With the nice weather this weekend, I thought I might enjoy getting out on a year-round lake to soak up vitamin D and hopefully be reminded what it feels like to get a bite while fishing (try as I might, I just don't catch a ton of steelhead). I took a look at the stocking reports, to see if my favorite local lake had received its annual plant of jumbos from the Satsop Springs hatchery. I didn't see my lake in the stocking reports, so I figured they might not have been planted yet. Next, I decided to check the plan, to see when it is planned to go down.

I can't find the Satsop Springs hatchery anywhere in the reports or the plan. Does anyone know if the hatchery is still operating/if the trout program is still going?

I just noticed the "plan" on WDFW's site is last year's plan. Still didn't find Satsop Springs anywhere in the document, and I'm pretty sure the fish got planted last year, so it might just be a gap in the data. I've seen them included in these reports in the past....

Satsop Springs is still operating.....

I went for a drive around the "loop", recently.....decided I would drive to Satsop Springs. just for a "lookie lou".....no such luck, gate closed.

That's what I know.

WDFW isn't the best agency to inform the tax paying public exactly what changes they plan to do or have done in the immediate past....

I hate "day light saving time", throws my time clock off!!!!!

The state doesn't run that hatchery, it is a Chehalis Basin project, although the state supplies initial fry. Melanie and I volunteer to help move those fish, they should be in by end of March. Many other folk volunteer for these fish, If you know them thank them, those are great trout! Bob R

It's a nice set-up that grows some really pretty trout.

Agreed. I like what they do. I enjoy bringing a few of those high quality lunkers to hand each season with a bug rod. It's become a favorite rite of spring. Glad to know they're keepin' on.

They produce "nice" trout for the same reason that WDFW produces "nicer" fish than the commercial trout hatcheries. Satsop raises their fish in a low-density/high feed situation (or did). WDFW could do this, get the same type and size of fish, and plant significantly fewer. So, your OD catch would 1 or 2 instead of 5 or 6.