That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. While bass may eat a few smolts, use your heads. Most smolts migrate in the early spring when bass are dormant or involved in spawning or late summer when bass are hiding out in the shallows. Plus most smolts head straight out to sea depending on the run (except perhaps sockeye which are trout-like in their habits) so bass do not get a chance to make a sizable dent in their numbers. Bass have been in Lake Washington for at least 50 years. Probably closer to 100.

And I'd really like to see proof of the accusation that 'almost all' the non-native species in Lake Washington feed on salmon smolts. I seem to remember a study mentioned in The Reel News that the Oregon equivilent to the WDFW did of bass and walleye in the big C that mentioned only a few salmon smolts in their stomach contents. The accusation that bass are responsible for eating up all the salmon smolts is ludicrous.

Plus think about this: if there were no non-native species in Washington then there would be no freshwater fish left to catch after the hatchery trout were depleted.