My wife, young son and I all made a late morning excursion to Martha Lake after hearing how our father in-law, Leo Estes, did on the opener a couple of days ago.

Leo went out in his small boat with a friend for a six hour trip. During that time, Leo got his five fish limit while his friend got two rainbow trout. The two used various shades of powerbait and found the fish to be of very good size. Leo reported the smallest were 13 inches and he brought home a 19 inch lunker (I was able to vouch for it's size from the fillets we had for dinner tonight at his house!)

When we arrived at the small lake just south of I-90 near George today, it was pouring rain. There were apx 15 bank anglers and nobody in any boats. Of the half dozen plus we talked to, none reported catching anything. I have to admit, the lake was less than aesthetically pleasing. Perhaps the pouring rain and the less than happy sounds my two year old son made had something to do with it. Perhaps it was the smell of "God knows what died" in the brush that permeated the air, or maybe it was the sad site of litter on the all too easy to access lake, but either way, we were out of there in half an hour with no bites and a soaked toddler.

I'm sure there are still plenty of fish to be caught in this lake, including a bunch of obviously large carryovers. With cooperative weather and a float tube or boat, this could be a worthwhile place to try for good sized fish in the early season, even if it is not the prettiest place to fish east of the Cascades.

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