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

[Stacie Kelsey]

Sprague Lake Repsonse -

Here is a response to the specific questions asked:

Question - Sprague lake rules read the following: CLOSED WATERS - those waters of Cow Creek and the marsh at the SW end of the lake from the lakeside edge of the reeds to Danekas Rd. the small bay at the SE end of the lake, and those waters within 50' of Harper Island.

Answer - This portion is closed to protect nesting waterfowl, resting waterfowl and oither migratory bird species.

Question - What is the reason for this? It can't be to protect waterfowl because even if this was a primary spot, which it is not, then the rules should allow some fishing later in the season. Oct. 1-April 30: those waters SW of the SW tip of Harper Island closed to fishing.

Answer - The Wildlife Division of WDFW has this rule in place to protect fall migrant and spring migrant birds. Not just waterfowl are considered in this rule this also includes multiple species of gulls, terns, and shorebirds. This rule has been in place in one form or another for the last 50 years and is a priority to our Wildlife staff to maintain for migratory bird use on the lake.

Question- IF this lake is really suppose to become the "great warm water" lake, then why disallow fishing in the best structure in the lake? Note, this rule, in some form or another, seems to have been there for years.

Answer - Denying access to this portion of the lake has been of great interest in the agency and has lead to several heated debates between Fish and Wildlife staff here in Regions 1 and 2. Ultimately the compromise was made to be protective of wildlife while allowing the maximum amount of access to the area that the Wildlife Division thought would not cause irreparable harm to migratory birds. I know there is a loss to angling but this was the best compromise we could come to.

If you read the regulations there is not a wholesale denial of access to this portion of the lake. The rule closes a portion of the lake to access on October 1 of each year and reopens on April 30. Only the reeds and Cow Creek outlet remain closed year round.


___

As an aside, I would personally ask anglers in this area to understand the nature of this issue as cross-program bewteen Fish and Wildlife. The Bio in this area is definitely working for the best interst of the resource but also the angling opportunities.

stace

[Stacie Kelsey]

Hello Stacie, your extra efforts are appreciated. Could you please review the attached fishing report and comments? Then give your reading on the legal distinction between “Game Fish” and “Food Fish” and whether the emergency rule change in effect for the Snohomish system applies to white sturgeon.

http://www.washingtonlakes.com/ReportCo ... =11668&t=3

Thank you in advance,
Rseas

Hey Rseas-

It is closed for game fish, but yes, you can sturgeon fish. Hope that helps. If you have any other questions, feel free to let me know!

stace

[Anglinarcher]

Sprague Lake Repsonse -

Here is a response to the specific questions asked:

Question - Sprague lake rules read the following: CLOSED WATERS - those waters of Cow Creek and the marsh at the SW end of the lake from the lakeside edge of the reeds to Danekas Rd. the small bay at the SE end of the lake, and those waters within 50' of Harper Island.

Answer - This portion is closed to protect nesting waterfowl, resting waterfowl and oither migratory bird species.

Question - What is the reason for this? It can't be to protect waterfowl because even if this was a primary spot, which it is not, then the rules should allow some fishing later in the season. Oct. 1-April 30: those waters SW of the SW tip of Harper Island closed to fishing.

Answer - The Wildlife Division of WDFW has this rule in place to protect fall migrant and spring migrant birds. Not just waterfowl are considered in this rule this also includes multiple species of gulls, terns, and shorebirds. This rule has been in place in one form or another for the last 50 years and is a priority to our Wildlife staff to maintain for migratory bird use on the lake.

Question- IF this lake is really suppose to become the "great warm water" lake, then why disallow fishing in the best structure in the lake? Note, this rule, in some form or another, seems to have been there for years.

Answer - Denying access to this portion of the lake has been of great interest in the agency and has lead to several heated debates between Fish and Wildlife staff here in Regions 1 and 2. Ultimately the compromise was made to be protective of wildlife while allowing the maximum amount of access to the area that the Wildlife Division thought would not cause irreparable harm to migratory birds. I know there is a loss to angling but this was the best compromise we could come to.

If you read the regulations there is not a wholesale denial of access to this portion of the lake. The rule closes a portion of the lake to access on October 1 of each year and reopens on April 30. Only the reeds and Cow Creek outlet remain closed year round.


___

As an aside, I would personally ask anglers in this area to understand the nature of this issue as cross-program bewteen Fish and Wildlife. The Bio in this area is definitely working for the best interst of the resource but also the angling opportunities.

stace

I have heard that once a rule is in place it never comes off. I would agree that pre-Columbia basin irrigation project, this was a good rule. I fish Sprague a lot, drive by it even more, and the reasons simply do not exist now that the migration route has moved West into the more food rich (Corn) regions.

I am at least glad that there was some argument about it, but I would suggest it is time to start the argument again.

[Anglinarcher]

Not yet. I'll send out another request.

I'm not sure what you are asking about the sub catchable plants?

I know the state often plants fry instead of catchable fish. Fry are cheap to raise, cheap to plant, but are easy prey in many waters.

I just wanted to know how to find out which lakes were getting fry plants and how many fry are getting planted.

[Stacie Kelsey]

We do have some fry plant info - I'm not sure how much (if any) is posted online. I know we are looking at putting our high lake fry plants online at some point.

Let me do some checking and I'll get back with you.


stace

[BentRod]

In relation to the fry planting, I was on Beaver Lake in King County on Friday. Apparently the lake was planted with about 10,000 trout in the 2.8 fish/lb range at the end of March. While there I saw loads of cormorants on the water. Not something I've ever seen in any of my past visits to this lake. I read that this is normal after a recent plant? Aside from predation due to bass, larger trout, raptors, and Mergansers, I'm curious to how many are lost due to cormorants. Have any studies been done on planted lakes and the post cormorant invasion?
I should note that I'm a bit biased against this birds as I watched them invade the Tri-Cities over the years and then heard of the damage they've inflicted upon the steelhead and salmon smolt.

[Stacie Kelsey]

Thousands are lost to cormorant predation. We are trying to move toward less but larger fish in order to combat the predation by cormorants. As part of my creel surveys I record the numbers or cormorants on the lakes.

At Kress there were 25 cormorants herding fish and on Horseshoe there were almost 75.

The Feds say they eat about a pound per day on average and around 6" fish. Which is false on the size because I've seen them eating 8"+ with no problems whatsoever. And they are eating on average way more than a pound of fish per day. At least the ones I've personally observed at our lakes.

We've done 'harassment' programs where we try to spook them off the lakes, but just doesn't work well and you have to continuously be right on it or they don't stay away for long.

We have our hands tied because they are protected. However the Feds are allowing some agencies/private fishing growers depredation permits, which is at least a good first step.

They decimatd one of our growing lakes in less than a week. It's a lake we are not able to net off because of it's size. They are a horrible nuisance. And their populations get larger and larger and they do more and more damage to not only trout fisheries but fisheries on the Columbia.

[Anglinarcher]

It is sad. Now that the "statute of limitations is over", LOL, as a young kid I did not know that they were protected, and neither did my friends. It came as quite a shock that such a destructive bird that has become invasive in its own right was protected.

Sometimes we protect things TOO much, but then again, we each have different views and we must follow the law, even if/when it does not make since.

Side note, this problem is far spread, not just in Washington. I saw a lake in Eastern Idaho get destroyed by those devils. It was known as a trout lake for 75 years, with natural spawning, and now it is as empty as your bath tub.

[Stacie Kelsey]

We've got some tools, like larger but less fish. So they won't be able to do so much damage. I'm looking into other options. It seems most of the depredation permits are given in the southern states, but, might try to go through the process to see what we can do around here.

[BentRod]

At least I can take some comfort from the fact that they're recognized as a problem. Of course the seals are too and we all know how well that is going.
Unfortunately stocking larger fish doesn't prevent the loss of naturally spawned fish in the lake. I can honestly say I was shocked at the number of cormorants that were present on the lake last Friday. Maybe I should start keeping my eyes open for seals on the local lakes too, eh?
Thanks for the info. I had no idea that they were recognized as such a nuisance outside of the salmon and steelhead fishery.
Pelicans were another avian that showed up in the Tri-Cities while I was growing up there. We thought, like the cormorants, they were following the food. Any similar issues with those?

[Stacie Kelsey]

I haven't had to deal with the pelicans in my area although I see them a lot at the mouth of the Deschutes (Oregon).

[Marc Martyn]

Stacie, can you explain what the Hatchery Escapement Reports are.

[Stacie Kelsey]

Hey Marc -

They are the returns of fish to the various hatcheries. They are often used as a tool by anglers to determine the best times when fish return in large numbers currently and historically.

I can get you more specific information tomorrow - or if you are interested in a specific hatchery/species let me know.

This is the most recent report:

http://wdfw.wa.gov/hatcheries/escapemen ... 040711.pdf

It will tell you the number of adults/jacks, total eggtake, numbers spawned, numbers released/shipped and mortality.

Hope that helps!

stace


P.S. In case you guys hadn't seen this - this link is a nifty tool to show peak times of the year for the Columbia and it's tribs.

http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/salmon/whenw ... lumbia.pdf

[ResQ]

Hey Stacie, My favorite lake to fish is out here in Thurston county. Offut. They use to stock this lake with brown trout and stopped sometime ago. Would the WDFW consider stocking some browns in this lake again? There are a BUNCH of cormorants and eagles in this lake, so im not sure how many stockers make it through, but it would be nice to see some browns! How do browns coexist with rainbows and cutthroats?

[Stacie Kelsey]

We don't seem to have any problems with browns and rainbows in our areas. However, these are put and take fisheries so they may not really be in there long enough to be an issue for each other.

I'll check with the bio up there and see what I can find out about Offut.

I can say when we've removed specific fish species from lakes it was because we deemed them not really viable for either that particular lake or that particular area. Or, due to budget issues sometimes you have to pick one to remove from stocking.

[ResQ]

That would be awesome. I had heard about the previous program with the Browns in there and that it has been a long time since they stalked it, then I pulled out a monster brown out of there a week or so ago that is currently getting mounted and got to thinking. Thanks for checking in on it!

[Stacie Kelsey]

Triploid Plants! (Region 5 fish) Stocked 4-11 & 4-12.

Kress Lake 352 @ .60/lb.
Horseshoe Lake 608 @ 0.60/lb.
Merrill Lake 224 @ 0.60/lb.
Battle Ground Lake 256 @ .60/lb.

Fish on!!!!

stace

:batman:

[Stacie Kelsey]

That would be awesome. I had heard about the previous program with the Browns in there and that it has been a long time since they stalked it, then I pulled out a monster brown out of there a week or so ago that is currently getting mounted and got to thinking. Thanks for checking in on it!

Got a call into the bio. Will get back to you as soon as I get the info.

Do you have a picture of the fish? Must be pretty cool to get it mounted!!



stace

[ResQ]

Looks like a pretty old bull. Put up a pretty good fight!

my 2011 biggest from a lake. German Brown Trout.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[Anglinarcher]

That would be awesome. I had heard about the previous program with the Browns in there and that it has been a long time since they stalked it, then I pulled out a monster brown out of there a week or so ago that is currently getting mounted and got to thinking. Thanks for checking in on it!

Browns have a long life, much longer then Bows, so if a lake had Browns in it even as much as 8 or 10 years ago, it might still have a trophy still in it.