Quillback

Well I can understand that point, I wonder if angler opinion agreed with the biological reasons for the reg change on SWEPCO? It's a great place to introduce youngsters to bass fishing, and from the number of rigs I've seen in the parking lot on a Saturday morning it appears anglers aren't turned off by catching too many small bass. I would also argue that SWEPCO already contains a healthy population of trophy bass, I fear the end result will be a lake with a relatively small number of "trophy" bass and anything below 18" will also become scarce. Anyway I guess we'll find out, hopefully this change is for the better, it would be great to have a lake that has a good number of trophy sized bass.

I haven't fished for bass in SWEPCO since last November, but it was good then for bass of all sizes, we did get some smaller ones, but also caught several in the 2-5 lb range. Maybe this reg change will create an environment where there will be more larger fish, but I'm sceptical. I think it's a fine lake for bass fishing as it is and I don't see how this reg change will improve it.

Thanks for the report, once I get moved down to NW AR I'll have to give this lake a try.

I was surprised to see a 10 fish bass limit at SWEPCO. I fish that lake when I come down to visit, it's great bass fishing under the current catch and release rules. I don't see a need for bass retention on that lake, does anyone know why they are going to allow retention? Is the fishing too good? BTW, does anyone know if they implemented the suggested changes?

CrappieFM, yeah I live in Washington now, but I'm moving to NW ARK this fall. Yeah the bounty is pretty sweet, if you like fishing for Pikeminnow full time. I live to far from the Big C to make it worth my while, not to mention I would rather spend my fishing time going for salmon and steelhead. Right now is prime time for Chinook and we also have an open Sockeye season in Lake Washington.

It's funny how you see the same thread topics on different boards. On the Columbia river there's a big Sealion problem, Sealions eat returning Spring Chinook when the fish are congregated at the dams waiting to get upriver, considering about $400 million a year is spent on salmon and steelhead management on the Columbia, watching these expensive fish get gulped by Sealions is aggravating. The Marine Mammal protection act covers Sealions so they can't be lethally removed without Federal approval (they're working on it.) There is also a problem with a predator known as the Northern Pikeminnow (formerly called Squawfish, name changed for PC reasons). Pikeminnow eat salmon and steelhead smolts, so the Feds came up with a program to PAY people to catch and kill Pikeminnow, it's a $3 per fish bounty. Top Pikeminnow fishermen make 30-40K per year catching Pikeminnow.

Under current operating standards are there trout die offs caused by not enough water being released during the summer?

That's a big hatchery. Is this hatchery a replacement for an older hatchery or is it new and increased capacity as far as number of fish raised?

I have a White river brown on the wall, mostly black spots with a couple of red ones, no white outlines on the red spots, but a handful of the black ones have outlines that are more of a tan color than white. I would not think that a taxidermist would mess with painting outlines around the spots, but I could be wrong. You could probably give them a call and ask them if they did any "enhancements" to the natural color of the fish. I don't have a digi camera else I would take a picture.

I'm on a couple of fishing boards here in the Northwest. They have hunting sections and they, in my opinion, don't clutter up the boards. They are much busier boards than this one (don't know if that's good or bad), and they have paid subscriber only sections. Anyway here's the addys if you want to take a look, it's free registration. www.steelheader.net www.gamefishin.com (it's gamefishin, not gamefishing.)

Looks like some good eats!

Things are bad here in Washington state also. You can't leave anything of value in your vehicle at any of the access points. The latest thing the thieves have been doing is stealing gas. If you put on a locking gas cap they cut the hose to the gas tank. I miss the good old days when you went to a fishing spot and you felt like you were in a safe place.

Nice fish, great story, her dad will certainly have enough fish for dinner!

Yes, this is a great site!

"Sewer Trout" - I have heard carp called a lot of things, but that's the first time I heard that one.

That is one heck of a fish! Good read also.

That's one big slab. Sounds like if you want a world record crappie you better hit the farm ponds. It will be interesting to see how big it gets and how long it lives at Bass Pro.

Sounds like fun, nice fish!

They probably handled that fish a little too much while they were deciding whether it would be considered for the world record causing injury that led to it's eventual death. You gotta handle a big old fat fish like that carefully if you intend to release it.

Here in Washington we also get big Sturgeon, but they all have to be released if they are over 48 inches or less than 42". I'm not exactly sure of the rules in Canada for sturgeon, but I would bet they were required to release that fish.

Thanks for the report, sounds like you had a geat trip!

That fish is a beauty, looks like it was living well!

I live in Washington state and we have many Cougars as they are called out here. We used to have a hound season for cougars, but the animal lovers pushed through a ballot measure that outlawed hunting cougars with hounds. Anyone can get a cougar permit to hunt cougars but it is very tough without hounds, most cougars that are shot are harvested by deer or elk hunters that come across them during deer or elk season. Cougars are very wary and it is unusual to see them. I spend a lot of time outdoors hunting, fishing, and hiking and I have seen one cougar in all that time and that was one by the road when I was in my truck. I would be concerned if I saw a cougar and it was unafraid, they always say that if a cougar appears to be stalking you you should raise your arms above your head to appear bigger, make noise and stand your ground. Of course if your armed, you have other options. In spite of the large number of cougars we have out here, attacks on humans are rare, at least here in Washington, in CA they have had more attacks and a couple of people have been killed. But here in WA there haven't been any fatal cougar attacks in many years if ever. Cougars, when they go after humans tend to go after women and children as they are smaller. We do get problem cougars and bears that wander into the suburbs, usually old or young animals that start killing the local pets, the Game Department will get called and they'll come in and remove the animal.

Sounds like an awesome evening of fishing!

Thanks for the advice guys, I haven't heard of G3 or Landau, but they'll definitely be on my list to check out.