Cutthroats May Win Comeback Fish Of The Year

Cutthroats are about to make a comeback in northeastern Washington.

Last fall, for the first time in years, Washington Fish and Wildlife Department hatchery crews collected a bumper crop of eggs from cutthroat trout broodstock.

That means a bit of the good old days soon will be back at lakes such as Browns, Davis, Deep, Marshall, Muskegon, Mystic, No-Name, Pettit and the Little Pend Oreille lakes.

State hatcheries get their cutthroat eggs from two Eastern Washington lakes where cutthroats mature unharassed by fishing.

The trout are captured when ripe so the sperm and eggs can be stripped. The fertilized eggs then are incubated and the young fish are raised in hatcheries.

Problems at Twin Lakes near Wenatchee and Kings Lake near Usk have reduced the egg take to a pittance in recent years.

“We substituted rainbows in the traditional cutthroat lakes,” said Ray Duff, department regional fisheries manager. “We heard a lot of grumbling from fishermen.”

Anglers missed the variety, he said.

Westslope cutthroats have been the choice for stocking in the lakes of Ferry, Pend Oreille and Stevens counties since the late 1940s because they were the trout native to that region, Duff said.

Cutthroats have been stocked in some Spokane County lakes, but rainbows outperform them in growth and survival in these warmer waters.

Like other trout species, cutthroats have their own personality.

“Cutthroats and rainbows don’t react the same way to fishing gear,” Duff said. “Cutthroats tend to be spooked by the big flashy stuff that attracts a rainbow. Cutthroats are ideal to fish with small lures or flies.”

Rainbows usually are ready to smack lures as soon as the fishing season opens in April. Cutthroats tend to come on strong later in May and June, and then again in the fall.

Diamond Lake, once noted for its cutthroat fishery, isn’t likely to be part of the cutthroat revival, at least not for now, Duff said. The lake has too many competing fish species for the cutthroats to thrive.

Trout angels: The prospects for the cutthroat comeback to continue are bright, thanks to Alan and Karen Port, who own property at Kings Lake in Pend Oreille County.

The Ports have been honored by the Washington Department of Natural Resources, not only for the model way in which they are managing their forest land, but also for their efforts to guarantee a supply of cutthroat eggs in the future.

The Ports worked with seven state, local and tribal agencies plus several sportsmen’s groups last year to design and install a screened concrete weir at the lake where the state’s cutthroat broodstock are raised. The weir should prevent recurrences of past problems, when spring floods allowed fish into areas where they would become trapped and die once the water receded.

The lake has been closed to fishing for decades. Although poaching once was a problem at the lake, the Ports and other fish conservationists have been the guardian angels the fishery needed.

Coffee’s on: For the first time in more than a decade, Lincoln County’s Coffee Pot Lake will be open to public fishing beginning Sunday.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management purchased some of the land along the lake from a hunting club last year. The land includes an unimproved boat launch, day-use area and a limited number of camp sites with no services such as garbage collection.

Although the public has access to the shoreline managed by BLM, most of the lakeshore continues to be privately owned.

Special selective fishery rules have been adopted for Coffee Pot Lake, which holds species such as perch, bass, crappie and stocked trout.

Weir happy: Good things appear to be in store for Shiner and Hutchinson Lakes on the Columbia National Wildlife Refuge.

These walk-in or paddle-in lakes were once excellent bass and bluegill waters until they were infested with carp.

Now that a special screen has been installed to prevent carp from migrating into the lakes, the Washington Fish and Wildlife Department is working to rehabilitate the waters for fishing.

The lakes will be treated with rotenone this spring to kill whatever fish remain in the waters, said Joe Foster, department regional fisheries manager in Ephrata.

In early summer, the lake will be stocked with largemouth bass, crappie, bluegills and channel catfish, he said.

In addition, trout will be stocked to provide fishing for the few years needed for the bass and panfish to reach catchable size.

The rainbow trout won’t reach catchable size until fall, Foster said. The channel catfish could reach fishable size by next year.

Liberty for all, maybe: Two property owners have filed an appeal stalling proposed improvements to Liberty Lake’s only public boat launch and fishing access.

The appeal is scheduled to be presented to a state shoreline hearings panel Monday, 10 a.m., at the S&T Building, just south of the County Courthouse.

The appeal challenges state plans to improve the access site, install a dock, make it handicapped accessible and capture stormwater runoff to prevent pollution to the lake.

If the stormwater issue isn’t resolved, the state could be forced to close the only public access to a popular fishing and boating lake.

, DataTimes MEMO: You can contact Rich Landers by voice mail at 459-5577, extension 5508.

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