Walleyes and carp dominated Sprague Lake for years. But now, you'll find both warm- and cold-water game fish. Photo by David Paul Williams.

"Whoa, Steve! Ride 'em, cowboy."

Steve Bohnemeyer was tethered to a Sprague Lake rainbow trout that frothed the surface. The angler tried to rein in that feisty trout doing its best to toss the hook. It was an even battle through the first six jumps, but seven was that rainbow's unlucky number. Bohnemeyer brought the fish to hand, admired another beautiful 16-inch trout. After he revived it, he released it so it could live to fight another day.

Unusual? Naw. Just another typical Sprague Lake trout.

Sprague Lake is a 1,840-acre lake on the south side of Interstate 90 in Eastern Washington wheat country, located just east of Ritzville. It's the one everyone wonders about as they head to and from Spokane, but have never fished.

It was planned to be a premier walleye and warm-water fishery until the angler success rate dropped so low that everyone got tired of not catching walleye. The anglers went elsewhere.

In 2003, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife realized a change in management was needed. In 2007, after going through the extensive state Environmental Protection Act review process, the lake and the surrounding waters were treated with rotenone to remove thousands of walleye, fat carp, tench and other fish. It was stocked with trout, and is now the best rainbow trout lake in this part of the state. You can catch 20-inch trout that weigh a couple pounds. They bend rods and trigger smiles -- and those are the small ones.

NUTS AND BOLTS
Sprague, at 1,900 feet elevation, is roughly six miles long, a mile wide and shallow, hitting 18 feet at the deepest. Sprague Lake Resort operates from March through mid-December (weather permitting). The west end has the Four Seasons Campground and Resort.

Each of these resorts has much-needed shade trees to ward off some of the summer sun. They also have boat launches and fishing docks available to the public for a small fee.

Scott Haugen (no relation to Washington-Oregon Game & Fish author and photographer of the same name) is owner of the Four Seasons. He said the fishing can be quite good from his dock and not just for trout. In 2008, one nighttime angler took a 14-pound channel cat. If you're boatless, Four Seasons has both row and power boats for rent, complete with all the safety gear. (Continued)

Each resort can provide current info on fishing hotspots and areas to avoid. Since the lake level varies during the year, powerboaters should be sure to stop in at the Four Seasons and ask Haugen for a map detailing where propeller-eating rocks lurk just below the surface.

Monika Metz, owner of the Sprague Lake Resort, said fishing from her docks holds up well over the summer. There are numerous underwater springs within casting distance. Each spring releases cool water, which attract fish food. The fish naturally follow. So should you.

If camping is not your style, there's the Purple Sage Motel in the old railroad town of Sprague offers convenient.

Ritzville also has several motels. Both are in farm country, which means restaurants close early, so plan accordingly.

WDFW has a single-lane concrete boat ramp and gravel parking area on the southwest side accessed from the east or west by Danekas Road. A boat is nice to have, but hardly required equipment in order to catch your share of fish on Sprague. The shoreline along the WDFW boat launch is a popular and highly effective spot for bank-anglers to fill their stringers with trout.

SUCCESSFUL STORY
Sprague has a long fishing history dating back to the 1890s. That's when the U.S. Fish Commission planted multiple warmwater species like bass, crappie, catfish and carp. The lake had a good reputation for putting out good catches and even supported a commercial carp fishery. But the price fell and the bottom dropped out of the market in the 1980s.

Unrestrained by any commercial operation, the carp population exploded and dominated the fish biomass. As a result, angler days dropped off until the lake was treated in 1985.