On my way back from fishing the Kettle River I stopped at the Northrup boat launch on Banks Lake. I wanted to see if the docks were still in. They were and maybe for the first time ever, I saw there wasn’t single truck and trailer in the parking lot. This indicated that even the hardiest of anglers weren’t going to fish on this cold and rainy day. I did see Aulin Smith, who works for the WDFW and checks on angler success on several bodies of water here in Central Washington. He said that “most likely” the docks would be pulled at the end of October, and I also assumed that the cleaning station near the boat ramp would be shut down for the winter. Aulin also mentioned that the walleye fishing had slowed down in recent days, probably due to the sharp drop in temperatures. I told him I was surprised that there were no anglers fishing for whitefish. He said that the whitefish will often disperse from the popular fishing area in Devils Lake, and we agreed that they would be out in force once again when the ice gets safe enough to drill holes in Banks Lake.