Trophy Trout Poll Question 3

[Mike Carey]

Which of these do you feel would be an appropriate daily limit?

Posted for Uncle Wes

[wolverine]

5 per day is a good number, and if you are using bait the limits the first 5 you catch regardless of size. In lakes that do have a "trophy trout" potential then I'd like to see a limit of 2. Again using bait its the first 2 fish caught. Artificial lures (single barbless hook) catch & release and still be able to keep 2 fish.
I'm really adamant that there be no catch & release sorting of bait caught fish as trout take bait so deep that the de-hooking process usually ends up killing the fish. It may not roll over and die immediately but it will bleed out later and die. If you get a bleeder or gut hook using artificial lures it must be retained as part of the limit and not released.
Flame on......

[A9]

5 fish limit is fine...

I'm also fine seeing a few more selective reg's lake...As in 1 fish limit, or something more restrictive....

[raffensg64]

I agree with the others.....keep it at five. If the daily limit was reduced, the number of poachers would absolutely skyrocket! I can't recall hearing or reading anything that would cause the WDFW to have to reduce the daily limit.

[BentRod]

I too think 5 is fair. I think it'd be nice to put things in the regs like "only 2 over 16 inches " or something like that, but it'd be hard to regulate.

[zen leecher aka Bill W]

When I started fishing in this state the limit was 12 trout or 10 lbs and 1 fish. I'd like to see a return to that.

[Coastfishin]

I too think 5 is fair. I think it'd be nice to put things in the regs like "only 2 over 16 inches " or something like that, but it'd be hard to regulate.

Some of the lakes in this area started the only 2 over 16" limit last year

[Uncle Wes]

Thanks for all of your in-put. I am doing research for a proposal to the state all of your in-put is valuable. As far as poachers go they are every where it wouldn't matter if the limit was twenty per they would still take more. Silver Lake in Maple Falls used to have a big time problem with poachers until folks got involved took down boat #'s, trailer #'s, and license plate numbers. Poaching has declined a great deal simply by anglers getting involved, you don't have to confront anyone face to face to end a problem. Check your regulation books for kids only lakes there are more than you might think. With the cost cutting going on the funds to plant triploids will soon be cut dramatically, it seems that picking a few lakes on the west side and tweeking a few regs we could enhance the fishery a great deal. A few years back a newspaper ran an essay contest to win a trip to fish with Uncle Wes, there were to age groups the young man that won the Jr age group was five I explained to him that the trout had to reach a certain size to keep he caught quite a few that day and released them all he was perfectly happy and enjoyed himself as well as his father who accompanied us, I think its in the manner that you present it to them and all we did was rig up a fly on his spinning rod. For you power bait fisherman there is a single point hook designed for power bait would it hurt to pinch back a barb, bait fisherman if you thread your worm on right your bait will stay on the hook without the barb, I personally pinch back the barbs on my flies. At Coldwater Lake I used to troll a wormtroll by pinching back the barb and adding a piece of rubber tubing in place of the worm it was a very successful set-up. There are ways to be successful if you put some thought into it. I don't know everything but thats why I'm looking for in-put. Also I would like to mention the lakes I'm thinking about average around a 1000 acres or more with a depth of at least 50 feet and only one per county, not your basic 300 acre put and take lake. These three questions will help me develope a more detailed questionaire. Take a look at the Offut Lake Information the last two pics are of trout caught on an orange and black wedding ring with out bait Chris was quite proud of those cutts. Thanks

[Uncle Wes]

Back to the top

[Anglinarcher]

Wow, these three polls make me glad I live on the East side. This last week I and a friend caught and released 44 trout, and only two were under 16", and maybe only 10 under the 18".

The only way a lake can turn out this kind of fish is if it has the food base, limited access or retainage rules, and if the people will follow the rules.

With your side of the state, it seems that limited access is not going to happen, so you need to limit the numbers you keep. A single fish over 20" can work, especially if you want to get the bigger fish. It is really fun to catch and release this size of fish. You do, of course, need to also limit the fishing methods you can use. Selective rules, no bait, barbless, single hook, etc., may be required.

And as I said, you need the food base. There is a rule of biology that states that a water has the potential for just so much biomass. It states that in short, you can have a lot of small fish, or a few big fish, but you cannot have a lot of big fish. IF you have a lake, like our Sprague Lake, with tons of plankton and insects, then the biomass will be greater, but even it had limits or it would not have been killed out last year.

So, I see where Mike and Uncle Wes are going here, but remember, be realistic with your desires.

Personally, if I thought a 14" fish was a trophy trout, I'd stop fishing.

[A9]

Personally, if I thought a 14" fish was a trophy trout, I'd stop fishing.

Unfortunately anything over 12" is considered to be a trophy fish in a lot of the Puget Sound area lakes...They are all put and take lakes, and get too much pressure, so fish don't typically achieve sizes near or over 18" to 20"....

I'd love to see more selective gear lakes. Dump all the 8" trout into a bunch of lakes to let the people who want to limit on those fish, and save a few lakes to manage as a selective gear lake for those who are more interested in fishing for trout for the sport, not for the meat....

[Uncle Wes]

Archer, my goals are always realistic. There are several lakes on the west side that will sustain a trophy fishery I have talked with some of the biologists on this subject. It seems about 7 years ago there was a questionaire that was taken as folks bought their license and tags and it seems that at that time those polled or took the time to answer the questions thought that everything was fine as it was, that was seven years ago and now with the popularity of websites like this you update the opinions. There are several lakes around 1000 acres or bigger with the depth and food source that will support this type of fishery with great success without taking away the smaller put and take lakes. But before I get to much time involved in such a project I like to see what a small sampling poll such as this will produce in opinions. Yes some of the regulations will have to be tweeked to help produce such fisheries and most folks realize this. I have been to the east side on several occassions in search of trophies, but thats a long drive if we have the resources on the west side to produce trophy fisheries then why not take advantage of it. As a sportsfishing writer covering the west side I have discovered many of these lakes which most of them have never really been explored and not only will this create trophy opportunities it will also increase spending in the communities close to these lakes, I know personally the amount of cash I put down every year I also realize how much money I would save in fuel per year. Here is the economic report from the F&W Commission. http://wdfw.wa.gov/commission/econ_analysis.html Pretty intersting isn't it? I also believe that if you build it they will come, especially out of state residents that will contribute a great deal of cash to the economy. I know several folks from Oregon would love to shoot up I-5 instead of driving to central or eastern Oregon to pursue such opportunities. Not counting our own residents.

[Anglinarcher]

So, Uncle, if you have the lakes with the proper food, I agree, build them and they will come. If you want, consider West Medical Lake and Amber Lake on our side as a model of how a selective fishery can be made. Heck, West Medical is practically in Town, and it turns out some real monsters for the C&R and selective crowd (been there several times myself.

[Marc Martyn]

West Medical Lake is under general season regulations. It is Medical Lake that is the selective gear lake.

[Uncle Wes]

BTTP

[Anglinarcher]

West Medical Lake is under general season regulations. It is Medical Lake that is the selective gear lake.

You know that I realized that I messed up but I was away from my computer. Thanks for the fix.

[Uncle Wes]

bttp

[racfish]

I think it depends on the trout that are targeted.Hatchery fish are bred to catch.I wouldnt swear to this but I dont think hatchery trout reproduce in the wild.If they are planted in a body of water that dosent have a native fish population then 5 fish is great.If fishing a lake with an ongoing self breeding fish then make it selective like A-9 says.I think the natural spawned fish are very important to have aound much like the native steel.

[Anglinarcher]

I think it depends on the trout that are targeted.Hatchery fish are bred to catch.I wouldnt swear to this but I dont think hatchery trout reproduce in the wild.If they are planted in a body of water that dosent have a native fish population then 5 fish is great.If fishing a lake with an ongoing self breeding fish then make it selective like A-9 says.I think the natural spawned fish are very important to have aound much like the native steel.

Triploids do not reproduce, but normal hatchery trout do reproduce, if they have sufficient spawning grounds.

For example, Rainbows need cool to cold running water, with gravel free of silt and mud, to spawn in. These conditions must exist in the Spring (normally) and therefore sufficient water must flow until later in the summer.

Browns need the same conditions, but in the fall and into the winter.

Brookies, well they are the wild card, and are seldom considered big enough for trophies, so I'll ignore them.

Still, the question is back to 'do you want big fish or a lot of fish?'. Simply stated, you can't keep the small ones if you want to grow big ones, and if you keep all of the big ones, which are always fewer in numbers, then you won't have anything.

I already discussed biomass, so now I'll discuss natural population reductions. Even without fishermen working them over, you lose about 30% of the fish each year to natural causes (other predators, disease, etc.). So, if you started off with 100 fish, then next year you would only have 70 fish. Next year, you would loose 30% of those, so on year two, you would only have 49 fish. On year three, you would only have 34 fish. So, by year 4, just about the time most trout finally get to what most consider good size, you only have 24 fish left. So, for every 100 fish you started with, you get less then 24 trophies. My percentages are actually better then in most fisheries, and only consider plants of 5" or bigger fish. If you consider fry, you may loose 90%+ the first year, so it can get really bad.

Now we are back to do we want to be able to fish for trophies, or do we want numbers? Few lakes will support a 5 fish limit and still yield trophies. IF access is limited, or the fishing pressure is low, and the food is sufficient for the fish to grow to their full potential, then sure, you can take more fish. In Sprague Lake, now that it is starting off new, the fish can grow 12" a year, but that won't last long. I'll bet that in most of your Eastern Lakes, a 6" growth rate is pretty rare. So, we are back to just how big is a trophy? A 14" may be two or three years old at most lakes.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm - tough choices.

[Uncle Wes]

Diamond Lake in Oregon is a prime example of what can be done if properly managed there was an interesting article in the Northwest Sportsman mag

http://www.nwsportsmanmag.com/mainNS.php a pretty interesting read, I remember as a youngster going with my grandparents every year yes that was in the 60's lol Samish Lake in Whatcom County is a pretty good example of quality over quanity with a limit of 2 cutts over 14 inches. I went out with Carey several years back and we didn't have a clue on that lake I took the time to work it and figure it out and it has not let me down, it is known as a kokanee lake but the cutts are the real prize there are also some trips in there and last October 10,000 bows were added, this is not a lake that recieves stockings on a regular basis I only wish that the limit was the same on the bows as they are on the cutts but most folks just assume 2 trout over 14 is the limit.