One of the benefits of the mild winter we are experiencing this year is that many of the lakes that are open year round are easily accessible. There isn’t the snow and ice that would discourage fishing we usually get in the early winter. There are a few very special opportunities on certain lakes that opened the first Friday after Thanksgiving and will remain open until March 31st. Due to the short seasons and since these lakes get less pressure during these cold months fishing should be good to excellent. Stradling Adams and Lincoln counties is 4th of the July Lake. The only special rules on this lake is that no internal combustion motors are allowed. In Spokane County the lake with this special season is Hog Canyon Lake, and the lake received two plants of rainbow in October. Also in Spokane County, Williams Lake is open and it got two plants of rainbow in March of this year, prior to the closure. These fish have had plenty of time to grow and should be of very good size this winter. In Stevens County, Hatch Lake is now open, and it was planted with rainbow twice in the month of October.