Native species of fish in Washington..

[muskyhunter]

Can someone please give a list of Native fish species from this state..Not a list of species..i know what are here. I would just like a clarification.

[Derrick-k]

Coastal Cutthroat(Resident and sea run)
Rainbow trout
Northern pikeminnow aka squaw
Steelhead
King salmon
Pink salmon
Sockeye salmon
Silver salmon
Chum salmon
Ling cod
Rockfish
Halibut
True cod

There is more, but They don't come to mind right now.

[dbfisherman]

sturgeon

[Derrick-k]

Almost forgot dolly varden!

[muskyhunter]

O.k.,...Lets go with Native freshwater species that way its somewhat specific..thanks

[dbfisherman]

how about big cock fish?

[Don Wittenberger]

Should be a list in the regulations pamphlet. Add bull trout to the above. Basically, none of the warmwater species are native.

[zen leecher aka Bill W]

Isn't the grass pickeral native?

[Anglinarcher]

Isn't the grass pickeral native?

Yes, the grass pickeral is native.

The Rainbow Trout is not native, dispite what many believe. The rainbow trout is a mix of different bloodlines, but the only true rainbows are either from Falls River California or from the Kamaloops drainage of Alaska. All others are actually Steelhead that no longer go to the ocean.

Now don't get me wrong, rainbows now spawn in inland waters, never go to the ocean, etc., etc., etc., but if you dig deep enough, you will find that I am right. "I was once wrong on this subject and learned this directly from the Idaho Fish and Game, or at least on of their managers, with his books to back him up):-"

Did we mention suckers, white fish, and West Slope Cut Throats?

[iPodrodder]

There is the Beardslee Rainbow Trout, and another species that also lives in Cresent Lake on the peninsula of Washington. Both are found nowhere else in the world.

[Anglinarcher]

There is the Beardslee Rainbow Trout, and another species that also lives in Cresent Lake on the peninsula of Washington. Both are found nowhere else in the world.

True, but I think that, well, you know, I am not so sure that the Beardslee is not a true Rainbow Trout. The "lesson" I received is a little old. Is it a true "Rainbow"?

For example, the Golden trout is not considered a Rainbow, but it looks a lot like it. The Gila River trout in the Apache country (White Clouds) of Arizona looks a rainbow, but it is not. How about the "Red Band". It looks so much like a rainbow that if you don't look for the leading edge of white on the lower fins, you won't even know. It is close in history to a cut throat, not a rainbow, although both are related pretty close.

I wonder if the Beardslee is a red band?

[iPodrodder]

Kamloops and Beardslee are the same principle. Both are rainbow trout, but both have internal characteristics that are different from a true rainbow trout. I don't know exactly the science behind it, but the Kamloops has 4 somethings that they developed when living in very cold waters when an actual rainbow should have 6. Now, I THINK that the Beardslee has the same story that they have somehow evolved and changed from the real strain. Rainbows and Kamloops/Beardslee are all the same genetic fish, but adaptation to their environment has somehow changed or distinguished them.

[Derrick-k]

Isn't the grass pickeral native?

Yes, the grass pickeral is native.

The Rainbow Trout is not native, dispite what many believe. The rainbow trout is a mix of different bloodlines, but the only true rainbows are either from Falls River California or from the Kamaloops drainage of Alaska. All others are actually Steelhead that no longer go to the ocean.

Now don't get me wrong, rainbows now spawn in inland waters, never go to the ocean, etc., etc., etc., but if you dig deep enough, you will find that I am right. "I was once wrong on this subject and learned this directly from the Idaho Fish and Game, or at least on of their managers, with his books to back him up):-"

Did we mention suckers, white fish, and West Slope Cut Throats?

Now you are confusing me, so you are saying all rainbow trout in washington were all originally plated.
When you say suckers are native, do you mean the one's that look like carp with their mouth at the bottom?
One more, Snake river fine spotted cutthroat, just read about those.

[cavdad45]

They all sound like good bass food to me. :chef: :bom:

[Anglinarcher]

Now you are confusing me, so you are saying all rainbow trout in Washington were all originally plated. When you say suckers are native, do you mean the one's that look like carp with their mouth at the bottom? One more, Snake river fine spotted cutthroat, just read about those.

Yes, despite what the state of Washington claims, the true Rainbows were all planted in our waters. Now don't get me wrong, the Steelhead is often considered a Rainbow when the Steelhead Smolts don't make it back to the Ocean. Still, and while I'm sure a lot of people will call this splitting hairs, the Steelhead "residents" are not true "Rainbows". With that in mind, the Redbands I was talking about will interbreed with Cuts and Bows, and look so much like Bows that it is easy to mistake them, so perhaps the State is calling them Rainbows for their purposes. I know that the Redbands were located in the Blue Mountains, so they would also be Native.

To call a sucker a carp is an insult to all suckers.:bom: It is true that the sucker has the mouth at the bottom (I'd like to think more like a Sturgeon), but it has very small scales and is a cold water fish. Carp are Asian or European, have at least a few large scales, and are considered a Cool to Warm Water fish. There are several types of Native suckers, but I consider them to be a trash fish so I don't keep up on the differences.

Snake River fine Spotted Cuts? Not sure they are native to Washington at all. The Snake River fine Spot is native to the area of the Snake river down stream of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The Palisades dam in Idaho limited their habitat some, but there are fine spots down to Idaho Falls. This area also has the Yellowstone Cuts in it, and the fine spot is considered a branch of the Yellowstone cuts. Below the Falls at Twin Falls Idaho, there is a small group of native, and distinctive, cuts known as the Twin Falls or just the Falls Cuts.

[Anglinarcher]

They all sound like good bass food to me. :chef: :bom:

I see that your from Oregon. When I lived in the Portland area some years ago, it appeared as if your state considered Bass a trash fish.

I assume that you are not FROM Oregon (HEHEHE)?

[cavdad45]

Both state fishery agencies view bass as a trash fish. That's Okay with me. Keeps the pressure down as most anglers fish for those tiny cookie-cutter trout that so much of our license fees pay for.

[Mossy]

I agree with cavdad, the money that the state spends on fish stocking/research etc...is geared towards the trout poplulation, hence sprague lake. Anyway, we won't go down that road again! Trying to find a true list of native fish in the warm waters of washington is pretty tough but anglinarcher seems to know his stuff. All I know is that my appetite for lake trout(our version of them) has decreased over the years and that I no longer fish for them unless it's with my nephew or I've picked up my fly pole and hit some small rivers. I treat them like bass, catch and release. Sorry if I've hijacked the thread.

[MikeFishes]

Is the Burbot a native fish?

[Don Wittenberger]

"I agree with cavdad, the money that the state spends on fish stocking/research etc...is geared towards the trout poplulation, hence sprague lake."

WDFW plans to manage Sprague Lake as a bass and panfish lake. Although rainbows will be planted at the beginning, they will be phased out after a few years.