Sprague Lake

[YellowBear]

I will also be back on Sprague as it is a lake I have been fishing for more than 40 years.
I am sure there will be Largemouth caught out of there soon.

I would like to see a informal tournament on Sprague, the more boats the better.

[hewesfisher]

Tough for me to get excited about fishing Sprague, terrible public access, shallow lake with no special attributes and the scenery, to me, is blah, blah, blah. However, if the fishing does improve, I may visit it more often. Will be on the wet side this weekend for my brother's retirement from the WA ANG. I'll read your reports when I get back.

[MotoBoat]

Tough for me to get excited about fishing Sprague, terrible public access, shallow lake with no special attributes and the scenery, to me, is blah, blah, blah. However, if the fishing does improve, I may visit it more often. Will be on the wet side this weekend for my brother's retirement from the WA ANG. I'll read your reports when I get back.

WA ANG? Not familiar with the abbreviation. That places you on American lake, at some point. Does it not?

[Dan Boone]

Washington Army National Guard

[hewesfisher]

Washington Army National Guard

Washington Air National Guard.

That places you on American lake, at some point. Does it not?

Not this weekend, won't have time for fishing.

[Gpaw]

I went saturday targeting sunfish for approxiamently 5 hours. I headed for the weed lines that had been really productive for me, before the big kill. I saw nothing at all not even a little sunfish in the reeds and weeds. Usually you see something when you glide up on a spot in a canoe. No bites at all. I did move to a place across from the public fishing area and boat luanch and caught some nice RBT . Maybe the sunnies are still in deep water scattered. I don't know. I'll try again this summer when hopefully they'll be up near the weeds. I think the Unofficial fishing tournament is a great idea.

[Anglinarcher]

So, I am sure that that the State will be all over this and claim it is illegal, so we need to walk a pretty tight line.

How about calling it the first annual Non-Tournament at Sprague Lake.

July 6 should be a good Saturday, late enough for the water to be warmed up.

Rules

1) Show up when you want.
2) Fish how you prefer, but it must be for Spiny Rays
3) Report your catches, if any, on WL by Monday night (08July2013).
4) Pictures are desired.
5) If you wish and are on site, meet at the Launch at 4 PM to compare results. This would give the morning and most of the day to locate and find fish, but still allow time after to go back out and use any information gained to try to salvage the day, and perhaps salvage the weekend.
6) IF big brother, Fish and Wildlife, decides to show up, we would not meet and would pretend we know nothing. After all, there is no registration, no awards, nothing for them to track or nail us with.

So, what do you guys think?????

[AJ's Dad]

Sounds like just a bunch of guys going fishing on the same day to me.

[YellowBear]

As long as there are no prizes and no entry fees there is nothing wrong with us getting together for a day of fishing.
Call it a Fish-In and I think its a great idea. How about launching out of the four seasons resort? its the best ramp on the lake. July-6 works for me.

[Anglinarcher]

Four Seasons is the deepest launch, but I still think that the work done on the State Launch a few years ago makes it a good launch. The parking is a bit limited though and supporting Four Seasons is a good idea. Four Seasons also has a pretty good diagram of many, maybe most, of the rocks to look out for.

So, before we pull the trigger on this one, is July 6 a good day or should we pick a day a little further out to allow more people to get on board??? My thoughts are ..... mixed.

1) How about an IN-YOUR-FACE challenge to the State and officially call this NON-Tournament the "Put up or shut up - spiny ray fish challenge".

2) Use our un-official connection to the F&W, Stacy, and invite the F&W to come out themselves. As AJ's Dad put it, it is just a bunch of friends (you are my friends) getting together to go fishing.

3) The later we put this off the lower the water level. This puts more boats in danger of the rocks if they don't know where they are, but also pulls more potential fish out of the reeds along the shore. It also means that the fish will be over any Post Spawn issues and the water will have more algae to reduce visibility and make it a little more fishable.

OK, otherwise, nothing would change from above. Let's see what people say and we can start posting this on the Bass Forum and the Freshwater Forum as well.

[Kfedka]

I would love to join in, but that is 4th of July weekend and I'll be camping.

[YellowBear]

It may be a good idea to put it off for a week or so, what ever it takes to get more boats and folks to join in.

[Anglinarcher]

What would be a good Saturday for you guys? You know, fall bass fishing can be great at times, so a September date might be good. Still, it would be good to know if we can find them before then.

How about July 20 or 27?

[Anglinarcher]

OK guys and gals, I hit Sprague pretty hard today. I actually caught one on a black double blade buzz bait, a couple on chartreuse spinner baits, and most on a lure I make that I call the Wandering Tail Dragger. It was pretty tough and I was not the first to figure them out. I can tell you that there was at least 4 boats that were fishing for bass, one caught only one bass, one caught a few using sinkos, one caught a few using spinner baits.

The key, you had to be at the right place at the right time, with the right lure. In other words, most was not skill, but plain old luck, tempered with preparation.

I reported on the results, but for reasons of discussion, I did not give all of the results. I hit three that my knock off Boga grip said hovered at about 6 pounds. I lost two that were bigger, right at the boat. I caught two that were pretty small, but only saw maybe 4 small fish all day that followed lures in. Normally the small bass always follow the lures in. The rest of the fish, maybe 4 or 5, were mid 3 pounders. To be honest, once I figured them out, it was a 5 star day. Nevertheless, what I did not find or see concerns me.

I found absolutely no sign of bluegills or crappie. Of course there should be no perch and none were found. There were signs of Sculpin, but I do not know how long they will hold out.

It looks like I have battery problems so until I get it figured out I may not be able to revisit Sprague, but I sure do look forward to my next trip.

I sure hope that panfisher or some other gill or crappie expert can find them and put my concerns to rest.

[hewesfisher]

We don't do holiday weekend outings, so July 6th is out for us. Will have to check with the boss on the other two July dates mentioned and AAs suggestion of a fall fishing date is a good idea too.

I agree, if there is no money involved, no prizes, etc. it's not a tournament, just a bunch of anglers gathering to fish on the same day and getting together at the end of the day to compare each other's success.

I counted a dozen boats on Sprague about 11:00am as I headed west Saturday morning. Saw only one as I passed by about 8am this morning on my return trip.

[dgarrett]

FYI- Sprague Lake was rehabbed primarily for walleye. The bass featured in the film were caught on Sprague Lake in three hours of fishing on May 24th, 2013. The warmwater program is working very hard to bring this lake back to what it was. If you'd like more information, contact me, the guy who made the film. You can also call the regional office in Spokane and speak to a warmwater biologist who has been sampling in eastern WA for 15 years. Taking this route, you're likely to receive better information than an online fishing forum. And remember, we biologists are all warmwater fishermen that want to see Sprague Lake at it's best, just like you. With naturally reproducing fish poplations, the results often don't come as quickly as people would like. That being said, that was the best 3 hours of largemouth fishing I've had in some time.

Danny Garrett, Region 4 Warmwater Biologist, WDFW
(425) 775-1311 Ext. 101
Email: dan.garrett@dfw.wa.gov

PS- I do not spend work time posting on fishing forums, so please contact me directly by email if you'd like a response. I decided to post this during my lunch break after reading how much misinformation there is on the web. We're all on the same team folks.

[Anglinarcher]

Dan,

I sent you an email. It was not full of sugar and spice, but it is honest.

I hope you can become an honest and respected source of information to the public that we can all trust. Sadly, your office and the State offices in general do not currently have that reputation, so expect a bit of push back until you regain the respect you deserve in your position.

[Anglinarcher]

Take this with a grain of salt, but when I fished Sprague a few weeks ago, the resort owner at Four Seasons told me no one is targeting spiny ray species. He said there are LMB pushing 3+lbs and big bluegill, but no one is fishing for them. I went to fish for the big 'bows so I guess I was just like everyone else not targeting spiny ray.

If what I was told is true, it might explain why there are no reports for anything except trout. Maybe all of us should take the time to fish for, and report on, how the fishing is for non-trout.

The primary reason the lake was rehabbed was to remove carp from the lake.

Hey Hewsfisher, I wanted to clarify one thing. I have proposed that the lake needed to be rehabbed to remove the carp, and that the removal of the carp was the silver lining on this dark cloud, but in fact, the state chose to rehab the lake to remove the Walleye.

Many less then forthcoming statements have been made by the state, and I doubt we will ever get the truth, but I DO believe that the removal of the Walleye was the reason for killing the lake out. I just doubt that the Walleye were the culprit for the poor fishing claimed to exist at Sprague.

[Anglinarcher]

Hey guys, I think it is officially time to drag Sprague out of the Walleye and Panfish forum and take it to the Freshwater Fishing forum. This makes some sense to me because we have Rainbow and Cutthroat trout, and Large Mouth Bass.

Additionally, it is claimed that we have crappie and bluegill and channel catfish. While none have been reported by fishermen to date, I have little reason to believe it will not happen in time.

With such a diverse set of fish and with so many interacting issues, it seems like putting Sprague in a forum that caters to a fish that does not exist in it now (Walleye) or panfish that have not shown up yet (Bluegills, crappie), just does not do it justice. Also, the bass forum may make some sense, but it think it may be too early.

I plan on posting in the Freshwater forum and invite you guys to follow me to it for a solid discussion of the status of Sprague.

Thanks, and good fishing!

[MotoBoat]

Dan,

I sent you an email. It was not full of sugar and spice, but it is honest.

I hope you can become an honest and respected source of information to the public that we can all trust. Sadly, your office and the State offices in general do not currently have that reputation, so expect a bit of push back until you regain the respect you deserve in your position.

Anglin, did Dan the Bio involved in the rehab of Sprague. Respond with a reply to your email?