Pyramid and Lenore are considerably more productive than LW. LW is comparatively sterile. In Pyramid, it is a two species lake, for fish. The cui-ui eat the various plankters and larger inverts and the Lahontans convert that to big fish. In Lenore I don't think there are any other fish so the Lahontans get all the bugs.
You could have a decent CT population in the lake but it would be limited by the amount of good spawning habitat. The bigger cutts you have, the bigger the spawning stream. Need to preserve and likely restore the quality of Sammamish, Cedar, and Issaquah.
The bass would be predators/competitors with them, at least at certain stages. We know from decades of experience in WA lowland lakes that the various trouts (rainbow and cutts) did better when there weren't competitors.
But, given enough protection from harvest/release mortality so that they can grow to an old age and providing good spawning habitat you could have a fairly nice population of resident cutts in the main lake.
I guess I didn't realize that about Pyramid and Lenore because they are alkaline and I assumed that meant a reduced biomass food supply (in water bugs). Like I said, you know the biology better than I do, so I defer to your expertise.
Regardless, it does seem like Lake WA Sockeye are a waste of time and resources that could be better served elsewhere. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Do we not, by now, have enough history and quantifiable data to prove that Lake WA Socks are a wild goose chase? Does the state realize this or are the tribes blocking progress? They get the scraps today, so why would they vote for anything other than the status quo?
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