Oops! Wildlife forgets to tell Deception Pass Park manager lake was being stocked

Just one tiny detail was left out when hatchery workers with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife arrived at Deception Pass State Park to stock Cranberry Lake with an abundance of rainbow trout earlier this week.

Just one tiny detail was left out when hatchery workers with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife arrived at Deception Pass State Park to stock Cranberry Lake with an abundance of rainbow trout earlier this week.

They forgot to tell Jack Hartt.

A bonus fall planting of 6,531 trout were released into the lake Monday, Oct. 13, with an opportunity for anglers to retain an increased limit of 10 apiece beginning Saturday, Oct. 18, and lasting through Feb. 13.

Hartt, park manager at Deception Pass, wasn’t told about the development within his park, which was disappointing to him because of his need to know the change in fishing regulations.

The daily trout limit in Cranberry is normally only four.

“I feel a little left out, but that happened in grade school and I got over it,” Hartt joked Friday when he was informed of the trout planting.

Cranberry is one of 47 Western Washington lakes that are receiving a bonus release of catchable-size trout this fall, ranging from 10-11 inches, but is one of only 10 lakes getting the increased bag limit.

The amount is four times higher than what the state released into lakes last fall.

Cranberry Lake will receive separate plantings totalling 28,500 trout over the months of October and November — compared to 5,300 it got last fall.

The high number of trout are available this fall because of a legal settlement last spring that stopped the release of early winter hatchery steelhead, or rainbow trout, in most Puget Sound rivers in 2014.

Cranberry was chosen because it met a stipulation of being isolated from saltwater, said Justin Spinelli, regional fisheries biologist with the state.

The second release of trout into Cranberry is expected early next week.

Cranberry Lake is the only lake in Island County to receive a bonus planting during a fall program designed to boost trout fishing in the fall and winter months.

A freshwater fishing license is needed to catch trout and a Discovery Pass required to access the state park.