April Stocking Report
While we have countless opportunities to chase wild trout here in the Pacific Northwest, a significant percentage of our local trout fisheries are supplemented by ODFW and WDFW's respective stocking programs every year.
When you think of stocked trout, your mind may immediately go to ugly, man-made urban ponds full of beat up, colorless trout bumping their way blindly toward whatever lump of dough bait has been tossed their way. And while those kinds of waterbodies and opportunities certainly do exist, they actually make up a very small portion of the available options. In fact, most of Washington and Oregon's stocked lakes and rivers are quite beautiful, and many hold wild fish in addition to their hatchery-raised companions.
ODFW and WDFW both stock low elevation lakes throughout the winter months, but it's in March and April that we really start to see the schedule begin to pick up. First, ODFW begins stocking lakes along the mid and north coast, followed shortly by lakes in Central Oregon and the Gorge. By the time April rolls around, most low elevation lakes on ODFW's route have been stocked at least once or twice — many with a combination of legal, trophy, and brood stock fish.
Throughout the spring and summer seasons, we'll be bringing you monthly updates on what to expect and where to fly fish for stocked trout within three hours of Portland.
WDFW provides exact stocking dates after the water body is stocked. Simply check the WDFW stocking schedule to confirm. ODFW does not provide exact stocking dates, but rather a range of days. We have provided our own dates next to each Oregon waterbody. On or after those dates, these locations will hold stocked trout and should be fishing well.
Oregon Stocking Schedule
| Water Body | Date | Legals | Trophy | Brood |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coastal / Coast Range | ||||
| Lost Lake (Nehalem watershed) | 4/3 | 5,700 | 0 | 0 |
| Vernonia Lake | 4/3 | 6,000 | 0 | 0 |
| Coffenbury Lake* | 4/3 | 3,750 | 0 | 0 |
| Cleawox Lake* | 4/1 | 5,496 | 442 | 0 |
| Olalla Creek Reservoir | 4/17 | 2,332 | 0 | 0 |
| Lake Lytle | 4/1 | 2,000 | 0 | 0 |
| South Lake | 4/17 | 1,800 | 0 | 0 |
| Nedonna Pond | 4/17 | 300 | 0 | 0 |
| Big Creek Reservoir 2 | 4/1 | 3,732 | 200 | 0 |
| Loren's Pond* | 4/17 | 1,500 | 0 | 0 |
| Hebo Lake* | 4/17 | 3,000 | 0 | 0 |
| Tahoe Lake | 4/17 | 500 | 0 | 0 |
| Cape Meares Lake | 4/17 | 3,000 | 0 | 0 |
| Town Lake | 4/17 | 1,750 | 0 | 0 |
| Devil's Lake | 4/24 | 8,000 | 0 | 0 |
| Willamette Valley | ||||
| St. Louis Ponds | 4/10 | 1,813 | 0 | 0 |
| Henry Hagg Lake | 4/1 | 0 | 2,000 | 0 |
| Benson Lake | 4/17 | — | — | — |
| Sheridan Pond | 4/3 | 1,398 | 0 | 0 |
| Salmonberry Lake | 4/24 | 2,000 | 0 | 0 |
| Fall Creek | 4/24 | 1,500 | 0 | 0 |
| Silver Creek Reservoir | 4/24 | 4,664 | 0 | 0 |
| Haldeman Pond | 4/24 | 3,000 | 0 | 0 |
| Cascade Lakes | ||||
| Rock Creek Reservoir | 4/1 | 9,000 | 600 | 150 |
| Lake Harriet | 4/1 | 2,666 | 55 | 0 |
| Clear Lake (McKenzie watershed) | Not Specified | 3,125 | 0 | 0 |
| Central Oregon | ||||
| Taylor Lake | 4/17 | 1,750 | 0 | 0 |
| Pine Hollow Reservoir | 4/1 | 7,500 | 0 | 150 |
| Kingsley Reservoir | 4/17 | 3,500 | 0 | 0 |
| Baker Pond | 4/3 | 700 | 0 | 0 |
| Middle Fork Pond | 4/24 | 650 | 0 | 0 |
*An asterisk next to the waterbody denotes good bank fishing opportunities for anglers without a float tube or watercraft.
**Italicized locations indicate multiple plants throughout the month.
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Southwestern Washington Stocking Schedule
WDFW does not publish exact stocking counts in advance. The lakes below are confirmed on WDFW's April stocking route for Southwestern Washington. Check the WDFW stocking schedule after stocking occurs to confirm plant dates and numbers.
| Water Body |
|---|
| Clark County |
| Battle Ground Lake |
| Klineline Pond* |
| Lacamas Lake |
| Cowlitz County |
| Lake Sacajawea |
| Horseshoe Lake |
| Kress Lake |
| Klickitat County |
| Horsethief Lake |
| Rowland Lake |
| Spearfish Lake |
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Fly Fishing Tactics for Stocked Trout
For Portland trout anglers, our local lakes represent some of our best year-round fishing options around. Even in the dead of winter, willing trout can be found at lower elevation lakes along the coast and throughout the Willamette Valley. And as spring approaches, our alpine lakes begin to ice off, and most are typically accessible by mid-May.
The tactics, flies, and gear you’ll want to use tend to change with the seasons. In fact, during bumper seasons like April, you may find trout behaving in entirely different ways depending on water temperatures and elevation.
Right now, overnight temperatures are still chilly, the days are still relatively short, and most lakes above 1,000 feet in elevation will still be quite cold. That means resident trout will be moving a bit more slowly, looking for easy meals that require low caloric expenditure. Rapidly and erratically stripping streamers past a trout’s face, for example, probably isn’t going to be the ticket as it might be in mid-June.
Instead, try the following techniques:
A slow trolled streamer on a full intermediate line. Warm, sunny days in early spring can make fish a bit nervous. The shadow of a floating line can send trout scurrying away from your flies. A full intermediate line helps circumvent that problem, but sinks slowly enough to allow for a very low-pace trolling motion. It’s also a critical tool on windy spring days, allowing you to get below the surface without the dreaded W affecting your presentation. A leech or crawdad pattern, two fairly slow-moving, high-protein meals, is a good bet.
Twist retrieve nymphs on a midge-tip line. In colder weather, you’ll often find trout feeding in shallow water over heavy weed beds. Weed beds provide natural heat and emerging bugs. A midge tip line — a full floating line with an integrated intermediate tip — will allow you to naturally suspend light baetis or chironomid nymphs a few feet over the weeds, right in the trout’s feeding zone. You’ll want to utilize a painfully slow twist retrieve to emulate the motion of natural prey.
Suspend nymphs under an indicator. If there’s a little bit of breeze and some chop on the water, you can achieve the same presentation by simply suspending nymphs under an indicator using a full floating line. This is my go-to method of choice when the fish are moving especially slowly, because it keeps my flies in the same general vicinity and allows cruising fish to discover them. If it’s a still day, you can add a little bit of intermittent action to your flies by throwing the occasional mend into your line. Be ready when you do, fish will often eat your flies on the drop. Remember to always use a slip indicator so that you can fight and land fish with a long leader.
Fish a single midge dry fly pattern on a long leader. Midges are a year-round staple on all of our local lakes, but are a particularly deadly way to target fish cruising in close to the bank. These tiny little dry flies can be tough to see, but they are worth the effort. Right now, you’ll want to fish them primarily in low elevation lakes. But as the weather heats up, these bugs will catch a ton of fish in alpine settings all summer long. A long tapered leader (12-15 feet) is a prerequisite for still water dry fly fishing — remember that with less movement on the water, fish will have more time to get a look at your whole set-up! The further your fly line is from your fly, the better.
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