Yes, Virginia, there is a hatchery truck.
Despite recent weather conditions more appropriate for a snow shovel than a trout rod, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife has been busily stocking rainbow trout of various sizes in dozens of lakes ahead of the April 30 opening of the state’s general trout fishing season.
And if you can’t wait that long — if cabin fever is gnawing at you — some of the lakes that have been planted are year-arounders, opening the door to a little trout action this weekend.
Included in that list are Flowing Lake, planted March 15 with 2,000 half-pound jumbo rainbow and March 29 with 2,100 smaller catchables; Gissberg Ponds (the north pond is open to juveniles only), March 15 with 2,000 catchables; Lake Goodwin, March 29 with 3,500 catchables; Lake Roesiger, March 21 with 1,000 half-pounders and March 29 with 3,500 catchables; Lake Shoecraft, March 23 with 1,050 half-pounders; and Silver Lake (south Everett), March 23 with 1,100 half-pounders.
Due to be planted this week were Lake Ballinger, Blackman’s Lake, Chain Lake and Lone Lake. Blackman’s already has been stocked with big triploid rainbow by area fishing clubs, but the state is due to contribute 2,000 half-pounders and 3,500 catchables.
Most of the lakes above received only a portion of their total scheduled allotment. State hatchery manager for this area, Doug Hatfield at the Mill Creek office, said his crews are working to have the full allotment in every lake before the general opener.
KOKANEE
Water temperatures are still too cold for decent kokanee fishing in lakes such as Stevens, Cavanaugh and Samish, but anglers in the know like to keep prospecting, knowing that the fish will be shallow and easily accessible during the early days of the fishery.
SOCKEYE
We’ve had calls about the possibility of another Baker Lake sockeye fishery this summer, and Brett Barkdull, the biologist out of the state’s La Conner office, said the chances are “reasonably good.” He said some 22,600 of the small salmon were counted in last year’s run, and that the prediction for this year is for just under 24,000 fish. Another optimistic note is that the number of planted smolts that will form the bulk of this summer’s adult run was 343,000 fish in 2009, compared to 253,000 smolts in 2008, which made up last summer’s fishery.
“The caveat here is that sockeye survival rates are all over the board,” Barkdull said. “They’re notoriously hard to predict.”
If a season opens, it probably would be around July 15 or 20, he said, but that could vary as well. Barkdull said he thought last summer’s fishery went very well — there was no crowding and no days when there were more than 100 boats on the water — but he said he didn’t have the data yet to assess the harvest.
SUMMER SALMON SEASONS
Outdoor talk show host Tom Nelson of Lake Stevens attended the North of Falcon meeting Tuesday in Lynnwood with state Fish and Wildlife director Phil Anderson and his staff, and said the following semi-official salmon fisheries were circulating:
n The spring chinook season on the Columbia would be re-opened, probably for a two-day, Saturday-Sunday fishery on April 16-17. Water visibility should be better by then, Nelson said, and there should be fish around.
n We may get a three-coho limit on the Skagit River this summer, and a pink opening on the river Aug. 1, but no summer chinook season.
n There probably will be no Elliott Bay chinook fishery.
n The Tulalip bubble chinook season probably will open the first weekend in June.
n The popular Marine Area 9-10 selective chinook fishery probably will open July 16.
n Next winter’s blackmouth season will pretty much be a repeat of this one.
Nelson said Mark Spada and others argued for an Aug. 1 pink opening on the Snohomish River system (like the Skagit), specifically to provide opportunity for young people to fish humpies before the kids get involved in sports turnouts and other fall school activities. It probably won’t fly, Nelson said, because of state concerns about impacting Snohomish system chinook.
“Looks like an August 15 opener for that one,” Nelson said.
HALIBUT
The International Pacific Halibut Commission has set a higher quota for halibut this year, up 12 percent from last season, and that should help prevent further shortening of the in-Sound halibut fishery.
“This year’s larger quota for Puget Sound and the Strait is 58,155 pounds, up from 50,542 pounds last year,” state policy coordinator Heather Reed said, “and that, together with the shorter seasons adopted last year, will bring the catch more in line with the allowable harvest.”
The in-Sound season was shortened last year because the sport catch exceeded harvest guidelines for two years running.
Marine Areas 6 through 10 open May 5-May 29. Marine Area 5 (Sekiu) will be open May 26-June 18. Halibut seasons on the coast will remain similar to last year, Reed said.
Marine Areas 3 and 4 (Neah Bay/LaPush) open May 12, Thursdays and Saturdays only, through May 21. If sufficient quota remains, the fishery will reopen the week of June 2.
For more outdoor news, read Wayne Kruse’s blog at www.heraldnet.com/huntingandfishing.
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