The lakes of the Okanogan Highlands usually take longer to turn on than the lakes to the south, but many remain productive after lower elevation lakes have slowed. Bonaparte Lake is open year 'round and offers a good chance at large lake trout during the early season, as well as large carry-over Eastern brook trout. Spectacle Lake opens March 1 and runs through July. The season on Conconully begins on the late April opener. It receives about 2,500 catchable rainbows, and more than 100,000 rainbow fry that grow quickly in its rich waters. Wannacut, Pearrygin and Alta lakes also open in late April and receive, respectively, 55,000, 65,000 and 35,000 fry.

Fly anglers are drawn to Chopaka Lake, the state's most famous callibaetis mayfly water, and Aeneas and Ell lakes, selective fishery waters. There are two Blue Lakes in Okanogan County: The one on Sinlahekin Creek has rainbows and selective gear regulations; the other is south of Oroville and hosts hefty Lahontans.

The Yakima River is Washington's most famous trout river. In spring, increasing water temperatures stimulate insect activity in the Yakima Canyon, between Ellensburg and Yakima. Chelan County's Fish Lake, open year 'round, is one of the better brown trout waters in the state. Although Lake Chelan is best known for Mackinaw and landlocked Chinook, it also receives about 100,000 rainbow trout each year, which provide dependable sport for bank anglers and light-tackle trollers.

THE EAST
Mountains at the north and south serve as bookends to the region's flatter, more developed land in between. It might seem logical that the mountainous regions would provide the best fishing, but the rolling hills, agricultural lands and suburbs in the middle actually contain some of the best trout lakes in Washington. Medical and West Medical lakes, near Cheney, turn out literally thousands of trout annually. Medical is selective-fishery water; its brown trout are a favorite of flyfishers. Any gear is legal at West Medical, which receives about 100,000 fry annually and is popular with bait and hardware anglers from boats or the bank. Spokane County's Amber Lake is very popular among light-tackle and fly anglers; it is open in March and April for catch-and-release fishing, and then has a two-fish bag after the late April opener. Waitts, Fish, Fishtrap and Sprague lakes also turn out good numbers of hatchery fish, while Hog Canyon Reservoir is a winter lake, but anglers there still have a chance at a rainbow through March.

Pend Oreille County's Sullivan Lake boasts the state-record brown trout, a 22-pounder taken back in 1965. You'll now be lucky to take a fish one-quarter that size, but a 5-pound brown is nothing to sneeze at. This 1,300-acre lake also gives up chunky cutthroats and rainbows, largely to trollers.

Two counties to the west, Ferry County's 870-acre Curlew Lake rivals Medical Lake as the region's most productive. It usually gets about 40,000 catchable rainbows and 250,000 fry. The Little Pend Oreille chain of lakes, in picturesque hill and timber country, come on later and are a favorite of canoe and small boat anglers. North and west of Spokane, good trout fishing is also available in Browns (fly-only), Marshall, Skookum, South Twin, Jump-Off-Joe, Deer, Loon and Diamond lakes. The Kettle River is a popular spring destination for river anglers, and trollers take 2-pound-plus hatchery rainbows in upper Roosevelt Reservoir.