PORT HADLOCK — Anderson Lake — which has been threatened the past two years with unpredictable, recurring outbreaks of deadly blue-green algae — is scheduled to open for trout fishing season on Saturday.
The good news for freshwater fishing on the 70-acre lake comes as some Jefferson and Clallam County ocean beaches on Thursday were closed early by paralytic shellfish poisoning, or red tide.
Jefferson County water quality officials today awaited the lab results of water samples taken from Anderson Lake earlier this week.
Anderson was closed after a short fishing season last year. It also had been closed in June 2006 after two dogs died from biotoxins when they drank the lake’s water.
The lake inside a state park will open to fishing at 5:30 a.m. Saturday, said Mike Zimmerman, Anderson Lake State Park manager.
Jefferson County Environmental Health officials have posted a cautionary sign at the lake’s entrance, warning those using it not to drink, swim in, water ski or allow their pets in the water.
“It does not appear bad enough to prevent fishing,” said Zimmerman, adding that fish caught in the lake should be cleaned as soon as possible and their internal organs discarded.
Biotoxins in algae levels in two other Jefferson County lakes, Leland near Quilcene and Gibbs in Chimacum, have been determined to be low, but county water quality specialists advise residents to take precautions before coming into contact or drinking water from the lakes.
No lakes in Clallam County have been tested for biotoxins.
Clallam health officials conduct visual monitoring and said they would respond if a person or animal were sickened by collecting samples and submit them for testing with the state.
