Northwest Fishing Reports

I have been out twice in the last month or so and have seen 4 dead bass in the 3-4 lb range. All to the left of the public boat launch. I have been a regular basser here in spokane and been targeting this lake for the last 3 years and have never seen this and i see reports of others seeing the same. so it can not be just a hard winter, what are your thoughts. I am a huge catch and release fisherman so this sitiation is hard to grip and understand for me. This lake is a fun lake i just would like some answers, i know i wil get a mix of answers but me as well as others would like to have some peace of mind. It is a little bit disterbing. Thanks and stay safe out there.

I have read about bass die offs after tourneys are held and the bass are released back into the water. Not sure about this so maybe some of our tourney fishermen can throw in their comments.

Shadow Caster wrote:I have read about bass die offs after tourneys are held and the bass are released back into the water. Not sure about this so maybe some of our tourney fishermen can throw in their comments.

It's been known to happen. That is why tourney rules are as strict as they are concerning care of the bass, but sometimes it just happens. A fish will exhaust themself during the fight and not make it, but that fish will die in the livewell and should be kept and not thrown away. That also can happen to a fun fisherman and the fish released right away, the fish may swim away but die later.

Some lakes during the spring summer months lose their oxygen too.The plant life is booming and utilizes alot of the nutrients in the water.Just another opinion.

Hey there guys , okay Eloika lake is not on the states Permit list for "any" bass tourneys sheduled for 2010 , so we can safley rule out harm done by way of Bass tourements on this body of water ...

As for the dead Bass , there are many factors that could have caused there death ! I choose not to assume what took place without any factual data to suuport the claim ...

BBD

Well i am hoping for some of the laocals around to say what thier thughts are. It is very strange. Could it just be that the winter has taken its toll>? i have never seen a dead bass here in 5 years now this year i have seen atleast 5. Has this happened at another lake for some unknow reason before that you know of> anyhow, tomorrow should be a nice day to head out before the bad weather comming up. Stay safe.

Don't forget that the rules governing bass tournaments require the bass to be released away from the weigh in areas post tourney...

I would think that if it was a natural die off there would be more than 4 or 5 dead fish.

I know of trout fishermen that hate bass and kill them every chance they get because they eat trout. The fine for this should be loss of fishing in the state of Wa for 50 years and loss of the car or truck,boat and fishing gear. Even prison time of 20+ years and a fine of $10,000. I need your vote for Gov!

I'll vote for you for Gov. if you vote for me for Pres.

Trent Hale wrote: I know of trout fishermen that hate bass and kill them every chance they get because they eat trout. The fine for this should be loss of fishing in the state of Wa for 50 years and loss of the car or truck,boat and fishing gear. Even prison time of 20+ years and a fine of $10,000. I need your vote for Gov!

I say a hundred fishing rod lashings from every bass angler in the respective county on top of the proposed penalties! AND we should include this penalty for those who don't CPR the bass!!

Don't get me wrong, I don't condone wasting sport fish of any kind. However, before you get elected governor and punish bass haters, just remember which species was introduced to the Pacific Northwest. Are you sure they were fully intact? I've seen quite a few filleted carcasses next to docks that, at a quick glance, looked whole.

My guess is that either some knob wasn't aware of the slot/size limits and pitched their illegal catch after being informed of the regs or they knew the regs and pitched their catch when they saw enforcement at the launch. Either way, its sad to see nice fish go to waste.

I gave away a trout, about 15", today because I didn't really want to keep it. I got the hook out of it and it then flipped and restuck the hook into the gills, It was gonna die so I had to retain it. A trout fishermen/boat was going past so I asked if they wanted it, they took it from me. I think that is legal isn't it?

Well I couldn't find it in the regs, so I called Mill Creek, she said that it's ok. :-)

If both parties have valid licenses and have not reached their limits, it should be OK. Technically though, you need to provide a written statement that includes all of your pertinent fishing license info, etc. along with the fish. I think the intent is to prevent, "party" fishing/harvesting. This is covered under one of the "you may not" rules in the regs.

You May Not:

Possess another person’s game fish unless it is
accompanied by a statement showing the name,
address, license number, date, county, and area
where it was taken, and the signature of the
angler who harvested it.

I looked under the 'you may' section and didn't see that. But I was looking for 'you may give away a fish' under the 'you may' section. She did say that a note would have been best to give the person for the reasons you mentioned in case that person was stopped for whatever reason. The other fisherman was still setting up his rods/bait so didn't even have a hook in the water yet. So he'd better have had a license. lol

edit: I just looked under the 'you may not' section and did see that paragraph. Thanks.

You may not possess another person's game fish without all that legal red tape, but as soon as you GAVE the fish to them and they ACCEPTED it, it's no longer your fish -

it's their fish.

I LIKE that thought.

Ok, I want to say that i give away amost 90% of all trout i catch and the fisherman i give them to have never denied one before. They are thankfull for it. Anyhow we got away from the main topic here, has anyone seen anymore dead fish at eloika lately? Or how has fishing been? ok, stay safe out there.

G-Man wrote:Don't get me wrong, I don't condone wasting sport fish of any kind. However, before you get elected governor and punish bass haters, just remember which species was introduced to the Pacific Northwest. Are you sure they were fully intact? I've seen quite a few filleted carcasses next to docks that, at a quick glance, looked whole.

Hopefully you're aware that rainbow trout are even less native to our lakes than bass. Rainbow trout aren't naturally found in lakes at all and can't even reproduce in them, hence the need to stock them every year. Bass are certainly better suited for our lakes than rainbows. There's also perch, crappie, bluegill, catfish, pike, walleye, and pretty much every other species of fish you could hope to fish for in Washington, which are all technically "non-native". I say after 125+ years here, it's time to stop the "bass aren't native" argument for good.