I believe that our native char are one of the best fish in Washington. They are rare, population wise, compared to steelhead and salmon. For thousands of years they coexisted with salmon and steelhead. They are fun to catch because they can be few and far between. They are a gorgous fish. I know I can not sell you, Fun5, but I hope you ( and everybody else) releases all the Bulls/Dollies they catch.

FJ15 has a point. They're a natural part of the system.

Having the natural balance of predatory fish around is what keeps populations healthy and evolving as the weaker ones get knocked off.

That being said, if we try to manage one population and not the others (this could be seen both in few numbers - bulls/dollies or big numbers - seals/sea lions), there's gonna be problems!

I too enjoy seeing the char catches from time to time, they seem to be making a small comeback out this way ... more power to them. Let's just keep our salmon and steelhead escapements up so that we have a natural balance!

And the guys who pursue SR cutts would agree that browns would be in major competion with their quarry. Not much different to me than the Atllantic salmon deal here in the NW.
We don't need another predator introduced that will feed on steelhead and salmon smolts, or compete with the exsisting native Salmon and Trout species. Especially with a the $'s and effort being spent to protect them.
Hopefully any siting of SRB's is just a case of mistaken identity.

It could have very easily been a brown that Jeff caught off Whidbey Is., seeing as just 20 miles to the NW there is a run on Vancouver Is.

I know the WDF plants them every year in a few lakes. I'm sure all of the above concerns are correct, but it sure would be nice to have more opportunities for big browns or Atlantics !!!

does the wdfw still plant them on the westside? i know they stocked quite a few until they started dumping those triploid rainbows in about 4 or 5 years ago.

i think the triploids are worse, they get huge fast and eat all the smaller fish in some of the little lakes(like ward lake), such as kokanee

I agree with eddie and stlhead. We dont need anymore invasive fish into our waters. Bass and walleye are bad enough, we should be paid to catch those damn things just like the squaws, atleast the squaws are native though. Every bass i catch on the snake in the summer, a 100 fish day isnt a hard goal for 2 of us, they get tossed on the bank unless we feel like cooking 1 up.

waterboy

Hey wolverince thats interesting you grew up there. I have a freind who lives in coopersville, and I make it over there about 3 or 4 times a season. We fish the Grand or the "getto" as we call it, a fair amount to rack up some numbers, but those streams up north are like little treasures to me. Fishing on the Grand this fall is past amazing it was stupid. This picture should bring back some fond memories.

The only reason that these fish are so bad is that they thrive in the dammed up lakes. In a river they are much smaller and fewer. Just go look at the shore lines in Mayfield Lake by the State Park. There are thousands of these things in just a small area.

Have to comment the bull trout in our local waters. While it is true that they are definitely a major fish eater they are part of the natural ecosystem and play a healthy role in the system. In fact they are an excellent indicator of the over all health of a river system. They require high quality habitats in the headwaters for spawning and early rearing, access to the estaury and near shore marine waters as well as a health forage base.

When caught on appropriate sized tackle they provide a spunky fight and have supply an interesting diversion many otherwise slow days on the river.

Bob -

You said "That being said, if we try to manage one population and not the others (this could be seen both in few numbers - bulls/dollies or big numbers - seals/sea lions), there's gonna be problems!" I could not agree more. That is one reason I find it so surprising that many anglers are willing to harvest salmon (chinook, coho, pinks, etc) from a health population but insist on mandatory wild steelhead release everywhere. Isn't targeting harvest on most species (salmon) found an ecosystem while protecting another (steelhead) just another example manage one population and not the others? Are there only problems when the protected species is not one we care about?

Tight lines
Smalma

Downtime- where are you now? Yeah, we did have a helluva fall run this year. Nice photo, you still centerpinning (or is that a 2-hander)?

bombcast I'm in milwaukee right now. That fish was on a centerpin at good old 6th street. I was in Michigan last thursday through Sunday, was planning on fishing through wensday but the single digit temps and no one to fish with was a real turn off. We fished the betsie, Big Man and the PM. We fished the PM for three of the days cause I want to know that river fairly well since it is a river perfectaly suited for float fishing. Fished it for three days, we hit fish everyday no real big numbers but that is winter steel fishing for ya. You guys have it lucky over there with all the beautiful steams especially up north, and all the wild fish to boot. Sounds like you guys fall was spectaciular, the numbers my freinds were giving me were jaw dropping. Shoot me an e-mail some time, next time I'm in Michigan I will let you know and maybe we can hook up and do some fishing.