On Monday 01 October 2001 09:31 PM, Vladimir wrote: > The bass have been in the lake for several years. > There was some talk about poisoning at that time, > but I believe the department was going to see what > the effect on the trout fishery was going to be. > They might have increased the size of the trout planted > to minimize predation by bass.
On the flip side, I was out at Cottage Lake earlier this year, and saw a most amazing spectacle- trout slashing, crashing, herding, and generally chowing down on young bass. I've talked to several other Cottage Lake fly fishing regulars who have seen the same thing. Quite frankly, if trout like them that much let them stay, they are good for food value. Secondly, on the predator issue, I rather doubt if trout and bass are all that much in contact in some lakes, like Cottage, as trout like the colder water, and bass prefer warmer. That holds true for large mouth, but not for smallmouth. Smallmouth are the #1 predator of salmon fry in Lake Washington, Lake Sammamish and the ship canal. they are well documented to hold off Issaquah Creek and the Cedar River where they snare young salmon leaving the rivers. In the ship canal they predate on the fish at constrictions, at the Montlake Cut, the locks, and off Gasworks. This is a well known fact among the bass fanatics. There are issues when the lake is too shallow to stratify, like Chopaka, as the deep water is quite small in relation to the shallows. the trout will get sluggish in the warmer water and easy for the bass to catch. Rob
