Remodeled ramp makes boating access easier at popular Black Lake

A remodeled boat launch is making it easier for anglers and others to get on Black Lake, near Olympia.

The $365,000 project by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife includes improvements to the launch, dock and toilets.

“This site was in dire need of renovation to ensure public safety and better serve the fishing and boating community,” Stephen Sherlock, statewide access area manager, said in a prepared statement. “Boaters will find that they can launch and retrieve their craft a lot faster now that the float has been installed.”

The work included construction of a new two-lane boat launch, a boarding float with an abutment and piling, two new vault toilets, and an expansion of the asphalt parking lot, Sherlock said.

The project was funded with a grant from the state’s Boating Facility Program, administered by the state Recreation and Conservation Office.

Completed last November, the new facility is crucial to meeting the demands of boaters who use the lake southwest of Olympia, especially by anglers in the spring. Given its proximity to the city and the number of species found in its waters, the lake is popular with Thurston County anglers, said Bruce Bolding, the state’s warmwater fish program manager.

The lake has already been stocked this spring with more than 34,000 rainbow trout measuring 10-12 inches long. Another 5,000 trout will be planted by the month’s end. The 39,000 trout, the typical number planted each year in the lake, also will be the largest number of fish planted in a Thurston County lake this spring, Bolding said.

The department also plans to stock the lake with 4,500 jumbo-size trout, typically fish that weigh more than 1.5 pounds each.

In addition to rainbow trout, the lake also is home to populations of coastal cutthroat trout, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, yellow perch, brown bullhead catfish and black crappie.

“Black Lake is a popular spot for anglers in the Olympia area and beyond,” Bolding said. “We stock that lake with trout accordingly, and there’s a real diversity of other fish to catch as well.”

The 567-acre lake is open to fishing year-round. The department’s boat launch is located on the southeast side of the lake.

This story was originally published May 12, 2016 at 3:35 AM with the headline "Remodeled ramp makes boating access easier at popular Black Lake."