Can citizen input improve fishing opportunities at Lake Tapps? Are tiger muskies good or bad?

Sen. Pam Roach (R-Auburn) is inviting community residents to ask those questions and more at a meeting she is hosting Wednesday, Sept. 25 at the Bonney Lake public safety building. The meeting begins at 7 p.m.

“Lake Tapps has always had a fish population even though it was a dry bed much of the year,” Roach said. “Fish came in via the yearly diversion from the White River. Now that we have a year-round lake we can talk about a year-round fishery.”

Earlier this month, after being approached by Ken Castile, a Lake Tapps community leader, Roach proposed a town-hall meeting on the past, present and future of recreational fishing at Lake Tapps.

Roach has invited Jim Scott, director of the fish program at the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, to represent his agency. She also encourages longtime area anglers to participate in the dialogue.

“There’s no particular agenda for changing anything as it is today,” Roach said. “However, citizens might want to consider altering the current fish stock in the lake. We also will discuss the introduction of the tiger muskie to Lake Tapps.”

Roach pointed out the tiger muskie was introduced to Lake Tapps years ago by DFW to control the population of certain other fish. One question, Roach said, will be whether the tiger muskie should continue to be a part of the Lake Tapps fishery.

“This should be very informative. We’ll talk about what you can catch, and when you can catch it, and whether there are ways to expand the fishery to not only present more opportunities for anglers young and old, but also to create more economic opportunities related to fishing.”

Bonney Lake’s public-safety building is at 18421 Veterans Memorial Drive.