How many of us on here got started fishing for stocker trout? I pretty much did. Now I spend an embarassing amount of money and time each year chasing fish. Just last year, I introduced my then-girlfriend to fishing on opening day. She had a blast, and became positively addicted. She fishes almost as much as I do now. For some fisherman, those stocked triploids are the only real chance they get at a salmonid of any decent size. Moreover, I'm sure the trout stocking program is profitable. Even if it weren't, I'm not sure it should be reduced. The WDFW should be trying to maximize angling opportunities for everybody, not just those with boats or those that chase steelhead and salmon. I don't have numbers to back it up, but I'm guessing that many more people fish for stocker trout than anything else. I'm trying to be objective here -- I fish for the stockers for about the first two weeks after opening day, and that's it. If it went away entirely, or were substantially reduced, it wouldn't affect me much. But it would be a great diservice to Washingtonians in general.
East of the Cascades, WDFW seems to be planting more fingerlings and letting them grow in the lake. This is certainly cheaper, and provides for great fishing in some lakes (West Medical Lake had great fishing last weekend, and I believe most of the fish were planted as fingerlings). I'm not a biologist, so I have no idea if this would be viable on the West side. Would it?
I would be pissed if the trout stocking program were reduced to improve, of all things, boat launches. I don't have a boat. I don't benefit at all from improved boat launches. Let the jackholes that drown me in my float tube with their wakes pay for improved boat launches.