HOOK AND FUR By Bob Brown Area lakes appear to be holding their own when it comes to trout fishing, although not everyone is catching limits. Warm water temperatures have trout holding in cooler, bottom water. Warm-water species continue to be on the bite most of the day. Mayfield Lake has been doing well for trout. Riffe has been producing silvers for boat anglers. Bank fishing has been slow, and Swofford Pond has been producing some decent-size catfish. But nothing measures up to this: A 53-year-old Idaho angler has set a new state record for the largest tiger trout caught in Washington. On May 5, Kelly Flaherty of Priest River, Idaho caught an 18.49-pound tiger trout measuring 32.5 inches using an egg/worm combination at Bonaparte Lake near Tonasket in Okanogan County. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) confirmed it exceeded the previous record tiger trout by 3.45 pounds. The old recordholder was caught in Roses Lake in Chelan County in 2012. For those not familiar with a tiger trout, it is a sterile fish that can be produced in hatcheries by fertilizing brown trout eggs with brook trout milt. Tiger trout are known to be highly piscivorous (fish eating), and widely stocked in numerous states for sport fishing and are often used in controlling rough fish populations. At one time, tigers were exclusively stocked in the Great Lakes, but in the late 1970s, Wisconsin discontinued its program. After that, a 20-pound-plus world record-tiger was caught in Lake Michigan. The tiger trout's name is derived from its stripes that are similar to that of a tiger.
In other fishing news ...
" The WDFW announced that drought conditions have prompted fishing closures and restrictions on numerous rivers. The closures and restrictions took effect July 18 and will remain in effect until further notice. Fishing will be closed in some waters and limited in others each day to the hours between midnight and 2 p.m. These "hoot owlGÇ¥ restrictions are in effect on rivers where fishery managers want to reduce stress on fish during the hottest time of the day. For details on the closures and restrictions, check the department's website. " Glacier melt-colored water and low flows have slowed fishing in a number of Region 5 rivers GÇô the exception being the Cowlitz, which continues to produce a mixture of chinook and steelhead. During July 6- 12, 453 spring chinook, 87 jacks, 146 mini-jacks and 362 summer steelhead returned to the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery. Also, 210 summer steelhead were released at the Interstate 5 boat launch. Samplings taken on the Kalama during the same week counted 36 anglers with three steelhead and eight boat anglers with three steelhead. No effort was observed for steelhead on the East Fork Lewis and no catch was reported by six anglers fishing the Washougal. " The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife reported low flows and above-average water temperatures have continued to put a damper on catch rates for salmon and steelhead in the lower Columbia; however, catch rates for boat anglers are good near the mouths of some lower Columbia tributaries and in the estuary between the Astoria Bridge and Tonque Point. Bank anglers have been doing well in the gorge averaging 0.23 summer chinook, 1.80 sockeye and 0.17 steelhead caught per rod.
Bob Brown lives in Roy and is a freelance outdoors writer. He can be reached at robertb1285@centurylink.net
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