For many years a group of us have been fishing Lost Lake in the Okonogan Highlands, a pretty and productive brook trout lake with an excellent campground. At times we have over nighted but more often fished the morning and early afternoon then retreated to the Chesaw Tavern for a pitcher and discussed the day's fishing. The beauty of the fish, their abundance and the camaraderie always made for a special day, a day we enjoyed both in the spring and again in the fall.
On Wednesday I spent my final day on the lake after almost 2 decades of enjoying wonderful fishing there. I did not catch a single brook trout. Instead the lake has been stocked with hatchery rainbows and apparently put in during the pandemic when few people were fishing. I don't have all the details, Roper probably has better info, but it seems as though they were stocked as plus sized plants then grew to about 16'' while nobody was looking. Once discovered the hoards descended and the race to catch the last 16'' rainbow was on. I had heard tales about how fast the fishing was but that is past tense now as the fish were being harvested as fast as possible. Freestone and I camped there overnight and were there only about 20 hours and 30 fish left the lake in just that time. Multiply that by several months of fishing and you get the picture that it has become a put and take bonanza. Now the number of fish is way down and the brook trout seem to have disappeared completely. Next year people will return and wonder where the hell all of the fish are-"It was so good last year....." Duh
In the 22 years I have lived on the frozen tundra this is the 4th lake I have seen compromised by a stocking blunder. Lost was one of the finest brook trout lakes around. Others have been cutthroat lakes filled with hatchery zombie rainbows that either diminished or destroyed the previous fishery. The most blatant example would be Brown's Lake in Pend Oreille County. Once arguably the best cutthroat lake in the state, it was contaminated with hatchery rainbows a decade or more ago and never recovered. Krusty and I spent a day there recently and I think maybe only caught 1 or 2 cutthroat between us, the rest all modestly sized 'bows. I first started fishing it around 1999 and back then it was not unusual to catch 16-18'' cutts, a 16'' fish now would be a trophy.
The good news is that I'll never have to make that long dusty miserable drive up there again. The bad news is that I'll never get to enjoy the beauty and spirit of those brookies in their fall colors again. Damn!
Lost Lake has been lost.
On Wednesday I spent my final day on the lake after almost 2 decades of enjoying wonderful fishing there. I did not catch a single brook trout. Instead the lake has been stocked with hatchery rainbows and apparently put in during the pandemic when few people were fishing. I don't have all the details, Roper probably has better info, but it seems as though they were stocked as plus sized plants then grew to about 16'' while nobody was looking. Once discovered the hoards descended and the race to catch the last 16'' rainbow was on. I had heard tales about how fast the fishing was but that is past tense now as the fish were being harvested as fast as possible. Freestone and I camped there overnight and were there only about 20 hours and 30 fish left the lake in just that time. Multiply that by several months of fishing and you get the picture that it has become a put and take bonanza. Now the number of fish is way down and the brook trout seem to have disappeared completely. Next year people will return and wonder where the hell all of the fish are-"It was so good last year....." Duh
In the 22 years I have lived on the frozen tundra this is the 4th lake I have seen compromised by a stocking blunder. Lost was one of the finest brook trout lakes around. Others have been cutthroat lakes filled with hatchery zombie rainbows that either diminished or destroyed the previous fishery. The most blatant example would be Brown's Lake in Pend Oreille County. Once arguably the best cutthroat lake in the state, it was contaminated with hatchery rainbows a decade or more ago and never recovered. Krusty and I spent a day there recently and I think maybe only caught 1 or 2 cutthroat between us, the rest all modestly sized 'bows. I first started fishing it around 1999 and back then it was not unusual to catch 16-18'' cutts, a 16'' fish now would be a trophy.
The good news is that I'll never have to make that long dusty miserable drive up there again. The bad news is that I'll never get to enjoy the beauty and spirit of those brookies in their fall colors again. Damn!
Lost Lake has been lost.
