Where The Fishin' Is Easy -- Anglers Of All Ages Are Bound To Get A Bite At The Area's Well-Stocked Trout Ponds

If you like the idea of taking the kids fishing but hate to take the chance of spending hours holding a pole and coming up without a catch, try totin' your pole to a nearby trout farm.

You're bound to get a bite in the well-stocked ponds and you don't need an expensive fishing license.

At shallow ponds in Woodinville, Renton and South Prairie (in Pierce County south of Orting), fishing fans of all ages can dip a line into water stocked with 9- to 24-inch trout. Pull in the catch, pay by the length or weight of the fish and head home to a fresh-caught dinner. Fish cost $3 and up.

"I've been working here for eight years and the best thing is seeing the looks on these little guys' faces when they catch their first fish," said Barbara McCulloch at Renton's Springbrook Trout Farm. "Their eyes are as wide as marbles. I don't know who gets more excited - the kids or the parents."

Tots as young as 6 months and seniors as old as 97 years have dropped a line at Springbrook, she added. Springbrook and Gold Creek Trout Farm in Woodinville will lend you a pole; L.E.S. Fisheries in South Prairie rents them for $1. These places provide bait (some charge for worms by the dozen) and will teach families how to put bait on hooks.

Even city slickers get the feel for sliding a worm on a hook, says McCulloch. Squeamish types might prefer the Gold Creek bait: rolled fish food, flour and water.

Weekends and early afternoons attract the most anglers.

More adventuresome? You can take your chances in "bigger ponds" - area lakes or Puget Sound, which offer various types of fish.

In the Seattle area, public fishing is available at Elliott Bay Public Fishing Pier at Terminal 86 and at Seacrest Pier in West Seattle, but the catch will be salmon, or bottom fish.

To the north, drop a line for salmon and bottom fish year-round at Edmonds Public Fishing Pier near the Edmonds-Kingston ferry terminal.

South at the Des Moines Public Fishing Pier, drop a line for salmon and assorted other food fish.

For Sound and lake fishing, children 14 years or younger need no license, but if they go salmon fishing they need a free salmon punch card available at sporting good retailers. State regulations are posted in the State of Washington Fishing in Washington phamphlet put out by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. It is available at most sporting-goods retailers.

Washington state anglers 15 to 69 years old who are fishing for food fish need an $8 annual license or $5 three-day license. Annual license holders fishing in Puget Sound marine areas also need to pay a $10 enhancement fee.

Anglers looking for game fish need to buy a $17 annual license fee. If you are fishing for steelhead you will need to pay $18.. If you are fishing for specific species you may need a $5 enhancement fee. If you only want to fish for one day for some species you can get a $3 license or you can get a three-day license for $9.

The Details

Springbrook Trout Farm: 19225 Talbot Road S., Renton. Take 180th Street/Valley Medical Center exit off Highway 167. Farm is about a mile south of the hospital. 253-852-0360.

Open 10 a.m. to dusk, March through October. Three ponds are stocked with trout 9 to 13 inches long. $3 for 9-inch fish; price increases 50 cents for each additional inch in length.

L.E.S. Fisheries: In South Prairie, Pierce County. Take Highway 167 south to Highway 410 exit. Follow Highway 410 for one mile. Take Highway 162/Orting turn right at top of this exit and follow Highway 162 about 18 miles through Orting into South Prairie then take right at first/only intersection. Go three blocks to stop sign and turn left. Follow road for two miles. Ponds are on the left. 360-897-6308.

Open noon to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, through August. Open weekends only through the last weekend in October; reopens first weekend in March. Fish cost $3 per pound, plus tax. Worms are $1.75 per dozen. There are three ponds - two small shallow ponds, with trout up to 10 inches long, are good for children. A third, larger pond has some steelhead.

Gold Creek Trout Farm: 15844 148th N.E., Woodinville. From Interstate 405, take Exit 23 to Highway 522. Follow 522 east and take the first Woodinville exit. Go south on 131st Avenue Northeast. Turn left (east) on Northeast 175th Street, right (south) at 140th Avenue Northeast, and left (north) on 148th Avenue Northeast, then go two blocks to farm. 425-483-1415.

Open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., daily year-round. Two ponds with 14- to 24-inch trout. No worms. Visitors can bring their own bait or use farm bait. Fish prices start at about $5.50.

Reading up

"1997 Fishing in Washington," a 120-page guide, free at most sporting goods retailers. "Kids Book of Fishing," by Michael J. Rosen ($12.95 at local bookstores, comes with a tackle box stocked with spinners, poppers and ties for children 8 or older; Workman Publishing.

TIPS

-- Wear shoes or boots. Most of these ponds are shallow with grassy shores, There could be some rocks.

-- Bring a cooler with ice to haul home the catch. All three ponds provide free plastic bags to wrap the catch.Springbook and L.E.S. will help you clean the fish. At Gold Creek you are on your own.

-- Consider a life jacket for youngsters. Though these ponds are shallow, officials at Children's Hospital and Medical Center in Seattle remind parents that children can wander away and drown in even a few inches of water.

-- Check on group rates. Discounts are available for some school, child-care and retirement center groups.

A Few Facts

Price of a kid-size fishing pole: about $13 for a colorful 2-foot rod, reel and line at several local sporting good retailers.

Trout was $3.49 per pound at one supermarket recently.

Hotline: Call 360-902-2500 for up-to-date rules, seasons and emergency changes posted by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Weight Watchers

The largest freshwater rainbow trout caught in Washington state as verified by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife weighed in at 22 pounds, 8 ounces.

Think you have a winner? Take your fish to a certified scale right away. Get signatures from the scale operator and another witness while the fish is being weighed. Then take the fish to a state Department of Fish and Wildlife office. Locally, the closest office is in Snohomish County: 16018 Mill Creek Blvd., Mill Creek.