Northwest Fishing Reports

With everyone talking about new licenses and where our extra fees go, it made me think about the 5$ sur charge
we paid in the later 90's, towards warmwater enhancement. I found a WDFW link, content breaks down into 6 links , it talks about the history of our waters and what they have been doing. One of the content links covers all warmwater species available-{download complete PDF version}. I thought it was a good read, its a little out of date but still good. http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/warmwater/
Both largemouth and smallmouth bass species and the different freshwater rock bass available with pictures and descriptions of fish and habitat. When and where these fish were first introduced included.
Toothy critters also!

Interesting. I remember that.

:money: :money: :money:

My favorite new fee this year is the $8 for a steelhead catch card "only if you are going to fish for them on the Columbia or any of it's tributaries". Maybe you Eastsiders have a few more options, but over here every body of water that holds steelies ends up dumping into the Columbia, so in other words i have to pay $8 for a catch card this year. With that and Idaho deciding to further exploit us here in Washington (out of state license for Idaho is now 2 times the cost of an out of state in Washington), my license fees went up $25 this year. Looks like those budget cutbacks hit me right in the wallet.

I don't care if licenses are $50 or $500, I'm paying for em cause I like fishing that much

Blackmouth wrote:I don't care if licenses are $50 or $500, I'm paying for em cause I like fishing that much

If thats true I'll sell you a right to fish in my "barrel"[biggrin] AND I'll fill it with very hungry fish for a good price of $250.00[thumbup] , which is half of what you are willing to pay.

I was hoping to get some input on the "warmwater enhancement program", I think we all have expressed our feelings about license fees and what we think about them and whether we're buying this or that. Warm water Enhancement what do you think and did you read the link? Including complete PDF version?
http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/warmwater/

I've read a great deal on it in the past, including many of the individual lake studies, and I think they were on the right track back then. It's too bad they don't currently have a "Warmwater Maintenance Program", although the state would argue that most warmwater species are better adapted to our lakes then coldwater species and generally haven't required restocking. Though that probably is true, I would like to see the state continue its research on warmwater species here in Washington and adjust limits and restrictions at various lakes based on that research. For example, if a certain lake shows a lack of small bass, impose a catch and release only restriction from May1-June 30, or if another lake shows a lack of larger bass, impose a catch and release size restriction, like any bass over 20" must be released. That said, all the lakes i've fished here on the Eastside seem to have pretty healthy bass populations, and each represents its own set of challenges, so i don't have much to complain about. With the state budget being what it is, i'm glad my fish species of preference is a hardy master of its environment that doesn't need much if any help from the WFDW to thrive.

Nik wrote:I've read a great deal on it in the past, including many of the individual lake studies, and I think they were on the right track back then. It's too bad they don't currently have a "Warmwater Maintenance Program", although the state would argue that most warmwater species are better adapted to our lakes then coldwater species and generally haven't required restocking. Though that probably is true, I would like to see the state continue its research on warmwater species here in Washington and adjust limits and restrictions at various lakes based on that research. For example, if a certain lake shows a lack of small bass, impose a catch and release only restriction from May1-June 30, or if another lake shows a lack of larger bass, impose a catch and release size restriction, like any bass over 20" must be released. That said, all the lakes i've fished here on the Eastside seem to have pretty healthy bass populations, and each represents its own set of challenges, so i don't have much to complain about. With the state budget being what it is, i'm glad my fish species of preference is a hardy master of its environment that doesn't need much if any help from the WFDW to thrive.

Nail on the head my friend.

tnj8222 wrote:

Nik wrote:I've read a great deal on it in the past, including many of the individual lake studies, and I think they were on the right track back then. It's too bad they don't currently have a "Warmwater Maintenance Program", although the state would argue that most warmwater species are better adapted to our lakes then coldwater species and generally haven't required restocking. Though that probably is true, I would like to see the state continue its research on warmwater species here in Washington and adjust limits and restrictions at various lakes based on that research. For example, if a certain lake shows a lack of small bass, impose a catch and release only restriction from May1-June 30, or if another lake shows a lack of larger bass, impose a catch and release size restriction, like any bass over 20" must be released. That said, all the lakes i've fished here on the Eastside seem to have pretty healthy bass populations, and each represents its own set of challenges, so i don't have much to complain about. With the state budget being what it is, i'm glad my fish species of preference is a hardy master of its environment that doesn't need much if any help from the WFDW to thrive.

Nail on the head my friend.

only problem is that "they" are more worried about one small problem .. Will i have a job tomorrow because the state is broke !!! :money:

tnj8222 wrote:

Nik wrote:I've read a great deal on it in the past, including many of the individual lake studies, and I think they were on the right track back then. It's too bad they don't currently have a "Warmwater Maintenance Program", although the state would argue that most warmwater species are better adapted to our lakes then coldwater species and generally haven't required restocking. Though that probably is true, I would like to see the state continue its research on warmwater species here in Washington and adjust limits and restrictions at various lakes based on that research. For example, if a certain lake shows a lack of small bass, impose a catch and release only restriction from May1-June 30, or if another lake shows a lack of larger bass, impose a catch and release size restriction, like any bass over 20" must be released. That said, all the lakes i've fished here on the Eastside seem to have pretty healthy bass populations, and each represents its own set of challenges, so i don't have much to complain about. With the state budget being what it is, i'm glad my fish species of preference is a hardy master of its environment that doesn't need much if any help from the WFDW to thrive.

Nail on the head my friend.

also there seems to be less fisherpeople targeting this fishery(panfish) than the trout so more for us that do:cheers:

The warm water enhancement program has been a joke from the start.
We were supposed to get a hatchery at Ring gold to raise fry.
I think it was tried one time. Although spiny rays are hardy and will live and spawn in stock ponds, the WDFW had no success. The hatchery was all but boarded up for years.

The WDFW tells us that the warm water species in this State don't need any help and that may be true.
However, we do not hear about 8 and 9 pound Large mouth anymore 4s and 5s are getting hard to come by.
We do not see the big schools of Crappie anymore and a decent Perch these days is 8 inches.
The Walleye populations of Washington are not near what they were 10 years ago.
The WDFW did do one thing positive for the warm water species, they put a limit on the pan fish in some lakes.
It was to little to late. I have heard many excuses over the years of why the numbers and size is down.
Over harvest, I would have to agree that it had some bearing on things.
Bad year class, I agree with this one as well except it has been a bad year class for to many years in a row.
Mt Saint Helens, In May of 1980 when the mountain blew the ash covered the beds and smothered the eggs that had been laid, Perch and Crappie seemed to get hit the hardest but that was some time ago and the beds should be over that by now. The best one I was told by the WDFW, the Walleyes ate them all. I heard this one from WDFW about Lake Roosevelt, Moses, Potholes and Sprague.

I am not sure what the answer is but I think someone should be looking for it.

Anyone know what happened to the Warmwater Program thing they were doing at Potholes to try and make the panfish fishery try to get better? Haven't really heard much about it since 7-8 years ago when they were talking about doing something with a separate pond or reservoir to transfer the spawning fish to this place they were going to make so they could spawn, I'm pretty sure that's what they were trying to do anyways. I know they've put those artificial reefs in the lake somewhere.

I think they are still working on the habitat boxs but I have not seen much activity for the last couple of years.
The Crappie pond seems to have gone by the way side like the spiny ray stamp and the warm water hatchery.

From what I've seen and read, us bass and pan fishers are left out, WDFW has been more focused on the Tiger musky fishery.
In the link I posted, it talked about selecting special waters and that they had planted some 2 million bass?
Prior to 2002 only certain lakes had a slot size limit on them, but now "all lakes" have a bass slot limit?
Also there was talk of habitat restoration, WDFW made all this sound wide spread, what happened- nothing that I know of?

With the lack of concentration on crappie and such, there is ultimately less forage fish, which in turn won't fuel the potential of a quality body of water.
I do know the slot limit is working on most of the lakes I fish. Some should be managed differently though, more fore the specific
body of water. Based on available forage and predator-prey relationship, some lakes can't support numbers of slot size fish or won't
produce them.
On the lakes where the slot limit is working, the quality and size has gone up and the bigger bass tend to keep their own numbers in check- I don't usually catch many small bass.

Once you get off the bank alot of lakes are featureless, lack of habitat means less fish- I wish they would start sinking some artificial structure.
Ultimately I'm disappointed with the WDFW, less concentration on Tigers and More on Bass.

It would be interesting to know were they planted those 2 million Bass.
I know they stocked Sprague with Smallmouth and a couple of small lakes with Largemouth but other than that I have not heard a word. I also know that the WDFW moved some Bass from Silver in Spokane county down to Yakima many years ago.
I have always found it a bit strange that the WDFW brags about there Trout program but they are so tight lipped about the warm water species. They can tell you exactly how many Trout they stock but no body seems to know anything about the others.
IMHO! without a strong forage base, (Crappie, Perch and Bluegill) we cannot have a healthy (Bass, Walleye and Musky)
population.

I think you'll see a slow recovery of some warmwater species as the State figures out what exactly these fish need to survive and reach a harvestable size. I think they have got it figured out with the Potholes, time will tell if the artificial structures they are placing in this lake will help. Spindog is thinking along the right lines and here is the explanation that I've heard for the steady decline. Many of the popular and productive waters for warmwater fish are reservoirs. When they were initially filled, there was ample vegetation to server as structure. However, from day one the now dead vegetation, began to decay. It is now at the point in many of our lakes, that the organic structure has completely decomposed, leaving the bottom as just one big sand and mud flat. I think that most of the "seasoned" fishermen of Washington State will attest to the reduction in hang-ups while trolling our warm water reservoirs compared to when they fished them many moons ago.

I also believe that people should keep some of the fish that they catch. If you are catching and releasing 12" bass all day long at Banks lake and wondering where all the lunkers have gone, you deserve a boot to the head. If you have ever had teenagers in the house, you'll understand. A small growing fish will eat anything thing it can find. A school of them will clean out an area and you'll be left with a stunted population. Some of our cold water reservoirs have the same issue with Kokanee.

G-Man wrote:
I also believe that people should keep some of the fish that they catch. If you are catching and releasing 12" bass all day long at Banks lake and wondering where all the lunkers have gone, you deserve a boot to the head. If you have ever had teenagers in the house, you'll understand. A small growing fish will eat anything thing it can find. A school of them will clean out an area and you'll be left with a stunted population. Some of our cold water reservoirs have the same issue with Kokanee.

G-Man, I think you nailed it, or "booted it", on our need to stepup and do some managing ourselves.
I am sold on "selective harvest", the catch and release mentality of all bass or fish in general can really hurt
a body of water. By clipping down the numbers of mouths to feed, you get better quality fish.
Bass fisherman have to break this catch and release habit and think of the future potential of the lakes we fish.
Catching an abundance of small fish, we need to harvest to help the lake out.
And sometimes if a lake is putting out "big bass"- all head, lacking body girth and size, that is a sign, there is a
forage issue and these fish are starving- some big fish need to be taken out.- being selective on what will help
each particular lake needs to be our goal.

As fisherman it is our duty to help manage our waters, we can change the makeup of our waters, turning them into
outstanding fisheries. Do your part.

I can give you some insight for my area, Region 5.

When the idea of Warmwater Enhancement came out we jumped on it. One of the first things we did was talk to the fisherman. Many warmwater guys stated they were interested in channel catfish. So we chose Swofford Pond which had previously received channel catfish and a new water, Kress Lake. After doing some research in previously stocking into Lacamas Lake, I made the decision that stocking small catfish wasn't going to cut it so we stocked only fish 12" or larger.

For about 4-5 years we stocked Kress Lake and Swofford and turned it into a fantastic cat fishery. People were coming from everywhere to fish Kress (located just north of Kalama on I-5). Then it was a delayed a year because of funding with hope for the next year and that continued on and it hasn't been stocked for some time now.

I am currently looking into getting that program restarted because it was a great one.

As far as bass fishing our jewel is Silver Lake but most of you know that lake has tanked because of many factors. I'm on a task group working to get that lake back on its feet. The statewide Warmwater Program is doing some crappie work on the lake currently. I will be doing some grass carp/common carp monitoring and looking into other panfish populations by way of boat surveys and creel surveys.

Work-wise, I will be starting warmwater surveys in the next 2-3 weeks. Those consist of going out on my 18' electroshocking boat in the evening and sampling the fish. We get length, weight, take scale samples for aging, and tag bass. I do use volunteers for these surveys and will be making an announcement here asking for help. I have waters in each of our counties except for Wahkiakum that need done.

In addition to the boat work, I am doing creel surveys looking to see how warmwater fishing is going in each of the lakes.

Our goal is to get baseline data on the fish populations abundance and general health and from there to find out how we can enhance the fishery. The data will also let us know if other management issues need to be changed such as harvest.

Warmwater fishing is an important part of our management here in Region 5 and we like involving the public because you guys are out there and you see what's happening on a regular basis.

Great information! Thanks.

I did have to laugh at this though:

Stacie Kelsey wrote:The statewide Warmwater Program is doing some crappie work ...

o:)