by Mike Carey, April 02, 2014

Depending on the time of year we can get upwards of 500-700 fishing reports a month. Here are some of this month’s hottest fishing locations for you to make your April plans by.

Starting off with the tried and true, Lake Roosevelt started March strong and stayed that way for limits of rainbow trout, with a few shiny (and large) kokanee to throw in for good measure. Downriggeral had the fishery nailed, and onerka007 showed off a beaut of a 22 ½” kokanee. Action should continue into April. Reports coming in at 4-5 stars.

Chelan – what can we say? Off the charts and now it’s bordering on the ridiculous. If you want to see the potential for a day’s catch check out Anton Jones report from 3/21 – twenty six mackinaw trout! To get those numbers you really need to know the lake and be on your “A” game, but guys with DRs or jigging will get fish. As to the kokanee, they haven’t shown in numbers – yet. But they will. Word is 15 miles north for those willing to burn the gas the 18” fish are schooling. “5” for Macks, “2” for Koks.

Let’s check out the east side of the State. We got a great 5 star report on Sprague lake from Hewesbob with limits of fat rainbows. Not your 8-9 inch planters, these fish are running a healthy 14-20”. Another lake that got a nice report from stigman87 was Liberty Lake with triploids to 5 pounds. 4-5 Stars

Over on the west side early trout fishing is showing signs of life. DjButler fished Beaver lake in King county on 3/24 and had a fun outing of C&R until bringing home his limits. Ilvcassidylake reports that the perch bite on Cassidy lake is excellent. Fdelgado17 shared another 5 star report on Kitsap lake in Kitsap County. Slow Death hooks rigged with 3” Berkley gulp worms were the ticket. Lake action should only get better as west side lakes warm up. 4-5 Stars

Steelheading… ouch. While anglers are catching fish, especially some beautiful natives on the coast, closer to the Puget Sound region it’s been tough. The Skookumchuck and Cowlitz are producing limited numbers. Akfishgrl landed a chrome on 3/25. Her good karma for picking up trash along the shoreline rewarded her! Toni’s 3/25 Cowlitz report showed off a rare (but hopefully not for long) springer. A beauty of a fish, through in a couple steelhead and I would rate it a solid “5”. Toni’s standards are higher, giving it a “4”. In any case, a mixed catch day of salmon and steelhead sounds great to me. Steelheading Overall 3 Stars

I’d like to give some positive reports for saltwater but so far for March whether it’s salmon, ling cod, or bottom fish we haven’t gotten good reports. That said, April is bottom fish month so watch for reports coming out of Westport, Neah Bay, and Seiku. The action will heat up soon.

Did you know that when you post a fishing report on our web sites you're automatically entered to win prizes from our Sponsors? Our March Contest winner is JRM for his report on Lake Roosevelt. Send us your fishing reports for a chance to win valuable prizes! The more fishing reports you post the better your chance to win!
That’s our wrap of March’s hottest fishing spots. See you on the water!

Oh... here's some pics from some of readers in the month of March:

Hayden Lake kokanee By SsendaM

Skookomchuck Steelhead By tele_maniac

Rocky Ford Rainbow By drysuperfly