Does Lake Stevens, near Everett, usually get trout planted?

[urbanangler]

Does Lake Stevens, near Everett, usually get trout planted? I have not seen it in past planting reports.
Thank you,
Urban

[Bodofish]

Haven't seen it mentioned in any of the publications. Try Silver.

[gpc]

I checked out the stocking report from 2009 and Stevens didnt get any catchables. I know kokanee are (or were) a huge draw to Lake Stevens. If they do plant kokes in there, they will only be fry. Fry dont show up on the the catchable plant weekly reports.

[fear_no_fish]

It normally has 1 or 2 plants per year of 8' bows

[Bodofish]

Dang!?!?!?!?!!!!! Eight foot bows! I'm all over that. What do they haul, three per truck???

I went through the plant schedule for 2009 and the begining of 2010 and didn't see Stevens mentioned at all. If it's stocked, it's done by the County, City or a homeowners Assn..

[natenez]

If I'm reading http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/plants/2009stocking.pdf right then in 2008 Stevens got:
6,800 Cutthroat Fry
64,150 Rainbow Fry

And in 2007 got 149,979 Kokanee Fry

But no catchable sized plants during 2009 (didn't look at earlier years)

Here is what it says about the fry planting effort.

Over 15.5 million fry and fingerlings were stocked as 2-to-5 inch long trout into 531
lakes and ponds, including 163 high lakes. Kokanee were stocked in 2007 for the 2009
fishery, while trout fry were stocked in 2008 for this year's catch. Fry and fingerlings are
stocked in the spring and fall, where they feed and grow on natural food until the
following spring when they are large enough to be harvested. The survival rate of fry
varies depending on conditions of the lake. A number of eastern Washington lakes are
managed in such a way that fry survival is very good and are the primary source of new
trout available for harvest. Western Washington lowland lakes depend primarily on
catchable size trout plants because of relatively low fry survival. Where fry can be
successfully stocked, the ones that survive supplement the catchable trout plants.


And one should keep in mind these public records are for the plants the state does. Private groups (clubs, HOA, etc...) also pay to stock public and private lakes - that information is not typically publicly posted.

[Bodofish]

The key there would be fry, not catchable. Where I don't really care about planters, thats what most people are after.

[fear_no_fish]

o whoops i ment 8" haha not feet
but i heard of a catchable plant last year a couple in 08 and a couple in o7

[urbanangler]

Thank you for all the great information. And I knew what you meant, fear_no_fish.

[Gene]

Does Lake Stevens, near Everett, usually get trout planted? I have not seen it in past planting reports.
Thank you,
Urban

Gear up for Kokanee, cought one in Feb. season for kokes is getting hot !!

[Matt]

I was down there a few weeks ago and Trout Lodge had a truck down there dumping three tanks of planters in the lake. Most fish were 14-18" catchables with the exception of several 3-8lb brood stock. We watched them get dumped in and they were very nice looking fish. Have since caught several of the smaller guys (14" or so) while trolling for kokanee, they put up a nice fight on light tackle. My buddy also pulled out one of the 7lb fish the other day, quite impressive.

I know that since these fish are raised in pens they do not quickly acclimate to the deep water of Stevens. It is likely they will suspend in the top 15 feet or so. Your best bet for catching them is either fishing from shore or trolling very close to shore with leadcore line or a 1/4 oz trolling sinker.


Good Luck.

MP

[urbanangler]

Great infomation, thank you very much! There certainly have been some recent glowing fishing reports on this wl.com for Stevens that got my attention.

[Matt]

You are quite welcome sir, get out there and give it a try that lake is really heating up. I will be out tomorrow bright and early 630am.