killing off spague lake

[gpc]

That is very interesting Anglinarcher. I was aware of the springs in Sprague lake and that carp and other trash fish can survive with lower oxygen levels. But I guess I never put 2 and 2 together, just one more thing that really pisses me off about the sprague kill off.


But wouldnt the channel cats fit under the same category? Do you think that some of them will make it through the kill off? I think when they kill it off they will be surprised what comes up. Last time there was a pretty nice sized sturgeon that popped up. On another note, the state record tench came out of sprague too, it also wouldnt suprise me if another state record of some species came floating to the top, sprague is pretty unpredictable.

[Anglinarcher]

That is very interesting Anglinarcher. I was aware of the springs in Sprague lake and that carp and other trash fish can survive with lower oxygen levels. But I guess I never put 2 and 2 together, just one more thing that really pisses me off about the sprague kill off.


But wouldnt the channel cats fit under the same category? Do you think that some of them will make it through the kill off? I think when they kill it off they will be surprised what comes up. Last time there was a pretty nice sized sturgeon that popped up. On another note, the state record tench came out of sprague too, it also wouldnt suprise me if another state record of some species came floating to the top, sprague is pretty unpredictable.

I can't speak directly to the Channel Cats. I do know that the smaller of any species survive better than the larger of the species, at least when low oxygen levels are concerned, and I have not caught a "small Channel Cat" out of Sprague in some time (5 lbs and bigger for me in the last 4 years).

Again, in South East Idaho, they worried about not getting all of the Bullheads, but if the Channel Cats survived, so much the better. I have never heard one way or another about the Channel Cat.

[GCB069]

here a link to new reg.
https://fortress.wa.gov/dfw/erules/erul ... jsp?id=555

· Sprague Lake, Hallin Lake, Cow Lake, Finnell Lake, Dixons Pond, Negro Creek from the mouth at Sprague Lake to the fish barrier dam at Fishtrap Lake, Cow Creek from Sheep Springs dam to Sprague Lake, Lugenbeal Creek, Damage Creek (Adams and Lincoln Counties): Effective immediately through September 30, 2007, open to fishing. No daily limit for game fish. No daily size limit for game fish. Closed to fishing October 1, 2007 until further notice.

[Hal]

Ironically they are killing off a lake in Minnesota because of Bass taking over the trout. So why are they putting Bass back in Sprauge. The entire thing is a joke, this state has a terrible F&G committee IMO.

[Fish On!]

Interesting subject and good info. on this subject. Chopaka Lake (fly fishing lake) near Loomis is scheduled for a kill off next week and the regs have been lifted. I have to question the sanity of this after fishing there for 4 days last week. The reason for killing it off was the over abundance of small mouth bass. HUH??? The bass have been in there for 25 years and I don't see any over abundance of bass what so ever. I fished for hours targetting bass and only caught one small one about 8 inches.

Sat. and Sunday there were several bass boats attempting to catch and transplant some of the bass to nearby Palmer Lake and in a day of hard fishing caught 4 bass!.....One went in the net. They caught far more LARGE trout than bass. All the trout in there are over 3 lbs. I brought 6 home that ran 4-6 lbs. The 2 guys next to me took 18. All over 4 lbs. Just about everyone was catching fish. I caught 2 nice bass 3.5-5 lbs while shore fishing for trout. There are some nice bass, but not the swarms of small bass you would expect.

I was told the same for this lake. There will be no salvage of dead fish and what's left will rot. I lost several trout that easily went over 6 lbs. and heard of several being caught over 10 lbs. I saw no F&W agents in the 5 days I was there checking anglers or getting an idea what was being caught. You would think someone would have had some interest as it's not an inexpensive opperation to kill off a lake.

I"m generally in favor of killing off a lake if it's to rid a lake of numerous small stunted fish, but Chopaka had nothing even close to this. I don't know the cost factors involved, but instead of stocking small 3 inch fry and having the large fish eat them. I would think the large trout in there are preying on the fry too, why not hold the fry till they are 5-6 inches and stock them? I'm sure it has to do with costs and all, but seems to me it would be a lot cheaper than spending all that money to kill a lake off and then take years to recover.

I also wonder if it's the fry that are being stocked now that are the problem and not predator fish. I know of 4-5 lakes in E.WA that have had almost total fry die off the past several years. Killing a lake off IMHO should be the last resort, but often times is the quick and easy fix that will show the quickest results. I'd love to see what comes floating up at Chopaka. Bet there will be some HUGE trout.

[Anglinarcher]

So, by now, Sprague should be a dead smelly hole in the ground.

Has anyone heard any official results of their kill?