Sprague Lake

[zen leecher]

Maybe Danny or Marc could explain to us why the Walleye were not restocked.
More people fished Sprague when it had Walleye in it than before or since.

Maybe they could explain why the warmwater program is not using the resources from Badger to get Sprague back to the way it was.
I would think in order to save a few bucks the WDFW would be taking advantage of the Bass in Badger.

Maybe they could explain why the Sprague lake "rehab" is taking so long to produce results.

Maybe a volunteer group under the oversight of WDFW could be formed. Say "The Friends of Sprague Lake" as a group. It could potentially be a legal "bucket brigade" to transfer bass from Badger to Sprague.

Just a thought.

I was a member of the Hi-Lakers on the west side. They, along with a sister club, the Trailblazers, helped WDFW stock and monitor trout in the high alpine lakes in the west Cascades.

[Anglinarcher]

Danny can't, he was just helping out.

Marc is going to electroskock Badger and place the Bass and gills in Sprague. That has been his plan for some time.

I suspect, based on conversations with Marc, he is as concerned with the slow recovery as we are.

The walleye, better ask the big boss, Donnley, about that one.

[YellowBear]

That would be a great idea Zen Leecher except we are talking about Bass and not Trout.
The WDFW will bend over backwards to stock Trout but Bass seem to get the ole Rotenone policy.

Time is a waisting, there are some nice Bass up shallow rite now at Badger.
If they wait just a little longer the fish will be out of reach of the shock boat.

Donnley big boss? he gets to do what Olympia tells him he can do.

[zen leecher]

That would be a great idea Zen Leecher except we are talking about Bass and not Trout.
The WDFW will bend over backwards to stock Trout but Bass seem to get the ole Rotenone policy.

Time is a waisting, there are some nice Bass up shallow rite now at Badger.
If they wait just a little longer the fish will be out of reach of the shock boat.

Donnley big boss? he gets to do what Olympia tells him he can do.

Years ago a walleye club was big on stocking Banks with... walleye. Just because the two clubs I cited were trout clubs and involved with trout stocking and such doesn't mean other clubs can't take lakes or regions under their wings for improvement.

No insult intended but one should try to think outside the box. As you know I'm up here in Moses Lake. Next time I see Mark (can't remember his last name) from the Ephrata office I'll float that idea by him. I know I'll see him at the Moses Lake and Potholes walleye surveys.

The local Moses Lake walleye club has built a fishing pier/dock on Moses Lake. The city now owns it as the club turned ownership over to them (for maintenance) and is now involved in habitat boxes for sinking in Moses Lake. The boxes are the same as the ones MarDon did for the Potholes reservoir. With the resurgence of the perch and crappie in Potholes the boxes should speed up the results. Same should happen with Moses Lake.

I am a member of both the Moses Lake fly fishing club (trout) and also the Moses Lake walleye club. I am involved with projects from both clubs and sometimes they intersect as in the kids fishing derby at Connelly Park. The fishing pier was mostly completed by the time I joined up so I contributed $$$ so the club could pay the associated bills. There was a lot of community involvement on that. A number of contributors kicked in over $5K apiece, a fair amount of middle amount donors and then us little guys.

Nothing to say Sprague couldn't have a "Friends of Sprague Lake" association.

One more thing: WDFW does like bass as in the mid-90's I think it was Shiner and Hutchison that were close to fishing as WDFW was using them as brood lakes using Florida strain Largemouth Bass. It didn't seem to work so when the project ended the lakes were opened back up to fishing. The purpose was to get bigger bass in WA state using the Florida strain.

[hewesfisher]

Count me out for a gathering on 9/21, we'll be at Roosevelt instead as my wife wants to spend the weekend there for her birthday and the fishing should be very good.

[YellowBear]

Has anyone heard how many Largemouth were salvaged from Badger and stocked into Sprague?

[zen leecher]

none.

[MarkFromSea]

That is a damn shame...... perfect opportunity for the state to harvest LMB for use else where in the state... sorry to hear guys.....

[YellowBear]

Another good example of sound management .

[hewesfisher]

I "heard" a rumor that Badger was NOT rehabbed. Per my source, it appears the residents who use the lake for their drinking water ended WDFW's desire to rid Badger of the bucket brigade implants. I don't care enough to confirm the rumor.

[zen leecher]

Some people should check and see if Badger was rehabbed before negative posts. Badger wasn't rehabbed and that's why no fish from there were replanted in Sprague.

It's been in the online Spokane paper outdoor section.

[YellowBear]

Killed off or not they could have collected some fish for Sprague.

[swb69]

I am glad they didn't rehab Badger, although Sprague could certainly use help. For some reason I always hold out hope that Sprague will turn back into a good warm water fishery. I want to try Sprague again this year but I sold my bass boat. Now I've got a 24' pontoon and I need 3' of water to float it off the trailer. Are the launches at Sprague, or for that matter Badger or Williams deep enough for me to launch? I have never tried to launch a large boat at any of the small lakes around, only on the rivers.

[YellowBear]

I have seen pontoon boats on Sprague but have no idea what launch they used.
Badger is steep and deep and Williams should be okay for your boat.
Don't give up on Sprague, your pontoon boat would be a great platform for shooting Carp.

[hewesbob]

A couple weeks ago a guy launched about a 26 ft pontoon at Sprague lake resort on the east end. Also a foot note, we caught a few 10"-14" large mouth this spring while fishing for trout with worms

[tbrinks]

I am glad they didn't rehab Badger, although Sprague could certainly use help. For some reason I always hold out hope that Sprague will turn back into a good warm water fishery. I want to try Sprague again this year but I sold my bass boat. Now I've got a 24' pontoon and I need 3' of water to float it off the trailer. Are the launches at Sprague, or for that matter Badger or Williams deep enough for me to launch? I have never tried to launch a large boat at any of the small lakes around, only on the rivers.

Have not fished Sprague since the rehab, but have heard that they are catching some good ones out there but not many. We used to catch good bass (and walleye) around the islands and submerged reefs. Is it true that there is an area that is off limits for wildlife refuge or bird habitat?

The lake lays out great with all of the contours, just need to get a bigger population of bass in there in my opinion.

Regular Mapping


SonarCharts

[BARCHASER10]

Have you Sprague Lake guys seen this? Sprague is going to be planted with 369,000 juvenile Steelhead. No joke!

http://seattletimes.com/html/outdoors/2 ... 08xml.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[tbrinks]

Have you Sprague Lake guys seen this? Sprague is going to be planted with 369,000 juvenile Steelhead. No joke!

http://seattletimes.com/html/outdoors/2 ... 08xml.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

wow...the bass are going to love that

[BARCHASER10]

I don't quite get it. They think the smolts will have a better survival rate in Sprague than in westside lakes. I used to live in Spokane and I fished all those lakes. Trout grow fast there so maybe they figure the trout will get up to 10-12" pretty fast, too big and too evasive to make a good Bass meal. If they are right, it may be a great trout fishery in a few months.

[zen leecher]

These are Chambers Creek steelhead smolts and can't be stocked in any westside lake with access to the Sound. It's either stock them in eastside lakes or kill them.