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Expect waters to be teeming March 1 It looks like we've made it. Unless Mother Nature has one last nasty trick up her sleeve, trout anglers should be reeling in the first taste of spring on Friday when the Eastern Washington early lake season opens. However, some year-round waters in the Mid-Columbia - such as Quarry Pond, south of Burbank and Dalton Lake (Big Flat), east of Pasco - likely have already been stocked. Glen Mendel, a state Department of Fish and Wildlife district biologist in Dayton, said hatchery crews have been busy this week stocking lakes for the opener. Quarry Pond will be stocked with 12,000 catchable rainbow trout and Big Flat will get 5,000 trout. Bennington Lake in Walla Walla, also open year-round, has been stocked with 5,000 rainbows. Quarry Pond and Big Flat will receive a total of 18,300 trout for the spring season, while Bennington Lake will get 22,200. Mendel said there's also a good chance Fishhook Park Pond (at the Corps of Engineers' Fishhook Park off Highway 124), which traditionally opens on the last Saturday in April, could open Friday. "We're working out the details and hope to have a decision in a few days, but it's likely that it will open March 1," he said. The popular Tucannon Lakes, a series of seven man-made lakes northeast of Dayton, are free of ice and will be well-stocked by opening day. The Tucannon lakes trout, which average 8 to 10 inches, are reared at the Lyons Ferry and Tucannon hatcheries. For the opener, Blue Lake will be stocked with 2,000 trout; Beaver, 500; Watson, 3,000; Rainbow, 3,000; Spring, 3,000; Deer, 1,000; and Big Four, 2,000. Big Four still had some ice cover this week, but Mendel was optimistic it would be stocked by the opener. In addition to the catchable rainbows, several hundred "jumbo" hatchery trout will be tossed in, Mendel said. The jumbo trout, which average 1 to 2 pounds, will be stocked in early April in Quarry (300) and Bennington (600). Four of the Tucannon lakes also will receive jumbos, with Rainbow, Spring and Watson getting 100 each and Big Four about 300. Mendel said aquatic weeds will be a problem at Deer and Beaver lakes, and Spring Lake "just keeps getting weedier every year." Mendel continues to seek state funding to clean up Rainbow and Spring lakes, but the money has not been forthcoming. "But it's something that we have to take care of. Rainbow is not only getting weedier, but it's also getting more shallow from siltation," he said. Also, access to parts of Bennington Lake could be difficult this spring as the Corps plans to raise the lake's depth by 20 feet. That could put some trails people have used for years under water, but boaters likely will enjoy the extra elbow room for trolling. At Railroad Pond near Mesa, fish biologists say the lake - open year-round - will not be stocked with any trophy trout until mid-April when it's scheduled to receive about 400 of the 1- to 2-pound triploid (sterile) rainbows. However, Jim Cummins, a Fish and Wildlife regional biologist in Yakima, said the quality fishing lake received 5,000 fry last year. Those fish should be 11 to 12 inches this spring, and there should be some dandy carryovers from last year's trophy trout stocking. In the seep lake region of the Columbia Basin, the outlook for trout fishing is not as rosy as Southeastern Washington, but Fish and Wildlife Department fish biologist Jeff Korth said Quincy and Burke lakes in Grant County, near the town of Quincy, are among the best bets. "That is," he said, "if the weather cooperates." Burke and Quincy lakes were rehabilitated in the fall of 1999 and should be productive this season. Each lake received about 20,000 rainbow fingerlings last spring, which should be 12-inch yearlings when rod-toting anglers show up. Moreover, Quincy will receive 6,000 catchable rainbows, and Burke will get 7,000. Nearby Dusty Lake has not been stocked because of an overpopulation of speckled dace. Upper and Lower Hampton lakes on the Columbia National Wildlife Refuge likely will boot out some nice carryovers, but these lakes, too, have become infested with sunfish and bass, which are causing problems for trout. Korth also said the Pillar-Wigeon chain of 10 lakes below Potholes Reservoir should provide fair fishing for yearlings. Martha Lake, off Interstate 90 near George, suffered terrible rainbow survival last year because of sunfish. However, Martha's opening day will be salvaged with the stocking of 2,450 1- to 112 pound rainbows. Also the Caliche lakes southwest of George, which have been hit or miss the past few years, should be fair for large carryovers (17 to 20 inches). Upper Caliche also will be stocked 1,300 34 pounders this spring. Upper Caliche was stocked last spring with 10,000 fingerling rainbows. Korth also reminds longtime Columbia Basin anglers that Warden and South Warden lakes near Potholes Reservoir are now managed for the season that opens the last Saturday of April. Lake Lenore opens March 1 for catch-and-release fishing through May for trophy Lahontan cutthroat trout. However, with an increase in fingerling stocking - up from 40,000 to 70,000 in 1999, 2000 and 2001 - many of the trout this year should show up as 2- and 3-year-olds from 2 to 4 pounds. The real stars this March, however, will be Lenice and Nunnally lakes, south of Vantage. The last two seasons have been excellent, and yearling trout should be a plump 14 inches, with plenty of carryovers from 16 to 24 inches. Korth said the possibility is real for some "true monsters" to be caught at these quality fishing waters where anglers can keep only one fish using a single, barbless hook and no bait. |
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