Northwest Fishing Reports

Following the schedule published on the WDFW website I began watching Lake Ballinger daily to see if the 3000+ stockers had been delivered....you know 3000 fish all jumping and darting withing 20 ft of the release site... I've seen nothing. Now the WDFW releases a stocking report that shows a delivery date of March 24th. I don't think it happened. Anybody notice this on Ballinger? Or any other lakes??

No idea.

Something similar happened at Spanaway down here in Pierce county. The day the truck came.....zero fish were caught. It took me nearly two weeks to find them and had barely a week of fun before they disappeared again. Same story with Kapowsin, Harts, and Bradley lakes.
The trout fishery has been pretty close to dead down here for nearly 2+ months. The few fish that are being caught have been reported to be stuffed full of bloodworms, which methinks(a wild guess at best), is probably the cause. Trout that'r keyed in on a food source are extremely difficult to entice. I'm also thinking the cool,unpredictable weather patterns are aggrivating the situation considerably.
My current plan of attack(I'm shorebound for the time being) has been to fish early in the morning during calming trends in the weather.(the forecast for this Sunday is a good example). This has produced a number of strikes for me, though no hook-ups as of yet.
I'm hoping this lenghty lull in the action is a "good" omen......that the bite will appear suddenly out of no-where's, in astounding force, and last until mid winter.

Same at Beaver. Stocked supposedly 5/k + 25th. No action last few days, Commorants though are busy.

Last year about a week after an alleged planting of several thousand fish in lake Cassidy, I went there and trolled the lake for a few hours. Not only did I not catch a single fish, my finder only marked fish in the middle of the lake, and they were deep which is obviously an indication that the fish on the finder were not plants - as we all know plants remain in the top few feet of water for about 3 or so weeks before acclimating to their new digs. So, I am somewhat skeptical of the exact dates they plant these lakes. I also believe there is nothing embarrassing about catching or fishing for planted fish. They are fun to catch none the less, and they smoke and fry up nicely. I hope to give Cassidy a try here in the next few days. The launch there is primitive and shallow so those of us with trailered boats find the launching process there a “dry launch” so to speak, which is not the greatest. Anyway, I will post a report if I go.

So here is the second thing... No reports. If one looks over this sites reports over the last few years there are reports following the stocking.

On catching stocker':
I don't 'chase' the truck. Living in the city, the stockers allow me to "scratch my itch" without committing more than a few minutes travel time. And more importantly.... KIDS. Taking the young ones out for the stockers is a national tradition.

I'm all for catching stocked trout. Like you said Chris, it definitely scratches the itch. Well said! I sometimes wish they would stock the lakes after they close in October. It would allow the fish to acclimate throughout the winter so they weren’t such easy game in the top few feet of water like they usually are the first month of the opening season. I think it might also allow for a few more carry overs each year lowering the number of caught plants just a little.

I agree with your late season stocking idea. I think that would lead to a higher quality fishing experience and a healthier population of trout.

The plants are definitely happening. I have called wdfw to find out when and where on a couple occasions (kapowsin for one). I wonder if the bizzare weather we've had lately could play a role. I got between 3-4 inches of snow last night in Enumclaw. Seems like the 6th or 7th time we've had measurable snow fall this year and typically we only get it once or twice, if at all.