And the number will go up. The fish being planted now are the steelhead that they couldn't put into the river after the settlement with the one group. It appears they are only planting these fish into lakes with no outlet streams. Would have been cool to have them placed in Ballinger but out they go.

A total of 70,112 have been planted so far,...

This was the result of a settlement between the state and a group of snob enviro extremists operating under the name Wild Fish Conservancy. Their goal is to eliminate ALL hatcheries and have only wild fish all of which would have to be released. They would happily put all tackle dealers and guides out of business except for their precious elite fly shops and guides. The steelhead releases to the Puget Sound were cut this year by 80% as a result which left 180,000 for the rivers and 720,000 that had to be put somewhere else. The whole thing is a royal screwing to the regular sportsman in order to cater to a bunch of rich jerks. However, just picked up the November issue of The Reel News and see that the Washington Steelhead Trout Club sued them back and won which keeps the Tokul Creek Hatchery open and likely Reiter. Best of all, they cannot appeal their loss. So, maybe things will be OK after all for the rivers and all us little guys! I suggest that all interested keep tabs on this and do what they can to keep these people from trying to bully the rest of us.

VMV1998... BTW, the limit at Green Lake is now 10 fish, through February 13, 2015. Good luck, and enjoy this once in a lifetime bonanza! PTL!

http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/plants/weekly/ They put 11,000 in on Monday and another 1,300 in on Tuesday, bringing the total since October 15th to over 65,000 fish (in just 3 weeks!). I've been catching every time I go to Greenlake, but right now, it's far hotter at Beaver Lake - I'll post on that later today. My buddy caught a SIX pound 22" trout there yesterday afternoon!! They look more like salmon - thick & fat