To say that trout fishing is a big deal in Washington is like saying Bill Gates and Paul Allen are financially secure! If you don't believe it, try sleeping in until 7 o'clock on the last Saturday morning in April, drive to the public access area on any of the 250 or so lowland lakes that open to trout fishing that day, and see if you can find a parking spot.

While salmon and steelhead get most of the fishing publicity here, the Evergreen State doesn't take a back seat to any other trout-fishing destination when it comes to variety and year-round opportunity.

That variety will be even better during the 2005 trout season than they were last year, thanks to such things as the expansion of fishing opportunities for kids, continuation of the popular triploid trout program, the addition of tiger trout to the fishing menu of several lakes and the impressive number of trophy -- even record-class -- trout of several species coming from Washington waters over the past few years. And don't forget that about 25 million trout and kokanee from state hatcheries have been stocked for this year's fishing!

Here's a closer, region-by-region, look at where these and other factors point to a banner year for Evergreen State trout anglers this spring and on through the 2005 season.

PUGET SOUND REGION
This part of the state, where the largest number of people live and work, boasts an impressive number of productive trout lakes, and a handful of the very best can't- miss bets when the general season opener rolls around at the end of April.

Dave Graybill shows off a typical Omak Lake Lahontan cutthroat trout. This fish is in the 3-pound range. (Photo by Eileen Graybill)

One of those is virtually unknown outside a circle of a few thousand Whatcom County residents. Silver Lake, just south of the British Columbia border near Maple Falls, is an early season trout factory well off the beaten path. Five-fish limits of 10- to 11-inch rainbows will be the rule there this year.

To the south, in trout-rich Skagit County, Lake Erie, southwest of Anacortes, might be the cream of the crop. Bank-fishing possibilities are nearly nonexistent, so bring your boat and troll the middle of the lake for best results. But do it early in the season, because Erie is shallow, warms fast, and turns from a trout lake to a bass lake by early June.

Picking the best trout lake in the Seattle-King County area is tough, but for 2005 the nod must go to Pine Lake atop the Issaquah Plateau east of Lake Sammamish. It should get bonus plants of big triploid rainbows this spring to sweeten the pot, making life easy for boat anglers and those who fish from the public dock at the city park on the lake's south side.

The best news for young anglers in the Puget Sound region is that North Gissberg Pond is open only to juveniles, age 14 and under. As part of its effort to provide more and better fishing opportunities for youngsters, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife made North Gissberg a kids-only fishery last May, and stocks it heavily with rainbows from its hatcheries and from the private TroutLodge hatchery in Sumner. Special kids fishing events are also on tap for the pond this season. North and South Gissberg ponds are along the west side of Interstate 5 just south of the Smokey Point exit.