(MEDIA NOTE: Hatchery personnel will plant adult coho in Puyallup's De Coursey
Pond at 1 p.m. Friday. WDFW personnel will be available at the site for interviews
about this unique fishing opportunity for children)
OLYMPIA -- The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife will plant 4-to-5-
pound adult coho salmon in De Coursey Pond in Puyallup plus three Pierce County
lakes in a novel experiment to provide freshwater salmon fishing opportunities to
children and adults.
De Coursey Pond will be planted with 500 coho on Friday. Wapato and
Waughop lakes each will receive 2,000 coho on Friday. Tule Lake will receive 1,000
coho on Oct. 8.
De Coursey Pond and Wapato Lake are open only to children age 14 and
younger. No fishing license or catch record card is needed and the limit is five coho.
Waughop and Tule lakes are open to all licensed anglers. The coho limit at both lakes
is five fish.
Bern Shanks, director of the Department of Fish and Wildlife, said additional fish
will be planted in the pond and lakes if the plantings draw anglers and the fishing is
good.
The fish are surplus to spawning needs at Puyallup's Voight Creek Hatchery.
The hatchery has surplus fish because of conservation measures taken in the
ocean and Puget Sound to protect wild salmon.
Here are the locations of the pond and lakes:
- De Coursey Pond: in Puyallup's De Coursey Park on 7th Ave. SW.,
approximately one mile from the Western Washington Fairgrounds. The
fishery is being sponsored by WDFW and the Puyallup City Parks and
Recreation Department.
- Wapato Lake: east of Interstate 5 on 72nd Street East in Tacoma.
- Waughop Lake: in Fort Steilacoom Park off Steilacoom Boulevard in
Steilacoom.
- Tule Lake: on Weyerhaeuser Co. property southwest of Harts Lake Loop
Road in southern Pierce County.