Mackinaw, Walleye, and Sturgeon in Lake Washington?

[Derrick-k]

What If it had come from the cedar?

[A9]

I haven't heard of Sturgeon coming down from the cedar...That's a pretty small river for a sturgeon to run up anyways. Probably was a big pikeminnnow cause those would be sitting at the mouth of the cedar right now...

[Fisherman_max]

i am not quite sure but dont pikeminnow and sturgeon look almost exactly opposite? i am not saying he did not mistake it but they look nothing alike

[A9]

Not really. You'd also be suprised at what some people think a fish really is. I've seen some people mistake some fish for some other crazy fish...

[Smalma]

Derrick -
White sturgeon are know to spawn only in the Columbia, FRaser, and Sacramento River systems. Any sturgeon found in our area (either rivers, Lake Washington or Puget Sound) have to come from one of those three river systems. In short they have to swim through the salt to get to Lake Washington and since they can survive in the salt at much less than 30 inches there is no way that a fish of about 1 foot could be a sturgeon that got to the lake naturally.

River systems like the Cedar or other Puget Sound rivers lack suitable spawning conditions (the large flows/substrates, etc) to support successful sturgeon reproduction.

Tight lines
Curt

[Anonymous]

Not really. You'd also be suprised at what some people think a fish really is. I've seen some people mistake some fish for some other crazy fish...

Last week when I was fishing this guy came and foul hooked this little fish he called a white fish when I asked him what it was. He said they eat salmon and if I ever caught one to kill it and this is what he did. Took a stone and smashed its head and through it back in the river. He told me that you can get $5.00 a fish for them. I asked "isn't that a norther pike minnow and you have to be registered to get the money?" and he said he caught pike in Minnesota.
I have looked at images on google and what he caught was a white fish not a pikeminnow. Aren't white fish game fish?

[Derrick-k]

I acctually know of some other rivers very small ones where I have seen some 2-3ft sturgen wash up on couldn't sturgeon migrate and then spawn in different river systems.

I acctually saw a different man at the mouth of the cedar who had just caught a nice crappie but he thought it was a bass....

[iPodrodder]

Haha. Some guy at Pine Lake was trying to lecture me on how to fish. Then he pulled up a 7" perch and said it was a good sized golden trout.

[Smalma]

Derrick -
Sturgeon are pretty interesting critters that while an old species have some very specific spawning requirements. Each species of fish have specific requirements for them to successfully survive in a given habitat which of course limits the species that potential survive in an area. Clearly in the case of white sturgeon the conditions for successful migration, feeding and growth are found in our areas the needed spawning conditions are not found here.

Sturgeon do no reach maturity until relatively old. While the males mature earlier than the females most females do not first spawn until they are teenagers (13 to 16 years ago). Once they do reach sexual maturity they do not spawn annually - it is common for the fish to have 3 to 11 years between spawning. If the fish do not find the river conditions favorable for spawning the fish will not spawn - the females will "hold" their eggs until the following year looking for more favorable conditions.

They spawn during the late spring to early summer (April to July) when the water temperatures are in the mid-50s to mid-60s range. They are broadcast spawners (females release the eggs into the water column where they are fertilized) the eggs then attach themselves to the bottom substate (usually large cobble, boulders, and bed rock). The areas selected for spawning typically is swift water (flows at 2 to 6 miles/hour) that is fairly deep (in the lower Columbia 10 to more than 50 feet deep). A major triggering factor to spawning appears to be having a large spring/summer run-off flow (snow melt if you will). Without that large flow spike the fish will not spawn.

An illustration of how critical those flow conditions can be consider the plight of the white sturgeon in the fish below libbby dam. Once the dam was put in place capturing the spring run-off flows all stugeon spawning ended. For more than 3 decades there was not any successful spawning downstream of that dam and the fish were on the edge of extinction. Fortunately several years ago a large snow pack allowed for a release of water at the dam to mimic the natural flows prior to the dam and the remaining fish did spawn.

Bottom line the large turbulent flows with acceptable temperatures and that trigger large and extend run-off flows are just not found in our Puget Sound streams. As I mentioned the fact that we do not ever see any sturgeon in the area smaller than that 24 to 30 inch (size that they can tolerate salt water and leave their natal waters) just confirms that spawning is not happening in here.

Tight lines
Curt

[Palmer]

The WDFW had an article on walleye being caught in Lake Washington. It came out last year on their website.

In surfing the web I found an article stating the sturgeon are left over from 80+ years ago when they lowered the lake 12' and opened the cut. Since the Lake doesn't flow out the Black River and into the Duwamish anymore there isn't an easy way for the sturgeon to swim in and out of the Lake. Sturgeon prefer 6 oz water current.

[Palmer]

5 or so years ago a research net (U of W?) placed in Lake Washington caught a walleye. In addition there have occassional angler reports of walleye's being caught (though most turn out to be large perch or pikeminnow). The bottom line is that there are some walleye in the big pond though I would not characterize them as a fishable population at this time.

Lake Trout were apparently introduced in the lake Washington (and other large waters) more than 100 years ago. As late as the mid-1960s an odd laker was caugth in Lake Sammamish. Have not heard of any since that time.

White sturgeon are know to use Lake Washington. Those fish are not produced in the lake but rather fish that have migrated from either the Columbia or Fraser Rivers enter the lake (just like most Puget Sound rivers) looking for feeding opportunities. On the whole the number in the lake at anyone time would appear to be limited

Tight lines
Curt

Where did you find your info on Mackinaw (Lake Trout)?