New Reg Proposal for a few popular trout lakes in Grant County

How about moving Coffeepot from September 30 to October 31st? It never made sense to close it so early, another month might give the rattlesnakes time to den up....We have had some bad rattlesnake days there while trying to fish the closer the last week of September.
 
I have zero issue with an extra month of fishing but....

Several years ago we lost a month of fishing on many seeps to "simplify the rules." This moved April 1st lakes to the traditional opener at the end of April.

Now we will have a small cluster of lakes with different opening and ending dates. We will have Dry Falls with different regulations then Park, Blue, and Deep Lake. Vic and Perch will be different as well.

Common sense says March 1st-Nov 30th for all these lakes in this cluster.
 
Billy said:
I have zero issue with an extra month of fishing but....

Several years ago we lost a month of fishing on many seeps to "simplify the rules." This moved April 1st lakes to the traditional opener at the end of April.

Now we will have a small cluster of lakes with different opening and ending dates. We will have Dry Falls with different regulations then Park, Blue, and Deep Lake. Vic and Perch will be different as well.

Common sense says March 1st-Nov 30th for all these lakes in this cluster.
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I agree with you, 100%. Unfortunately rule changes aren't necessarily only the purview of WDFW. Much of the seep lakes area you mentiond is managed by USFWS. Dealing with USFWS is, by far, a different exercise than the efforts @Shawn Seeger went through with the State beginning last winter with his petition to WDFW. He too wanted more lakes added to the rule change and the season extended until Nov 30th.

Thanks Shawn Seeger!!
 
Wayne Kohan said:
Wouldn’t common sense say year round? Not like you have to protect a spawning season or anything.
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One would think common sense would have year 'round seasons except that defeats the influx of the opening day crowds. If you've ever driven up SR17 past Blue and Park lakes you'll remember dozens of folks camped along the highway; sometimes several days before The Opener. They bring a lot of money spent in the local businesses*. The other thing that perhaps drives WDFW's policies is rampant poaching; if the lake is closed it's a lot easier to enforce rather than spot check anglers (although I often see bank anglers fishing prior to the 4th Saturday).


* One Friday, the day before the opener, my friend and I hiked our float tubes into Castle Lake** just south of Coulee City. It was a lot of work to get into and especially back out of that lake. We worked up a thirst so we stopped in Coulee City Food Center to buy a cold beverage. A coworker of mine, who was camped alongside SR-17, was buying a couple cases of beer to replenish those his camping group had consumed.... $$ welcome in that little town.

** Castle Lake was open year round and which, by the way, isn't there anymore - if you need an example of eutrofication, Castle fits the bill.
 
I thought thet the reason for Park lake Sept 30 closing to protect the Browns that spawn in October, maybe nomore browns there? I caught my biggest brown there some years back 8 lbs one evening.
 
Lue Taylor said:
I thought thet the reason for Park lake Sept 30 closing to protect the Browns that spawn in October, maybe nomore browns there? I caught my biggest brown there some years back 8 lbs one evening.
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That was one heck of a nice trout, Lue!

I don't think there's any spawning habitat for trout; there's a feeder stream but it doesn't look like it offers any gravel beds. Perch and smallmouth spawn and multiply in the lake. WDFW won't be planting fry in the lakes anymore because they just can't keep the perch and bass out of the lake so all plants now will be "catchables".
 
Lue Taylor said:
I thought thet the reason for Park lake Sept 30 closing to protect the Browns that spawn in October, maybe nomore browns there? I caught my biggest brown there some years back 8 lbs one evening.
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It was just the traditional opening and closing of lowland lakes. Enough browns are stocked to keep the population at fishable levels.
 
Tim L said:
They'll be closed for toxic algae 🤪
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WA Dept of Health recently sponsored a paper about how bodies of open water can pose a drowning risk and they recommend closing off access to all lakes and ponds greater than 2.5 feet deep. The good thing is that state agencies don’t talk to each other so DNR and WDFW won’t hear about it for at least 10 years, or 3 director’s changes, whichever comes first.
 
That's not a joke!!!! The key to getting Big Browns is to get a sign up on a lake that it's closed, place a blockade over the road just as well. Then just go get Big Browns yourself!!! Then just FISH
 
Any updates available on the proposed rule changes? I found the petition on WDFW’s website.
 
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