Theking -
Surprising enough if there are to be both bass and trout in the water a slot limit is often the best way to manage the bass population to insure the best survival and growth of the trout.

Traditionally the State's approach to managing lowland lake trout waters was a single species water. Thus reserving all the lake's productivity for trout growth. This was done with rotenone - a fish toxin that had minimal impacts on the rest of the aquatic ecosystem. However with growing opposition of the "poisoning" of lakes by anglers and lake shore owners and relentless onsluaght of illegal stocking of exotic fish in waters the program is no long feasible in Western Washington.

As the result of mostly illegal introductions bass are now found in nearly all of the lowland lakes of western Washington and much of eastern Washington. What was noted in the 1980s was the trout survival in mix species waters were often better in lakes with long established bass populations (a balanced warm water pop.) than those lakes with recent introductions. What was observed was that much of the trout mortality was from food competition rather than predation. Lakes with lots of small bass and other warm water fish were getting the food prior to the trout (the smaller fish eating the zooplankton prior to it getting large enough for the trout.

Slot limits on the bass insure that there are enough mid-size fish to seriously reduce the small fish population. Under such management both the bass and trout benefit. With fewer small bass the growth rate of the bass improving while allowing some survival of the trout. This mixed management does come with an increased cost for the trout. Larger fish have to be planted.

Tight lines
S malma