Lahontan cutthroat study at Lake Lenore

[Buzzy]

WDFW NEWS RELEASE
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
1111 Washington St. SE, Olympia, WA 98501
wdfw.wa.gov

March 21, 2022
Contact: Mike Schmuck, 509-754-4624 ext. 227
Staci Lehman, Public Affairs, 509-710-4511

Lahontan cutthroat trout survey starts soon at Lake Lenore

EPHRATA– Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) staff will conduct a survey of the Lahontan cutthroat trout population in Grant County’s Lake Lenore during the week of March 28 to April 1.

Fisheries biologists will set 24 trap nets at various locations along the shoreline to catch the trout in order to estimate abundance and collect biological information such as length, weight, and sex. This survey is the first of its kind on Lake Lenore and is being conducted to establish long-term trend data that will help guide management efforts and encourage increased angler participation in this fishery.

Trap nets have a long (100-foot by 6-foot) lead line that acts as a wall. Actively migrating fish species, like Lahontan cutthroat trout in this case, encounter the lead and follow it into the live holding area of the trap. The live trout are removed, placed in a live well, and processed. The fish are measured, weighed and then released unharmed.

Each net trap will be clearly marked with buoys to ensure anglers do not entangle fishing lines in the nets. This survey is not expected to interfere with regular fishing or recreation activity at the lake.

Lake Lenore is known for its very alkaline waters that only Lahontan cutthroat trout have adapted to be able to survive in. The Lahontan is one of three subspecies of cutthroat trout in Washington. Unlike the two other subspecies, Westslope and coastal, Lahontan are not native to Washington. They are the largest of the cutthroat subspecies, have dark olive backs with reddish to yellowish sides and medium to large dark spots all over the body. The average Lahontan cutthroat trout is 16-to-18 inches long, but Lake Lenore is known for the size of its trout; many of the fish are at least 20 inches long and trout exceeding 30 inches have been caught there as well.

 

[_WW_]

Lol! WDFW just hot spotted Lenore!

 

[Triploidjunkie]

Lol! WDFW just hot spotted Lenore!

Hot spotted a dead lake... That place has been garbage for several years.

 

[iveofione]

Hot spotted a dead lake... That place has been garbage for several years.

Agreed. I would drive hours to fish it years ago, nowadays I drive right past it without giving it a thought. Did it ever recover even a little from the Russians poaching all the spawners?

 

[_WW_]

Hot spotted a dead lake... That place has been garbage for several years.

Figures.

 

[Smalma]

A suspect that the problem with the Lenore is (smaller fish?) shared equally by the fish and the lake itself!

The diet studies that I can find report that once the Lahontan reach a foot or so they begin looking for larger food items - other fish. It is my understanding that with no other fish species in the lake initial that need for large food items was filled by the aquatic form of tiger salamanders. Doubt than many of those salamanders are left in the lake and the density of much of the other potential has also been cropped downed. Long story short it was always the case than the fishing seen the first decade or so was never sustainable.

Curt

 

[Triploidjunkie]

A suspect that the problem with the Lenore is (smaller fish?) shared equally by the fish and the lake itself!

The diet studies that I can find report that once the Lahontan reach a foot or so they begin looking for larger food items - other fish. It is my understanding that with no other fish species in the lake initial that need for large food items was filled by the aquatic form of tiger salamanders. Doubt than many of those salamanders are left in the lake and the density of much of the other potential has also been cropped downed. Long story short it was always the case than the fishing seen the first decade or so was never sustainable.

Curt

That's highly likely. Another issue, I believe, is water quality. The lake is a brownish/green soup that stinks. It's never been the cleanest lake, but it's much worse than it used to be.

 

[Irafly]

We also had the Banks Lake draw down several years ago that changed the water table.

I think many of the fish are still there, but they don’t concentrate in the north end like they used to because I think the change in water tables changed how how water comes into the lake. I believe there were springs that popped up in the North end.

This survey may show that fish are concentrated in other parts of the lake and with that data people can target those areas.

 

[Bass-O-Matic]

I was driving 75 mph along Lenore last year headed somewhere else and spotted shore cruisers a couple times. We pulled off and caught one in 15 minutes and declared victory, jumped back in the rig and took off. It wasn't in our plans but seeing numerous fish from the road we had to give it a quick shot

 

[Bruce Baker]

A little over a week ago, the district fish bio for Grant and Adams Counties, gave a presentation to a fly club about the lakes in his district and one of the lakes he brought up was Lenore. He had said it had been fishing good.

 

[Buzzy]

I was driving 75 mph along Lenore last year headed somewhere else and spotted shore cruisers a couple times. We pulled off and caught one in 15 minutes and declared victory, jumped back in the rig and took off. It wasn't in our plans but seeing numerous fish from the road we had to give it a quick shot

And all this time I thought I had a lead foot.... ;-)

I drove past Lenore today, two guys walk/wading the south end, a half dozen rigs/boats between there and the north end and then there was the north end. Whew. 15+ anglers and in the 20 minutes or so I was there I saw one fish hooked. Bright sun, no "W" with decent water clarity. Ephrata Tim was on the rockslide, TriCities Mike was two pole fishin'.



I haven't seen anything from the regional office study results but heard that the Bio's did find fish and they were dispersed. The pic above is in closed waters at the pumping station, the pumps weren't running. @Engee was with me, we could see fish turning on their sides in a spawning motion.

I drove out onto the unofficial but formerly well used south lake access and spotted a half dozen fish cruising and nudging each other. I did manage to fool one fish with a carp fly (@Engee and I had been hunting for carp elsewhere).

@Irafly - I do think there's something to your idea of watertable/.spring changes following the big drawdown of Banks (tens years ago now???).

 

[Irafly]

And all this time I thought I had a lead foot.... ;-)

I drove past Lenore today, two guys walk/wading the south end, a half dozen rigs/boats between there and the north end and then there was the north end. Whew. 15+ anglers and in the 20 minutes or so I was there I saw one fish hooked. Bright sun, no "W" with decent water clarity. Ephrata Tim was on the rockslide, TriCities Mike was two pole fishin'.

View attachment 10947

I haven't seen anything from the regional office study results but heard that the Bio's did find fish and they were dispersed. The pic above is in closed waters at the pumping station, the pumps weren't running. @Engee was with me, we could see fish turning on their sides in a spawning motion.

I drove out onto the unofficial but formerly well used south lake access and spotted a half dozen fish cruising and nudging each other. I did manage to fool one fish with a carp fly (@Engee and I had been hunting for carp elsewhere).

@Irafly - I do think there's something to your idea of watertable/.spring changes following the big drawdown of Banks (tens years ago now???).

Things really seemed to change on the North end right after that. It might be anecdotal, but the poaching would only explain a season or two issue, not years worth.

 

[Buzzy]

Things really seemed to change on the North end right after that. It might be anecdotal, but the poaching would only explain a season or two issue, not years worth.

I agree with the poaching not affecting fish population for a year or maybe two; unless it still occurs. It would be pretty easy to harvest a of trout in the pumping channel right now.

 

[Buzzy]

Followup to the first post on this thread.

 

[Buzzy]

For those of you who don't know about spawning collection on Lenore, there's a "trap" constructed in the stream that drains from Alkali Lake into Lenore. This year, there's no stream as Alkali Lake didn't fill enough to water up the stream. WDFW biologists and fish culturists are improvising this year, it will be interesting to see how they manage. I'm confident the Agency will do fine with fertilized egg collection.

Last year the stream was watered up long enough to collect eggs but barely so. Some of you may recall the fish rescue:

Thanks @Matt Paluch

 

[Billy]

Some tags already being caught...

 

[Bruce Baker]

Thanks for posting the article @Buzzy

 

[Buzzy]

Thread Drift - WDFW will be at the lake tomorrow to collect and spawn adult Lahontan cutties....

 

[Stonedfish]

Thread Drift - WDFW will be at the lake tomorrow to collect and spawn adult Lahontan cutties....

Pat,
Do they raise the offspring at the Columbia Basin hatchery or elsewhere if you know?
I stopped by there once and they had a bunch of small tiger muskies in one of the tanks.
Pretty cool to see.
SF

 

[dflett68]

A suspect that the problem with the Lenore is (smaller fish?) shared equally by the fish and the lake itself!

The diet studies that I can find report that once the Lahontan reach a foot or so they begin looking for larger food items - other fish. It is my understanding that with no other fish species in the lake initial that need for large food items was filled by the aquatic form of tiger salamanders. Doubt than many of those salamanders are left in the lake and the density of much of the other potential has also been cropped downed. Long story short it was always the case than the fishing seen the first decade or so was never sustainable.

Curt

And competition for that food? In the last 11 years the lake has received ~800K fingerlings in total. The prior 11 year period was roughly 400K, and the 11 years prior to that were also roughly 400K. Presumably the adult fish are gobbling up their share, but double the stocking must be a factor if food is scarce.