Blue Lake turns out excellent year-old and holdover fish from the nearly 200,000 rainbow fry and smaller plants of brown trout fry.

For decades, Lake Lenore, with its hefty Lahontan cutthroats, has been a popular late-spring destination. It's managed under a two-tier system, with catch-and-release angling from March through May, followed by a one-fish daily limit from June 1 to November.

OKANOGAN HIGHLANDS
Being located at a slightly higher elevation and farther north, the lakes in Okanogan County tend to come on a little later than the Potholes or Seep Lakes. Usually they are fishing well around the first of May.

However, early-season anglers can connect with trout at Spectacle Lake, which opens in April, although it may not be ice-free at that time. It's planted with more than 100,000 rainbow fry and about 10,000 juvenile brown trout.

Bonaparte Lake is open year-round. Its mackinaws are more active at cooler temperatures because they are char, and not true trout. This is a destination worth considering as soon as it's ice-free.

Year-in, year-out Conconully Reservoir and Conconully Lake are two of the region's most popular early-season destinations for rainbow trout. They usually turn out good numbers of fish as soon as they open on the last Saturday in April.

One of the main attractions of trout fishing in Okanogan County is that so many of its large lakes are located within state parks or have full-service resorts along their shores.

Alta Lake, which is within Alta Lake State Park, receives around 58,000 rainbow trout fry. Pearrygin Lake, within the state park of the same name, gets around 50,000 rainbow fry and 5,000 brown trout fry.

FAR EAST
The WDFW employs a variety of stocking strategies in the eastern third of the state. Ferry County's Curlew Lake, one of the state's most remote lakes, is also one of the most heavily planted, receiving more than 150,000 fingerlings. This provides excellent fishing for 10- to 12-inch fish and carry-overs to 4 pounds. Despite its location in one of the least-populated corners of the state, the lake is served by a number of resorts.

Little Pend Oreille State Park's lakes contain good numbers of hatchery cutthroat, while Rufous Woods Reservoir is planted with around 70,000 rainbow trout fry.

Adams County's Sprague Lake receives around 155,000 rainbow fry and 300 triploids.

Douglas County's Jameson Lake gets 160,000 rainbow fry. Jameson is a nutrient-rich lake, and the fry grow quickly, turning into robust first-year fish along with a considerable number of hold-overs. However, the lake also gets a thick algae coating in summer, and is best early and late in the season.

There isn't a lot of lake fishing in the southeast corner of the state, but between February and June, Asotin County's Golf Course Ponds get 20,000 rainbows, along with 400 jumbo trout.

Some of eastern Washington's most scenic and productive lakes are located in Pend Oreille County.

Diamond Lake is one of the most heavily planted, with 23,000 rainbow fry, 10,000 brown trout, 500 14-inchers and 1,000 triploids.

Sacheen Lake gets 5,000 adult rainbows, 100 jumbo Eastern brook, 20,000 rainbow fry and 10,000 tiger trout fry.

Cutthroat fry are the trout planted in Marshall and Yocum lakes, which receive 46,000 and 15,000 fry, respectively.

Many of the smaller, forested lakes in the county such as No Name, Muskegon, Mystic, Halfmoon and Brown also receive cutthroat fry.

Find more about Washington-Oregon fishing and hunting at WOgameandfish.com