Ask an ex-WDFW employee anything!

[Juniah87]

This may be a bit pretentious... I worked for WDFW at half a dozen different hatcheries for 5 years raising chinook, coho, pink salmon, chum, steelhead, brown trout, rainbow trout, and tiger trout in the Pierce County area, followed by a year in the private sector raising rainbows in net pens on the Columbia River. I have already gotten a lot of valuable information on this site, and figured if my limited knowledge can help anyone, I'd be glad to give them insight to the ways of the WDFW hatchery systems, so I figured I'd make a quick topic, an AMA sort of thing. I'm on the website/forums almost every day, so if you have any questions that I might be able to answer for you, please ask!

[The Quadfather]

Thank you for the offer of your insight.

I have a 1/2 doz. small oddball lakes that I used to hit each summer, in the area of the Sinlahekin Wildlife recreation area. This is just West of Loomis, WA. The last time I spent much time there feels like maybe 8-10 years ago. A few of the lakes at that time had recently been planted with Tiger trout, as fry.
'Reflection Pond' was one.

Can you tell me anything about Tiger trout? Is it a hybrid of a rainbow and ...?
Or just what is it? Grow to what size?
Also, what is the current state of these tiger trout in the field, and when did they start stocking, any ideas of how they are thriving, etc.

Thanks for being here!

[branweeds]

I worked for WDFW at half a dozen different hatcheries for 5 years raising chinook, coho, pink salmon, chum, steelhead, brown trout, rainbow trout, and tiger trout in the Pierce County area, followed by a year in the private sector raising rainbows in net pens on the Columbia River.

How did you like working at a hatcheries? Sounds like a dream job to me

[T-Bone]

Thank you for the offer of your insight.

I have a 1/2 doz. small oddball lakes that I used to hit each summer, in the area of the Sinlahekin Wildlife recreation area. This is just West of Loomis, WA. The last time I spent much time there feels like maybe 8-10 years ago. A few of the lakes at that time had recently been planted with Tiger trout, as fry.
'Reflection Pond' was one.

Can you tell me anything about Tiger trout? Is it a hybrid of a rainbow and ...?
Or just what is it? Grow to what size?
Also, what is the current state of these tiger trout in the field, and when did they start stocking, any ideas of how they are thriving, etc.

Thanks for being here!

No rainbow trout in tiger trout; they are a sterile cross between a brook trout and a brown trout:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_trout" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Your question makes me recall a small boat angler at Sprague Lake telling a bank angler that a tiger trout was a cross between a tiger muskie and a rainbow trout. Bank fishing nearby, I overheard the conversation and politely noted that such a cross was a biological impossibility and the real cross being a brown and a brook trout. The boat angler seemed not to believe me and got somewhat "pissed off". I told him to look it up on his (ever present) cell phone.

[Juniah87]

Thank you for the offer of your insight.

I have a 1/2 doz. small oddball lakes that I used to hit each summer, in the area of the Sinlahekin Wildlife recreation area. This is just West of Loomis, WA. The last time I spent much time there feels like maybe 8-10 years ago. A few of the lakes at that time had recently been planted with Tiger trout, as fry.
'Reflection Pond' was one.

Can you tell me anything about Tiger trout? Is it a hybrid of a rainbow and ...?
Or just what is it? Grow to what size?
Also, what is the current state of these tiger trout in the field, and when did they start stocking, any ideas of how they are thriving, etc.

Thanks for being here!

Tiger trout are actually hybrids of Brown trout and Brook trout! They are, just like triploids, sterile. The tiger trout I worked with were stocked as fry, but I cannot remember which lake they went into, it was only one, we had very few of them, and they were being raised at Kendall Creek hatchery. To my knowledge, Kendall was the only hatchery in western WA that was raising this species.

Thanks for the warm welcome, I've enjoyed my time here immensely already, and can't wait for what the future holds participating both in the forum, and out on my local lakes and rivers!

[Juniah87]

I worked for WDFW at half a dozen different hatcheries for 5 years raising chinook, coho, pink salmon, chum, steelhead, brown trout, rainbow trout, and tiger trout in the Pierce County area, followed by a year in the private sector raising rainbows in net pens on the Columbia River.

How did you like working at a hatcheries? Sounds like a dream job to me

It really was a lot of fun! Hard work though, especially during spawning season! They would frequesntly send us to different hatcheries to help them spawn salmon. Normally each hatchery would only spawn once or twice a week depending on how many fish were coming in, and the mortality rate we were experiencing, so during spawning season, we'd be spawning at our home hatchery, then off to another hatchery close by the next day to help them with their weekly spawn, rinse and repeat! This time of year I would be driving one of the rainbow trout planting trucks to the local lakes. This was my FAVORITE thing to do! We got to interact with the public, and see how happy bringing these fish to the local lakes made people, and we got to hear some awesome fishing stories! Not to mention if we got there quick with no traffic we could stop somewhere and take a break or eat without getting yelled at by our boss Summer time is usually pond maintenance and facility maintenance. Fixing egg baskets, mowing and weed-eating lawns, and lots of feeding, which in turn meant additional pond vacuuming (trash pump hooked up to a vacuum handle/nozzle on wheels). Another cool thing about the hatchery I worked at is we had a special needs program where troubled and/or diabled teens could come in and help us out for school credit. Kind of a hands-on training/mentor thing. The lead worker at that facility (Puyallup hatchery) was a great influence on a lot of youngsters in the area, I really enjoyed working with him.

[Juniah87]

Thank you for the offer of your insight.

I have a 1/2 doz. small oddball lakes that I used to hit each summer, in the area of the Sinlahekin Wildlife recreation area. This is just West of Loomis, WA. The last time I spent much time there feels like maybe 8-10 years ago. A few of the lakes at that time had recently been planted with Tiger trout, as fry.
'Reflection Pond' was one.

Can you tell me anything about Tiger trout? Is it a hybrid of a rainbow and ...?
Or just what is it? Grow to what size?
Also, what is the current state of these tiger trout in the field, and when did they start stocking, any ideas of how they are thriving, etc.

Thanks for being here!

No rainbow trout in tiger trout; they are a sterile cross between a brook trout and a brown trout:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_trout" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Your question makes me recall a small boat angler at Sprague Lake telling a bank angler that a tiger trout was a cross between a tiger muskie and a rainbow trout. Bank fishing nearby, I overheard the conversation and politely noted that such a cross was a biological impossibility and the real cross being a brown and a brook trout. The boat angler seemed not to believe me and got somewhat "pissed off". I told him to look it up on his (ever present) cell phone.

Yup, you nailed it! The big clue is in the markings, the spots and coloration on a tiger trout look very similar to Brookies! I had a classmate in school who thought it was a cross with a musky too, that is too funny! It is believable though, they do get VERY big!

[dj2loud]

I got 100's of questions if you got the time....

[Juniah87]

I got 100's of questions if you got the time....

Shoot me a PM, I may not be able to answer a lot of them, especially in regards to current affairs and regulations since I have not worked there in several years, but I'll do my best! Or if they are things other people may want to know, post them here and I will answer them publicly!

[zen leecher aka Bill W]

Only way a tiger muskie would cross with a rainbow is if the tiger was looking for dinner.

[YellowBear]

What is WDFW's policies for our warm water fisheries?

[Amx]

What is WDFW's policies for our warm water fisheries?

Kill the pike and warm water species, and plant trout everywhere, even where they don't belong and where Bass and Pike survive abundantly.

[Juniah87]

What is WDFW's policies for our warm water fisheries?

Kill the pike and warm water species, and plant trout everywhere, even where they don't belong and where Bass and Pike survive abundantly.

You actually really aren't far from the truth. Out of all the hatcheries I worked at, none of them were producing warm water species. I think the higher ups figure that because of the way the warmwater species naturally, and quickly reproduce, they don't see a need to bolster the numbers. Trout very rarely naturally reproduce once introduced to a body of water, mostly because they are so used to being fed that they are caught very easily in comparison to the naturally occuring populations. There was talk in our class when I was going through BTC of introducing channel catfish to the school program, but I am uncertain if it ever happened. It certainly didn't while I was there. Most of our state's hatcheries are concerned with salmon, especially the ESA listed species. When I was working at the hatchery at Puyallup, we were raising ESA listed chinook from white river for one of the tribes. I remember driving halfway up mount Rainier in a 1986 planting truck with a slipping transmission being followed by at least 6 tribal members in their shiny new 2014 pickup trucks to put fry in a holding pond for them. But it must have helped, because a couple years later Orting now has a brand new facility that was largely paid for by the tribes

[Toni]

"I remember driving halfway up mount Rainier in a 1986 planting truck with a slipping transmission being followed by at least 6 tribal members in their shiny new 2014 pickup trucks to put fry in a holding pond for them. "
1986 HAD 2014 trucks? I don't understand.

[The Quadfather]

"I remember driving halfway up mount Rainier in a 1986 planting truck with a slipping transmission being followed by at least 6 tribal members in their shiny new 2014 pickup trucks to put fry in a holding pond for them. "
1986 HAD 2014 trucks? I don't understand.

Toni, haha... i was confused at 1st too.
He is saying that he remembers being in (a) 1986 truck...being followed by the tribal members who were driving shiny new 2014 trucks.

[Amx]

Easy, HE was driving an old beat up truck, THEY were able to afford brand new trucks from the salmon that were planted, at other's expense, in 2014.

[The Quadfather]

Easy, HE was driving an old beat up truck, THEY were able to afford brand new trucks from the salmon that were planted, at other's expense, in 2014.

Yes Tom, that was the read between the lines take.

[Toni]

Since he mentioned he was with WDFW years ago I assumed that was in /around 1986. To me, an old person, years ago isn't less than 10 years.

[Amx]

Since he mentioned he was with WDFW years ago I assumed that was in /around 1986. To me, an old person, years ago isn't less than 10 years.

Ya, that too, but I had to extrapulate the years from the trucks involved, and the fact that the kid is in his 20s, I think, or maybe 30s. Or theresoforesomeplace in age.

Oh ya, and looking at his picture in his avatar.

And I think in his 'introduction' to the web site, in that there new members thread.

[Juniah87]

Hahahaha, I'm sorry guys, I am indeed a youngster! I turn 30 this year. I don't know the exact year of the trucks they were driving, but I knew they were DECADES newer then the one I was driving Sorry for the confusion, but reading that made my day, lol!