Chumster.

Don't get me wrong, I love the lake WA sockeye fishery

I'm not worried about the cuts in the cedar. I'm worried about the cuts in the lake itself.

The tribal gillnets catch lots of them and I for one catch at least 1 per season. The checkers check lots of big cuts every day the season is open. Like I said if even 1 cut is killed from lake washington for every 100 sockeye ( My boat certainly catches more cuts than that when sockeye fishing). Thats thousands that would be taken on a good year during sockeye season. That doesn't include the regular trout season.

I doubt that such a level of harvest is sustainable year in and year out. When there is only a sockeye season every 4 years I think the cuts can take it, but every year? I think that is unsustainable. Combine that with the tribal "test fisheries" (ie cutthroat killing) and a lack of political will to stop any of this to protect cutthroat.

If WT had any real interest in protecting native fish, they would try to step in and do something here.

Of course there are lots of ways that the sockeye impacts on lake washington cutthroat could be mitigated short of closing the hatchery. By I seriously doubt WT would be interested because that would disprove there agenda that native fish and hatchery runs can
co-exist if one is careful.


I don't think people appreciate what a spectacular trout fishery is present in lake WA.

Some of you may remember a #15 cut was taken from the lake last year (yes bigger than the state record). Look up the pic in the archives-- Cigar posted it.

If we aren't careful it will be unnecessarily sacrificed on the alter of maximized sockeye harvest. A waste considering we have the best urban native wild trout fishery in the world just out our front doors.