Sprague Walleyes

[kevinb]

I was looking for an overvue of this lake but I'm an idiot and couldn't find anything.
Does this lake still have walleyes in it? I heard some discussion that this lake was killed off.
Whats in it now? If walleyes are still present/whats the average size? Any info is much appreciated.

Thanks
Kevin

[gpc]

Nope, sorry bud. All the walleye are gone now. But I have a feeling the bucket biologists are going to rip that lake up. They just planted truck load after truck load (after truck load) of trout. Panfish and largemouth are going in this summer, oh and cats, maybe tigers

[kevinb]

Well that sucks...

I don't suppose their might be other lakes that are a 'bit smaller than Banks,Potholes and Roosevelt with walleyes?
I love these lakes but when your like me and you get to fish them once or twice a year,their size alone is a battle. Just looking for another spot that doesn't require so much time into locating fish.

[zen leecher aka Bill W]

Scooteny Reservoir has some walleyes.

[gpc]

Well that sucks...

I don't suppose their might be other lakes that are a 'bit smaller than Banks,Potholes and Roosevelt with walleyes?
I love these lakes but when your like me and you get to fish them once or twice a year,their size alone is a battle. Just looking for another spot that doesn't require so much time into locating fish.

There are quite a few lakes across the street from potholes, in the CNWR, that are smaller and hold walleye. I know what you mean about the size of those lakes. Too much water not enough time. I have potholes down to about a 50% success rate when I troll for walleye. Banks and Roosevelt, never really fished them but I would be lucky if my success rate was a fifth as high as that, on those land locked oceans.


Also Evergreen Res. has walleye and tigers

[Jake Dogfish]

The spokane arm on Roosevelt which just opened, is really good this time of year. The fish are generally small but you can get into big numbers...

[kevinb]

I'll have to check these out.
I still wish we had Sprague(IMHO) They must have killed it off for a good reason...right?:-" (doubtful)

[spadam98]

Here is a link to what they plan on stocking and have already stocked I hope they do go ahead and stock the warm water species as it says they will http://wdfw.wa.gov/do/newreal/release.php?id=apr0408a

[michaelunbewust]

im a regular at potholes, but, been sneaking over to scootney more and more (you didnt hear it from me). this is alot smaller body of water, but, rocky. healthy walleye population, as far as, eaters. you will not catch a whole lot of trophies here, although, there are some monsters in there. been trolling handmade double-whammy's (chartr.). i do not take my new boat out on this lake, so, take it slow if yougo, until you find the rock shelfs. also holds, perch, crappie, smallies, trout.

[kevinb]

im a regular at potholes, but, been sneaking over to scootney more and more (you didnt hear it from me). this is alot smaller body of water, but, rocky. healthy walleye population, as far as, eaters. you will not catch a whole lot of trophies here, although, there are some monsters in there. been trolling handmade double-whammy's (chartr.). i do not take my new boat out on this lake, so, take it slow if yougo, until you find the rock shelfs. also holds, perch, crappie, smallies, trout.

I'm adding this to my list of places. My wife and I travel through eastern Washington alot but now we need to make more stops. Its tempting to buy a piece of property out here somewhere. Thanks for the info. Much appreciated.

[Mossy]

liberty lake

[kevinb]

liberty lake

Really? I never knew.. Any ideas as to size? or healthy population?

[Mossy]

they originally stocked 100 adult sized walleyes from moses lake back in 1996 and also planted fingerlings for a couple years past that. As far as after 1998 I'm not sure if they continued stocking any. I had read a report about 4 years ago I think that there were quite a bit of them were over 18 inches. When they first started stocking the lake they weren't supposed to do that great because of a poor spawning habitat. I haven't been out there for a few years but I would pick one up once in awhile while either trolling for trout or perch fishing. So the best thing I can tell you is you might have decent luck if you specifically fish for them and if you do, post up.

[Jsmooth]

I went to Liberty Lake bout 3wks ago and got totally skunked! So did everyone else that I talked to. I heard lots of stories about how bad that lake sucked, now I can testify that it does infact suck big time. Only one single 150 yard stretch that doesnt have houses on it, lotsa milfoil and water is nasty. Never again!

[bad esox]

You could possibly also check with the Western Washington Walleye Club for information on Walleye fishing here in Washington.
They are a great bunch of people and I am sure would be willing to help you out if they can.

You can try: www.walleye-club.com

[Gone Fishin]

Well Kevin, I agree I wish we still had Sprague but not because of the walleye. We were averaging 3 channel cats a night out there. All the channels we caught were 10-15lbs. Amazing! I also thought the bass fishing was pretty good, not to mention the best crappie fishing I have seen (I haven't done much crappie fishing but it was good).

It used to be really good for walleye, but in recent years they were just plain tough to catch. Its not that they weren't there its just that they couldn't be caught. There are theories about why nobody could catch the walleye ranging from they weren't there to there was too much food in the lake for them. When I was out on Newman with WDFW they told me that they were netting lots of walleye in sprague each time, so they were definately there. The best explanation I have been given is that there were too many crappie, bluegill and perch in there. The walleye would gorge themselves on those and not need to take lures.

The lake was popular when the walleye fishing was good. The campgrounds were full, the boatlaunches were being used and people were happy. When the walleye fishing hit the shitter so did the use of the lake. THe campgrounds and boatlaunches sat unused. Not good when you consider that sprague lake is really one of the best in the area for sustaining good populations of good fish. I was told it is among the top. SO a good lake sat wasted. Thats when they decided to kill it off.

Now Sprague will be a trout lake for a couple of years and will produce nice rainbows and cuts until the warm water species populate and they will stop stocking trout. Once the warm water species have established themselves I believe it is in the plans to put Tiger Muskie in there. This lake should provide for some very good fishing in years to come, and some very large muskies down the road.

As far as the Liberty Lake walleyes is concerned, these two lake have a connection! Before they killed Sprague they were netting it. They took all the channel cats and crappie to a hatchery to dump back into Sprague at a later date. They took the walleye and dumped them in Liberty to boost the already existing population there. As far as what the population was before the Sprague fish entered the picture, I'm not sure. Testing the walleye fishing at Liberty is on my list of things to do as soon as I stop venturing to the Pend Oreille every day off.