WDFW News Release: CORRECTION: New limits on bass, walleye, and channel catfish

[Pacific NW Ron]

WDFW NEWS RELEASE
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
600 Capitol Way North, Olympia, WA 98501-1091
http://wdfw.wa.gov/

February 18, 2020
Contact: Steve Caromile, 360-902-8315
Public Affairs contact: Ben Anderson, 360-902-0045

New limits on bass, walleye, and channel catfish now in effect for select lakes, rivers throughout Washington
Corrects information about allowable size limits for largemouth bass.

OLYMPIA – As of Monday, Feb. 17, anglers on 77 lakes, as well as rivers, streams, and beaver ponds across Washington are allowed to keep more bass, walleye, and channel catfish as part of their daily limit under new permanent rules approved by the Fish and Wildlife Commission late last year.

The rules, approved at the Commission's December meeting in Bellingham, were the result of legislation passed in 2019 by the Washington State Legislature, and intended to help aid the endangered Southern Resident Killer Whale population by reducing the risk of predation on salmon smolts by these warmwater species.

"These measures were implemented in part to help meet the recommendations of the governor's Southern Resident Orca Task Force, and we presented commissioners with a range of options to choose from," said Steve Caromile, inland fish program manager with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW). "We believe we landed on a set of rules that address those recommendations, while still allowing for robust fishing opportunities for these popular species."

The following changes to size and daily limits went into effect Monday in 77 lakes around the state:
•Largemouth bass: Change from 5 to a 10-fish daily limit; anglers must release fish between 12 and 17 inches, and only one fish may be over 17 inches.
•Smallmouth bass: Change from 10 to a 15-fish daily limit; only one fish may be over 14 inches.
•Channel catfish: Change from 5 to a 10-fish daily limit. No minimum size.
•Walleye: Change from 8 to a 16-fish daily limit; only one fish may be over 22 inches.

Additionally, all size restrictions and daily limits for these species are lifted in rivers, streams, and beaver ponds statewide. You can find a list of all affected lakes online at

Several other freshwater rule changes also went into effect Monday, including:
•Restoring a year-round fishing season on the portion of the Colville River that extends from the mouth upstream to the bridge at the town of Valley.
•Implementing a permanent fishing closure in the upper Green (Duwamish) River in the Tacoma Municipal Watershed from the Tacoma Municipal Watershed Boundary Marker (approximately 1.3 miles downstream of the Tacoma Headworks Dam) to the Friday Creek confluence.
•Removing eastern brook trout from the trout daily limit in Patterson Lake (Okanogan County), removing the daily limit of lake trout in Lake Chelan, and removing trout and cutthroat special size restrictions on Black Lake (Thurston County).
•As is the case with trout, kokanee caught with bait will count toward the daily limit whether kept or released.

For more information on all of these rules, view the rule filings at WDFW's rule-making webpage at https://wdfw.wa.gov/about/regulations/2020#19-13-052.

[Mike Cork]

It is truly amazing to me that Washington is so in tune with the fishery that they can prove that by increasing the harvest of bass it can help improve the killer whales in the ocean...

I get the logic and I can see it working. Just crazy that they did enough studying to prove it. We can't get our guys out from behind the desks...

[Lipripper]

Good read Ron. The state of Washington is very proactive when it comes to wildlife and trying to preserve it. Makes it a little hard to fish with all them rule changes all the time though. 

[Pacific NW Ron]

It is truly amazing to me that Washington is so in tune with the fishery that they can prove that by increasing the harvest of bass it can help improve the killer whales in the ocean...

I get the logic and I can see it working. Just crazy that they did enough studying to prove it. We can't get our guys out from behind the desks...

Yeah, it is crazy how much time and money they spend on studies  At times it's frustrating to the sport fisherman but overall they do an amazing job. 
What is puzzling though is with all this studying and regulation changes the numbers of some species keep going down.  Why aren't the numbers increasing or at least being maintained?

[Pacific NW Ron]

Good read Ron. The state of Washington is very proactive when it comes to wildlife and trying to preserve it. Makes it a little hard to fish with all them rule changes all the time though. 

Depending on your target species it can be very frustrating.  I was just talking to a guy on the dock at the ramp yesterday.  He was complaining about all the changes.  Take yesterday alone I received 9 rule changes between wildlife and fishing. 

[Mike Cork]

Yeah, it is crazy how much time and money they spend on studies  At times it's frustrating to the sport fisherman but overall they do an amazing job. 
What is puzzling though is with all this studying and regulation changes the numbers of some species keep going down.  Why aren't the numbers increasing or at least being maintained?

Sometimes man just needs to let Mother Nature handle things. Some species go through cycles. Non natives are where the true damage comes in though.