CASH IN ON BLACK FRIDAY FISHERIES

More Western Washington lakes, trout planted for late fall, but Eastside ops too.

By Mark Yuasa

Here’s a post-Thanksgiving activity where you can leave the credit cards in your wallet, but still cash in on an enticing fishing outing.

During the past several years, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has been boosting late fall and early winter fishing with a successful program dubbed “Black Friday,” where anglers can head to a lake instead of the mall.

“One of the best things about our Black Friday event is we plant some lakes with trout that are larger (1¼ pounds apiece) and to get people away from the craziness of the holiday shopping spree,” says Steve Caromile, a WDFW fish program manager.

“The annual event went pretty well last year, and I heard it was one of the worst (in-person Black Friday) shopping seasons due to the pandemic,” Caromile says. “We know people wanted to avoid crowds. We’ve also heard since Covid began that fishing and outdoor activities have been a game-changer.”

A total of 27 lakes will be planted for Black Friday with a total of 48,188 “jumbo-sized” trout (averaging 1 to 1½ pounds apiece), an increase from 20 lakes with 27,157 in 2020. Twentythree of those lakes are in Western and Southwest Washington.

Add to that another four Eastern

Not all fall stockers are the size of this one Jim Rodin of Components Northwest caught on a Southwest Washington lake last November, but plenty of jumbos are being released to boost angling opportunities on select waters across the state this time of year. (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

Washington lakes receiving fry plants of around 126,300 (117,000 in 2020), as well as 2,600 fall jumbos, and you’ve got plenty of trout waiting to swipe at your bait and not your credit card.

Overall, 216,698 harvestable trout will be stocked this autumn into waters around the state for anglers to enjoy throughout the season.

“We’ve got some pretty solid numbers of trout to plant, averaging about 1¼ pounds,” says Justin Spinelli, a WDFW Puget Sound regional biologist. “If we don’t get any freezing weather, then we should be good to go and our region’s Black Friday event is very popular.”

IN NORTH SOUND, the biggest draw is a plant of 21,500 jumbo-sized trout delivered to seven lakes just before the Thanksgiving holiday. The releases break down like this: Island County: Cranberry: 4,000; King County: Green: 5,300; and Beaver: 2,500; and Snohomish County: Silver: 3,000; Tye: 2,000; Gissburg South Pond: 2,000; and Ballinger: 3,000.

Speaking of Snohomish County, some changes are happening at Goodwin, a year-round lake located 7 miles northwest of Marysville, which usually has had a decent midwinter trout plant.

“The winter trout plants will be smaller at Goodwin,” Spinelli says. “We’ve found it performs better when stocked with more ‘put and grow’ trout. We’ll split those winter catchable-size trout plants between Goodwin with 3,000 and Roesiger with 2,000 (to occur sometime in December/January timeframe).”

Spinelli says Goodwin will receive fall fingerling stocking for a few years to see if it improves the fishery, and boost Roesiger (located about 8 miles north of Monroe) with a catchablesize trout plant in the spring.

“Our agency plans to make Goodwin a better fishery where everyone can enjoy and get excited about it in the future,” Spinelli says. “We’ve been looking hard at our fall trout plants, and trying to figure out if we need them to happen in the spring versus fall. There is no doubt we value both timeframes as far as plants go. Our hatchery facilities are just much better at producing spring fish.”

Elsewhere in Pugetropolis and beyond, lakes receiving plants as part of Black Friday include: Grays Harbor County: Sylvia: 500; Jefferson County: Leland: 500; Mason County: Kokanee: 2,400; and Spencer: 700; Pierce County: American: 4,500; Tanwax: 1,000; and Bradley: 400; and Thurston County: Long: 1,000; and Offutt: 1,000.

Southwest Washington lakes receiving plants include: Clark County: Battleground: 2,000; and Klineline:

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2,000; Cowlitz County: Kress: 2,000; Klickitat County: Rowland: 2,000; Lewis County: Fort Borst Pond: 2,000; and South Lewis County Park Pond: 2,000; and Skamania County: Rowland: 1,088.

And in Eastern Washington, the quartet receiving fry last year for this fall included: Adams and Lincoln Counties: Fourth of July: 80,000; Spokane County: Hog Canyon: 20,000; and Stevens County: Hatch: 12,800; and Williams: 13,500. Hog also got a plant of 900 trout averaging 1 pound apiece in mid-October.

Another Eastside lake planted with 2,000 trout averaging 1 pound apiece is Elton Pond in Yakima County, which is open from November 28 through March 31. In Chelan County, Roses Lake is expecting a plant of 18,000 trout around November 15.

KEEP YOUR GEAR and tackle as simple as possible when it comes to chasing hatchery-raised rainbow trout.

A lightweight fishing rod of 6 to 7 feet, and a medium-size spinning reel spooled with more than 100 yards of 6- to 8-pound-test fishing line does the job. You can find plenty of decent rod and spinning reel combos for $35 to $70.

Attach one or two No. 9 sliding egg sinkers with a small barrel swivel and rubber bumpers to the main line. Leader length is a key to success, and don’t buy the “shorty” pretied 12inch leaders. Instead, go with a 3- to 6-pound-test leader measuring 18 to 30 inches long with a size 8 or 10 egg hook. If you’re willing to shell out the extra dollars ($4.50 to $5), then give the pretied Gamakatsu single trout egg hook leaders a try.

The most popular bait of choice is soft moldable dough bait like Berkley Power Baits that come in all kinds of colors and varieties, including paste form, nuggets, egg, maggot and worm shapes.

Many like to stick with old-school baits like nightcrawlers, maggots, salmon eggs or scented marshmallows.

Others prefer to cast fly patterns like a black or black-olive colored Woolly Bugger in a size 8 or 10 attached to a 5- or 6-foot leader. Trolling an unweighted fly close to the surface is very effective.

Boat anglers like to troll a Mack’s Lure Wedding Ring or gang flasher with a worm, maggot or salmon egg laced to a tiny piece of scented dough bait or a small-sized Dick Nite, Triple Teaser or Luhr Jensen spoon.

Shore-bound anglers should cast out a bobber with their presentation set just below the surface in 5 to 8 feet of water. Others prefer to send their bait down deeper, so it hangs just off the bottom, in search of a larger carryover trout from springtime plants.

Keep in mind that recently stocked trout often hover near the surface, and frequently hang out right around where the hatchery truck dumped them into the lake. They usually hang out just under the surface until becoming more accustomed to their new surroundings, and then they’ll spread out into deeper sections of the lake.

A fishing license is required – youth under age 15 fish for free – and a Discover Pass is needed to access many lakes operated by WDFW, Washington State Parks and the Department of Natural Resources.

A good freshwater fishing resource is the WDFW’s “Fish Washington” page at wdfw.wa.gov/ fishing/washington/. You can find updated trout stocking reports at wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/plants/ weekly/.NS

Eastern Washington’s fall trout fisheries are often powered by fry releases. Here, state biologist Bruce Heiner samples the wares at Hog Canyon Lake southwest of Spokane. (WDFW)

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