Spring 2002 Hatchery Trout Stocking Plan for Washington Lakes and Streams

This publication is organized into three sections. The first section is the lowland lakes catchable trout stocking table, followed by the stream stocking table and lastly, the lowland lakes and ponds stocked during the spring and fall of 2001 with trout fry. Each section lists the waters by county, shows the trout species, numbers to be stocked by size, and approximate time to be stocked. The locations, dates, and times presented are based on current information, so unavoidable changes may occur.

Catchable Trout Plants
Over three million catchable size trout (7 inches or larger) are scheduled to be stocked this spring into Washington’s lowland lakes. About 140,000 trout are planned for stocking into selected streams, to provide mitigation for lost opportunity to harvest wild fish or to provide recreational opportunity in areas where habitat does not support wild trout.

Triploid Trout
Seventy-three lakes throughout the state have been selected to be stocked with 1½-pound average triploid trout for the third year of a program passed by the State Legislature. These trout, purchased by the Department, are sterile rainbows that are voracious feeders and have the potential to grow to trophy size if not harvested the first season after stocking. Triploid rainbow are identified as TRB under Species in the catchable trout socking table.

Trout Fry Plants
Many lakes are stocked with 2- to 4-inch long trout fry. Over 17 million fry were stocked in 2001. Trout fry are planted in the spring or fall, where they forage on natural food and grow until the following spring when they are large enough to be harvested. The survival of fry plants varies depending on the lake. Some eastern Washington lakes are managed in such a way that fry survival is good enough to be the primary source of new trout available for harvest in the spring. Western Washington lakes are primarily dependant on catchable size trout plants because of lower fry survival and where fry are stocked, the ones that survive supplement the catchable trout plants.

Tips For Catching More Fish
As you read through the stocking tables, please note that many lakes are open year-around or open on March 1, and are stocked as early as February. While it may be too late this year to take advantage of this knowledge, stocking schedules are fairly consistent from year-to-year, so you may be able to get in some good early season fishing next year.

Studies have shown that trout tend to stay in the top three to five feet of water for the first week or so after stocking. This makes them easy prey for cormorants and other avian predators, which take a significant bite out of our stocking efforts each year. Your best chance for success may be to come within the first couple of weeks after fish are stocked. Lots of anglers on the water tends to disrupt feeding birds and thus may improve fishing later in the season.

Because trout tend to remain shallow for a while after stocking, fishing on the bottom may not be as productive in the early season as it will be later. Try shallow trolling with small lures, flies, or spinner-and-bait combinations. The newer �"light” trolling lures allow you to fish with spinnerand- bait rigs without the heavy pull you had to put up with in the past. When fishing from the shore, use a float to keep your bait up in the feeding zone.

Trout tend to go deeper as the lake surface warms in the late spring and summer. This is the time to try fishing on or just off the bottom, using floating paste-type baits or other buoyant baits. Trout have also been feeding more on natural food, so artificial baits may lose some of their attraction. When this happens, try natural baits such as worms, eggs, or flies and lures that imitate natural trout forage. This would also be the case in lakes managed primarily with fry plants where the fish have been feeding on natural forage since at least last spring or fall.