Washington State Opening Day of Trout Season

The state’s single biggest fishing season opens April 24, with lakes throughout the state stocked with millions of hatchery-reared fish by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and Local Fishing Clubs.

Although many lakes are open year round, the last Saturday in April marks the traditional start of a four-to five-month-long lowland-lakes fishing season.

This year’s opener offers an exciting new opportunity for lake fishers. Anglers may purchase a 2-pole endorsement which allows them to fish with two rods in most of Washington’s lakes. Gear rules and daily limits still apply. Many anglers will see the use of two poles as a way to double their fun by using two different types of tackle, or fishing at two different depths. Go to http://wdfw.wa.gov/licensing/twopole/lakes.php for a list of lakes where two poles are not allowed.

WDFW reports more than 20.5 million trout are stocked in lakes and streams throughout the state for this year’s fishery, including those planted in waters that opened earlier this spring or are open year-round. Most trout will be stocked before the lakes season opens.

Fish awaiting anglers in the lowland lakes include:

• 58,117 triploid (sterile) trout - each averaging 1-1/2 pounds - being stocked this spring in 105 lakes;
• 203,009 two-year-old "jumbo" and surplus hatchery broodstock trout being stocked this spring in 178 lakes.
• More than 7.4 million trout that were planted last year as 2- to 3-inch fry into nearly 500 lowland lakes and 100 highland lakes and are catchable-size now (8-to 12-inch);
• More than 10 million kokanee fry, expected to show in this year's catch, stocked in 35 lakes;
• More than 3.4 million "catchable-size" (8- to 12-inch) trout stocked this spring in 334 lowland lakes, including lakes opening April 24.

Fish stocking details, by county and lake, are available in the 2010 Hatchery Trout Stocking Plan on WDFW's website at http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/plants .