Commercial Gill Nets Target BASS in Lake WA

[full choke]

10 bass totaling 20 lbs. is considered a good day of bass fishing in Washington. Bass fishermen's jaws drop over a 5 lb. bass. Pretty pathetic. Salmon need help, get rid of the bass. There are 1000s of lakes in Washington with them, and you don't have to fish in Seattle either.

There are actually tens of thousands of square miles you can go fish for salmon too- what was your point?

Bass aren't the problem with Lake Washington sockeye.

It was said earlier- coho are doing fine. Are Lake Washington bass related to Puget Sound Orca's? Do they only eat one type of smolt?

What's your point? Where in the world did I mention orcas? Bass may not be the problem, but a problem for sure regardless of how little or big. Are you saying bass don't eat salmon smolt?

No- bass DO eat salmon smolt. They have been doing it in the lake for 100 years. But getting rid of bass in the lake is NOT going to bring sockeye back.
Get rid of housing/development, airplane manufacturers, vehicles, ski boats and recreational users, whales, birds, seals, toxic waste and sewage, AND bass and you might, might, make some headway.

Until then- go catch yo self a hawg!

[Angry Perch]

10 bass totaling 20 lbs. is considered a good day of bass fishing in Washington. Bass fishermen's jaws drop over a 5 lb. bass. Pretty pathetic. Salmon need help, get rid of the bass. There are 1000s of lakes in Washington with them, and you don't have to fish in Seattle either.

 

I'd take a 5 pound smallie over a 20 pound king every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

Then you're in the wrong state...

Only because they're gill netting all the bass!

[Kola16]

10 bass totaling 20 lbs. is considered a good day of bass fishing in Washington. Bass fishermen's jaws drop over a 5 lb. bass. Pretty pathetic. Salmon need help, get rid of the bass. There are 1000s of lakes in Washington with them, and you don't have to fish in Seattle either.

There are actually tens of thousands of square miles you can go fish for salmon too- what was your point?

Bass aren't the problem with Lake Washington sockeye.

It was said earlier- coho are doing fine. Are Lake Washington bass related to Puget Sound Orca's? Do they only eat one type of smolt?

What's your point? Where in the world did I mention orcas? Bass may not be the problem, but a problem for sure regardless of how little or big. Are you saying bass don't eat salmon smolt?

No- bass DO eat salmon smolt. They have been doing it in the lake for 100 years. But getting rid of bass in the lake is NOT going to bring sockeye back.
Get rid of housing/development, airplane manufacturers, vehicles, ski boats and recreational users, whales, birds, seals, toxic waste and sewage, AND bass and you might, might, make some headway.

Until then- go catch yo self a hawg!

I have. They lose their fight in less than a minute. Pretty lame fish. They also eat baby salmon. They ate them last year, 5 years ago, and 100 years ago so oust them.

[GWP]

Couple years ago on Lake Wa. First day on the water with my new electronics. New fishing pole. New lure. Was not going to fish but saw this big blob swimming on the sonar and tossed the lure over by it. WHAM!!!

[Angry Perch]

10 bass totaling 20 lbs. is considered a good day of bass fishing in Washington. Bass fishermen's jaws drop over a 5 lb. bass. Pretty pathetic. Salmon need help, get rid of the bass. There are 1000s of lakes in Washington with them, and you don't have to fish in Seattle either.

There are actually tens of thousands of square miles you can go fish for salmon too- what was your point?

Bass aren't the problem with Lake Washington sockeye.

It was said earlier- coho are doing fine. Are Lake Washington bass related to Puget Sound Orca's? Do they only eat one type of smolt?

What's your point? Where in the world did I mention orcas? Bass may not be the problem, but a problem for sure regardless of how little or big. Are you saying bass don't eat salmon smolt?

No- bass DO eat salmon smolt. They have been doing it in the lake for 100 years. But getting rid of bass in the lake is NOT going to bring sockeye back.
Get rid of housing/development, airplane manufacturers, vehicles, ski boats and recreational users, whales, birds, seals, toxic waste and sewage, AND bass and you might, might, make some headway.

Until then- go catch yo self a hawg!

I have. They lose their fight in less than a minute. Pretty lame fish. They also eat baby salmon. They ate them last year, 5 years ago, and 100 years ago so oust them.

I do believe we have a fish snob on our hands!

[GWP]

Upside down, but you get the idea. I don’t try to fish for bass! I am a panfish guy usually. The was on 6# line.

[Kola16]

10 bass totaling 20 lbs. is considered a good day of bass fishing in Washington. Bass fishermen's jaws drop over a 5 lb. bass. Pretty pathetic. Salmon need help, get rid of the bass. There are 1000s of lakes in Washington with them, and you don't have to fish in Seattle either.

There are actually tens of thousands of square miles you can go fish for salmon too- what was your point?

Bass aren't the problem with Lake Washington sockeye.

It was said earlier- coho are doing fine. Are Lake Washington bass related to Puget Sound Orca's? Do they only eat one type of smolt?

What's your point? Where in the world did I mention orcas? Bass may not be the problem, but a problem for sure regardless of how little or big. Are you saying bass don't eat salmon smolt?

No- bass DO eat salmon smolt. They have been doing it in the lake for 100 years. But getting rid of bass in the lake is NOT going to bring sockeye back.
Get rid of housing/development, airplane manufacturers, vehicles, ski boats and recreational users, whales, birds, seals, toxic waste and sewage, AND bass and you might, might, make some headway.

Until then- go catch yo self a hawg!

I have. They lose their fight in less than a minute. Pretty lame fish. They also eat baby salmon. They ate them last year, 5 years ago, and 100 years ago so oust them.

I do believe we have a fish snob on our hands!

Okay guilty I do like bass fishing, but there are endless numbers of better places to bass fish...

[full choke]

10 bass totaling 20 lbs. is considered a good day of bass fishing in Washington. Bass fishermen's jaws drop over a 5 lb. bass. Pretty pathetic. Salmon need help, get rid of the bass. There are 1000s of lakes in Washington with them, and you don't have to fish in Seattle either.

There are actually tens of thousands of square miles you can go fish for salmon too- what was your point?

Bass aren't the problem with Lake Washington sockeye.

It was said earlier- coho are doing fine. Are Lake Washington bass related to Puget Sound Orca's? Do they only eat one type of smolt?

What's your point? Where in the world did I mention orcas? Bass may not be the problem, but a problem for sure regardless of how little or big. Are you saying bass don't eat salmon smolt?

No- bass DO eat salmon smolt. They have been doing it in the lake for 100 years. But getting rid of bass in the lake is NOT going to bring sockeye back.
Get rid of housing/development, airplane manufacturers, vehicles, ski boats and recreational users, whales, birds, seals, toxic waste and sewage, AND bass and you might, might, make some headway.

Until then- go catch yo self a hawg!

I have. They lose their fight in less than a minute. Pretty lame fish. They also eat baby salmon. They ate them last year, 5 years ago, and 100 years ago so oust them.

I do believe we have a fish snob on our hands!

He will change his tune in a couple of years when he loses his favorite duck hunting marshes to salmon restoration. Because, if we save one fish life, it is all worth it.

[M_ray]

You should probably read all the posts. Your horse won't be quite so high when you try to get off of it.  Let me phrase that differently. Other predators, including sea lions, have been mentioned, not forgotten. It's like talking about wolves. Just because you're targeting the wolves, doesn't mean you're ignoring the other predators. You can target them all. All of the salmonid predators aren't mutually exclusive, either. You can target one or many. But this post is about the control of one of them - bass. That's why people aren't necessarily talking about sea lions.

No high horse here I was simply pointing out I dont think Bass are your Salmons problem, I mean being that Salmon had no problems for a good 70-80 years out of a hundred and all 

[bassquatch]

Has anyone ever seen the amount of stickleback herring in that frigging lake? If you haven't, then don't assume every time you see "bass busting" it's all salmon smolts! Smh

I work on the shores of this turd pond. I've seen stickleback schools running in the mornings stretching from 520 to South of Dabney Point! There's literally billions of them.

My two cents is let em have it. A lot of bass will survive. Bass also eat their own shortly after the spawn. The same way trout eat anything shiny and flashy...you know, all those trout lures that look suspiciously like tiny shiny salmon-esque little fishies. Lmao

I find more and more needles washing up on shore every week. Numerous sewage leaks have happened in that lake over the decades and God only knows what's in the rainwater runoff?! Take every bass out of that lake and the salmon won't rebound because they are still surrounded by far too many federally protected predators. The only thing that comes from this is millions of our tax (and special interest) dollars changing hands behind closed doors and more and more future regulations providing less and less access. If you think anything more than that is at foot, then you are fooling yourself.

Also, and I've witnessed this far too many times in both hunting AND fishing, any "outdoorsman" that openly applauds another outdoorsman's way of enjoying those outdoors getting overly regulated or coming under attack is applauding the demise of their own access to the outdoors. First they convince you to support the removal of this pesky species, then that one, their "non-native", so it makes sense and it's ok. What you're really doing is supporting the removal of the most pesky species of all...the outdoorsman. They hate all of us unilaterally.

A specific fishery being basically shut down, opens all the wrong doors. Once their finished wiping out bass on Lake Washington and salmon don't magically come back,  they will deem the species and lake too sensitive and all fishing on Lake Washington will eventually cease. Too risky to the critical habitat blah blah. Once that domino falls it gives momentum to the next, then the next, then your access goes away too.

While we sit here and engage in bashing each other's preferred species, pointing fingers and getting all riled up, they just continue to march towards their true ultimate goal. I couldn't care less what this whackadoodle State does to its hunting and fishing opportunties because there is no shortage of States that openly support and actively manage my preferred species (for millions in revenue) that I can retire to. Not to mention the hundreds of other lakes in this State to keep me occupied bass fishing until I retire.

I feel terrible for the future anglers of this State but maybe them not having access is a good thing in a way? I mean they won't ever have to worry about the appallingly act of having to defend the pursuit of their preferred species or being turned on by people they assumed shared their overall love for everything outdoors.

I'll kick back in my old age and watch on the news as salmon go extinct in the PNW and orca after orca turn belly up and bob around in Pungent Sound and probably laugh until I have a heart attack.
YAY SCIENCE! YAY RESEARCH! GO TRIBES! Hilarious.

[Cylvertip]

   There were no bass here at the beginning of the 1900's, true.  But remember, there were no sa!mon here at one time either.  They expanded their range and probably displaced other species.

   And if salmon and steelhead can't coexist with "warm water" predators, how do you explain the thriving populations in the Great Lakes?  I know one element we have that they dont. 

If anything, all commercial salmon fishing should be stopped inside Washington waters and all rec fishing should be catch and release for salmon and steelhead.

  

[huntnphool]

   There were no bass here at the beginning of the 1900's, true.  But remember, there were no sa!mon here at one time either.

 Not true, salmon have inhabited the rivers that flow into the lake as far back as any documentation exists.

[Cylvertip]

And that makes my statement untrue how? 

[huntnphool]

And that makes my statement untrue how?

 

[pianoman9701]

Ya, I think they planted Baker fish in the 1930's. Judging by the size of Bear Creek, it's hard to imaging a super sizeable run. Interesting that early accounts refer to "red fish".

Actually, the Baker run had gone down to under 100 fish by 1985. Through habitat restoration, mainly percolation and aeration added to the floor of Baker Lake, the annual runs are now 15-17,000. This particular sock has some of the highest fat content at 25-28%. It's beautiful fish and I've been lucky enough to see the fishing operation and eat some of it.