Trout fishing opens Saturday in advance of new statewide fishing rules taking effect

Lowland lakes, stocked with millions of trout, will open to anglers 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, according to a department news release.

The excitement of the opening will be tempered by changes to statewide fishing rules making many lakes open year-round. Those rules go into effect in July.

For example, Waitts Lake in Stevens County will become a year-round after it opens in April. That change has bothered resort owners who thrive on opening-day crowds. Jump Off Joe Lake will also remain open year-round.

Resort owners on Waitts Lake asked the WDFW commission to reconsider the change. WDFW has decided to wait and see what the new rules’ impact is. WDFW officials have said they will continue to restock lakes near or around the traditional opening day.

“Although many lakes are open year-round, the fourth Saturday in April marks the traditional start of the lowland lakes fishing season, when hundreds of thousands of anglers are expected to turn out to fish,” said Steve Thiesfeld, WDFW’s inland fish program manager in a news release.

Anglers will also be able to use the state’s new Fish Washington mobile app to locate nearby fishing holes. To download the app, go to wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/washington/mobile_app.html, the Google Play store or Apple’s App store.