Stocked For The Start Of Trout Season

The 2018 Washington official lowland lakes trout opener is this Saturday. 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 since last fall. Even the lakes that have remained open for winter trout fishing will be stocked heavily in advance of the opener. Fish stocked by WDFW include some 2.1 million catchable trout, nearly 125,000 larger trout averaging about one pound apiece, and millions of smaller trout that were stocked last year and have grown to catchable size. Fish stocking details, by county and lake, are available in the annual stocking plan on WDFW’s website. WDFW Region 5 fisheries biologist Matt Gardner says that even though many lakes do remain open year round, the spring opener is still a lot of fun. “It’s pretty popular with the public,” said Gardner.