WDFW Sprague Lake Management Plan

[Marc Martyn]

Below is a PDF published by the WDFW outlining their plan for Sprague Lake.

[Jay K]

Interesting read. I suppose we're coming into year 4 of the rehab. If never been more disappointed when I learned they'd killed off all the walleye. What a waste of great fish. Did they ever open it up to no limit walleye fishing prior to the kill off?

[Anglinarcher]

Interesting read. I suppose we're coming into year 4 of the rehab. If never been more disappointed when I learned they'd killed off all the walleye. What a waste of great fish. Did they ever open it up to no limit walleye fishing prior to the kill off?

Yes, they did, but only for a short time and at the worst time of the year for Sprague Walleye fishing.

[Lotech Joe]

It sounds to me like Sprague Lake might just turn into a great panfish lake. There's certainly nothing wrong with Bluegills and Crappie. They're great fun on a flyrod. I do however, miss the big rainbows of days gone by.

[seacaptain]

sounds like there are still channel cats, know of anyone who has tried for them lately

[deepbuzzer]

There are largemouth bass in Sprague, we have caught them up to 6 lbs.
In speaking with the local spokane fishery biologist, WDFW's goal is to turn Sprague into a warmwater fishery. And to start limiting the amount of trout stocked to just the bare minimums for a early spring catch and keep type lake.

[Marc Martyn]

Can you say TIGER MUSKIE![thumbup]

[deepbuzzer]

Actually from what WDFW is saying the chance of tigers in Sprague are slim because of the lack of prey for them to actually feed on. Bass are more enjoyable to catch.

[YellowBear]

I would expect that most of the warmwater fry that were stocked in Sprague became prey for the Trout the first year. The numbers of Trout compared to the numbers and size's of spiny rays does not bode well for the warmwater species. IMHO!

[Anglinarcher]

After several fishing trips to Sprague this year, it is not a place I would suggest as a destination Spiny Ray fishery.

Are there Bass, Blue Gill, Crappie in there? Sure, but not very many. Are there some big ones, I suspect so, but that would be because some of the fish planted were already big ones.

YellowBear is dead on about the fry. By now, you should have been able to find Spiny Ray bedding this spring, and I found nothing in several outings, over several miles of shore line.

I suspect that someone will nail a super large Blue Gill soon, but I also suspect that there are probably less then 5 Bluegill per acre of water at this time.

[Dr Hook]

Sprague used to be a great fishery! Big bass both smallies and largemouth, huge bluegill, big trout and catfish etc. I would fish it several times a year. It used to have a healthy population of crawfish, then the walleye became king of the lake. Almost every walleye I caught was gorged with crawfish. Then the size of the walleye and bass begun to decrease and the crawfish disappeared, not a crawfish to be found anywhere in the lake.

I would catch big walleye and keep them, they are great table fare. It seemed like every time I caught and kept a big walleye from Sprague the resort owners and others would come down on me for keeping the fish and I knew the lake was over populated with walleye, but I digress..

Eventually the lake and all species of fish in the lake suffered their demise to the over populated walleye. I hope that the lake can recover to its glory days without the walleye. The warmwater fish and the trout can and have co-existed in Sprague.

Heres some pictures from the glory days!

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[Anglinarcher]

The year the Walleye were killed out, I was still catching crawfish in my trap. I was also catching sculpin on worm hooks, so that bait species was numerous. The poison killed off the crawfish and the sculpin, and to the best of my knowledge, neither were planted back.

The same is true of the scuds, or fresh water shrimp. Nevertheless, the shrimp will probably return from eggs. No so with the sculpin and crawfish.

I suspect that in time the lake will return to the glory days. It was necessary to remove the carp and "re-set", so ..... in time. The trout that I did catch this year were pretty great, so that part has returned.

[YellowBear]

I seem to recall a articale in the paper last year.
It reported that WDFW had gone out on Sprague and announced there pleasure at what they saw.
I recall a prediction from WDFW that 2012 was suposed to be the year of the Bluegill at Sprague.
I predict that by the time the warm water species in Sprague does take hold , it will be time to kill it off again.

[Anglinarcher]

Perhaps. I do know that they planted larger Bass, Gills, and Crappie in Sprague, so they should spawn. I fear that it is just going to take time. How long? Well, I guess only time will tell.

[Lundegard]

I thought I read that, back when they poisoned Sprague, the majority of dead fish found were carp. I thought that WDFW had therefore determined that the imbalance was caused by an overabundance of carp...not traditional warm water species. Does anyone else recall that?

[Anglinarcher]

Carp were the problem, but Donnley said the problem was the Walleye.

Through revisionist history, the official position of the state is that there were indeed sufficient food sources for the Walleye, but that there were too many Walleye for the other warm water species or trout to populate.

The fact is that the carp had reduced water weeds to zero, with only a few reeds and cattails around the edges. The lack of cover is what keep the small bass and trout out of the jaws of Walleye, or fishermen, or segalls, etc. In reality, the amount of segalls would suggest that they are impacting the lake the most. Harper's Island is white most of the summer from all of the birds.

Now that the kill off is complete and 5 years have gone by, the weeds are the best I have seen in the 12 years I have lived in WA. With the weeds back, assuming they got all of the carp (they never do), then it will take some time before the gills and bass and crappie come back. The trout are, or have been for the last 4 years, stocked at such a concentrations that they are doing well. There is more then enough food for them, and the warm water species, as long as the cover remains.