A wide range of weather — from warm and sunny in some parts of the Columbia Basin, to snow, hail, wind and rain in much of Western Washington — greeted anglers on Saturday morning, opening day of the state’s lowland lake trout fishing season. But despite less than optimal conditions on many lakes, state biologists reported most anglers happy with their experience, and the size and availability of trout.
Following is a rundown on our area’s more popular opening-day lakes. The number of trout caught per angler is a total of fish brought to boat or bank and then either kept or released, thus some angler checks over the five-trout limit:
Snohomish County
Top dog, as predicted by area biologist Justin Spinelli at the WDFW’s Mill Creek office, was Martha Lake at Alderwood Manor. Anglers there averaged 8.7 trout per rod, with lots of limits reported by creel checkers. Largest rainbow seen was a 16-incher.
Following, in order, were Lake Armstrong, at an average of 8.6 trout per person; Lake Bosworth, also excellent at an 8.6 per-rod average, and three kokanee in the catch; Wagner Lake, at 6.8, with a high percentage of holdovers in the 13- to 14-inch range; Lake Stickney, at 5.4 and decent weather; Echo Lake, at 5.1, and limits for most, with an osprey keeping everyone entertained; largest rainbow 17 inches; Lake Howard, at 4.9, largest rainbow 16 inches; Lake Serene, at 3.9, was a little slow this year; Lake Sixteen, at 3.8 but with a lot of limits taken in 11/2 to 2 hours; Lake Ki, at 3.7 wasn’t up to par; weather got worse later in day; Storm Lake, at 3.5, largest 18 inches, raining, but some anglers reported coming over from Flowing Lake for better fishing; and Lake Riley, at 3.2, also in pouring rain.
Skagit County
Lake McMurrray was good, as it usually is, at 4.0 fish per rod average, lots of limits; Lake Erie, at 2.6, but anglers liked the larger trout there this year; and Heart Lake, at 3.3 but with a largest of 18 inches, was a little slow.
Island County
Goss Lake was outstanding at 8.8 fish per rod average, and Deer Lake, at 5.1, wasn’t far behind.
Whatcom County
Lake Padden, one of the most popular in the county, put out an average of 5.5 trout per person, including 5 cutthroat and 3 kokanee plus lots of triploids.
For more outdoor news, read Wayne Kruse’s blog at www.heraldnet.com/huntingandfishing.
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