Sprague Lake

[Black Plague]

So when do you guys think Sprague lake will be good for fishing again...P.S. I don't care much for trout, Sprague was a great spiny ray fishery and for walleye too for those who weren't newbies and knew how to catch them....not trying to start anything, just curious how long it will take before I can bass and crappie fish there...oh and catch the cats too....any estimates?

[jackelope]

wouldn't it theoretically take a bucket biologist to make that happen?

 

[tlbradford]

I will try to dig out the plant numbers the bio presented at our fly fishing club meeting.  They were going to plant pretty aggressively.   

[Machias]

Didn't they remove and then return alot of the big channel cats?

[jackelope]

I will try to dig out the plant numbers the bio presented at our fly fishing club meeting.  They were going to plant pretty aggressively.   

plant what?

[Black Plague]

yeah Machias they did return the Cats...and acted all excited about it when they said oh and we are putting DOZENS  back in ...wow really dozens ...so like 4 dozen ...ooohhh that's just flipp'n swell...I do hope they restock it aggressively with catchable sized bass ...is that even possible??? they put a bunch of 1.5 lb trout in...can they do that with bass?...either way we are probably still looking at like 5 years before the crappie will be as good as it was 10 years ago...though I will agree they were  badly stunted...

[Machias]

I used to catch a ton of crappie whenever there was decent ice on Sprague during the winter....of course Sprague and decent ice doesn't seem to happen consistently. 

[tlbradford]

I can't find the report, but my next meeting is Tuesday.  I will ask the regions bio for some info.

[Black Plague]

that would be great tlbradford....I just have great memories from when I was a kid and knew a lot of people that liked things the way they were...well at least as far as the catfishing goes....

[tlbradford]

If there are any specific questions you want asked let me know. 

[jackelope]

Didn't they rotenone it because of too many spiny-rays?

are they gonna replant it with spiny rays too?

[Black Plague]

3 questions....

1. Who do you think you are?   jk
2. What were the results from sampling of the tons of dead fish, did they match the estimates?
3. Tiger muskie as a control for stunted fish (as opposed to walleye)?
4. What are the actual numbers of plants...of bass, crappie, perch bluegill, catfish (channel and bullheads) ?

[jackelope]

it's odd to me that I've asked like 3-4 questions in this thread and nobody can answer them...
anyone?
I feel a little left out.
 

[rickc]

it's odd to me that I've asked like 3-4 questions in this thread and nobody can answer them...
anyone?
I feel a little left out.
 

They rotenoned because they figured the lake had too many predator species (walleyes).
They suppossedly were going to plant crappie, bluegill, largemouth,channel cats, rainbow and possibly tiger muskies. No walleye or smallmouth but I have heard that walleye have been caught since the treatment. The fish biologists name is Chris Donley (509) 892-1001 ext.307.

[Machias]

My understanding was they killed the lake off because of tench and too many carp.  Could be off base though.

[Machias]

Here you go, straight from the horses mouth:

http://wdfw.wa.gov/factshts/sprague_lake_rehab_may07.htm

[Black Plague]

yeah...it seems to me that everyone I talked to that went there right ofter the poisoning said that they only saw like one dead walleye to every 100 other dead fish they saw...soooo, to me it seems like the report that says walleye made up 55 percent of the fish is a little off base... so i am really interested in hearing what the creel sample of dead fish looked like...my guess is that there were a lot more other fish than anyone else thought....do they even look at the dead fish afterwards to see if their guesses were close or do they just assume they were? ...I am sure they have it "down to a science" but I think if nothing else it would be a good check...

[rasbo]

the walleye were thick in there before they killed it..They say folks like the trout fishing better so thats why the did that.I liked catching walleye there,Ive never went back after the kill

[tlbradford]

Donley was't at my meeting.  I'll email the list of questions you came up with.  If I remember right, from when he did a run down on all the Region 1 lakes, the kill was because of health issues with the fish from past plantings eating up all of some type of bug that controlled a mussel that causes infections in the fish?  Sorry it all blended together a little bit.

[Black Plague]

seriously??? why didnt anybody else know that...like me for instance, thats the first time I have heard that....one other question, does rotenone also kill off the crawdads in the lake, I know they have gills,... ssooooo ?