WDFW Q & A Thread - Questions for Stacie Kelsey, WDFW

[Stacie Kelsey]

The Little Hoquiam - not sure if I spelled that right. It's something I always think of when I am out wandering along a lake. So far the only problems I've had are squirrels throwing sticks down on my head from the tree branches. Ornery little turds!

[Anglinarcher]

Funny that you mention the squirrels. My wife thinks I am making that up, but sometimes the little rascals do just what you said. Can I refer to you on this?:bball:

I am sure that the department knows about the bear and cougar problem. I figured out a long time ago that the reason they gave a free cougar tag when you bought a combo bear and deer tag was to try to get some incidental kills. Obviously some are killed that way, but while this may help to control the population some, it does little to increase the fear of humans.

Hound hunting, especially the chase, but no kill, really does help. Still, Cougars are gutsy animals.

In Montana, near Libby Dam, in fact just outside of the visitors center entrance, a Cougar killed an elk on the road edge. This was about 3 or 4 years ago. I was suppose to walk through a back entrance to inspect a concrete boat dock that was out of the water for the season. The assistant park ranger told me I was not allowed to go into that area without a gun because the Cougar had been stalking the local personal. I did not have a gun with me, in fact, you are not even suppose to have a gun at that site. The dock went un-inspected. Momma did not raise a fool. In summary, you have a cougar kill an elk, and eat it over the course of several days, on the edge of a traveled road, then it stalked the people in the area. Note, in Montana, Hounds are legal.

This is the basis of my problem with Washington and overall fish and wildlife management. Too many of our rules are based on conjecture (don't have the money or time to do a proper study so they guess), bad science (Sprague Lake Walleye counts screwed up {math error} but they continued to justify the kill on the Walleye instead of the Carp), and especially politics (allow uneducated to stop hound hunting and baiting based on false TV adds and anti-hunting campaigns)(Salmon and Steel head seasons are set more on Commercial needs then sport fishing needs).

What this state needs is a better Public Relations approach. Perhaps if they countered the politics, they could get the money to deal with the bad science and eliminate the need for conjecture.

[Stacie Kelsey]

Good points anglinarcher. I think the Public Relations approach is a really big deal. You are certainly correct about not having the money to do the types of surveys we need to get done. I am hoping that in a couple years we can get things turned around and get funding back to do many of those projects.

I'm not familiar with what happened on Sprague.

And yes feel free to quote me on the squirrels! They bombard me every time I go to Kress Lake. I think they know I'm coming. The main culprit I have named Squirrel Eastwood. He seems bent on my destruction, or at least a headache. He's tossed down pine cones at me. I even tried to make a piece offering of a twinkie but I think now that's turned into a pay the toll or feel our doom!

[jens]

Stacie,

Is there night closure for the small lakes off Hwy 14 near the Bonneville? Any way I can find out what the water levels are like right now? Stevenson and Ashes... Thank you.

[Stacie Kelsey]

We don't have night closures on those lakes, but if it's within a park like Horsethief, then they may have closure. But Icehouse, Little Ash,- the lakes we do not have a night closure.

If you fish Big Ashes or Rock Creek Cove then you may run into a species night closure so follow the rules in the pamphlet.

This website should get you good real time data:

http://wa.water.usgs.gov/cgi/realtime.d ... wlcolumbia

Let me know if you need anything else!

stace

[jens]

We don't have night closures on those lakes, but if it's within a park like Horsethief, then they may have closure. But Icehouse, Little Ash,- the lakes we do not have a night closure.

If you fish Big Ashes or Rock Creek Cove then you may run into a species night closure so follow the rules in the pamphlet.

This website should get you good real time data:

http://wa.water.usgs.gov/cgi/realtime.d ... wlcolumbia

Let me know if you need anything else!

stace

If you wouldn't mind lowering the water in the Columbia and tell those Shad to hurry up :bounce: :bounce: ??? Thank you, i'll play around with that site.

[Stacie Kelsey]

LOL!! I wish I could!! Hopefully it won't be too long. I know anglers are getting restless.

[MarkFromSea]

Stacie,
In an earlier question I had for you about over populated and stunted pan fish lakes, I asked if we should keep even the small pan fish as a form of assistance to the overall health of the fishery. You referred the question to the biologists that manage that specific lake. I contacted one of the biologists and asked if we should keep, if legal to do so, the stunted pan fish if it was apparent that the lake was over populated. I also rcvd his approval to post his response to the readers here at WaLakes. Below is his response:

Mark,

Thanks for the info. In lakes like Stan Coffin that have a lot of small panfish it is helpful if everyone keeps as many as they legally can. In this case that means as many perch, bluegill, and pumpkinseed you want.

Glad the fishing has picked up. It's great to hear people are having success. Enjoy it while you can before the weeds become problematic.

Sincerely,

Mike Schmuck

[Stacie Kelsey]

Excellent!

[Stacie Kelsey]

For those of you that fish for tiger musky in Merwin and Mayfield is there anything different that you would like to see as far as managent? How satisfied are you with your fishing trips?

I'd like to hear your thoughts on these two waters.

[Mike Smith]

Stacie,
Can you tell us the effects of having a large population of Carp in a small lake on trout and bass populations? Do these fish prey upon trout and bass? Do they deplete the food supply?

[Amx]

Stacie,
Can you tell us the effects of having a large population of Carp in a small lake on trout and bass populations? Do these fish prey upon trout and bass? Do they deplete the food supply?

Carp will eat small bass and trout, sometimes. Carp will REALLY stir up the sediment and that can prevent the bass from spawning in those areas, which can desimate the bass populations.

[Stacie Kelsey]

Carp rarely eat fish. They do however eat crayfish, insects, zooplankton and algae.

Where they become a problem for fish is that they will compete for the same food sources that young bass and other game fish eat. They root up vegetation that are fed on by waterfowl and can disrupt their feeding.

[rseas]

Stacie, we fished Riffe Lake on Saturday and found that fish identification in this lake can be quite a challenge. We caught fish that I am sure were Kokanee (bright silver no spots at all), landlocked coho (silver/w spots and dark tongue), rainbows and our mystery fish for the day. The fish looked like a bright just in from the ocean steelhead but it had 14 rays in its anal fin, a dark tongue and only had spots along its back. I don’t think that it was a large landlocked coho, in part because it had spots on all over its tail. Do you have an idea what it was?

Also, the identification confusion leads me to a question. When fishing Riffe, if you catch a fish that can clearly be identified as an adult or jack salmon, or steelhead do you mark them on the appropriate catch record, or do the landlocked rules apply? Thank you in advance for your thoughts.

[G-Man]

Rseas - the pic link isn't working, can you re-attach it? I'm jonesing to see this fish, I guessing coho, the pic will help.

[rseas]

It should be working now.

[G-Man]

I'm going with rainbow, though that large eye is sort of freaky!

[yooper_fisher]

yep, looks like a very skinny rainbow to me. I've seen 'em like that before but I'm curious to see what stacy has to say.

[The Quadfather]

Stacie, (Sorry, I thought I put this in the "Questions for Stacie thread")

Not wanting to be a total whiner... but as we go into another summer of fishing I have to ask if the powers that be could ever consider printing the licenses and parking pass on a better quality paper. It comes on this weird sort of unatural feeling paper. The parking pass every year will fade completly from exposure to the sun in your car. I know that some would say, don't leave it in your car windshield. But really, it is terrible paper. Also, if your license gets even the slightest bit wet it all runs together.
To have your paper work re-printed is not free.

[Amx]

Don't leave the pass hanging from the mirior all the time.

Don't go swimming with your wallet. [img=http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/ima ... thepot.gif]4[/img]

[img=http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/ima ... laugh2.gif]2[/img]

My pass is always in the boat until I use one of 'those' launches, which is very seldom.