The Fishing Corner

By Larry Dublanko

Lake fishing has gotten off to a great start. Along with the normal plant of rainbow trout there have been a few surprises in the mix. Several steelhead were placed in some of the lakes adding to the excitement of the moment.

As the season continues more rainbow trout will be added to several lakes. This is measured according to the anticipated fishing pressure from now throughout the summer.

An anticipated kids derby at Duck Lake on May 11 will bring 2,500 new fish. Seven hundred more trout will be added for the Memorial Day weekend and then 100 fish for the Free Fishing Weekend.

Likewise, Lake Aberdeen will receive a 1,300 fish mid-May plant. Memorial Day Weekend will realize another 1,300 boost. 100 more fish will be planted for the June Free Fishing Weekend. Lake Sylvia gets 1,250 more trout for the Memorial Day Weekend and 1,500 fish for the Free Fishing Weekend. Five hundred more rainbows will be added in the fall. Failor Lake will get a sizable 1,300 fish enhancement and 100 fish for the Free Fishing event.

The two Elma Ponds tend to get fished out quite easily. So Vance Creek Pond No. 1 (Bowe’s Lake) will get 100 fish in mid-May and an enhancement of 1,225 fish for Memorial Day. The Free Fishing allotment will be 100 trout. Vance Creek Pond No. 2 (Lake Inez) also gets a mid-May plant of 100 fish. It too receives the 1,250 and 100 fish plant like its neighboring lake. Because these lakes tend to warm up during the summer months, no more fish are scheduled to be planted.

Pacific County lakes are scheduled for enhancement plants. Black Lake gets 3,100 fish in mid-May and 3,000 more are to be planted for the Memorial Day Weekend and 1,000 for the Free Fishing Event. Furthermore, another 2,000 fish will be planted in the fall. Loomis Lake gets 1,000 rainbow trout in mid-May. Both Snag Lake and Western Lake get identical plants. They include a mid-May plant of 500 fish and 1,500 for the Memorial Day Weekend. Both will receive a 200 fish plant in the month of October. Rounding out Pacific County, Case Pond will get 400 fish in mid-May and 400 fish for Memorial Day Weekend. The fall plant will amount to 1,000 fish in October/November.

So it appears that lake fishing in our area is in good shape. Anglers will be able to spread themselves out and fish will be added throughout the season.

If we were to compare numbers of trout planted this year compared with last year, the answer would be this year’s plants for Grays Harbor is slightly higher. The fish that were planted actually came from a variety of sources, however, the largest are supplied by the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

In the case of Pacific County, the plant numbers for 2019 are identical with the number of fish planted in 2018. With this information, we can conclude that this year’s lake season will mirror that of last year. No one was too disappointed with last year, so we should have a decent lake fishery.