Lowland Lakes?

[gpc]

What is the definition of Lowland lakes. The traditional lowland lake opener (the big opener) is always the last staurday in April (new news to anyone? lol). But what does it mean?

[Derrick-k]

I think below 3500 ft of elevation, but I'm not sure.

[Anonymous]

GPC

Good question!

I couldn't find anything on describing "lowland" lakes, so I took a reverse psycology approach... from the WDFW "Trout Fishing in Washington's High Lakes" webpage [url=http://wdfw.wa.gov/outreach/fishing/highlake.htm]

Western Washington has about 1,600 lakes that are considered "high" lakes, above 2,500 feet elevation. East of the Cascades, nearly 950 lakes lie above 3,500 feet, which qualifies them as high lakes.

Regulations allow fishing year-around in nearly all high lakes. (Note: As a general rule, lakes are considered "high" when over 2,500 feet in Western Washington or 3,500 feet in Eastern Washington.)

[Shad_Eating_Grin]

I wouldn't waste too many brain cells trying to find a definition of "lowland lakes" to determine whether or not they are open on the last Saturday of April.

Basically, lakes are open for fishing 24/7/365 unless the special rules state differently (e.g., last Saturday in April) for an opening/closing date. If a lake is not specifically listed in the special rules, it is open 24/7/365.

Kinda makes the definition of a "lowland lake" irrelevant or a moot point.

[gpc]

Thanks for the replies guys. This is a really gray area. Lake Geneva and Lake Killanary, right accross the street from one another lowland lake opener and year round lake. Not 15 miles away Shady Lake June 1st opener. Quincy area lakes March 1st opener and year round, CNWR lakes (about 20 miles away from quincy) April 1st opnerers, year round lakes and lowland lake openers, (I also heard they moved corral lake to a march 1st opener). I dont think they even know lol. Just make sure to carry your regs. on you.

[Fish On!]

Much of the verbage is a carry over from the old days when the lowland lake opener was the BIG deal in our state. Now that so many are open year a-round and special seasons you better keep a reg. book handy. I like all the different openings, but miss the traditional opener. I know we still have a opener, but nothing like it used to be. It's so over regulated now that it's getting out of control. I feel sorry for anyone starting out fishing these days. I try to keep up on what's happening out there, but will often spend hours researching a new area or lake figuring out what I can and can't do. It should not be that way IMHO....rant mode off.

The high lakes were anything over 2,500 ft and they used to open along with streams in late May. That all changed about 25 years ago. Has it been that long! Most of the high lakes are frozen till May-July, so it hasn't changed much by changing them to year round lakes. It's kinda cool ice fishing in winter alpine lakes when I get out snowshoeing.

Edit: actually the opener is the last full weekend in April. It was changed from the 3rd Sunday in April about 10 years ago to the Sat. opener. IMHO, fishing has gone downhill in our state in many of the good E.WA lakes over the past 10 years and the extra 1,000s of fish caught on Sunday of the opener hasn't helped.