While King County has at least 50 great fishing spots, sometimes you just want to cast a line near home.
The Green River and a handful of fishing lakes listed in this article are all either in Kent or within a short drive away.
We also have compiled similar collections for nearby communities that are very close to Kent, so be sure to check those out at the bottom of this article. You’ll also find some resources about how to catch local fish species.
Green River
The Green River flows through the westside of Kent on its path from the Cascade Mountains to Puget Sound.
Runs of salmon and steelhead (including quite a few hatchery fish) pass through Kent on their annual returns upriver, providing some angling opportunities for large fish even in the busier parts of the metropolitan area.
We have a full guide to fishing the Green River (Duwamish) to help you find and catch more fish in this regional river.
Lake Fenwick
The favorite time to come to Lake Fenwick Park with a fishing rod in hand is when WDFW plants trout, which will be in the spring.
Recent stocking has happened around late April but can vary a bit year to year.
The stocking numbers, 1,800 trout, here are modest compared to some small lakes in the region, but fishing should be good in the days or a few weeks afterward. However, don’t expect to catch limits for weeks on end, as stocked trout tend to get heavily fished and harvested.
If you do come to Lake Fenwick after the trout fishing has waned, warming water will help perk up some of the other gamefish species that live here year-round.
Largemouth bass are always a favorite target wherever they live, including Lake Fenwick.
For those looking to catch dinner, I’d prefer catching yellow perch or black crappie, if you can find them large enough to filet. There also are pumpkinseed sunfish and bullhead catfish.
Other than the trout, fishing should be best from mid-spring into the first part of fall. Summer angling for sunfish and other species should be quite good.
There is excellent bank fishing access at Lake Fenwick Park. If you have a kayak or other boat small enough to carry to the bank at the park, that will help you reach more fish across the lake.
The park has a variety of fun activities beyond angling, including disc golf.
Lake Meridian
I’d call this Kent’s premier freshwater fishing lake.
Not only is this 149-acre lake heavily stocked with hatchery rainbow trout each year, you also can catch kokanee in its deep waters.
Let’s start with trout, and there can be lots of them.
WDFW lays lots of love on Lake Meridian in the form of nearly 12,000 catchable hatchery rainbow trout stocked here each spring. It’s fairly likely those trout will be stocked in several batches, which may start as early as March and extend into mid-spring.
Trout fishing should be excellent here for most of the spring.
However, as trout numbers fall and water temperatures rise, anglers in the know often shift their attention to kokanee, which are a trout-sized landlocked sockeye salmon. And they happen to be extremely delicious, in my opinion.
WDFW plants tens of thousands of very young kokanee at Meridian each year, and the grow into pan-sized salmon while living in the lake.
Kokanee anglers often prefer summer, although it takes special gear to reach these cold-loving fish, which tend to roam the depths of this 90-foot lake.
Trolling with downriggers is a go-to tactic, although lead-core lines or weights can also work. If you can pinpoint a school of kokanee in one spot, jigging with brightly painted metal jigs is another option, as is bait fishing.
With so many trout and kokanee, some folks may not realize that Lake Meridian also is a very worthwhile destination for largemouth bass. Bass usually hold in shallow to mid-range depths around cover.
Other fish species that call Lake Meridian home and can be easy and fun to catch include panfish, such as yellow perch and brown bullhead catfish.
The best access to this mostly residential lake is Lake Meridian Park via SE 272nd Street (SR 516). There’s a nearby WDFW boat launch.
For more about catching the various fish here, be sure to read our more detailed Lake Meridian Fishing article. I’ve linked it below.
More: Lake Meridian Fishing
Lake Morton
With a short drive of about 20-25 minutes, you can reach this largely residential enclave of a lake southeast of Kent and not too far beyond Covington.
Lake Morton is nicely stocked with hatchery rainbow trout in the spring. This might happen in late March or early April or thereabouts.
Look for WDFW to plant 5,000 or more trout here, which is an excellent number for this size of lake (about 66 acres).
The next best alternative for anglers at Lake Morton are largemouth bass, which take advantage of the great cover around the residential docks.
The lake is nearly entirely surrounded by private homes. The exception is a small WDFW on the lake’s northwestern shoreline.
There’s a tiny bit of bank fishing room at the access, but Lake Morton is a much better option if you have a kayak, canoe, or similar watercraft to put in at the small launch at the state access.
Old Fishing Hole Pond
This tiny kids’ fishing pond is stocked with a few hundred hatchery rainbow trout each spring.
It’s wedged between SR 516 and the Green River near the Riverbend Golf Complex on the west side of Kent.
Besides young anglers, the one-acre pond is also open to seniors as well as anglers with disabilities and a designated harvester companion card. See WDFW regulations for details.
A major key to success here will be to time your visit within days, if possible, after the stocking truck departs, as trout in small waters tend to get caught out quickly. Checks through the years have found those plantings to occur almost any month of spring.
Star Lake
You’ll find this modest-sized lake just on the other side of S. 272nd Avenue, which forms the city boundaries in southwestern Kent.
The lake, which is a little over 30 acres, is within the Lakeland North residential area and is stocked each spring with more than 3,000 trout.
Spring is the time to fish here if you want to catch trout. Try to go as soon as possible after WDFW stocks it, which might occur in late April or thereabouts.
Besides trout, the lake is home to largemouth bass and some panfish species that will bite best when the water has warmed up in the spring, summer and early fall.
Sorry to say, this is a tough lake for bank anglers unless you own a house on the waterfront or know someone who does.
I’d guess 99% of the shoreline is lined with private homes. The exception? A little slice of public access off South Star Lake Road near the southernmost tip of the triangular-shaped lake. It’s basically a driveway into the lake where you can launch a small boat, which is the best way to tackle this one.
Washington Resources
WDFW Fishing and Stocking Reports
WDFW Fishing Regulations
National Weather Service forecasts