Dang is it cold. The good news is that the lakes that already had a thin layer of ice may now be fishable. Some of the lakes at higher elevation, like Sidley, near Oroville, and Bonaparte, near Tonasket, have had safe ice for a few weeks. I talked to the folks at Tiffany’s Resort on Curlew Lake, near Republic, and they told me that the lake near them just froze over, but it is six inches thick off the State Park. A couple of their guests fished there the day before and came back with a five gallon bucket full of nice perch. Tiffany’s has a few rooms available on the weekends, but they are going fast. There are plenty of week days open, though. Patterson Lake should have a good layer of ice on it with the sub-zero temperatures, but I would check with folks at the Tenderfoot or the Outdoorsman in Winthrop to see if people are fishing yet. I am sure that ice has formed on Moses Lake, but I doubt it is thick enough to support a group of anglers. I would say the same about Fish Lake, near Leavenworth. It’s time to drag out the ice fishing gear!