May 01, 2006
Contact: Jon Anderson, 360-902-2711

Good fishing, combined with favorable weather, drew hundreds of thousands of anglers to statewide waters for opening day of the lowland lakes trout season April 29.

Fishery managers estimated that opening-day turnout was the highest in years.

“It was a fun day to be out fishing,” said Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) fish biologist Jon Anderson of Olympia, who compiled creel checks from other staff across Washington.

WDFW staff and volunteers checked at least 5,518 anglers with 12,765 trout from 119 lakes. The top ten lakes by average kept-catch-per-angler (with a five-trout daily catch limit) were: Williams Lake in Spokane County (5); Fishtrap Lake in Lincoln County (5); Toad Lake in Whatcom Count (4.9); Round (4.7) and Fish (4.6) lakes in Okanogan County; Perch Lake in Grant County (4.5); Rocky Lake in Stevens County (4.5); Howard Lake in Snohomish County (4.3); Deer Lake in Island County (4.2); and Erie Lake in Skagit County (4.1).

With WDFW fish hatchery crews stocking lakes for the past year with millions of trout fry, “catchables,” “jumbos” and surplus broodstock, plus big triploids from private hatcheries, the opener provided catches of trout that ranged from eight to 30 inches. Juveniles at the Vance Creek ponds in Grays Harbor County caught some of the largest fish of the day – rainbows up to 30 inches, including a 13.6-pound steelhead.

The season continues through September at many lakes that opened April 29, and through October at some. Catch rates should continue to be good at most and will improve at others, Anderson noted, especially in a few areas that had lower fishing pressure over the opening weekend.

“The Olympic Peninsula’s good razor clam season competed for anglers’ attention this year and some areas of western Washington had cool and rainy weather,” he said. “Northcentral Washington is still thawing out from a long winter so some waters, like Beehive Reservoir in Chelan County, were still frozen. Trout fishing in those regions will only improve as the season continues.”

The complete creel report from April 29 is as follows: