This is a joint report for really all of NW Washington.

The trees have greened, the sun finally decided to peek around the clouds, and the water is finally of livable temperature. Just as the outdoors has heated up, so has our fishing opportunities as of the last couple of weeks. Wherever you look, any given body of water is producing relatively consistent activity. Finally, finally, finally.

To start things out, local lakes are booming. Whatcom has produced a decent smallmouth bite as of late, although exploring the big lake thoroughly can be a bit of a task when armed only with a float tube. With the water warmed up, many fish have moved up out of their deep-water retreats and can be found perusing the abundant shoreline. They have been falling for any number of baitfish streamers, crawfish and leeches. I've been able to take them from both flotation and the rocky shoreline.

Other warm-water action has been pretty good as of late. I've been relying on a stout 8-weight to launch my assortment of articulated "Big Nasties" and heavy crawfish patterns at ditch pickles. It gets even more exciting when casting to a largemouth-holding brush pile yields a mid-20"s class brown waking inches behind your pulsing streamer, only to turn away at the last second.

Trout lakes are a happening place too. The put-n'-take fisheries are all cranking out good numbers of fish, with the odd carry-over supplementing the fresh chrome onslaught. Casting a full sink and a wiggly fly or tossing midges and leeches under an indicator, one can put a sore lip to quite a few fish over the course of a couple of hours. They will still fall to a variety of conventional tackle methods as well.

The more managed fisheries have been heating up, but slowing down all at once. You'll find a good number of fish feeding on any given day, but it often requires surgical precision to get them to take an offering. They have become accustomed to seeing every midge, leech, bugger, you name it... and are shy at best. These lakes have seen a great deal of pressure, per the spring norm. There are fish to be had, but they may not come so easy. And, of course, there will be days where everything I just said gets thrown out and the fish are feeding in a frenzy. There are hatches abounding, so there is plenty to chase.

The saltwater game is on as well. I won't talk too much about it, but there are some fish around. Baitfish patterns on intermediate lines have been the standard, and in some cases heavier sink-tips and even short spey heads would be more effective. The Sound is a cool place, you never really know what's going to be busting bait a couple of yards offshore.

We're still waiting for the rivers to open. Another interesting season is at our doorstep, who knows how it's going to unfold. I welcome it with open arms.

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