My uncle has a lake on his farm out of Discovery bay of about Twenty accers. Last year the fish farmer he has baught his trout from for the past 30 years went out of buisness. Hes been stocking Kamaloops for thirty years but has always wanted to do Cutts. Does anybody know where he can get some cutts? Any help would be good.

Rich,

Most hatchery stocks of "Kamloops" aren't what people dream of them being in the first place. Cutts aren't easy to get a hold of though. I designed a small lake near Sequim this summer and have been talking to the owner about making a deal with the state of Washington to use wild stocks of cutts in their lake.

You may or may not like this idea depending on your goals for your lake. If you just want to eat a lot of trout then, you are pretty much stuck with commercially reared hatchery fish. They aren't that great. If you have to go with a hatchery fish, I suggest you get a hold of www.TroutLodge.com and ask for steelhead crosses. These fish have a greater ability in natural environments. TroutLodge may send you to a more local hatchery though.

Personally I would go for the cutts and make a deal for the State to use your fish for brood fish. If you get to this point, I can help you negotiate with the state.

Brad
Spring Creek Aquatic Concepts

Its My great uncles lake but its been in the family for 90 years. If you are from the Squim area you might know him his name is Joe Germeau. As far as dealing with the state about the cutts that might take some convinceing. Hes about eighty years old and dosent like dealing with the state much, he thinks there out to steel everything he owns.

Is there any obligation to other than the state using the cutts for brood?

This lake still has a few native cutts that are chimicum creek strain. The lake feeds one of the tributarys of Chimicum creek.

The trout also grow quite large and faster than most lakes, the lake is a natural pete bog and is full of little shrimp and other wierd tasty critters. The lake also has a healthy polulation of Large mouth bass.

Give J and D Fisheries in Arlington a call. They used to just do rainbow trout, but I think they are starting to branch out into other species.
(360) 436-0274

K

Hey Rich,
Considering your lake has a large quanity of bass, wouldn't it be prudent to remove the bass first before stocking with more trout? Being that bass just love little trout and anything else they can grab. It would be a shame to spend a sizable amount of money on your trout just to have the bass eat em all. Not an expert here. Just know that a lot of very good trout lakes have been destroyed because bass were introduced to them. Either way good luck. I thought having a farm pond would be cool. You have a lake! Too cool!

Im not worried about the Bass. The trout and Bass have co-existed for 50 years without much problem. My uncle just plants fish between 8 and 10 inches they also grow extreemly fast because of the amount of feed there ushually about 15 to 16 inches by the time fall rolls arround. Im sure the bass get a few but not enough to make a big difference.

Actually I think the trout eat allot of the baby bass in the summer. Ive caught trout that are full of baby bass.

Rich,

No I don't live in Sequim. I am a private fishery biologist from near Portland. I came up to Sequim this summer to design that lake.

From the bit you have told me of your situation, you may be able to work with the native cutts you already have. Stocking larger trout (8") is a good way to keep them ahead of the bass. Poisoning out the bass may be outside of your budget too.

Given that you have twenty acres of water in that climate, I would suggest a different approach. If you can create a smaller pond of maybe a quarter to a half acre on the stream above the large pond, you can create your own trout nursery habitat. You would connect the two ponds with a channel steep enough for the trout to pass to spawn, yet too steep for the bass to deal with.

The trout would spawn in the creek above the smaller pond. Then the fry would drop into the small pond where you can create a very productive environment and/or feed these fish until they reach 8 inches (about one year). Each year you would move the smaller fish into the lake to grow out.

Your resource is large enough that you can become your own "fish hatchery" and offer the public AND the state an actual wild fish!

All of this is going to cost more than just peanuts, but you have a very valuable resource in that lake and you might want to take advantage of it while you are creating a refuge for your local wild trout population.

By the way, I am looking for some aquatic vegetation for the lake in Sequim. I am wondering if your pond has some of the plants I need which are Elodea (a native 'anacharis' type submerged plant that looks like this=> click here ) and water purslane (Ludwigia palustris) which grows in the shallows and looks like this=> click here .

If you think you have plants that even look like one of these, I would appreciate a chance to look at them. you can either reply to my email here or use brad@Aquahabitat.com which is my work address. (that link takes you to the web page)

If I get other work in your area I will be sure to stop by and see what you have. Most all of us only dream of having twenty acres of water to play with.

Brad

[This message has been edited by the TroutHooker.net (edited 11-27-2000).]