by The Troutist, March 24, 2011

Interview with “Mr. Washington Lakes” himself, Mike Carey

Karen from Lacey said she would like to see something different. Karen this column is for you. Doing the amount of traveling I do to different western Washington trout lakes and the price of fuel constantly rising over these past several years, I have found that it is imperative for me to do research on each and every lake I travel to. More often than not I have never been to these lakes and know very little about them, which makes it even more important to do some research.

Some of you are asking yourself “What do I mean by research and how do I go about doing it?” I search the internet, look for magazine articles, read books from my personal stash and yes I even make an occasional trip to the local library. But the most useful tool that I use is a website called washingtonlakes.com. There have been times the information I get off of this site has made a huge difference in my success. So I thought I would share information not only on the founder but the website itself with this interview. I hope you enjoy it.

Washington resident of 24 years, Mike Carey is a registered nurse, family man, and has been married to his beautiful wife, JoAnn, for 22 years. Mike is the father of two sons, Matt, age 20 and James, age 17. He is an accomplished multi-species angler in his own right and one of Washington’s well known fishing personalities. Carey has been fishing since the age of 6, and his love of the sport grows more and more every day.



Mike Carey with a nice Lohanton Cutthroat Trout

Through his own experiences and the members of his website they have passed on more information and helpful tips from veteran and beginning anglers than any other source of media, whether it is newspapers, magazines, radio, and even television. I have known Mike for over 10 years and have had the pleasure of working different western Washington lakes with him. In fact he told me he was still shivering from one very cold outing at Silver Lake in Whatcom County that we shared several years back.

Uncle Wes-
Why did you start washingtonlakes.com (WLC)?

Mike Carey-I had just discovered computers and the internet and wanted to share my passion for fishing, creating a fishing website seemed like a fun thing to do. And it just grew as the years went by and more people found it.

UW-What types of changes have you made to WLC over the years?

MC-Lots! We update the site every couple of years. When Aaron Borg joined the business in 2007 the site just exploded in popularity with the new updates he initiated. The biggest change was that fishing reports became a searchable database which allowed us to offer lots of new and valuable features. Primarily the ability to actually
analyze all reports and find trends which people could then use to improve their angling successes.

UW-What features does WLC offer to members?

MC-First and foremost we serve as a way for anglers to post and share fishing reports. We have over 30,000 reports dating back to 1997, and over the past few years 5,000 new reports have been posted each year on lakes, rivers, and saltwater fishing. Other features include articles, in-depth featured lake reports, audio fishing reports, HD videos, GPS hotspots, hi-resolution maps, and historical data reports that allow our Premium Members to analyze the data from fishing reports to find the best lakes and times to go fishing. We also have an active forum with over 14,500 registered members where people can ask questions and share their fishing knowledge with each other. We are one of the largest such fishing communities in the Pacific Northwest and growing at 20% per year.

UW-Tell us about your feature writers?

MC-We have several outdoor writers that provide the site with articles on lake, river, and saltwater fishing specific to Washington. The nice thing about this is that it allows people that would not otherwise get published to share information and become known in the angling community.

UW-How did your video section get started?

MC-I just started doing videos as YouTube became more popular, and like other parts of the site this grew as well. We now have 95 videos, many of which are in HD. The internet and peoples fast connections have allowed this excellent way to show fishing locations and techniques. The videos are one of my favorite parts of the site. I really enjoy finding new topics and fisheries to cover.

UW-Any videos on Kitsap, Mason, or Thurston County lakes?

MC-Yes. Kitsap, Wooten, Black, and Long lakes. I would like to get down there this year and shoot more videos.

I would like to thank Mike for this interview and for those of you who want to know more go to his website at:

WashingtonLakes.com

So until next time may your next trout be your trophy mount.

By “Uncle Wes” Malmberg
The Troutist
Mason County Outdoors


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