Washington bass, walleye fishing limits liberalized in response to orca crisis

[Stein]

I agree with you about 85% Bass, but the fact is that warm water species do eat salmon and if less of them are in certain lakes then there will be an increase in the amount of salmon that make it to the salt.

I fully agree it isn't in the top 3 list of problems facing salmon, but it is on the list.  There isn't a magic button because even if we killed all the seals and birds there is still the problem of the blob and general ocean conditions as well as stuff like drought, dams, bedding grounds, poaching, and a hundred other things.

In my opinion, we should make progress wherever we can.  It's a small step, but a step.  I have no problems with WDFW trying things knowing they won't all work as expected.  This is something they can do that doesn't cost a ton of money, require a decade or two of studies.

That said, we should absolutely be pursuing the other fixes as well.  As sportsmen, we should be much better organized and funded to provide some hp to the fight.

[bassquatch]

Appreciate it and not trying to argue but EVERY species of TROUT eat small fish as well, including salmon smolts. For the survival of the salmon species, should the WDFW stop planting trout in all of the 77 lakes listed? Should all trout limits be lifted? Should trout be eradicated from the rivers and streams also? Just because trout are "native" to these waters doesn't discount their negative impact on salmon smolts.

The money saved not planting trout annually could go towards habitat restoration or towards payouts for the pike minnow program (that hasn't eliminated pike minnow) Spiny rays aren't the only carnivorous fish species sharing the water with the defenseless salmon smolts.   

[ctwiggs1]

I doubt rainbow trout are truly native in most of those waters either.

[Panic Minnow]

Appreciate it and not trying to argue but EVERY species of TROUT eat small fish as well, including salmon smolts. For the survival of the salmon species, should the WDFW stop planting trout in all of the 77 lakes listed? Should all trout limits be lifted? Should trout be eradicated from the rivers and streams also? Just because trout are "native" to these waters doesn't discount their negative impact on salmon smolts.

The money saved not planting trout annually could go towards habitat restoration or towards payouts for the pike minnow program (that hasn't eliminated pike minnow) Spiny rays aren't the only carnivorous fish species sharing the water with the defenseless salmon smolts.   

Great idea! But what would I be able to use to fertilize my garden then if it weren't for the incidental hatchery trout catches.....JK

[Stein]

I doubt rainbow trout are truly native in most of those waters either.

 

Rainbows are only native to a tiny fraction of WA waters.  They have been around in mass for so long we tend to think of them as native as opposed to an man-made invasive species.

[GoldenRing270]

Yep.

yellow perch, bluegill, bass, crappie and other spiny rays were introduced by the US government to Washington lakes as early as 1890's... decades before rainbows were introduced.

[Katmai Guy]

You're incorrect, the rainbow has been around for 40-50,000 yrs.  You might be thinking of the Brook trout, they were planted in just about every piece of stillwater in western WA.

[GoldenRing270]

Specifically, lowland lakes in Washington. Rainbow trout are not native to many of these lakes. They were introduced/planted in the early/mid 1900's.

[JimmyHoffa]

They moved up the coast, straying from river to river, colonizing new gravel as the ice sheets receded.  Original rainbows were from southern Mexico.

[Stein]

You're incorrect, the rainbow has been around for 40-50,000 yrs.  You might be thinking of the Brook trout, they were planted in just about every piece of stillwater in western WA.

It’s been on existence, just not on many WA lakes and rivers.  WA plants the original species native to the few places, but puts them everywhere.

It’s the same story everywhere in the country.  I bet 80-90% of the places that have them were introduced by man.


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