SATURDAY MARKS THE official opening day of lowland lake trout season as hundreds of lakes statewide open for a six-month season.
More than 12 million trout and kokanee have been planted in lakes around the state by state Department of Fish and Wildlife crews.
This includes some 2.1 million catchable trout, nearly 125,000 larger trout averaging about 1 pound apiece, and millions of smaller trout that were stocked last year and have grown to catchable size.
Plant coming Wednesday
Curiously enough, crews had yet to pump Lake Leland near Quilcene with its alotment of 6,000 trout as indicated by Fish and Wildlife’s 2018 trout stocking plan.
The plan called for the 99.3-acre year-round fishing lake to receive those thousands of fish in two installments in “March/May.”
Bruce Bolding, the state’s Warmwater Fish Program Manager, did some investigating for me and came up with some updated information.
“Leland has not yet been stocked,” Bolding said. “The stocking report says March/May and I think it might be an either-or situation.
“But Mark Downen, who is the district biologist up there in Region 6 was kind enough to provide some information. The plan is to stock Leland on Wednesday with about 6,000 catchables, some broodstock and some jumbos, so fishing should be popping off up there after opening day.”
Bolding said Downen wanted to spread out the opening day pressure around the area lakes, thus the later plant.
Quilcene’s Ward Norden, a former fisheries biologist and owner of Snapper Tackle Company had been looking for the telltale sign of recently planted trout dimpling the surface of the lake.
“Anglers are still enjoying the beautiful weather at the lake and occasionally catching large holdover trout from last winter’s and last year’s plants,” he said. “The water is now warm enough to stimulate pre-spawn activity by the largemouth bass. Now is the time I encourage any angler catching a bass over 3 pounds to release it (after getting the picture, of course) because those are the big females who insure the future of the lake.”
Other options
Norden said anglers may wish to target a couple of different Jefferson County lakes during Saturday’s opener.
“Both Tarboo and Sandy Shore lakes received plants of large trout over 5 pounds a month ago which have been supplemented with plants of about 1,500 catchable trout (between 8 to 10 inches), so for those looking forward to a breakfast of pan-fried trout, they may want to check out those smaller lakes in beautiful locations off the beaten path.”
Anderson Lake near Chimacum is open to anglers, but has a “Warning” status from the Jefferson County Public Health Department. Environmental health staffers posted that status after conducting tests of water quality, the most recent coming in Monday.
Under a “Warning” status, anglers should note that there is no visible bloom, but toxic algae are present and toxins are detected at a low level.
Anatoxin-a, which is sometimes produced by blue-green algae, has forced the lake’s closure every summer since 2006.
Anglers are advised to clean fish well and discard guts, and to keep pets away from the water.
Derby lakes
Anderson, Leland and Tarboo are the three North Olympic Peninsula lakes where anglers can participate in the annual lowland lakes fishing derby, which runs through Oct. 31.
Anglers who catch one of 1,000 green-tagged trout can claim prizes provided by license dealers and other sponsors located across the state. The total value of prizes is more than $38,000.
For information on how to claim prizes, visit fishhunt.dfw.wa.gov/Home/FishingDerby.
Bogachiel Pond
Clallam County trout anglers can head to the Bogachiel Hatchery Rearing Pond Saturday. It was planted with 2,600 catchable rainbows from the Sol Duc Hatchery on Tuesday.
This is also the first lowland lakes opener in which those anglers can use the new Fish Washington mobile app to help find a fishing hole near them.
Fish and Wildlife said it has up-to-the-minute updates on fishing regulations for every lake in the state.
To obtain the new Fish Washington mobile phone app, visit wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/washington/mobile_app.html, the Google Play store or Apple’s App store.
Kids Fishing Day
The facility will host the annual Forks Kids Fishing Day from 6 a.m. to noon Sunday, May 6.
All children ages 12 and younger are welcome to participate.
Coffee, hot chocolate and donuts will be provided free of charge (donations appreciated).
The West End Sportsmen Club will loan out poles on a first-come, first-served basis and will provide assistance to youth anglers.
There is a five fish limit per angler (the first five fish caught).
Hunting regs out
Norden said that printed copies of the state’s 2018 hunting regulations have arrived at outdoors stores and license vendors.
“The deadline for special hunt applications is May 23, so there isn’t much decision time for hunters,” Norden said.
“Most intriguing is a new special elk hunt for old geezers like me which is an antler-less all North Olympichunt for seniors (over 65) but the number of those tags is very tiny. If you draw one of those, consider buying a lottery ticket.”
