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March 1st Seep Lake Opener

Emailed my my friend Chad Jackson with WDFW in Euphrata this moning to see what the prospects were on the Seep Lakes that will open on the first of March. He said the weather we have had the past three weeks have taken a toll on them and virtually all of them are "Frozen" ! After checking the weather prospects for the next ten days or so it looks as if it's going to stay just that! So unless you might want to do a little ice fishing you might consider doing something else.

Here's what Chad had to say in his email.

Regarding the March 1st opening day lakes they are all frozen over, except the north half of Martha Lake which has heavy spring influence.  I’m not sure what ice conditions are like at all the lakes, so I’d say anglers looking to ice fish some of the lakes on the opener should use common sense.  So, unless we get some weather where the lows are above freezing and winds eats the ice up, it looks like we’ll be “iced out”.  If the lakes do open up between now the opener, anglers should have good fishing in Martha, Upper Caliche, and Quincy Lakes and possibly in Burke Lake.  The largest trout will likely be in Quincy Lake.  FYI, Burke Lake received an illegal plant of yellow perch shortly after it was rehabilitated in 2012 and the trout fishery has suffered.  We put ~3,000 catchables into the lake last fall for the opener and are planning rehabilitate it again this coming fall.  Lenice and Nunnally should fish well once the ice comes off.  Lenore should fish fine too, it’s just that extreme north end fishery the “old timers” remember is essentially no more.  Those fish now mill around in a bigger area waiting to enter the spawning channel.  Anglers who have done well in March/April are fishing from some sort of floating device, locating fish, anchoring up, and site casting to fish.

 

The biggest change is Dry Falls Lake now opens March 1st.  This change came during WDFW’s rule simplification process.  The very very short of the long is we got rid of almost all April 1st openers and changed them to either March 1, 4th Saturday in April, or YR.  So, fly guys and gals should be checking on ice condition there and heading out as soon as ice off occurs.

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So as you read, once the ice does leave the Basin there will be more than a few good fishing opportunities this Spring
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