Stevens County

Deer Lake

Spring does most of the work at Deer Lake. 99% of the 94,067 catchable trout released in 2025 went in between March and May; the only release outside spring was on Nov 20, 2025.

WDFW data through Oct 30, 2026. Page updated November 5, 2026.

Deer Lake in numbers

catchable trout in 2025: 94,067
so far in 2026, through Oct 30: 77,897
2025 against the 2015–2025 average of 51,841 a year: +81%

2026 is running behind 2025: 77,897 fish through Oct 30, against 93,467 by the same date a year earlier. The latest batch, 31,525 eastern brook trout, rainbow trout, went in on Apr 11, 2026, 208 days before this page was built.

WDFW lists Deer Lake as 1,146.4 acres in Stevens County, at 2,482 ft. At 2,482 ft it is the second-highest of the 36 waters here with a listed elevation. Per acre, Deer Lake got about 82 catchable trout in 2025, which puts it 28th of the 37 waters on this site with a WDFW acreage.

Release log

Every release since January 2025

13 species-date records, newest first. Fish per lb is the figure WDFW reports for each batch.

Latest batch, Apr 11, 202631,525eastern brook trout, rainbow trout

Spring 2026

Apr 11Eastern brook trout16,2254.5 per lb · avg 4 oz

Apr 11Rainbow trout15,3005.6 per lb · avg 3 oz

Mar 31Rainbow trout21,0006.5 per lb · avg 2 oz

Mar 9Rainbow trout3000.3 per lb · avg 3.3 lb

Winter 2026

Feb 18Rainbow trout2,8084.5 per lb · avg 4 oz

Feb 17Rainbow trout22,2644.5 per lb · avg 4 oz

Autumn 2025

Nov 20Eastern brook trout6001.3 per lb · avg 12 oz

Spring 2025

May 8Eastern brook trout14,6504.5 per lb · avg 4 oz

May 8Rainbow trout13,9695.2 per lb · avg 3 oz

Apr 21Rainbow trout6,6394 per lb · avg 4 oz

Apr 1Rainbow trout39,5487.1 per lb · avg 2 oz

Mar 25Rainbow trout18,3614.1 per lb · avg 4 oz

Mar 17Rainbow trout3000.3 per lb · avg 3.3 lb

2015 – 2026

Fish released each year

2025 is yellow. 2026 is outlined because the year is not over: the data runs to Oct 30, 2026. The busiest full year was 2023, with 8 release dates and 96,221 fish; the 2015–2025 average is 4.8 release dates a year.

2015: 41,012 catchable fish on 6 release dates
2016: 24,649 catchable fish on 5 release dates
2017: 52,054 catchable fish on 4 release dates
2018: 43,235 catchable fish on 4 release dates
2019: 40,200 catchable fish on 3 release dates
2020: 44,201 catchable fish on 3 release dates
2021: 19,354 catchable fish on 4 release dates
2022: 44,372 catchable fish on 5 release dates
96k2023: 96,221 catchable fish on 8 release dates
2024: 70,885 catchable fish on 5 release dates
94k2025: 94,067 catchable fish on 6 release dates
78k2026 (to Oct 30): 77,897 catchable fish on 5 release dates

How big are these fish?

Under 4 oz: 164,125 fish, 95%
4 to 8 oz: 6,639 fish, 4%
8 to 16 oz: 600 fish, 0%
2 lb and over: 600 fish, 0%

Weight is 1 ÷ fish per lb, as WDFW reports it for each batch. It is a batch average, not a guarantee for any one fish. Counts cover every release since January 2025.

Notes from the records

The biggest single batch since January 2025 was 39,548 rainbow trout on Apr 1, 2025. The heaviest fish were 300 rainbow trout on Mar 9, 2026, at 0.3 per lb, about 3.3 lb each.

Species in these records: eastern brook trout, rainbow trout.

Timing shifts from year to year. Treat this as a pattern, not a promise.