There is the mythic adventure of trekking to a mountain river, a fly rod in hand for catching wild trout. It is all taking place, of course, in a poetic setting in which nature talks to you.
Then there is the trout fishing that over 30,000 anglers, mostly in 200 lowland lakes on this side of the mountains, did on opening day for the fishing season Saturday, April 23.
This is fishing at a dock at Martha Lake Park in Lynnwood, just past the rushing traffic on 164th Street Southwest, not far from the Walmart.
Each year, the state issues 650,000 to 700,000 freshwater fishing licenses, with about 75% used to fish for trout, a "high proportion" done in lowland lakes, says the state's Department of Fish & Wildlife.
It's an outdoor experience that might not be relatable to many in a digital city and for whom fishing is an experience left to the Outdoor Channel.
But then for that young couple, kids come along, and things change.
At the giant Hooked on Toys & Sporting Goods store in Wenatchee, Johnny Stavenjord, fishing goods buyer, said he sees these young families come in. And why not? The store is a must-stop for many going to the recreation areas around there.
"This state has a lot of lakes stocked with trout, and they're pretty willing biters," he said.
According to a 2020 report by the Outdoor Industry Association, 50 million Americans fished in 2019, the highest number in a decade, with 3 million fishing for the first time that year, including 1.2 million children aged 6-12.
Many of us are familiar with this kind of outdoor experience.
We know all about piling the family into the minivan, stuffed with kids and rod-and-reel combos that you can buy for as little as $20.
These novice trout anglers also soon discover the modern way for catching these trout: Bait fishing using a product called PowerBait, or one of its lesser-known competitors, an artificial paste saturated with scents and flavors.
Forget digging for earthworms.
The paste, which you mold around a hook, is irresistible to trout. It floats, so it can get above any weeds at the bottom. You're definitely not evoking a young Brad Pitt in "A River Runs Through It."
On this Saturday morning at Martha Lake, you can find Beth Lyson, 60, of Everett, a regular. The dock is crowded with a dozen adults and kids. Some have brought along lawn chairs.
In many instances at the dock, even after years, many of the regulars in this informal social club don't know each other's last names. Sometimes there's a mention of someone who no longer comes around, illness having caught up with him.
She began fishing with her husband, Al Lyson, a few years ago. He died in 2018 at age 68. She misses him a lot, remembering how long they were together. "Almost 26 years."
After he died, she kept fishing. "It helps me cope," she said.
The group is pleased when Lyson hauls up a string from the water with a 17-inch trout she caught earlier. "Nice." "A beauty."
Some of them know about her grief. They don't make it a point of discussion. This is not a place for in-depth philosophical discussions, more about where to cast to avoid getting snagged in water lilies.
On this morning, Randy Myers, 41, of Bothell, is as at the dock. It's been three years since he has kept running across Lyson at the dock, but, he said, "I don't get too personal."
A service manager at a pest control firm, Myers said he shows up at the dock most Saturdays and Sundays until the trout season end at the lake on October 31.
"It's relaxing, gets me away from the hustle and bustle of life," he said. Myers gives away a lot of the trout he catches to elderly neighbors.
Just then, high up on a shoreline tree, he spots two eagles. "They're huge!" The rest of those at the dock look up. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday.
To keep all those trout anglers happy, this year, across 750 lakes, the state will plant over 2.1 million "catchable" trout and kokanee. The latter is a form of trout-size sockeye salmon that doesn't migrate.
Then, to give anglers hope for bigger fish, 147,000 "jumbos" will be planted. These trout are bigger than 14 inches and each weigh more than 1 pound. For good measure, they also planted 14 million smaller fish that'll grow into adults.
The savvy trout anglers know to type "wdfw fishing reports" on Google.
That takes them to a link showing when hatchery trout have been released into a lake — the date, how many, what sizes (usually 10 to 11-inchers, with a few bigger ones).
For Martha Lake, it shows that a little over a week before opening day, 6,814 trout were dumped in.
Without being stocked, this 61-acre glacial lake fed by two small streams couldn't sustain the kind of intense fishing that it has, the state says.
And catching some trout is what it's about, when you're David Oliphant, and his wife, Claire Oliphant, and their two boys, Andrew, 5, and Ben, 3.
The couple live in Mill Creek and it was a short drive to Martha Lake on opening day. The dad had previously spent a few minutes showing the kids how to cast.
In Spokane, "I grew up fishing," he said. Now he wants to pass on that interest.
"No, we didn't catch any fish. That's OK. We had a wonderful time," Claire said. Since then, they've gone dock fishing twice more, also with no luck.
"We'll eventually catch something," she said. She remembers the first fish she caught as a kid. She expected a trout; she caught a catfish. "I was so excited, and he was this really ugly fish."
It used to be that fishing for trout at one of these lakes involved using a worm, salmon eggs, grub insects or some other kind of traditional bait. It still does, sometimes.
But, in 1988, Berkley Inc., based in Spirit Lake, Iowa, introduced PowerBait. It soon became a marketing phenomenon and is found in just about all sporting goods stores.
In a 1990 Seattle Times story, the director of fish biology for Berkley told how the company set up aquariums with various types of fish.
Then its researchers dropped in cotton balls soaked in various ingredients, ranging from mashed-up worms to compounds from known fish food, and watched what the fish went for. With the compounds that trout really liked, Berkley infused them into the PowerBait paste in levels "substantially higher than in nature."
Use of this artificial bait does rankle some purists. It even comes in a brown color and flavor mimicking hatchery food.
"Is PowerBait fishing 'cheating'" is a forum subject on FishingNetwork.net. Yes, no, maybe, is hiring a fishing guide cheating? were among the responses.
Buzz Ramsey, 72, of Klickitat, is a longtime columnist for Northwest Sportsman who's worked for years in the fishing lure industry. He has designed various kinds of lures.
For this story, he provided a sketch of the simplest way to use PowerBait in a lake.
Ramsey said about those disparaging the paste, "It's a bunch of naysayers."
Yes, you could take a boat and use trolling gear to catch a trout.
"A lot of people live in apartments. They don't have a boat," Ramsey said.
He said it can be overwhelming enough going to a sporting goods store and seeing all the various kinds of gear.
Instead, what a novice can do is buy a simple rod-and-reel combination, "a couple of jars of PowerBait" and some basic items such as hooks and weights, "and it's time to catch some fish," he said.
Justin Spinelli, a state fisheries biologist in Bellingham, grew up in that city and as a kid used to fish at the Whatcom Falls Derby Pond in the city park there.
"It was exciting, watching a bobber go under the water, being outside. When I was in high school, I decided I wanted to manage fisheries," he said.
Now married, 42, with a daughter, 8, and a son, 11, he takes them to same pond.
"We usually use lures. They've gotten good at casting and retrieving. My personal philosophy is that if I'm not going to harvest a fish, I don't use bait," Spinelli said.
Sometimes they use bait. Spinelli said he perfectly well understands all those people showing up at the lowland lakes.
You get outdoors, you have fun, it's a nice, cheap day trip. Not so bad.
