For those of you who are interested. I spoke with the Seattle Public Utilities and they said that they will be bringing Chester Morse reservoir up to normal capacity and this should cause Rattlesnake Lake to go up as well. Rattlesnake is fed by seepage from Chester Morse. Because of this the water levels will vary greatly and the fish population of the lake is not self sustaining. WDFW will plant the lake later this month when water levels come up. They plan a generous supply of Triploids and the regular plant of trout. The lake is open as of April 28th but still low. I plan to head there this coming week after work. Also, for those fly fishing the lake, the evening bite is best usually and I was told that you can park outside the main gate and walk in to the lake to fish after normal park hours.

Thanks for the update.

Thank you for the information. It sounds far better than the scene painted by the news media earlier this year. I did not look forward to struggling through hip-deep mud with my little float boat.
Did they give you any idea of when the lake would be up enough to fish? I am looking forward to hooking and releasing some triploids.

The lake is able to be fished now but there is a hike to get to it. It is rising fairly quickly and I would expect that maybe mid May would be up to near normal levels. There should be some good holdovers in this lake from last year and I am sure they are hungry! I will be trying to head out there today or tomorrow to see what's up. I will bring my flyrod too just in case

Great information and thank you. With bad knees I am not too anxious to stomp through mud. But I will see you there in mid-May.

I recently received the following rely to my inquiry to WDFW anent Rattlesnake Lake:



Thank you for your e-mail correspondence to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
(WDFW) Fish Program.



We are holding the fish until mid-May. If water levels permit we will plant Rattlesnake then.
Otherwise, yes, we will distribute them into other King County lakes. If you have further
questions, please call our Customer Service Reception at (360) 902-2700, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00
p.m., Monday through Friday.



Sincerely,



Mark Downen
Area Inland Fish Biologist
Region 4





I do not live near Rattlesnake, but I would like to be kept aware of the lake's level. To tell the truth, I hope they do divvy out the fish intended for Rattlesnake to other lakes in this area.

I can understand your desire to see the fish dispersed throughout the rest of the lakes in the area but the information that I have is that this lake does not support a self sustaining population so that if the water does come up fishing there will be very poor. Since there are few lakes in the area that are selective gears like Rattlesnake it would not be fair to people who fly fish. I am trying to get them to create this lake into a C&R lake like Lone so that we can have a year round fishery here. Then after a while we would not need all the plants.

Dee, have I met you out at the lake before?

If you have seen a green Kingfisher inflatable pontoon rig, about 5-feet long, but no oars, that's me.
Is there someway we can mount a campaign to aim those fish at Rattlesnake instead of being distributed to other lakes? I am busy at the moment with a lot of stuff for the Wild Steelhead Coalition, the Northshore Chapter of TU ands its fund raising banquet scheduled for November.
So I can't take on much more. And my wife would kill me if I did. But I can send some letters if you can find out which individual in WDFW should receive it or them.
A WDFW biologist several years ago told me there was not enough food in the lake to sustain much of a carryover population in Rattlesnake. I have always envisioned Rattlesnake as ideal close-in catch and release lake.
The number of people fishing Rattlesnake has increased steadily in recent years, confirming my hopes.

Yeah, I think I have seen you out there. You might have seen me in a float tube. I have since graduated to a 8 foot pontoon with oars that I am trying to rig with a trolling motor.
I'll try and find out where we can send letters. I was told by WDFW that sending letters to the legislative branch also helps. Perhaps TU may have some pull? Basically I was told that if a large enough group of people can come together, they will respond better. This was why the bass fisheries received so much attention a few years ago.

Was looking at the paper today and the fishing report specifically mentioned that Rattlesnake Lake water is coming up and the WDFW will be planting in the next 2 weeks. It seems that when we keep questioning Mark at WDFW he listens and mentions the lake. Lets keep up the pressure for all our fisheries!

I just read a report from Creekside Angling in issaquah, and they said that Rattlesnake finally got it's fish and is fishing well.

So what's the deal? Did they indead get stocked? When? How many? WDFW website still does not show any stocking for Rattlesnake lake...