake Wenatchee on Wednesday and there several anglers out on the ice.
Anglers with small boats they can launch from the beach at Billy Clapp will be able to reach open water very soon. Great trout fishing right around the corner!