Sprague Lake again

[Marc Martyn]

I read these little facts about sprague the other day.

Spring 2008, crappie, bluegill, rainbows, channel catfish, maybe tiger muskie, no SM bass or walleye

Another thing that I read was that sprauge is the largest rotenone project in WA and one of the largest in the West. Sprague is 2,000 acres.

And how many times over the last 30 years have they done this????
Man I wish they would get it straight for once.

[hewesfisher]

Is the same guy doing the math as before:-k

Can't be, if it was there's no way a half million carp would comprise 30% of the lake's population. Too bad we can't get solid, straight facts about what they really found after the kill off.

I hope they plan to improve launches at the lake if they expect to return it to the "glory days" of old. The only WDFW launch is rough at best and the same holds true for the launches at the "resorts". But, we'll see what happens after they restock and word gets out.

[YellowBear]

I can tell you what I did not see.
I did not see a single Walleye.
Now my access was limited to a small area of the lake because the WDFW had taped off all of the launch's.
The idea that there were know bait fish was a mistake. There where large dead fish slicks that where all 2 inch to 3 inch Crappie.
The WDFW told me that the Walleyes had been in the middle of the lake and that is were they went down.
From my own experience with Sprague, this is a false statement as I have always found fish shallow in Sprague.

gpc, Could you tell me were you got this new info?

Marc, The only time that I remember Sprague getting Rotenone was in 1985.

As far as the launches are concerned, The WDFW has one on Sprague.

These types of issues are what has inspired the NWWF.

[Hal]

Yep, all the Walleyes were right in the middle of the lake, and they sank instead of floating up like all other fish.

[Anglinarcher]

well that poison will last in water for up to six months, its gona be a longer than a year for it to become great. but it can only get BETTER. just like a glass of wine:bounce:

The last time I helped Idaho out with a fish kill, they just waited for two weeks, than placed a couple of traps with live hatchery trout in the water overnight. If the fish were ok, it was time to replant.

The poision will not last a year, maybe a few days at most, if no wind or sun hit the water.

[Anglinarcher]

I read these little facts about sprague the other day.

Spring 2008, crappie, bluegill, rainbows, channel catfish, maybe tiger muskie, no SM bass or walleye

Another thing that I read was that sprauge is the largest rotenone project in WA and one of the largest in the West. Sprague is 2,000 acres.

And how many times over the last 30 years have they done this????
Man I wish they would get it straight for once.

Actually Marc, I think that this is only the second time in 30 years, with the last time being 25 years ago.

Frankly, I don't think that they will ever get it "right".

[Anglinarcher]

I can tell you what I did not see.
I did not see a single Walleye.
Now my access was limited to a small area of the lake because the WDFW had taped off all of the launch's.
The idea that there were know bait fish was a mistake. There where large dead fish slicks that where all 2 inch to 3 inch Crappie.
The WDFW told me that the Walleyes had been in the middle of the lake and that is were they went down.
From my own experience with Sprague, this is a false statement as I have always found fish shallow in Sprague.

gpc, Could you tell me were you got this new info?

Marc, The only time that I remember Sprague getting Rotenone was in 1985.

As far as the launches are concerned, The WDFW has one on Sprague.

These types of issues are what has inspired the NWWF.

I agree that there was more than adaquate bait fish. Even if the new quote of ~25K walleye is correct, the lake could have held far more.

Here is my take on this. First, I just reported what I was told. My experience is that they only tell you what they want you to know, or believe. If you will, truth, through their rose colored glasses. That is the only reason I can see for preventing us from veiwing the results ourselves.

Second, this time of year it would not be unexpected to find the walleye in the deeper water. Having fished it this time of year several times, long line fishing by drifting with wind was the norm, in 12 to 15 of water. Sure enough though, come February, through late summer, the walleye were always shallow.

Third, I have tried to explain this before, but there is a reason the walleye, no matter how many there were, were so thight lipped. The lake is shallow, and walleye are spookey. When they stocked a lot of "catchable" trout, the trout grew large, tons of fishermen came out to fish for them, and the walleye got use to the noise of motors. As the trout number dropped off, the walleye became more and more timid, simply due to the lack of boat noise.

I use to fish the edges with jerk baits, extra long cast, and I could limit out any normal day. But I would stop the big motor at least 100 yards short and motor in with the electric. This is not the normal way of walleye fishing, so the local club could not catch them either.

The lake could have been saved by planting more 'catchable' trout. The walleye were not eating them, and the fisheries people planted far more catchables per acre in other lakes, with far less return.

In summary, the fisheries people think that the walleye eat 6" trout (not true for the most part), and they were conviced that there were 60K walleye in the lake.

Perhaps the good thing is that the carp are removed for now. I do believe that there were a lot of carp there, maybe even as many as they claim.

[michaelunbewust]

the carp will always come back because of all the lowland drainage into the lake. its surrounded by farmland, thus, carp will always find there way back, thru canals, etc. the walleys were a lil tight-lipped, but fishing the way the recent post of long-lining always worked for us (my dad, and his retired air force buddy's). i think yellowbear is right on the money with his new foundation. these damn politicians who do not even fish these fishery's spending millions of tax-payers money on projects that do not work, and have a history of not working. i guess what really opened my eyes were these studies done at individual lakes like my favorite potholes. i was told of the walleye killed for the study (including a 11.5 pounder) out of potholes were enjoyed by the people who did the study. whoever ate that 11.5 punder i hope it gave them the @#$%@. it is possible to do fish counts with today's technology alot cheaper than eelectricuting them (i should know, my brother is a fisheries bilogist for bpa), and then having a fish fry. it was great to see all the wally's caught in the study at potholes and moses lake, but could they have thrown them back. plenty of 18 inchers to eat!!!!! and especially, iwth all the $$$$'s i spend going over the mountain 2 times a month to fish, and they study group couldnt kick me down a fillet or 2!!!!!

[gpc]

I can tell you what I did not see.
I did not see a single Walleye.
Now my access was limited to a small area of the lake because the WDFW had taped off all of the launch's.
The idea that there were know bait fish was a mistake. There where large dead fish slicks that where all 2 inch to 3 inch Crappie.
The WDFW told me that the Walleyes had been in the middle of the lake and that is were they went down.
From my own experience with Sprague, this is a false statement as I have always found fish shallow in Sprague.

gpc, Could you tell me were you got this new info?

Marc, The only time that I remember Sprague getting Rotenone was in 1985.

As far as the launches are concerned, The WDFW has one on Sprague.

These types of issues are what has inspired the NWWF.

No problem. It came from the F&H news for WA state. They did a pretty good article on the kill off. Plus every month they have a "by the numbers" section and they dedicated that to sprague as well.