Lake Washington Cutthroat

[tylermaster195]

Hey NWFR,

Have a couple question about Lake Washington. Me and Mike10gs are getting together to do some fishing on lake Washington and I was curious if anyone had any advice on tackle and bait for tomorrow to catch some cutthroat? I hear a good starting depth is anywhere between 35-45. Any other advice would be great!

[Bodofish]

Only advice I'm willing to give is:
Lake wash Cutts are an unsupported fishery, there are no hatcheries putting fish back in the system.
Guides have ruined a once great fishery by taking as many fish as possible out of the system.
C&R only if you want the fishery to come back.
Studies done on the rivers in the lower sound show less than 1000 breeding pairs on the 4 river systems studied.

[tylermaster195]

Thanks for the insight. I will definitely keep that in mind when we go out tomorrow!

[wlai]

Bodofish is right. C&R is the way to go on Lake Washington Cutties.

[The Quadfather]

http://www.northwestfishingreports.com/ ... spx?id=179" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Great information here.

[Steelheadin360]

Only advice I'm willing to give is:
Lake wash Cutts are an unsupported fishery, there are no hatcheries putting fish back in the system.
Studies done on the rivers in the lower sound show less than 1000 breeding pairs on the 4 river systems studied.

I think he was asking for fishing tips not a history lesson on the ecosystem of the lake. The Cutthroat stocks in Lake Washington are actually a very healthy, to the point that their impact on the other species in the lake is become a concern. C&r survival rate on handled trout is also about 60% so might as well not let them go to waste or become eagle food. Also the "guides" aren't allowed to fish that lake unless they have a salmon charter permit. Which very few local permit holders target the lake. There is a reason there is a 5 fish limit.

As far as catching these buggers. They are eating other fish such as smolts, stickle backs, and even larger fish. So trolling flys' spoons or squids is a good bet. My best speeds are between 1.7-2.0 mph and depths of 30-50' seem to produce best. Find the bait and find the fish.

[Bodofish]

The state of the Cutthroat population in lake Washington is unknown at best. Those more worried about salmon smolt have been painting the Cutts as the bad guys from day one. The fact of the matter is there have been no studies at all on any Cutthroat populations North of the Narrows. What has been found from the South Sound is the populations are remarkable small and they don't range very far at all from their home streams. As one who has fished for them for many years, I can tell you there are very few big fish in LK WA and Samm after the guides started targeting them. 5 fish times 6 or 12 clients a day doesn't take long to clean them out. I would think that energies to protect native stocks would be better pointed at Pike Minnows and Walleyes and of course the biggie, putting sufficient numbers of fry back into the system. There are hatcheries in place on the Cedar, they just need funding and no WFC.

Off the soapbox.

PS; I'm well aware of what he was asking. Pretty sure he understood where I was coming from.

[Steelheadin360]

Current studies are actually being done on the Lake. They started in 2014 and have been addressed at several fisheries meetings. Results have showed that several different stocks of fish move into the lake to feed and the lake itself has successful reds in almost every feeder creek. Cutthroat are an extremely prolific species and can populate in almost every environment and can flourish in ecosystems like Lake Wa.

I have fished the lake for the better part of 20 years and the last thee years have been outstanding with Large fish.

Having all available information on the fisheries I enjoy is something that is very important to me.

[Bodofish]

That would be interesting to see the studies you're talking about since the WDFW came to our Fly club in January and spoke about the Sea Run cutthroats, the main thrust of the talk was the lack of $ to do any studies and the only ones they have done were south of the Narrows. They would like to study the Sea Run Cutthroat in the Cedar and Samm, the Skagit and the Snoho system but so far no monies to do it.

[ptfletcher]

Here is a link to a study on cutthroat in Lake Washington. See "Implications for the Management of
Lake Washington" page 10 of the PDF for a discussion.
http://www.fishsciences.net/reports/200 ... enetic.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I plan to do some northern pikeminnow fishing, too. Not to keep, but to help salmon smolt survival.

[JoshH]

There actually is another UW study ongoing that is being sponsored by the WDFW. I believe it started last spring.

[Bodofish]

The eating habits of the Lake WA Cutts, that's by the way, 16 years old per the data collected "to 2000". Isn't really a population and breading study. As I said earlier, if the state is entered into a study with the UW, the States Cutthroat expert didn't know about in January when he was speaking about them.
As the Cutthroats are a native species to the lake, it sounds to me to be counter productive to try and fish them out. The only way bolster the other salmonid population is to up their numbers to what they were before their spawning grounds were destroyed for housing projects. I just don't understand sacrificing one species for another. If the numbers are down on the socks and chinooks, bump up the numbers, don't kill the Cutts. There are hatchery facilities available, use them.

[JoshH]

Quick internet search. I know I have seen more on it, but this is from the Times back in May 2015.

http://www.seattletimes.com/sports/othe ... ye-salmon/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"Earlier this year, the University of Washington School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, under contract by state Fish and Wildlife, began research studies on cutthroat and northern pikeminnow by capturing and tagging them.

As part of the study, researchers this spring are in the process of recapturing the tagged fish to conduct population estimates."

[riverhunter]

It's not as easy as just throwing smolts in the the water and expect the numbers to come back. If survival rate is extremely low on salmon smolts it won't matter how many are being released. It would just be a waste of money to try and raise fish to realeasable size just to have them die off once they are in a natural environment . Studies need to be done before we go out pumping more smolts in the systems and wasting our dollars. Instead we should focus on realeasing fish where survival rates are high and put effort on studies to find out how we can improve survival rates on systems where they are low so we are not just throwing money away raising fish that will never make it back. Just my 2 cents.

[Bodofish]

It's not as easy as just throwing smolts in the the water and expect the numbers to come back. If survival rate is extremely low on salmon smolts it won't matter how many are being released. It would just be a waste of money to try and raise fish to realeasable size just to have them die off once they are in a natural environment . Studies need to be done before we go out pumping more smolts in the systems and wasting our dollars. Instead we should focus on realeasing fish where survival rates are high and put effort on studies to find out how we can improve survival rates on systems where they are low so we are not just throwing money away raising fish that will never make it back. Just my 2 cents.

I agree but the hatcheries in question have been started and stopped several times. As an example, the king hatchery, each time it's been started back up the run jumps to life again. When they started the kings returning were in double digits. Fire up the hatchery and 5 to 7 years, wow a bunch of kings! State gets bored ($$$) with running it shuts it down, no more kings returning. The tribe steps up and starts running it, wow all of a sudden, kings are back in the system in numbers, then in true form, the tribe gets bored ( ) with running a hatchery and the numbers drop off again.
We still have a lot to do in regards to getting the highest number of returning fish, but it's a lot faster and easier to study if there are a decent number of fish to study. Gotta start some where, might as well be by putting enough fish into the system to study.
Trying to destroy a native specie at the expense of another is not the answer.

[The Quadfather]

Anyone still think the limit of lale wa and samm cutts are too high? Should be a 2 fish limit.

I would be very happy to see it go to a 2 fish limit. Since you asked, my personal opinion is leave the smorgasbord 5 fish trout limits to the 'Put and take' lakes. All the stocked cookie cutter fish. These lakes that have self sustaining larger fish... does everybody really need to take home 5 large fish of up to any size?
Yeah, sure it's just my opinion. Others will want as much as they can have, but you asked.

[TrackerPro16]

Uhhhh, let’s have a sounding of how many people have ACTUALLY caught five Trout in one day. I have caught four a couple times over the years but two or three for me seem to be the norm.

[sickbayer]

5 a day isn't a problem..its the size of the catch that is way down. I would like to see a 2 fish limit. and no guides allowed.

[G-Man]

During the non-spawning months, one can bring 5+ cutts the boat, this goes for Lake Sammamish as well. The people who have fished the lakes regularly for more that a decade can attest to the decline of both numbers and size of fish caught. Whataver studies say the population is healthy, are out of touch/using old data. By the time it is officially recognized as being in trouble, it will be too late to do anything, see the steelhead run in this system as a prime example. Regardless of the reason for the decline, it has not had a positive impact on the salmon population so I would not be so quick to jump on the cutts as being detrimental to a strong sockeye run. In fact, they probably help make it stronger by curbing the population of other fish/fry who compete for food with the sockey smolts.

A 2 fish limit on native trout species where they are not supported by hatcheries is more than resonable. One other item to note, when the surface temps rise above 70 degrees, the trout one brings to the boat don't have a good chance of survival if released. I tend not to target cutts in the summer months for this reason.

[Bodofish]

It isn't the average joe putting the hurt on the run by taking 5 fish per day but the guides working it with 6 clients, twice a day. When they put 6, plug cut herring in the water, they create an artificial school of crippled bait fish that no predator can refuse. Even if they only catch 2 fish per, that's still 24 fish per day when on the water.
I would whole heartedly support a one or two fish per day limit on any water that isn't stocked and no guides.
The whole notion of protecting one species by going open season on another is just about the most ignorant approach I can think of.
The King hatchery on the cedar is just one more embarrassment for the WDFW and the Tribes combined. When it's operating, lots of Kings, when they don't nothing. It kind of points a big fat finger at no spawning habitat. Want more kings put more in.