Most of the lakes in Okanogan County are very well known for their trout fishing, but there are two fisheries in the county that are overlooked by most anglers, and offer some of the best fishing found anywhere. One is the Okanogan River for smallmouth. Each spring this river produces some of the biggest smallmouth bass in the region and is only fished by a handful of the locals. There was a bass tournament on the river recently, held by a local club, and it was won by Jerrod Gibbons, a local boy. Jerrod is well known for this expertise as a guide for spring salmon on the Icicle River and summer-run salmon on the Columbia, but also knows his way around the bass waters of Central Washington, too. He took top place in the tournament with a five-fish limit of smallmouth that weighed in at 23 pounds, 4 ounces. The water on the Okanogan gets muddy early and is colored right now, but this is the time of year that the really big, pre-spawn fish are taken. Bright grubs on bright jig heads will get their attention, as will big, bright deep-diving crank baits. Another largely ignored water is Omak Lake. This is a big beautiful lake full of Lahontan cutthroat. The current state record for Lahontan cutthroat is from this lake is 18 pounds, 4 ounces.