I have a rather tough time finding info in the regs sometimes...does anyone know if you can use a motor on Burke Lake near Quincy?

Thanks,

Bogey

I don't have the regs in front of me, but it's not hard. In the back of the regs check under Eastern Washington Lakes and look up Burke. It should be there. I agree the regs can be confusing at times, but if you don't figure it out the guy writing the ticket won't be simpathetic to your confusion.

Per the regs: Burke Lake, Grant Cty. All game fish, Mar 1 - July 31, Statewide rules. No note regarding motors, so, yes, motors okay.

I've seen motors on Burke before. There's no limitations there other than common sense. It's not that wide of a lake, so a 20 horse and up isn't needed.

Now for other info. There was a 20k fry plant last fall that are expected to be up to 12 inches for the opener. Also it was supplemented with a 5k stocking of legals up to 11 inches.

Should make for a fun opener if the weather is warm enough. Lows over there have been running around the "teens".

I've always done good on my Burke lake trips.

Burke Lake used to be crawling with Hellgrammites back in the70- 80's. Far as I
can tell now they are all or nearly all gone and it's become a small fish lake
as a result.
My suspicion is that two possible sources of pollution has killed out the Hellgrammites.
GAS Motors and Agricultural Pesticides in the Water Table are the most likely
sources of pollution.
It's a SMALL lake with very little water flushing.
The ecologically polite thing to do would be to use an electric motor or oars.
The fish will appreciate you for it and just MAYBE we might get Hellgrammites
back some day

Thanks very much for the info guys!

Burke Lake kicked out some real nice trout last year, with 11 to 13 inchers being commonplace! The WDFW is predicting good fishing for both Burke and Quincy Lakes this year! I suspect it's going to be crowded. I visited the Quincy Lakes on Thursday and saw there were already a dozen RV's at the two major trout lakes, just waiting for that Saturday opener.

Have fun!

JK

Well, crowds DON'T excite me, but I guess I'll give it a shot tomorrow, because I've just got that itch to fish, and this is a chance to scratch it!

FishnfellaS, when you say hellgrammites, do you mean dragonfly larva? I've heard some bait fishermen call dragonfly nymphs and stonefly nymphs hellgrammites. I can rule out stonefly nymphs in a lake. A true hellgrammite is a dobsonfly nymph which is found only back east.

Crane Prairie Lake in central Oregon also was famous for the number of giant dragonfly nymphs that have almost disappeared in the last few years. There they blame it on over-harvest as people use to collect them and sell them to bait shops

Well Loco: I'm not at all sure about your statement that Hellgramites
are found only back east. The critters in Burke were commonly referred
to as Hellgrammites by local fishermen. They lived under the rocks.
They were definately NOT a dragonfly nymph or a stonefly though they
resembled stones.
They were collected and used for bait by a few of the locals,but I doubt that
was enuff to impact populations. Last time I searched for them in the spring
on Burke, I found none.
I'm not a biologist so I can't say you're wrong. But I can say they were not
Dragons or stones for sure. And I can say they appear to have disappeared.
Dang! Oh, and at that time, the fish responded well to these things used as
bait OR Hellgrammite flyz too.

When looking at the regs for motor restrictions you have to remember that these are only the state laws. If the lake is in city limits you have to check for local municiple laws too. We have lakes here near seattle that have no state restrictions but local laws prohibit gas motors. A lot of it is based on if the lake is surrounded by housing communities that petition the lake to be closed to gas motors due to the noise.

On the question of what a hellgrammite is,
assuming I'm attaching the URL correctly...

If they were not dragonfly nymphs, I wonder what they were? The giant lake caddis is a possibility, but I don't think they necessarily live under rocks.

[URL=http://search.atomz.com/search/?sp-q=hellgrammite&submit.x=67&submit.y=8&sp-a=sp1000104e][/URL]