Bucket Biologists Are Self-Centered

We’ve got ‘em. They want ‘em. We’re talking about walleyes and northern pike.

Washington fishermen have walleyes and Idaho anglers have pike. Each wants what the other’s got.

North Idaho fishermen, many of whom fish Eastern Washington lakes, want the Idaho Fish and Game Department to create large walleye populations in such lakes as Coeur d’Alene and Pend Oreille.

Many Eastern Washington anglers, on the other hand, wish that they could catch big pike in Roosevelt, Banks and Moses lakes.

Funny thing is, some furtive Washington fishermen are making sure there will be pike in Washington lakes and equally sneaky Idaho anglers are dumping walleyes in their lakes.

Well, we shouldn’t say it’s funny. The bucket brigade is made up of the dregs of the fishers, the mean-spirited, selfish characters who have no respect for the laws and other fishermen.

Not all pike now in Washington waters were transported in buckets. Most in the Spokane River system came from Lake Coeur d’Alene. In fact, the state record pike, a 32-pound 2-ounce fish, came from Spokane (Long) Lake. It undoubtedly came out of Lake Coeur d’Alene.

Both walleyes and pike are superior to trout on the table. The walleye, a cousin to the perch, tastes better than the pike. Just ask a walleye fisherman.

The trouble with pike, a walleye fisherman will tell you, is that it’s hard to fillet. You’ve got to get a master’s degree in fish anatomy to learn how to get rid of the “Y” bones. Walleyes, though, are as easy to fillet as perch.

A somewhat exasperated Idaho fisheries manager, Ned Horner, said recently in a column called “Walleye Wars” that “when it comes to walleyes, there doesn’t seem to be much middle ground between those for, and those against.”

“Walleye advocates pursue this fish with a passion that borders on religious. Walleye anglers often view other fish primarily in terms of how well they will feed walleyes.”

Trout, steelhead and salmon fishermen who don’t want more walleyes in Idaho waters, on the other hand, “view walleyes as the latest threat to what once was.” Washington trout, steelhead and salmon fishermen feel the same way about walleyes, but they’re resigned to the fact that the fish is now a permanent Washington resident.

Sneaky walleye fishermen have dumped walleyes in Hayden and Hauser lakes, Horner said. Now they want walleyes in the big lakes. Idaho Fish and Game is willing to stock walleyes in some lakes, Horner said, but only “if an informed public supports” the stocking.

“By informed, I mean they fully understand the tradeoffs involved with establishing a walleye fishery.”

Cocolalla Lake would be an ideal lake for walleyes, he said. It’s not excessively deep, the water is murky and it’s full of perch, a favorite walleye dish. The big problem is that it’s connected to Lake Pend Oreille via Round Lake and Pend Oreille River. If walleyes become established in Lake Pend Oreille, they would probably decimate cutthroat, bull and Kamloops rainbow juvenile trout during their spring migrations from the tributaries in the Pack and Clark Fork river deltas.

That’s why trout fishermen will never support plans to create a large walleye population in Cocolalla.

In Washington, walleyes are established in the Columbia drainage from Lake Roosevelt to Bonneville Dam and in Sprague, Banks, Moses, Soda and the Eagle lakes, as well as the Potholes Reservoir. There may not be as many walleye fishermen as trout fishermen, but the walleye anglers are more vocal when it comes to support for their favorite fish.

It’s unlikely that support for creating more opportunities to fish for northern pike will result in the stocking of the highly efficient predator in Washington waters. What likely will happen, unfortunately, will be the release of pike into lakes by the bucket biologists and the slow increase in pike numbers in the Columbia River system as the result of migration out of Lake Coeur d’Alene.

Idaho’s bucket biologists were successful in getting pike firmly established in Hayden Lake and the furtive fishermen have released pike in several other Panhandle lakes. There’s no reason to believe that selfish anglers won’t sneak pike into numerous Eastern Washington lakes.

Neither state has enough money to rehabilitate all the lakes that are targeted by bucket biologists.

The majority of fishermen, whether they are trout, walleye or pike supporters, respect the opinions and advice of their fisheries biologists. It’s the minority that create problems for fisheries managers.

, DataTimes MEMO: You can contact Fenton Roskelley by voice mail at 459-5577, extension 3814.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Fenton Roskelley The Spokesman-Review