Wapato Lake has been a favorite of mine since I was old enough to hold a rod. Our family used to camp on Wapato Point in the summer. We would play on the beach all day and in the evening we would rent a boat and still fish for rainbow. We caught some whoppers. I visited Wapato on the opening day of trout season. The wind was blowing, it was raining and still there were a lot of boats out on the water and people fishing from the shore. They were doing great, too. I was there to get the results of the Manson Fishing Derby at Wapato Lake. This was the fourth year that the Manson Chamber of Commerce held a derby, and in spite of the lousy weather they had almost as many people enter the derby as last year. The trout at Wapato Lake were averaging at least 14 inches. Colton Brooks took the $500.00 first prize with a rainbow that weighed 2 pounds. Ben Collison won the youth prize of $100.00 with a 1.19-pound rainbow. Don Collison walked away with $250.00 for a five- fish stringer that weighed 8 pounds 7 ounces.