Northwest Fishing Reports

Mike,
I would like to see a listing of all winter season waters that are open by county with dates and special regulations. It is a pain to sift through the F+G pamphlet to check for this information. You could tie this to the daily reports also. What do you guys think?

Okanogan Sagerat wrote:Mike,
I would like to see a listing of all winter season waters that are open by county with dates and special regulations. It is a pain to sift through the F+G pamphlet to check for this information. You could tie this to the daily reports also. What do you guys think?

I agree, I think it would be a pain to sift through the F&G pamphlet to organize and put this information on the web site, LOL.

Current time limitations prevent me from being able to fulfill this particular request. We would have to do a pretty significant amount of coding to make it all work the way you're suggesting. It's not a bad idea, just one that would take a LOT of work and every year it would have to be reviewed and updated. Gonna leave this one to WDFW, at least until we can hire some data entry assistants to help Aaron and myself.

Here's Skagit County (went thru the regs and also added info from the WDFW Fishing Prospects). Yeah, I think about fishing when I'm at work.

Lakes open all year (times listed are how long it takes to get there from work!)

Beaver Lake (42 minutes, 73 acres): This Beaver Lake (there are at least 15 in Washington) is 3-1/2 miles south of Sedro Wooley, just south of Clear Lake and a mile east of Highway SR-9. Year-round open fishing season. Largemouth bass, crappie, yellow perch, and cutthroat trout are caught. Good for warmwater species in summer. A WDFW access on the lake’s west side provides a boat launch and toilet. 

Big Lake (39 minutes, 545 acres): Five miles southeast of Mount Vernon, along the west side of Highway SR-9. Year-round open season. Fair for largemouth bass, with crappie and yellow perch also available. There is a 9-inch minimum size, 10-fish limit on crappie here. A few cutthroat trout are available as a result of natural production in the tributaries. WDFW access area with a boat launch and toilet. 

Campbell Lake (55 minutes, 410 acres): Four miles south of Anacortes, just west of Highway SR-20. Year-round open season. Largemouth bass, yellow perch, black crappie and bullhead catfish are caught. There is a 9-inch minimum size, 10-fish limit on crappie here. Triploid rainbow trout will also be stocked this year. WDFW access with a boat launch and toilet. 

Cavanaugh Lake (1 hour 14 minutes, 844 acres): Ten miles northeast of Arlington, about a mile north of the Snohomish County line. Year-round open season. Rainbow, cutthroat and eastern brook trout, kokanee, and largemouth bass are available. Chumming is permitted. WDFW access on the southwest shore with a boat launch and toilet. 

Clear Lake (40 minutes, 223 acres): This Clear Lake (one of at least 17 or 18 in the state) is three miles south of Sedro Woolley. Open season is year-round. Rainbow and cutthroat trout, largemouth bass, yellow perch, and bullhead catfish are available. A bonus plant of larger triploid rainbows is also scheduled for this year. The WDFW access has a boat launch and toilet. 

Pass Lake (57 minutes, 98 acres): Six miles south of Anacortes, along the northwest side of Highway SR-20. Year-round open season. This trophy fly-fishing only, catch-and-release-only lake has a WDFW access and boat launch, but use of motors is prohibited. Species available include rainbow, brown and cutthroat trout. A bonus plant of large triploid rainbows is also scheduled for this year. Pass is usually excellent in early spring and late fall for fish averaging 15 inches, with some up to 28 inches. 

Whistle Lake (1 hour 3 minutes, 29 acres): There is a walk-in public access to this lake three miles south of Anacortes. Year-round open season. Fishing should be fair for largemouth bass, yellow perch and cutthroat trout.

Okanogan Sagerat wrote:Mike,
I would like to see a listing of all winter season waters that are open by county with dates and special regulations. It is a pain to sift through the F+G pamphlet to check for this information. You could tie this to the daily reports also. What do you guys think?

I don't see how it could be any simpler than it already is with the printed WDFW regs:

1) open the regs book and look up your lake
2) if the lake is not listed, then go fishing because the lake is open all year

www.wdfw.wa.gov just check the website there. Any and all rules, changes, etc are all there.

I have a PDF copy of the regs too.

http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/regs/2009/2009sportregs.pdf

I use the search feature and find whatever lake or species Im interested in, in seconds.

RaMcVey wrote:I have a PDF copy of the regs too.

http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/regs/2009/2009sportregs.pdf

I use the search feature and find whatever lake or species Im interested in, in seconds.

The search function is a very cool tool on documents such as this one. Some folks aren't hip to this particular feature, I'd be lost at work without it. Also, the emergency rules and regs site has a search/elimination feature that let's you zero in on the body of water you are planning to fish.

FYI - Our State's fishing and hunting regs can change at a moments notice so I wouldn't rely on any info that I didn't get or wasn't able to verify from the WDFW site.

I didn't know you could search the WDFW pdf regs, that is cool.

are you guys talking about using the search function in your pdf viewer? (adobe acrobat viewer, Foxit reader) ect?

For lakes listed by county, along with brief but informative descriptions, I found the 2009 Washington Fishing Prospects PDF more useful (http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/prospects/2009f ... spects.pdf). You still have to double-check the regs for each lake, but this gives you a quick reference for lakes in a particular area.