Big Bluegill in Wapato Lake

[Mike Schmuck]

Folks,

One of the perks of this job is getting to see some great new waters and getting a good idea of the opportunities that exist.

Our major project for summer 2013 is evaluating the hatchery reared black crappie that were raised at Meseberg Hatchery and released into Palmer and Wapato Lakes.

These fish were marked at the hatchery so we are able to evaluate the contribution these fish provide to the fishery in future years. We are sampling these fish communities using boat electrofishing and fyke nets.

While the small crappie have proved to be difficult to collect in abundance we have been very pleased with the size and abundance of bluegill and yellow perch in Wapato Lake (Chelan County). The biggest bluegill are between 9 and 10 inches and the yellow perch are up to 14 inches. These fish need to be harvested and enjoyed by anglers. Unfortunately, when we show these fish to anglers fishing on Wapato Lake most are unaware that these opportunities exist.



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Mike Schmuck
Fisheries Biologist
WDFW Region 2,
1550 Alder St. NW
Ephrata

509.754.4624 x227

[Mike Carey]

Wow, those are some nice bluegill. On light tackle they would be a blast!

[natetreat]

NOM. Fish fry! I know where I'm taking the wife for a vacation!

[Anglinarcher]

Ohhhh, do I wish I lived closer. I have not caught bull gills like that in years. Hey, those fat perch would eat well too.

[tluedeke]

Looks fabulous - but probably one of the main reasons it gets no pressure is that it is about 200 miles away from anywhere. I'd be worried about dragging a boat 3+ hours, and getting my butt skunked. But perhaps I'll look into a weekend camping trip or something...

[Mike Carey]

bonus side trip after catching lake Chelan lakers.

[fishinChristian]

WApato produced well this year. Fished it twice, for about 2 hours each time, and had lots of critters like the ones you showed. The crappie I caught were pretty small, but about a dozen per trip.

[MarkFromSea]

Huh, I didn't see this earlier either.... Thanks for bringing it back FC! Wapato used to be a GREAT trout fishery, one of my early season favs.... The state seemed to abandon Wapato when Roses was opened up to year round, from a winter only lake. It seemed the resources once put into Wapato were suddenly dumped into Roses. Years ago of course now.... The trout fishery in Wapato seemed to die. Wapato sucked! I quit going! Roses was the new game!

I'll gladly return to Wapato next summer to hit some BG and YP.

[MarkFromSea]

Came to me later... memory issue.. LOL
What happened over there, Wapato, with the Fish and Game ramp? Last I heard the state was letting it go to the adjacent resort. There was a temporary understanding that it would still be available at no charge.... but that was temporary, IDK, a couple years ago.

[fishinChristian]

The ramp at the south end of the lake was still no charge in May, even though it's no longer a state ramp.

[MarkFromSea]

Thank You!