Northwest Fishing Reports

I have been reporting on the Bass and Panfish at Sprague, or should I say the lack thereof, for three trips this year.

I have seen three bass, have "heard" of a few bass, seen NO Bluegills, NO Crappie, and have heard of none either.

What have the rest of you actually seen? Is the re-plant of Sprague a bust? Will they continue to plant trout until the warm water fish show up again? Was the elimation of Walleye a good thing or not?

Just asking!

I haven't been up there, but have heard nothing good at all since the 2007 rehab. Sounds like the WDFW made a serious effing mess of a formerly great spiny ray lake. Thing used to be packed to the hilt with bluegills, yellow perch, and crappie.

Funny, our local newspaper reported, "good for walleye and perch in Sprague Lake" this Wednesday. If only it were true!

tluedeke wrote:I haven't been up there, but have heard nothing good at all since the 2007 rehab. Sounds like the WDFW made a serious effing mess of a formerly great spiny ray lake. Thing used to be packed to the hilt with bluegills, yellow perch, and crappie.

In defense of the WDFW, the bluegills and yellow perch were all but gone, as were the Bass. The Carp had eaten the weeds out of Sprague, so as a result of that, there was no place for spinney rays to hide from the Walleye, except for the edges of the reeds. The crappie had held on until the Russians started to keep 5 gallon buckets of them when ice fishing, but they too were gone.

I have always contended that the kill off was necessary, but to remove the carp, not the walleye. Of course, all died, it is a matter of what is put back in and when.

I just hope that the spinny rays come back sooner then later.

G-Man wrote:Funny, our local newspaper reported, "good for walleye and perch in Sprague Lake" this Wednesday. If only it were true!

I have got to ask, what paper was this?

Shows how knowledgable they are.

I have yet to see a spiny ray in Sprague.
I would have to say that the rehab has been a bust sofar.
With the numbers and size of the Trout being stocked I would guess it will be sometime before we see any kind of warmwater fishery in Sprague. As I recall the WDFW was boasting last year about the Bluegill fishing that was expected to show up this year. As far as the elimination of the Walleye being good or not, I still say there were not enough Walleye left in the lake to matter.

YellowBear wrote:...........As far as the elimination of the Walleye being good or not, I still say there were not enough Walleye left in the lake to matter.

I agree. The state once posted walleye fishing instructions and in them they said that Walleye could not spawn in Sprague. So, either they were wrong and have not admitted to it overtly, or they were right and there could not have been anymore walleye in there then they planted.

Either way, I was still catching Walleye before they killed it off, but they were few and scattered, contrary to what the State Claimed.

The State would go a long way to solving the trust issue we have with them if allowed volunteer monitors" to join them in the electrical and trap surveys.

Anglinarcher wrote:

YellowBear wrote:...........As far as the elimination of the Walleye being good or not, I still say there were not enough Walleye left in the lake to matter.

<snip>

The State would go a long way to solving the trust issue we have with them if allowed volunteer monitors" to join them in the electrical and trap surveys.

They do and Stacy has asked for volunteers on several occasions. Take the step, get involved.

I cannot understand why WDFW did not restock the Walleye.
We spend thousands to restock Trout lakes every year, sometimes twice a year.
You would think we could spend a bit for Walleyes in one lake every other year or so.
I would truly like to know why we are spending anything on Hybrids that cannot spawn and do nothing to add to the population of a lake.

G-Man wrote:Funny, our local newspaper reported, "good for walleye and perch in Sprague Lake" this Wednesday. If only it were true!

WDFW did not stock any walleye into the lake after the rehab.

Bodofish wrote:

Anglinarcher wrote:

YellowBear wrote:...........As far as the elimination of the Walleye being good or not, I still say there were not enough Walleye left in the lake to matter.

<snip>

The State would go a long way to solving the trust issue we have with them if allowed volunteer monitors" to join them in the electrical and trap surveys.

They do and Stacy has asked for volunteers on several occasions. Take the step, get involved.

Stacy appears to be honest, the East side is not so open or willing. They have rejected my attempts several times to volunteer, even without knowing that I am Anglinarcher.

You have proved my point, thanks Bodofish.

YellowBear wrote:I cannot understand why WDFW did not restock the Walleye.
We spend thousands to restock Trout lakes every year, sometimes twice a year.
You would think we could spend a bit for Walleyes in one lake every other year or so.
I would truly like to know why we are spending anything on Hybrids that cannot spawn and do nothing to add to the population of a lake.

Remember, the State considers the Walleye to be an invasive species. They blamed the lack of other warm water species in Sprague on the Walleye, not the loss of cover because of the Carp.

I am afraid that Sprague was just the beginning of the end for Walleye in Washington.
The FWIN study had to show the Carp were the problem not the Walleye.
The WDFW had to know and still misinformed the public by telling us the Walleye ate everything.
We have the same thing going on at Moses lk.
I have a friend that fishes Moses often.
Last year at this time he had 64 keeper eyes recorded, this year he has 2.

The Sprague lake project was a bright time for warmwater species in Washington, it just burnned out to fast.

Sprague Lake was rehabbed in 2007 to remove walleye and restart the warmwater fishery (without walleye). Prior to the rehab Sprague Lake had one of the highest walleye densities in the state. We don't base population densities on angler catch rates because, quite frankly, it is an unreliable index. Gill nets, trap nets and electrofishing are the best methods we have to detemine relative abundance of fish populations in a community.

There were a lot of walleye in Sprague Lake, but unfortunately angler success was low. This was likely due to abundant forage (black crappie) in the lake. Walleye catch rates for anglers are less likely to be related to abundance than they are to forage. The more forage available the less time spent foraging, thus, the less likely fish are to be available to catch. Imagine yourself at the Golden Corral

We see similar situation in Moses lake and Potholes. Angler report great catch rates for walleye yet our FWIN surveys (which I posted on another page) show declines in abundance. The take away message shuold be that high abundance of species X doesn't always equate to high catch rates. It does, typically, for trout, but not necessarily for walleye.

Here is our 2003 Sprague Lake Report http://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/00278/ Please note the abundance of walleye and black crappie as well as the sizes of both.

Here is a link to all of our warmwater reports. Hopefully a new Warmwater page is coming.
http://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/search. ... Management

2009-10 FWIN REPORT http://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/01407/
2011 FWIN REPORT http://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/01406/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Anglinarcher wrote:

tluedeke wrote:I haven't been up there, but have heard nothing good at all since the 2007 rehab. Sounds like the WDFW made a serious effing mess of a formerly great spiny ray lake. Thing used to be packed to the hilt with bluegills, yellow perch, and crappie.

In defense of the WDFW, the bluegills and yellow perch were all but gone, as were the Bass. The Carp had eaten the weeds out of Sprague, so as a result of that, there was no place for spinney rays to hide from the Walleye, except for the edges of the reeds. The crappie had held on until the Russians started to keep 5 gallon buckets of them when ice fishing, but they too were gone.

I have always contended that the kill off was necessary, but to remove the carp, not the walleye. Of course, all died, it is a matter of what is put back in and when.

I just hope that the spinny rays come back sooner then later.

After the rehab in 2007 the lake was covered with dead crappie. There was no shortage of fish in the lake. This was not a case of walleye eating out a lake. It was a case on an unbalanced fishery with low angler use due to poor catch rates. Creel surveys are done to determine the $ brought in to local communities by fisheries. Sprague was producing very few angler days, which means no $$ for local businesses, and it was decided that a rehab would be done in an effort to kickstart a new fishery (Bass, bluegill, crappie, channel catfish). There were some hatchery fish produced and stocked but we also moved bluegill, bass and crappie from other lakes where they were plentiful into Sprague. Rainbow trout were stocked in order to produce a fishery while we waited for the warm water fish to reproduce and re-populate the lake. Unfortunately it seems that bullheads survived the rehab and stocking rates may not have been adequate. I am not intimately familiar with the status of the lake as it is managed in Region 1.

Why no walleye in Sprague now? Because there are enough walleye fisheries in the state (Banks, FDR, Moses, Potholes, Columbia River, Sccoteney) and we already found that walleye were tough to manage in Sprague Lake. We were going for a simpler fish community where anglers could catch bluegill and black crappie.

Why don't we stock more walleye? Walleye populations are doing fine on their own and for the most part don't need supplementation. The only lake where walleye are stocked is Liberty Lake in Spokane.

Mike Schmuck wrote:

Anglinarcher wrote:

tluedeke wrote:I haven't been up there, but have heard nothing good at all since the 2007 rehab. Sounds like the WDFW made a serious effing mess of a formerly great spiny ray lake. Thing used to be packed to the hilt with bluegills, yellow perch, and crappie.

In defense of the WDFW, the bluegills and yellow perch were all but gone, as were the Bass. The Carp had eaten the weeds out of Sprague, so as a result of that, there was no place for spinney rays to hide from the Walleye, except for the edges of the reeds. The crappie had held on until the Russians started to keep 5 gallon buckets of them when ice fishing, but they too were gone.

I have always contended that the kill off was necessary, but to remove the carp, not the walleye. Of course, all died, it is a matter of what is put back in and when.

I just hope that the spinny rays come back sooner then later.

After the rehab in 2007 the lake was covered with dead crappie. There was no shortage of fish in the lake. This was not a case of walleye eating out a lake. It was a case on an unbalanced fishery with low angler use due to poor catch rates. Creel surveys are done to determine the $ brought in to local communities by fisheries. Sprague was producing very few angler days, which means no $$ for local businesses, and it was decided that a rehab would be done in an effort to kickstart a new fishery (Bass, bluegill, crappie, channel catfish). There were some hatchery fish produced and stocked but we also moved bluegill, bass and crappie from other lakes where they were plentiful into Sprague. Rainbow trout were stocked in order to produce a fishery while we waited for the warm water fish to reproduce and re-populate the lake. Unfortunately it seems that bullheads survived the rehab and stocking rates may not have been adequate. I am not intimately familiar with the status of the lake as it is managed in Region 1.

Why no walleye in Sprague now? Because there are enough walleye fisheries in the state (Banks, FDR, Moses, Potholes, Columbia River, Sccoteney) and we already found that walleye were tough to manage in Sprague Lake. We were going for a simpler fish community where anglers could catch bluegill and black crappie.

Why don't we stock more walleye? Walleye populations are doing fine on their own and for the most part don't need supplementation. The only lake where walleye are stocked is Liberty Lake in Spokane.

Mike, we should meet sometime. It is a shame that someone that should be well educated, such as yourself, has to preach the "company line". I wonder, do you really believe it, or are you forced to pretend you believe?

Interesting that the lake was covered with (floating) black crappie, but as the saying goes, what does this have to do with the price of tea in China? Was the lake covered with floating Walleye as well? When Donley was challenged on this, he said that most of the Walleye sank. Wow, carp float, crappie float, bass float, trout float, perch float, but walleye sink. Most interesting, especially when every other walleye kill seems to float.

You claim that "Gill nets, trap nets, and electrofishing are the best methods we have determine relative abundance of fish populations in a community." I agree, and the best way to make sure that personal attitudes don't taint the results is to allow volunteers to monitor those methods. That is not something that Donley is willing to do, and did not do on Sprague.

Gee, I wonder why the bullhead survived. Could it be because they require a much higher dosage to kill them? It does not take much of an expert to know this, and every state I have dealt with in the past knows that. I would have thought that Washington would have known that as well.

I have always contended that there were adequate concentrations of Walleye to catch, and I was willing to show people how to do it. The problem was that most of the people that have the skills also have boats that don't launch well in that lake, and don't handle the rocks well either. Seth Burrell of AX Fishing (TV host and fishing show) filmed a show at Sprague to prove it as well.

I have also contended that there were plenty of crappie in Sprague but that the larger ones were over fished during ice fishing season and the State knew it and did nothing about it.

I still contend that bass, bluegills, etc., were few and far in between, and this was largely due to a lack of weeds. This was a direct result of the carp. I stick by my statement, "I have always contended that the kill off was necessary , but to remove the carp , not the walleye. Of course, all died, it is a matter of what is put back in and when……..I just hope that the spiny rays come back sooner than later."

You want me, or YellowBear, or any others to believe differently, then permit witnesses to your so called studies. As a scientist, or engineer, I am expected to provide data that can be verified by peer review. Why don't you?????

By the way, don’t try to rewrite history regarding the claims about why Sprague was killed off. The state has removed the link to the plan, but I downloaded the plan a long time ago. I can e-mail it to ANYONE that desires it.

Anglinarcher wrote:By the way, don’t try to rewrite history regarding the claims about why Sprague was killed off. The state has removed the link to the plan, but I downloaded the plan a long time ago. I can e-mail it to ANYONE that desires it.

Email sent.

[quote="Mike Schmuck"]

There were a lot of walleye in Sprague Lake, but unfortunately angler success was low. This was likely due to abundant forage (black crappie) in the lake. Walleye catch rates for anglers are less likely to be related to abundance than they are to forage. The more forage available the less time spent foraging, thus, the less likely fish are to be available to catch. Imagine yourself at the Golden Corral

We see similar situation in Moses lake and Potholes. Angler report great catch rates for walleye yet our FWIN surveys (which I posted on another page) show declines in abundance. The take away message shuold be that high abundance of species X doesn't always equate to high catch rates. It does, typically, for trout, but not necessarily for walleye.

Most of the guys that I am talking to agree with the FWIN study that the Walleye in Potholes and Moses are in decline.
We have watched a steady decline in the (warm water populations on both lakes) for the past 10 years .
I think if there were to much forage in either lake, we would see it.
Sofar this season I have seen one cluster of fry, bet they don't last long.

hewesfisher wrote:

Anglinarcher wrote:By the way, don’t try to rewrite history regarding the claims about why Sprague was killed off. The state has removed the link to the plan, but I downloaded the plan a long time ago. I can e-mail it to ANYONE that desires it.

Email sent.

e-mailed to you.