Mike, You've made some excellent points in your analysis of fishing conditions at Chopaka. But beyond the immediate concern surrounding the decline of that fishery is a much larger issue that threatens to impact other fisheries as well.
It's worth noting that Washington has the dubious distinction of having crammed the second highest number of people of any western state into the smallest physical area. Although most of the state's population gains have been confined to the greater Seattle area, the net overall impact of increased fishing pressure is being felt throughout the state as more and more anglers drive for hours to love their favorite waters nearly to death. We're already seeing other fisheries suffer from overcrowding as well. The first few weekends in March at Lenice-Nunnally are already a zoo with dozens of campers and tents. So is Rocky Ford in February as cabin-fevered fishers seek to tighten their lines early in the new year. Ditto Dry Falls and stretches of the Yakima during peak periods. And don't even get me started on the amount of trash our fellow well-intentioned anglers discard. While I'm certainly not an advocate of Draconian measures such as angler limits or usage permits, it's not too hard to see WDFW adopt a system capping the number of anglers on high-traffic waters on any given day, much as the number of hikers and backpackers are already constrained in certain high-traffic backcountry areas. Otherwise, one day not too far in the future, we'll all look back and remember the 'good old days' when there were 'only' 25 cars at the Lake Lenice parking lot. Kent Lufkin >Bass have been in Chopaka for at least 15 years. During the early days of >the DFW making lakes ffing only, bucket biologists would dump spiny rays into >the lakes in the region as a form of protest. Every other lake that had this >occur has been rehabbed but Chopaka has not been done for some reason. I >will say that due to the high altitude, the bass have remained relatively >stunted over the years but it does seem like they are starting to adapt and >are getting larger and more numerous. > >I know the DFW are somewhat unsure as to what they want to do with the lake. >Unfortunately, Chopaka is probably one of the highest pressure lakes in the >State for fly fishing. The DFW would get many complaints if they take the >lake off-line for a year or two while the fishing is still good although I >think that would be a good thing for some reasons listed below. > >Having talked with a couple of the DFW guys, I know they are concerned with >high pressure the lake is receiving. Any of us that have fished the lake for >the last 20 years+ know that the lake is an absolute zoo now and many of us >who grew up in the region refuse to fish it due to the over crowding. The >DFW in this region depends heavily on the involvement of the Okanogan County >Fly Fishing Club for clean up, weed control and an ongoing presence by the >retired members during the summer months to reduce poaching and vandalism. >The club is talking about dropping Chopaka as one of its adopt a lake >projects due to the overcrowding and the fact that it is almost impossible >for the club to find enough camp spots to hold their meeting each year. > >The other issue the DFW is considering is the impact the high numbers of >campers are having on the shoreline and the water quality. A few years ago >they were monitoring for E-coli in the well and were also concerned about the >trampling of the vegetation due to the high numbers of campers. > >I don't know what they will end up doing. I agree that more FFing only lakes >need to be established around the State to ease the pressure. Okanogan and >Grant county take the brunt of the pressure each year with Chopaka, Blue, >Aeneas, Lenice, Lenore, Grimes, Jaimeson etc. We all love to catch big fish >and do it in beautiful areas but it is getting to the point on some of these >waters that I would rather fish off the beaten path then play bumper boats. > >Mike
