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timberghost
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PostTue Aug 04, 2020 3:54 pm 
Brian, Is there any knowledge of fish being planned when the railroad was being built or afterwards? I heard that the Asian workers may have done so.

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ForbinsAscent
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PostTue Aug 04, 2020 4:30 pm 
For whatever reason the fate of those fish populations in high mountain lakes is very interesting to me, and I've learned a lot in this thread. A few weeks ago I visited two different lakes in the Olympics that are fairly similar but are infrequently visited due to no trails nearby. Both are fairly large by Olympic mountain lake standards, were around 3,000' elevation, and not too far apart. Both had fish planted in the past, maybe distant past. On my visit, one lake was well populated by small rainbow trout, and I caught a few easily on a hot afternoon. You could see them rising to the surface all day there. The second lake appeared to be somewhat deeper, but otherwise similar. I walked the shore for quite a while, cast some lures and flies, and eventually I spotted a few small trout in it (species unknown), but never saw any come to the surface, even in the evening. This relatively large, deep lake was probably last stocked many decades ago yet apparently a small populated of stunted fish are just hanging on in there. I wonder what it is that makes that rarely visited lake so marginal in its fish productivity?

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Brian Curtis
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Brian Curtis
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PostTue Aug 04, 2020 5:00 pm 
timberghost wrote:
Is there any knowledge of fish being planned when the railroad was being built or afterwards? I heard that the Asian workers may have done so.
Rumors of Asian RR workers stocking fish are almost certainly referring to Yutaka "Harry" Hamada. Hamada Lake (unnamed on the map) is named after him. We assume Jap Lake is named for Harry Hamada, too. We would like to officially change the name of that lake to Yutaka Lake. Hamada worked for the RR out of the Everett Area. He stocked a lot of lakes in the Hwy 2 corridor in the 1930s. Mostly with EB, unfortunately. He was working with Trail Blazers to form a Trail Blazers North in the late 1930s but as far as I know it didn't go anywhere. He was made an honorary Trail Blazer. His family interpreted that as a racist slight, but honorary memberships are meant to be a high honor. At least that is true in modern terms and I'm inclined to think that was the case at that time, too. Then WWII hit and he and his family were sent to an internment camp. He never stocked lakes after that.

that elitist from silverdale wanted to tell me that all carnes are bad--Studebaker Hoch
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Pyrites
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PostTue Aug 04, 2020 5:18 pm 
Thanks BC for the hx. I’m surprised that fish would winter over in that big mud puddle called Upper Charlia. Live & learn. Charlia from Tunnel Creek. The outlet just drops right down out of the country. So steep I was shocked to see elk tracks. You can find a trip report on this forum from someone coming in that way. I’d look at other trip reports by the same people. Way more gung ho than me, or the average hiker. Hmm. Way more than the top 10 percentile of hikers. If I went back I’d go the long way. Best.

Keep Calm and Carry On? Heck No. Stay Excited and Get Outside!
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Brian Curtis
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Brian Curtis
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PostTue Aug 04, 2020 5:22 pm 
ForbinsAscent wrote:
On my visit, one lake was well populated by small rainbow trout, and I caught a few easily on a hot afternoon. You could see them rising to the surface all day there. The second lake appeared to be somewhat deeper, but otherwise similar. I walked the shore for quite a while, cast some lures and flies, and eventually I spotted a few small trout in it (species unknown), but never saw any come to the surface, even in the evening. This relatively large, deep lake was probably last stocked many decades ago yet apparently a small populated of stunted fish are just hanging on in there. I wonder what it is that makes that rarely visited lake so marginal in its fish productivity?
It is difficult to say without having more information, but I can offer some possibilities. Sometimes when fish become stunted in a lake fishing can become surprisingly difficult. There isn't enough food to support all that many adults and there are enough to fill every niche in the lake. When one dies there are fry waiting in the wings to fill that hole. There are enough fish to keep the feed down and not enough feed to support all that many fish. A bad scene all the way around. The fish could have been spawning in one of the lakes. They will go completely off their feed. When I went in to Lower Hardscrabble, which is full of stunted RB, I was remembering the biologists words: "If you can't catch fish in Lower Hardscrabble you should hang it up." Well, I didn't want to have to hang it up and I had a lot of trouble catching a fish! Even if they aren't spawning, sometimes they just aren't in the mood to hit, no matter how many fish are in the lake. Or maybe the fish weren't stunted in the lake. You saw small fish, but perhaps they had plenty of feed and the larger fish weren't showing. The fish weren't biting because they weren't hungry. Large, deep lakes are sometimes less productive than small, shallow lakes. Shallow water where light penetrates is the most productive part of a lake. Large, deep lakes can have colder water and less food than a small, shallow lake.

that elitist from silverdale wanted to tell me that all carnes are bad--Studebaker Hoch
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Brian Curtis
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Brian Curtis
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PostTue Aug 04, 2020 5:25 pm 
Pyrites wrote:
Charlia from Tunnel Creek. The outlet just drops right down out of the country. So steep I was shocked to see elk tracks. You can find a trip report on this forum from someone coming in that way. I’d look at other trip reports by the same people. Way more gung ho than me, or the average hiker. Hmm. Way more than the top 10 percentile of hikers.
I'm not sure what it says about me, but I went in there via the short way.

that elitist from silverdale wanted to tell me that all carnes are bad--Studebaker Hoch
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