Chapman lake Kokes Revised

[Ridgeratt]

So while I have nothing to do I'm checking out the 2015 Fish Stocking for the lakes'


I see that last fall the WDFW planted 104k fingerling kokanees in Chapman lake in Spokane county.



http://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/01705/wdfw01705.pdf


SPOKANE COUNTY
Lake Name

Chapman Lake 146 OD KOKK 104,880 July


I know it has had a closed access for a couple of years and when I checked it is still closed.
So my question is why are we planting a resource that is unattainable to the sportsman?

http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/washington/114/

[Alchase]

Do the tribes in the area have rights there?

[Ridgeratt]

Most of the lake is owned by a private family and when the senior passed they didn't want to run the resort so they locked the gates and have been that way for several years. But WDFW still plant kokes in it.


Why did they only plant 70,000 in Loon then which is one of the best koke lakes on this side and gets a ton of publicity.
Then again they could have planted some of them in Davis or Deer which both used to have great Koke fishing.

Horseshoe also has a Koke fishery but none were planted there.

Seems to be lopsided Logic.

They could have planted the token 10 - 15 thousand they plant in lakes Sportsman do have access to.

[walt]

Maybe WDFW worked something out with DNR?  DNR owns most of the land around the south 1/3 of the lake.  There's a gate and walk in access west of the resort road but it's a hike back to the lake.  Bring a garbage bag if you go though, a lot of people shoot back in there and forget to pick up after themselves.

[goosegetter79]

Don't know what's going on at Chapman sucks that they're planting it but you can't get a boat on it. Makes no sense. Only lake I've ever fished for kokes in is Sullivan lake in pend oreille county (NE of Ione). Family has a cabin on the lake so that makes it easy for us to make a weekend out of it. The kokes are kind of on the small size but we mainly smoke em and can em anyways. 2 hrs from Spokane. Plus you can also fish for rainbows and brown trout (state record brown came out of this lake in the 60s I believe) It also has suckers and we fish for burbot at night also. Sucks that I now live in NE Montana. Only make it back for a couple days a year now. Miss being able to go there on any weekend.

[Skillet]

Walk-in access for kokes?  That's a joke.  I'm curious to see what the rationale is here.  I believe that when I fished this lake the hatchery was right on Chapman Creek, so the cost to plant would be minimal.  And you have to feed those bass in there with something... big bass have big appetites.

[Ridgeratt]

No kidding Big Bass eat alot.

We used to handline the Bass in there during the summer nites. A Jitterbug on mono wrapped around a soda can just barely off the bank on a moon light night. 

[Skillet]

When we launched at Oly's place in the evenings, it was a Hula Popper/floating Rapala game in the south end for bass.  We caught a few...

[Ridgeratt]

Sounds like we might have used close to the same technic!!   

But those were the good old days!!!

[Skillet]

Yes they were.  Along the basalt cliffs to the north I might have seen the biggest LM bass I ever did see. Wouldn't bite on anything I threw, tho.  If I had a 12" crippled koke lure tho, I might have the state record largie in my name. 

[Ridgeratt]

25 + years ago and it was a haul them home fishery.. Most of the folks on here have no idea of what came out of that lake for size. I would guess right now there is a state record swimming with no real way to get at them. wander the bank dodging rattler snakes pitching off the rocks.. That sounds like fun.   

[Ridgeratt]

I have had time to research this some more and I have found that the WDFW have mismanaged sportsmans funds in planting this lake from 2012,2013,2014 to the tune of 100k fish every year.
http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/plants/statewide/

[Alchase]

I have had time to research this some more and I have found that the WDFW have mismanaged sportsmans funds in planting this lake from 2012,2013,2014 to the tune of 100k fish every year.
http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/plants/statewide/

Unless kokes will go upstream from the lake, they are just dying off every year and not being fished?
Or is this a "privelaged" fishery only?

[Ridgeratt]

From my understanding this lake they don't spawn and reproduce. So this is a dead fishery with the exception of the folks who have private access to the lake. The resort has been closed since 2011 so why are they continueing to plant a closed lake? 

Those fish could be planted in many other Kokanee lakes on this side and benefit sportsman dollars. along with a return to the local economy.

Thank You WDFW for another Mis-management of funds
there used to be a kokanee hatchery on the lake but it was closed when the owner of the resort passed.

[splitshot]

  in the 50's and 60's we fished chapman a lot.  ole dyball ran the resort and rented boats for $1.  they were waterlogged wood boats but seaworthy.  still have some of the hula poppers and dancers we fished.   ole stored ice from the lake in a barn and covered it with straw so he could have ice all summer.  my son caught his first fish at chapman. great times        mike w