Since ice out I've been float tubing both of these lakes on a regular basis, and with great success on almost every trip. I haven't seen anything on Eastern Washington on this site this year, other than a couple of Yakima River and Rocky Ford Creek reports, so I thought I'd represent the meager winter ( Dec. 1-Mar. 31) fly fishing opportunities we have over here. Hog Canyon and Fourth of July are both extensively stocked with rainbows ranging from 8 inches to 8 pounds. Average plants average 10-12 inches at Fourth of July, and 9-12 inches at Hog Canyon. I have caught 20 inch plus fish at both lakes since ice out, and so has a fishing partner of mine. I have personally seen 5 fish of over 2 feet and six pounds caught at Hog Canyon, and I have heard of numerous 23-25 inch rainbows at Fourth of July (my biggest is 21). Our local fishing reporters have suggested that there are no big fish left at the lakes, but we take holdovers on every trip.

Now that the Columbia Basin lakes are open, there will undoubtedly be less people at these lakes. That's alright by me, as I would suggest that the fishing is just as good or better only 30-40 miles from Spokane at these lakes, than as is in the Basin right now.

The day I'll talk about here was March 13th (a Friday) at Fourth of July. I consider Fourth of July to be superior to Hog Canyon on the sheer numbers of fish (both plants and holdovers), and size. This lake has a pretty high water level this year, which has made excellent fishing possible at the shallow end of the lake nearest the launch. This eliminates me carrying my float tube over basalt rock outcroppings for a half mile down the lake, so this is a great year! The majority of the fish are in the shallows right now, especially the big pre-spawners. On this day we worked the reed lines and shallow weed beds with black and red #4 egg sucking leeches. Other wooly bugger and leech patterns produce as well, but the big ones go crazy for the orange/red heads on the egg suckers. We split our time between casting and trolling the reedlines, but had the bulk of our success trolling our flies slow and deep. Many of the larger fish hit our flies either on the sink, or as they were motionless on the bottom. In general the big fish were more than willing to attack these flies, and we took advantage of it!

We launched at about 4 pm, and stayed until only 6:30 pm, but during this shot time we took numerous 10-12 inchers, as well as large holdovers. My friend took about 10 of the smaller fish, as well as 4 between 15 and 17. I hooked about 10 of the plants as well, along with a 16, and a 20 that jumped twice like a steelhead! The fishing was almost fast enough to forget about the 40 degree water, and my 3mm waders. This was probably our best day so far this year, as all of this occcured in a span of only 2 and a half hours. The fishing is almost always pretty good at Fourth of July if you are focusing on the right areas with the right flies. Chronomids have already been effective for us, as have water boatmen and other leech patterns.

If you go to this lake, be prepared for the possibility of some serious wind, and some damn cold water. There are also quite a few bait fishermen along the shore to contend with, but there is plenty of shoreline, some of which is inaccessible to shore fishermen. Fourth of July is a great early season lake, so give it a shot if you're fiending to catch some rainbows. Has anybody out there been to the Basin yet? Any other Eastern WA lakes? If so, write in. These things can be fun to read, and beneficial to your success on new lakes. Good Fishing!

---