Opening day for lowland lakes, Trout Derby set for April 26

Despite Major League Baseball’s insistence on playing meaningful games in March, April is still a month marked by opening days.

Turkey hunting seasons opened on Tuesday in Idaho and Washington. Spring bear hunting opened in Idaho this month, too, complete with a new bear identification course requirement.

On April 26, Washington anglers will celebrate their own opening day.

The traditional opening day for lowland lakes across the state falls on April 26 this year, and it marks the first day anglers can begin targeting trout at places like Badger, Bayley and Chopaka lakes, among others.

Traditionally on the fourth Saturday in April, the opener is a bit of a throwback to the days before there were year-round fishing opportunities. Now, several waterbodies around the state are open all year, and many others either opened on March 1 or were open from Nov. 30 to March 31.

But the state maintains the longstanding April opener for dozens of lakes. Chris Donley, WDFW’s eastern region fish program manager, said the lakes that open next weekend maintain their traditional opening day in part because of the way they are managed.

Trout are planted in many of those lakes as 3-inch fry each spring. By the next April, those fish will have grown to a catchable size.

“We really want anglers to take advantage of those fish when they get to catchable size,” Donley said.

About 1.6 million “put, grow and take” trout were planted in lakes across the state last year, according to a WDFW news release. The release also said more than 10.6 million fingerling and fry trout and kokanee were planted two years ago.

The agency also stocks much bigger fish. More than 14.5 million trout will be stocked statewide for 2025, according to the release. About 2.1 million are catchable size trout and about 150,000 are “jumbo trout” that measure over 14 inches.

This year, the opener also marks the 10th anniversary of Washington’s statewide Trout Derby.

The derby begins with the opener and runs through Oct. 31.

Anglers who want to participate will be hunting for trout with an orange tag near their fin. If they catch one, they need to keep the tag to claim a prize.

WDFW said there are close to 1,100 prizes from more than 100 participating businesses. Among the bounties available to anglers are gift cards, fishing tackle, Seattle Mariners tickets and more.

Tagged trout will be found only in certain lakes. A full list of derby lakes is available online at: wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/contests/trout-derby/lakes.