Did some snowshoeing up at White Pass to today and went by Leech and Dog Lakes.

Leech is about 25% open with the frozen water portion looking very thin and fragile. Should be totally open
and ready to fish the weekend of May 12/13. Dog is about 30% open and may be ready next weekend, but
May 12/13 would be a safer bet.

I've done a lot of hiking and skiing up at white pass over the last several decades and this has caused me to spend a lot of time looking at leech lake but I have yet to actually fish it. In the eighties the lake was vacant. Never saw anyone on it. But sometime in the ninties WDFW switched the ruled to "fly fishing only" with a limit of 5 but only one can be over 14"...

The management program is smart. Lake has Brookies and Trips... Brookies tend to be under 14" and overpopulated... the Trips are larger and need protection..... message here is "Keep the brookies and release the trips"....

Lake has prospered under this new management plan.... Whenever I'm up here in the summer months there are always half a dozen to a dozen sporties working the lake....... way to go WDFW.....

I did manage to get down and fish Dog Lake last year... It is loaded with 7 to 10 inch brookies along with a few larger rainbows......

Did real well plopping small jig (1/32nd ouncers) with iddy biddy plastic grub out near the rocky eastern shoreline... jig was tipped with a small hunk of nighcrawler........

I used to let these small brookies go bu then I learned how to cook them..... Here's the trick....

Dress and cut out all the gill stuff and cut off the tail....... (leave head on)......

then cook in frying pan on medium heat in butter into which a little tumeric has been added (other spices like garlic, cumin, or dill can be good but my taste buds respond best to the butter and tumeric)..... want to get the flesh to about 120F........

this kind of fish is too small for the meat thermometer but I use the meat thermometer in the larger fish and that has sort of taught me what the fish is supposed to look like when it's in the 120F range.......


when it's done the meat will just peel right off the bones and each side of the fish is a very tasty mouthful.... oh yeah...

don't forget the head....... the meat behind the cheek is the best part of any fish.. .it's extremely oily (loaded with omega 3s)
just wrap your lips around the back part of the head and suck in... because of all the oil the meat will just slip into your mouth.. very tasty and very good for you...... for the chinese, the eyballs are considered the best part of the fish and they are also loaded with omega 3s, but I don't think you guys are ready for this kind of really advanced stuff yet...

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