I have been looking for some jumbo trout plants to see if I can figure out how to catch a large trout in a small pond. Then presumably I can take that knowledge out to bigger water. I ran across Batstone Pond in Mason County that was planted with 5 - 3 pound fish. There were also 150 regular fish so I assume it was for a kid's fishing derby. I can't find the location of this pond on either the WDFW site or google. I've noticed that WDFW is a little secretive about the kid's derby locations but I assume the derby is over. I called the hatchery (no one answered) and WDFW (she couldn't find it either). Does anyone know where this pond is?
Batstone Pond Location - Mason County for jumbo trout
- Thread starter dmcauley
- Start date
Divad
Whitefish
It’s a private pond without any access. It’s also Shelton which isn’t a town I’d want to trespass in.
I removed the coordinates though
If hotspotting hatchery zombie plants at a private fishing club pond is wrong, I don’t wanna be right.
The kids derby thing seems to exist in a special zone. I’ve seen them list stocking places like stormwater ponds behind police stations. Can I suggest you look elsewhere for grown-up fishing?
The State will "sell" fish to private parties if feasible. A flyfishing club in Olympia has a fund to buy large fish which are then stocked into a local c&r lake.
Also, for another example, the Tri -State Steelheaders pay for WDFW to raise jumbos.
Bruce Baker
Life of the Party
I have to disagree with this. In all my years with WDFW, they never heard of them selling fish to private parties. What I have been told about this particular lake is that the club entered into an agreement with WDFW in which the club provides money to WDFW in order for WDFW to buy fish food so that the fish can be kept in the hatchery for a longer period of time so that they can be grown to a large size before being stocked. If this is what you meant by "sell," then my apologies.
I don’t fish kids ponds but I just assumed that jumbo trout would not be planted in stormwater ponds where they are guaranteed to die later in the summer when the pond dries up. Not knowing this pond at all, I was just asking.