Kaus - about Kress Lake Channel Cats/bass enhancement

Stacie L. Kelsey · 02-22-2002, 09:32 AM

I didn't want this topic to get buried in the sturgeon management topic.

The eastside channel cats are some of the ones that may go into Kress.

The management in Kress that I have gone with is to have fish planted that are 12" and above. This, I believe, is the best way to plant and make sure they are going to survive. In the early 90s we tried to plant fingerlings into Kress and Lacamas and they never really showed up.

However, the Kress cats are doing great!!

I would love to find places to do bass enhancement. We are limited to the waters in southwest Washington that this can be done in though. Kress was a great lake to start with the cats. We did an Endothal treatment on the lake to get rid of the milfoil that had covered 100% of the lake. This in turn has helped the bass there as it eliminated a bunch of cover and they can now work on getting the bluegill population balanced. Too much cover before was causing a huge problem.

John Weinheimer (the coolest boss in the world!) is working on the management of Silver Lake which historically has been a great bass lake.

Some waters we have are primarily trout waters and we do not want bass in them. Mineral Lake in Lewis County has bass that keep showing up even though we rehab'd it a few times in the past.

There are other lakes I would like to enhance, such as Lacamas Lake. But there are a lot of factors to deal with before we do.

Do you have any place you would like to see enhancement for?

Please let me know!

stace
:grin: :grin: :grin: :grin:

verysweepy · 02-22-2002, 04:37 PM

Where is kress lake?

Stacie L. Kelsey · 02-22-2002, 04:49 PM

Kress is located just north of the city of Kalama off of I-5 at Exit 32.

Take a right off the exit. Take your first left then you have two right turns you can take to get into the lake parking lot area.

You need to have a WDFW Access Decal to park at this lake. You can get these at any store that sells the fishing licenses.

It's a cool place to fish.

stace
:grin: :grin: :grin: :grin:

Snapshot · 02-22-2002, 09:27 PM

interesting notes and I immediately thought of Horseshoe lake in Woodland. Is it one of the lakes that could used to build up a channel cat population? I has size and limited access. It just looks like a good bass lake but I have no clue what might be in it.
Love those channel cats too.

Stacie L. Kelsey · 02-22-2002, 09:29 PM

Horseshoe is definitely a possibility for enhancement. It's kind of a weird lake. The steelhead are doing really good in there, the trophy trout do great but the catchable trout don't and haven't heard much about bass being caught and certainly no channel catfish.

That is a good suggestion, I will have to look into that.

:grin: :grin: :grin:

Perfect Drift · 02-22-2002, 09:45 PM

Stacie- We are very lucky to have you here to ask quality questions of, hope you stay around.
I have spoke with John W. about the numbers of grass carp put into silver Lake and I sense he agrees that to many were put in. I do remember when the lake was almost choked in with milfoil. They did a good job on that. I have heard mixed answers on whether they are able to reproduce, can they ? Are there plans to reduce the numbers, wondering I guess if vegitation will be allowed to regrow? Also, last year bass fishing was off somewhat up there, would you have an answer as to why that was? And I know there is a big stink about to lower the water every year for was it steelhead, anyway, would you have an update on that issue?

Stacie L. Kelsey · 02-23-2002, 05:51 PM

There were definitely too many grass carp put in - but it was so new we didn't know that at the time. They went in at about 50+/acre. I currently stock at 22 per <i>affected</i> acre. Big difference.

The USFWS does a lot of sub-sampling to determine whether the fish are sterile. It is high enough that there shouldn't be any problems with reproduction.

Sampling and catching grass carp are a hundred times more difficult than sampling and catching tiger muskies. It would be impossible to do a populations assessment and just as impossible to go in and remove them. They can live up to 15+ years if they have decent condidtions.

They seem to be doing good still - not sure how many got out when the dam broke at the canal though.

Bass have been 'off' for awhile. There is a report available on the studies we have done at Silver Lake. Would you like a copy??

email me at: kelsyslk@dfw.wa.gov

and I will round you up a copy!

stace

:grin: :grin: :grin:

Snapshot · 02-23-2002, 09:52 PM

thanks for the info on Silver Lake. I used to go up and bass fish and it was always worth the trip from the Portland area. Since the Dam broke and the lower water levels, I have heard the fishing is not even close to how it used to be. Could the carp be caught and removed. Perhaps a little carp fishing derby could help. Get lots of kids with poles and bread and catch a bunch of them. You could chum the lake in a couple very accessable areas, then have the fishing contests.

*Fish only bite wet hooks*

dawhunt · 02-24-2002, 10:13 AM

Whats the chances of getting grass carp in LaCamas
Lake ??.
Bob

rob allen · 02-24-2002, 01:39 PM

What are the chances of getting the nutrient loading under control?? Tha a much more serious problem in Lacamas than the milfoil. The milfoil is pretty much the only cover the bass have for the majority of the year. Lacamas needs the milfoil What it doesn't need is water skiiers

jtl85 · 02-24-2002, 02:47 PM

I have always wondered about the potential that Klineline Pond has for warmwater fish. There are a lot of bluegill and some pretty hefty bass, how do you think the catfish would do there?

Perfect Drift · 02-24-2002, 03:46 PM

The choices for a quality bass lake are not very many, we just don't have that many lakes around, since this area is so trout oriented. One of the three Lewis River lakes would be great for small mouth. Ice House is a really nice little lake but it also is almost choked out with milfoil. I don't know much about the lakes near Stevenson, wonder if they are an option?
On a different topic- We used Caterpillar Island ramp today and it could really really use some gravel in the parking lot. There is quite a bit of mud coming up. Both parking lots were jambed. Would have any influence there?

THE REEL HEY_YALL · 02-25-2002, 07:59 AM

Stacie - I got my 'package' in the mail from you guys the other day.

Thanks again to Stacie and Region Cinqo

Stacie L. Kelsey · 02-25-2002, 05:33 PM

Answers by post!

Snapshot- the thing about the grass carp in Silver, EVEN if we could catch them, is they don't belong to us. They belong to the lake group that paid for them. So, while we do manage them, they aren't ours to remove at our own will. That has to be decided a whole different group of people.

Dawhunt - we couldn't get grass carp into Lacamas until they made an adequate screen at the dam. And while the grass carp would control what is there now, the problem lies in what continues to happen to make the lake over rich with nutrients. That is a bigger problem than the grass carp can fix. I believe there is a group trying to work on the enhancement of this lake. Our program needs to get a move on this before the lake completely dies.

Rob - there is a good chance of getting the nutrients under control. It woudl involve a lot of work. I know there was talk of filtration systems, but I don't know what stage that is at right now.

Jtl85 - Klineline would be a good resource for channel catfish. We may move to put some in there. It already offers an incredible trout fishery and we raise juvenile steelhead in net pens. I think the state record (Washington) bass is in this lake. I have seen it. Last year it was probably 12+ lbs. We caught it behind our nets for the kid's fishing derby, but no one caught it on a pole.

:grin: :grin: :grin: :grin: