Northwest Fishing Reports

The WDFW quit planting Kokanee several years ago on these lakes which has had a negative impact on fishing opportunities on all three. The limit was also reduced on Kokanee about the time the plantings stopped. The cost to raise and plant Kokanee is minimal in contrast to the amount of money Kokanee fishing generates for local economies. Personally, I've noticed a significant drop in the number of fishermen on these lakes and some people have told me they have given up on the lakes. Another problem on Cle Elum is the health of the lake trout which seem to be getting more emaciated as time goes on probably to due lack of forage. Trophy lake trout opportunities are very limited in Washington and promoting trophy fishing opportunities would fall under the WDFW motto of "sound stewardship of fish and wildlife." The new head of the WDFW came from Idaho where the average lake trout in Payette lake was 13 lbs several years ago and has not dropped to 6 lbs. IDFG has now stepped up and stared planting more Kokanee to provide more forage for the lake trout to protect the fishery. Wyoming also has a progressive fish and game department who values and protects their trophy fisheries and has followed suit. The new head of the WDFW has held several public meetings over the last several months in order to receive feedback on how to better manage and promote more fishing opportunities. Hopefully, he will listen to public opinion and start protecting the trophy fisheries already established and supplement those that need it.

I'm not sure you will have much luck in this topic. Last year I made a post on here about the Kokanee stocking in Region 1 where over 50% of the Kokanee are planted in a lake that has no public access to sportsman. Sent letter's to the WDFW and to the local paper and didn't get much back from them. They said that they were negotiation for access. My question was why not plant them where the sportsman could harvest them.

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Regarding Cle Elum, the state and tribes are working on establishing a sockeye run. If you do a search from a couple years ago I posted information I got from the regional WDFW fisheries biologist about the kokanee on Cle Elum. He told me these fish are actually sockeye which either never found their way out of the lake or decided to stay in the lake and spawn. WDFW now sets slot limits each summer to reduce anglers catching the returned sockeye vrs. the lake "kokanee". As I recall, prior to the slot limit the "kokanee" limit had been very nice, 10-12 fish/day. This year it's 5 "kokanee" with a slot limit all year. And stocking of Cle Elum with kokanee ended several years ago, all those fish are sockeye/naturalized kokanee, at least that's what he told me.

As to the lakers, and I see also brown and eastern brook trout this year, no limits. WDFW want these fish out, in particular the lakers because they are not a native fish to the system, and they don't want the lakers eating the sockeye smolts.

With any luck we'll have another sockeye fishery in a few years. I last fished Cle Elum a couple years ago in late July and we caught several sockeye while fishing for the kokanee.

Whether or not you agree with WDFW and the Tribe (I don't know which one it is - Yakima?) management of the lake is another matter. Having a vibrant sockeye run like Baker Lake would be a strong incentive for the tribe and be a pretty high value fishery.

Kachess and Keechelus are 10 fish limits daily. That too has changed, I'm pretty sure Kachess was only 2 fish last year, but I could be wrong. From what I understand both lakes never produced very large fish.

The lake/brown/brook/rainbow trout in Cle Elum provide a 365 day per year fishing opportunity where as the Sockeye, if it ever develops, would only be several days like Lake Wenatchee in Sept. The main problems facing the Soceye migration out of Cle Elum to the ocean are in the Yakima/Columbia rivers via northern pike minnow and smallmouth bass. The northern pike minnow are so problematic to the smolts that there is a monetary bounty on them. Instead of killing the lake trout in gill nets, the WDFW should thank the lake trout in Cle Elum for suppressing the northern pike minnow which are very few in Cle Elum because of lake trout suppression (Keechelus and Kachess have huge northern pike minnow populations with few lake trout). Since lake trout usually live such long lives, just add 1,000 pike minnow to the population for every lake trout killed in Cle Elum and how is that benefitting the Sockeye smolts in Cle Elum?

Mike Carey wrote:Kachess and Keechelus are 10 fish limits daily. That too has changed, I'm pretty sure Kachess was only 2 fish last year, but I could be wrong. From what I understand both lakes never produced very large fish.

According to the 2015-16 sport fishing regs, there are separate limits for kokanee and trout. For kokanee, it's still a 10 fish limit (no size limit either). For all other trout it's a 2 fish limit (minimum size 12").

I'm not disagreeing with you on Cle Elum lakers and that fishery vs. The brief sockeye fishery (which would be July -August btw).
That said, I'm also excited at the prospect of another sockeye fishery. And, they are also looking to add king returns.
Time will tell how it all shakes out.

The lake trout fishing in Cle Elum has been sinking like a rock - yes, seems certain groups are being allowed to remove them. I won't argue lake trout fishing year round, to a small window of over-crowded days on the lake for sockeye, I suppose people on each side have reasons why they like one better than the other, but personally, I'd take the lake trout year round!!!

And as far as stocking lakes, and I have NO accurate intel that verifies this, it "seems" to me, that money is no object when it comes to the West side of the state, but Eastern Washington is often left out. I read about all these west side lakes (and a lot of them) being stocked for winter fishing, but very few Eastern Washington lakes getting stocked?

It seems pretty stupid to me to try and start a Sockeye run on a lake behind a dam with no fish ladder. I understand the where's and why's for Baker but it's just plain old doesn't make any sense even if the Indians want to have a Sockeye run that will have no commercial value by the time the fish make it there. People just don't buy fire truck salmon. It's a shame they have to ruin lake for Browns and Lakers on a whim, both are better eating than a fire truck salmon and it's a year round fishery.

Last I checked, the stocking schedule for kokanee had changed to every other year for Kachess and Kecheelus. The rational behind this was to reduce the overall number of fish in the lake and increase the size of harvestable adult fish. The plan worked as the typical size of kokanee caught increased from 6" to 8" to around 10" to 12". In Cle Elum, where they stopped planting for kokanee harvest altogether, you saw a dramatic increase in the size of fish which decided to stay in the lake instead of migrating to sea. Prior to the change in stocking schedule, the limit on these lakes was 16 fish. For a cold water, alpine type lake with a limited growth period for algae/plankton and wildly fluctuating water levels, you can't expect too much from the fishery.

Just checked the stocking schedule posted on the WDFW site and it looks like they are still going with the every other year plan. Last stocking occurred June time frame of 2014 so expect them to drop in another batch of fry this June.

All dammed rivers should have fully functional salmon ladders in my opinion. Trucking fish to their spawning ground is just sad to me.

Another problem facing the reintroduction of Sockeye in Cle Elum is the drawdown for irrigation. The smolts only have a small window in the late Spring to get out of the reservoir. Last May, the water level was dropping so quickly, it was difficult to even launch a boat at Bell Creek which is usually good until July. The level was low enough in May that some smolts probably did not get out and remained in the lake. The only Sockeye in Cle Elum are trucked in (migratory)and all others are landlocked (non-migratory) which, according to the WDFW website, are called Kokanee (the majority of fish). This includes the ones unable to get out of the lake in the Spring due to rapid dewatering of the lake like last year. Hopefully, this year, the USBR can keep the level up so the smolts can get out.