Lakes scheduled to be stocked this year include: Additionally, the following lakes on the eastside have been stocked with fry plants in recent years and promise great fishing for Black Friday: Hatch and Williams lakes in Stevens County; Fourth of July Lake in Lincoln and Adams counties; and Hog Canyon Lake in Spokane County. Heading roughly south down the Interstate 5 corridor, here are some of the top options we recommend, in part because theyre loaded with catchable rainbow trout: In Central Washington, check out the following hot spots: In Eastern Washington, these are some lakes that tend to be heavily planted with rainbows: If youd rather fling flies at rainbow trout, we suggest you check out: These lakes arent stocked as heavily and most of the lakes weve already mentioned, but their fly fishing rules and conservation-minded regulations keep them full of big, feisty trout. The following lakes that we cover in some depth elsewhere on our website also have kokanee, and they at times can provide anywhere from fair to very good fishing for these pan-sized salmon (as well as excellent angling for other game fish). View Fishing Details. For March: Skagit River The Skagit River is Washington's biggest steelhead and salmon fishery. Statewide hatchery trout and kokanee stocking plan This plan provides information on where and how many trout WDFW plans to stock in lakes and streams around the state. This is the largest natural lake in eastern Washington. By the way, if you have sea-run rainbows in mind, weve covered the best steelhead fishing rivers in Washington in a separate article. The lakes in this first section are places where youre very likely to do well dunking some bait such as a nightcrawler or PowerBait, trolling around with some pop gear like flashers ahead of a Wedding Ring lure, or sometimes casting lures or flies. Anglers willing to brave the cold often catch them 100 feet down over 400 feet of water in the dead of winter. Many arent publicized much, but one place to start your search isWDFWs brook trout page, which lists selected fisheries by county. Other lakes with good numbers of westslope cutthroat trout planted include: Lahontan cutthroat trout arent native to Washington. Technically another char species, brookies have quite taken to clear and cold streams and lakes in Washingtons more mountainous areas, where they reproduce and at times can threaten native species by outcompeting them. Lures or flies. After earning a degree in biology, he spent several years working as a fishing guide, leading trips and teaching others how to catch everything from trout to salmon. Can you fish for trout all year-round in Washington? These European natives, a.k.a. With "spring break" fast approaching, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) is stocking dozens of lakes in Western Washington with more than 250,000 . You do not need a license if you are fishing for common carp, crawfish, bullfrogs, or collecting relic shells. What Rod Does Andy Montgomery Use For Skipping? There arent usually many opportunities to catch kokanee from shore. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. Its an enormous impoundment on the Columbia River, stretching 150 miles from Grand Coulee Dam into Canada. Prior to the existence of a state wildlife management agency, the U.S. Forest Service stocked mountain lakes with rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) , cutthroat trout (Oncohynchus clarki) and eastern brook trout . But in some Washington lakes its possible to catch them up to 20 inches and weighing up to 3 pounds. The next reservoir downstream from Roosevelt is Rufus Woods Lake, which has produced the Washington state record rainbow trout, a triploid tipping the scales at nearly 30 pounds. Armed with this advice choose wisely which waters you intend to fish. Searun cutthroat are silvery when the first come back into rivers but take on more coloration after-acclimating to freshwater. The lakes and rivers weve already mentioned have typical stocked and native rainbows, but WDFW also plants some lakes with triploid rainbow trout, especially in east of the Cascade Mountains. New regulations posted in 2002 require release of all trout less than 10 inches. Overall, the two lakes present similar fishing conditions, and tactics that work on one lake will generally work on the other. Find lakes targeting a species that's excellent for this month. Are Trout Bottom Feeders? This is one gauge of how likely you are to catch a rainbow on average, if you're trolling on the lake for a couple hours. For a list of lakes with prize fish and information on how to claim a prize, visit wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/contests/trout-derby. Catfish . To prepare for the opener, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife's fish hatchery crews have been stocking more than 12 million trout and kokanee in lakes statewide. Trout marked with orange tags have been stocked in Washington lakes, offering prizes valued at $38,000. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. A full list of participating lakes is available at wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/contests/trout-derby/lakes. The state record comes from Lake Chelan, which meets all of the lake trout requirements with its cold, impressive depths and abundance of kokanee, cutthroat trout and other forage. Theyre native to a handful of lakes in Washington, but have also been stocked in dozens of lakes across the state by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW). The prime fishing season on most of these Washington kokanee lakes is May through July, but there are spots that offer some pretty good early season or late summer angling as well. High lakes fish stocking This stocking information is intended to give the user ideas where different species and quantities of fish have been stocked by WDFW and volunteers into high lakes across Washington. The average price for a private, polar bears will readily scavenge on marine mammal carcasses. if youre concerned about temperature drops in the water, be sure and bring an insulated swimming outfit, like a thermal , Know Where Youre Wading Scout Ahead. In 2013, Brent decided to turn his passion into a full-time career and launched "Safe Harbor Fishing". The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Boat launches are limited at Rufus Woods. Their preference for deep open waters means you typically need a boat to have a good shot at reliably catching them. Lake trout like cold, deep lakes with abundant sources of food. It was caught Nov. 1, the last day of Floridas alligator harvest, in Lake Washington near Melbourne The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says the previous record was a 14-foot, 5/8-inch alligator trapped in 1997. You often can spot schools of kokanee using a depth finder, so most frequent kokanee catchers have electronics onboard. This is still a lake with trophy trout potential for several species, but seeing as that record has stood since 1965, its probably not going to be easy to top. Geographic range. (How Deep Do They Feed?) Gavin Boggs with the new Washington record lake whitefish. View Fishing Details, For March: Its usually not too hard to stock up on 11- to 13-inch kokanee, especially in May and June. The official state fish of Washington is the steelhead trout , which is scientifically known as Salmo gairdnerii. Lake Sammamish, just outside Seattle, was historically one of the areas go-to kokanee lakes, but kokanee fishing here has been closed in recent years following a major population collapse. Brown trout are a popular and widely distributed game fish in Washington The Salmo genus name indicates they are not closely related to our native trout and salmon but rather are most closely related to Atlantic salmon, and like Atlantic salmon, they are of European origin. Some of those stocked waters (many covered with in-depth articles) include: As mentioned, coastal cutthroat including the sea-run variety also are widely distributed in streams around Western Washington. For up-to-date stocking information this fall, anglers should visit the catchable trout stocking report on the WDFW website. A lot of those fish end up in the bellies of Lake Whatcoms largemouth and smallmouth bassits also an excellent bass fishing lakebut plenty grow up to reach catchable size. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. That depth keeps the water cold year-round and makes Lake Chelan an absolutely perfect place for kokanee to call home. Steelhead and rainbow trout are the same species, Oncorhynchus mykiss, and start out life much the same. Dozens of lakes, primarily on the west side of the state, will be or have already been stocked in the leadup to Black Friday on Nov. 25 this year. In lakes where multiple lines are allowed, its smart to run two lines at different depths to increase your odds. Other years, youre lucky to catch one over 12 inches. In 2021, WDFW says that over 33,000 fish have been stocked within Grays Harbor and nearly 30,000 in Pacific County. Its a historically great kokanee spot thats been closed to boats in recent years due to lack of access, but the WDFW is working toward opening a boat launch on the lake. Stocking: May 13, 2022 Rainbow 2500 @ 0.54lbs. (The big lake remains a hot spot for kokanee and bass fishing, however.). The official world record for a sport-caught lake trout is 72 pounds, but even larger lakers have been recorded. Use a live bait float to target the top half of the water column During the hot summer months, Trout are deeper and typically further from shore. Enjoy several stocked lakes and privacy. https://www.fishingduo.com/5-overlooked-lakes-for-big-trout-in-washington-state/, https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/sports/wdfw-to-stock-more-than-147000-trout-in-washington-lakes/, https://stepoutside.org/article/5-best-fishing-spots-in-washington-state/. On average, Spinelli said 50% to 70% of tagged fish are caught each year. Banks Lake is another expansive impoundment in the Columbia Rivers massive hydroelectric and irrigation project, located just south of Grand Coulee Dam. Shockingly deep, in fact. This month alone, tens of thousands of rainbow trout were supplied to Snohomish County. The trout are big, too, with some of them reaching lengths of 15 or 16 inches. From the small haunts to the well-known spots, more information on the local stocking schedule can be found at wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/reports/stocking. Another eastern U.S. native, Eastern brook trout are widely dispersed around Washington. Washington Fishing Lakes Search Washington Lakes . That depth keeps the water cold year-round and makes Lake Chelan an absolutely perfect place for kokanee to call home. Trout prefer to wait and cruise in the bottom 2-3 feet of water to intercept any food that drifts by. Officials insist pollution from derailment not harming animals in Pa. Dont overlook the Cedar River right under many noses in King County or the Spokane River on the other side of the state. Luckily for us anglers, they are also stocked in a few high mountain lakes here in Washington The difficulty for anglers is that goldens are typically found only in lakes that are very difficult to access. Adult rainbow trout and steelhead range in size. Most years, anglers have a shot at some good-sized fish. More than 16 million trout and kokanee were added to lakes and streams during the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlifes year-round stocking. South Central Washingtons Best: Yakima River The Yakima is without a doubt considered by most veteran anglers to be the best trout fly fishing river in Washington, and its one of the only trout streams in the state that fly fishermen from Oregon and Idaho will travel to Washington to fish. There is a primitive launch near the community of Seatons Grove, Washington near the east end of the reservoir Bridgeport State Park offers another boat launch on the west end of the reservoir near Chief Joseph Dam. View Fishing Details, For March: While the fishing can be excellent in both lakes, and it varies year to year, Merwin is often regarded as the best for both size and numbers. Your best bet is along the lakes western shore, where the bottom drops steeply from 20 to well over 100 feet. The lake gets its name from the naturally occurring foam that gives its water a soapy appearance, and because the lakes mineral-rich waters have a slick, soapy feel. Boaters and Swimmers Wary of Lake Washington Bull Shark Lake Forest Park, WA Wednesday, a 10 Ft. Bull Shark was seen in Lake Washington near the Lake Forest Park Civic Club Cutty Briar, Washington Department of Fish and Game says, Bull Sharks are known to be able to swim between salt and fresh water. If youd like to dive deeper into these deep-running freshwater salmon, read Kokanee Fishing: Simple How-To Tips and Techniques. Gavin Boggs of Davenport, Washington, was fishing Lake Roosevelt with a buddy on Feb. 11 when he hooked something heavy in deep water. The current world record tiger trout, weighing 20 pounds and 13 ounces , was caught by Pete Friedland out of Lake Michigan back in 1978. Facing a $28M deficit, the school board adopted a blueprint for potential layoffs and deep program cuts to make ends meet. There may be no other lake in Washington that more consistently produces big kokanee salmon than Lake Chelan. As with California, golden trout in Washington are found in high-elevation waters that in most cases will involve a hike for you to reach. The largest rainbow ever stocked is 10 lbs. If chasing rainbows, as they say, youll especially want to take a look at the Yakima River and Rocky Ford Creek in Central Washington are superb rainbow trout fisheries. 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