FISHING -- Washington's lowland trout lake fishing season opened Saturday to good weather, but the preceding cooler, wet spring weather may have contributed to slower than normal fishing success, Fish and Wildlife fisheries biologists report.

Top lakes for fishing success were Cedar in Stevens county and Badger and Williams lakes in Spokane County.

Around Spokane, the turnout of anglers was down from last year, according to Randy Osborne, district biologist.

There was plenty of competition for family attention, including a WSU preseason football game at Albi Stadium, Earth Day events, running races, and more.

But anglers who devoted themselves to catching trout generally succeeded. They caught fish of all sizes including some of the 4-pound triploid trout that were planted in several area lakes.

In Northeastern Washington, where ice had just come off of many of the lakes days before the opener, Cedar Lake was, by far, the best producer this year with lots of five-fish limits, fisheries staffers say. 

Mudgett Lake (Stevens Co.) was a distant second with anglers averaging 3 trout/angler kept.  Other waters in the District averaged less than 2 fish/angler kept.