WDFW planting trout for Father's Day fishing

OLYMPIA - Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) fish hatchery crews will be stocking 5,000 triploid rainbow trout in 14 lakes just before Father's Day weekend, June 16-17.

"We encourage families to get dad out fishing, especially if he hasn't been for awhile," said Chris Donley, WDFW Inland Fish Program manager. "Giving dad a fishing license as a gift and taking him out to catch one of these big fish is a great way to spend the weekend."

In addition to the 14 lakes that will be stocked with triploids, hundreds of other lakes have been stocked in Washington with millions of trout over the past year, said Donley.

The triploid trout, which average one-and-a-half pounds each, were purchased from contracted private fish growers and stocked by WDFW hatchery crews. Triploids can grow to trophy size, because they are sterile and spend their lives feeding, not reproducing.

The 5,000 trout are in addition to about 42,000 triploids stocked in 117 lakes across the state earlier this year.

Fishing licenses can be purchased online at https://fishhunt.dfw.wa.gov; by telephone at 1-866-246-9453; or at hundreds of license dealers across the state. For details on license vendor locations, visit WDFW's website at http://wdfw.wa.gov/licensing/vendors/.

Donley said the 14 lakes that will be stocked with these large trout have good shore and boat access. More details are available at http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/fathersday/.

The lakes by region and county, and the number of triploids that will be stocked, are:

North Puget Sound Region:

• King County: Green Lake, 870; Lake Geneva, 450; Bitter Lake, 100; Echo Lake, 100.
• Snohomish County: Blackmans Lake, 300; Gissburg Ponds (aka Twin Lakes), 350.
• Skagit County: Whistle Lake, 300.

Coastal/Olympic Peninsula Region:

• Kitsap County: Island Lake, 300.
• Grays Harbor County: Vance Creek (Elma) Ponds, 100.
• Pierce County: American Lake, 1,200.

Southcentral Region:

• Kittitas County: Cooper Lake, 265; Lavender Lake, 150; Easton Ponds, 150.

Eastern Region:

• Spokane County: Williams Lake, 365.

Fish stocking details, by county and lake, are available in the annual stocking plan on WDFW's website at http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/plants/statewide/.