Spokane Area - Lake Updates

This last week was sunny and warm which had us down to t-shirts at times while we prospected the lakes around Spokane. Most of the lakes south/southwest of the city are ice-free, except for Medical Lake. There was just a touch of ice left on Amber up in the NE corner.
Fly fishing has been productive even with cold water temps (surface temps in the low-mid 40s, and deeper down in the water column its in the upper 30s). No signs of lake turnover yet. With some cloud cover and wind this weekend it should be a decent time to be out doing some stillwater fishing. Attractor patterns on sinking lines were working best since there isn't much bug activity yet.
You can view the full fishing report here: Fishing Report, Eastern Washington Lakes, March 24 2023

 

[John Svahn]

In norcal we have mtn chickadees that also say cheeseburger, but only in spring.
I’m curious, when I was a kid and we visited our Spokane relatives near Minnehaha, we would drive out to Diamond Lake where someone somebody knew had a little cabin. We would fish for trout. Is that a fly fishing destination at all?

 

[Marc Fryt]

Diamond Lake is an ok lake for fly fishing, they've had some issues in recent years with the trout numbers. I was up there recently this winter doing some ice fishing and it was very slow (only one 16in trout was caught between me and a friend). While Diamond Lake can be enjoyable, I still prefer to fly fish other lakes closer to Spokane, or drive further out for weekend trips.