Sprague Lake

[Dhoey07]

Anybody been out to sprague lately?  Looking for an ice report.  I know it's been pretty dang warm lately and i don't want to go out on unsafe ice.  Thanks in advance, Danny

[JLS]

Lots of open water on the north end of the lake.  Don't know how sound the ice is on the south end, but it's been in the upper 40's for a few days with some high winds.

[goosegetter79]

Back on the 27th when I came back from the wetside there were a couple guys out there ice fishing but that was over a week ago so it may be alot different now with these warmer temps.

[DoubleJ]

Sorry, haven't been back since they nuked the lake a few years ago

[oldleclercrd]

Sorry, haven't been back since they nuked the lake a few years ago

That was the best thing they could have done to the lake though. Its been great fishing ever since.

[DoubleJ]

Any walleye left?

[Dhoey07]

Any walleye left?

Nope, killed everything and have only planted trout and some bass back.  I heard that they will eventually add more species to it but i kinda doubt they will add walleye because they seem to eat everything

[DoubleJ]

Any walleye left?

Nope, killed everything and have only planted trout and some bass back.  I heard that they will eventually add more species to it but i kinda doubt they will add walleye because they seem to eat everything

Yup, kinda what I thought.  No reason to go back then.  The walleye fishing there was really pretty good, especially for a guy with a small boat and kids that like to catch a lot of fish.  I can catch trout and bass all over western Wa.  No reason to make a trip back to Sprague for that.

[Maverick]

They killed 400,000 walleye in there. There were way to many, they ate everything and most were the size of perch with no enough to eat. I heard the trout fishing is awesome in there and the smallmouth too. For you guys wanting to catch walleye its better in scootney, pot holes, and moses lake.

[oldleclercrd]

They planted the trout for something for us to fish for while the other fish are growing. Before they killed off all the fish they shocked the fish and kept some good size largemouth and catfish that they later released in the lake when the waters became habitable again. The spiny rays have been growing ever since they planted them, and this summer there should be 1-4 lb bass and 1 lb bluegill. They have largemouth bass, rainbow trout, bluegill, catfish, and supposedly they planted cutthroat trout but havent ever seen any yet. Not sure if they planted perch or not. That lake can produce some damn big fish in a hurry. The average depth of the lake is 8 feet and so it gets pretty warm and the bugs flourish, and in turn so do the fish. They let go some 8-9 inch trout in the winter and the next fall they were 16 inches if that tells you anything. The first triploid trout they planted are now 25" 7lb fish. Anyways, you might not want to over look this lake in my opinion.

[rotty33]

They should have just planted trout in there. It was dynamite fishing about two years ago, now the spiny rays are coming on and the Trout fishing stinks! Bad call by the biologists! 

[DoubleJ]

They killed 400,000 walleye in there. There were way to many, they ate everything and most were the size of perch with no enough to eat. I heard the trout fishing is awesome in there and the smallmouth too. For you guys wanting to catch walleye its better in scootney, pot holes, and moses lake.

News to me.  I used to walk the railroad to the old shack on the north side after work when I was stationed at Fairchild.  I'd get there about 7pm and be home by 10pm with a limit.  I'd go almost nightly from early summer til it iced over.  This was in 1998-2000 when the size limit wasn't slotted and was an 18" min.  Sure, there were a ton of walleye in there but, I didn't have the perch size fish you're talking about

[DoubleJ]

How bad did doing that hurt the local economy and campgrounds?  Are they surviving/thriving like they used to?  I wonder because, all of the fish that are currently in Sprague, I can catch within 20 miles of my Western Washington house.  I came to sprague for the walleye.

[huntnnw]

there are some huge cats in there, they saved a bunch of big cats and let them go. My uncle has caught 10-15 lbs cats

[JJB11B]

I used to love Ice fishing there when I was a kid. Also cought some nice walleyes there. Walleyes are the best eating freshwater white meat