Thursday, April 10, 2014 - Mason County Journal - Page B:7
WDFW stocking trout, kokanee for opener
STAFF REPORT of lakes on both sides of the June. All opening day lakes
news@masoncounty.com Cascades. will be stocked prior to the
Those fish include 2.3 opener on April 26.
Washington's biggest million catchable trout, nearly To put this in perspective,
fishing day of the year -- the 115,000 jumbo trout weighing if the catchable trout being
lowland lakes trout opener up to 11 pounds apiece, and released were laid end to
-- is April 26, and state fish more than 50,000 triploid end, they would stretch from
hatchery crews are getting trout averaging 1½ pounds Westport to Spokane.
ready by releasing millions of each. Millions of carry-over "With this many fish
catchable fish in lakes across trout that were stocked last planted, families should enjoy
the state, year and have grown to a great fishing season all
For this year's fishing catchable size will also be across the state, so come on
season, the Washington available in lakes throughout out and fish, Washington."
Department of Fish and the state, said Chris Donley, WDFW
Wildlife (WDFW) plans to Crews began this year's inland fish program manager.
plant nearly 16.5 million trout stocking program in March Donley reminds anglers to
and kokanee in hundreds and will continue through make sure they have a current
Washington freshwater
fishing license, valid through
March 31, 2015. Licenses
can be purchased online
at fishhunt.dfw.wa.gov; by
telephone at 1-866-246-9453;
or from about 700 license
dealers across the state. For
license vendor locations, go to
the WDFW website at wdfw.
wa.gov/licensing/vendors.
Freshwater fishing licenses
cost $29.50 for resident adults
age 16 to 69. Fifteen-year-olds
fishing license for $7.50.
Children 14 years of age and
younger do not need a fishing
license.
The department's Fish
Washington website, available
from the department's
homepage wdfw.wa.gov,
provides the whens, wheres
and how-tos of fishing
throughout the state.
Fish stocking details, by
county and lake, are available
in the annual stocking plan
can buy a license for $8.05, on WDFW's website at
and seniors 70 and older can wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/plants/
buy an annual freshwater statewide.
Anglers get more time to catch chinook on lower Columbia
STAFF REPORT
news@masoncoun com
Columbia River anglers will get at
least six more days to catch hatchery-
reared spring chinook salmon below
Bonneville Dam under an agreement
between fishery managers from Wash-
ington and Oregon.
Through that decision, sport fishing
will remain open through April 14 in
the lower river.
The initial sport-fishing season was
scheduled to close April 7.
The six-day extension will give an-
glers another chance to catch hatchery-
reared spring chinook still available
for harvest, said Ron Roler, Columbia
River policy coordinator for the Wash-
ington Department of Fish and Wildlife
(WDFW).
"Fishing conditions on the Colum-
bia River have been pretty rough in
recent weeks," Roler said. "These ex-
tra fishing days will give anglers some
time to make up for the high, turbid
river conditions that have held the
sport catch well below the harvest
guideline."
Prior to the season, fishery manag-
ers projected the catch through April
7 at 12,000 chinook, including a maxi-
mum of 10,100 upriver fish.
"River conditions have been improv-
ing and we hope that trend continues
next week," Roler said.
The area open for spring chinook
fishing extends from Buoy 10 upriver
to Beacon Rock for boat and bank an-
glers, and to the fishing boundary be-
low Bonneville Dam for bank anglers
only. When the fishery is open, an-
glers can retain one marked, hatchery-
reared adult chinook salmon as part of
their daily limit.
Anglers fishing for spring chinook
may also retain shad and hatchery-
reared steelhead, although all wild
Your Local Tides
for the week of A ril 0 through April 17, 2014
ALLYN I Case inlet
10 3:48am 12.9
Thu 10:27arn 4.8
3:30pm 10.6
9:42pm 2.9
14 5:37am 13.7
Mon 12:18pm 1.0
6:34pm 13.1
11 4:19am 13.1 12 4:45am 13.3 13 5:lOam 13.5
Fri 10:56am 3.9 Sat 11:22am 3.0 Sun 11:49am 2.0
4:25pm 11.2 5:11pm 11.9 S:54prn 12.5
10:29pm 3.2 11:11prn 3.4 11.50pm 3.8
15 12:28am 4.3 16 1:08am 4.8 17 1:49am 5.4
Tue 6:0Sam 13.8 Wed 6:3Sam 13.8 Thu 7:09am 13.8
12:51pm 0.0 1:27pm -0.8 2:06pm -1.3
7:16pm 13.7 7:59pm 14.0 8:45pm 14.2
SHELTON I Oakland Bay
10 4:26am 12.9 1 1 4:57am 13.1 12 5:23am 13.3 1 3 12:17am 3.0
Thu 11:33am 4.1 Fri 12:02pm 3.3 Sat 12:28pm 2.5 Sun 5:48am 135
4:08pm 10.6 5:03pm 11.2 5:49pm 11.9 12:55pm 1.7
10:48pm 2.5 11:35pm 2.7 6:32pm 12.5
14 12:56am 3.3 15 1:34am 3.7 16 2:14am 4:2 17 2:55am 4.6
Mon 6:1Sam 13.7 Tue 6:43am 13.8 Wed 7:13am 13.8 Thu 7:47am 13.8
1:24pm 0.8 1:57pm 0.0 2:33pm .0.7 3:12pm -1.1
7:12pm 13.1 7:54pm 13.7 8:37pm 14.0 • 9:23pm 14.2
UNION I Hood Canal
10 2:42am 11.0 11 3:18am 11.2
Thu 8:43am 5.0 Fri 9:25am 4.0
2:33pm 8.8 3:28pm 9.4
8:30pm 3.0 9:18pm 3.2
14 4:48am 11.4 15 S:12am 11.3
Mon 11:15am 1.1 Tue 11:50am 0.4
5:48prn 11.2 6:32prn 11.6
11:30prn 4.2
12
Sat
16
Wed
3:51am 11.3 13 4:21am 11.4
lO:03am 3.0 Sun lO:40am 2.0
4:18pm 10.1 5:04pro 10.7
lO:04pm 3.4 10:48pm 3.8
12:12am 4.8 17 12:SSam 5.4
5:35am 11.1 Thu 6:00am 11.0
12:25pm -0.2 l:02pm -0.5
7:17pm 11.9 8:05pm 12.0
THE SUN and THE MOON
10 11 12 13 14
Sunrise 6:34am 6:32am 6:30am 6:28am 6:26am
Sunset 7:SSpm 7:56pm 7:57pm 7:59pm 8:00pm
Moonrise 3:28prn 2:41pm 3:39pm 4:39pm 6:40pro
Moonset 4:07am 6:45am 3:19am 5:49am 6:16am
FulI Moon April 15
thejournal
15 16 17
6:24am 6:22am 6:20am
8:02pro 8:03pm 8:04prn
6:43pm 7:46pm 8:51pm
6:43am 7:08am 7:35am
Tidal Information courtesy NOAA I Astronomical Data courtesy U.S. Naval Observatory
steelhead not marked as a hatchery
fish by a clipped adipose fin must be re-
leased unharmed.
Roler noted that anglers may get
another chance to catch hatchery
spring chinook later this spring, when
fishery managers update the run fore-
cast. Approximately 227,000 upriver
fish were projected to return to the Co-
lumbia River this year, but the fishery
has been managed with a 30 percent
"buffer" to guard against overharvest-
ing the run.
"If the fish return at or above expec-
tations, we will look at providing addi-
tional days of fishing on the river later
in spring," Roler said.
The fishing extension in the lower
Columbia River does not affect the
spring chinook season above Bonnev-
ille Dam, currently open through May
9 under regulations described on WD-
FW's website at wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/
regulations.
Photo courtesy of wdfw.com
Anglers will have more time to
catch chinook salmon, like this
35-pounder, on the lower Columbia
River.
GET YOUR
RECREATION PERMIT
Hunt, fish and explore private
land less than 30 minutes from
Olympia.
Secure your access to bicj game and bird
hunting and fishing on 24,000 acres of forest
land. Motorized permits are only $250.
