[Ski]

[80skeys]

[Brian R]

I hiked to Charlia Lakes a couple years ago and was catching (and releasing) Cutthroat with almost every cast. Only problem is that they were all, without exception, extremely small/stunted from what I assume is an old overstock. Normally I wouldn't give away a location like this, but, a.) it's an effort kind of place to get to; and, b.) the lower lake could probably use a good cull.

[Malachai Constant]

Kind of like a lot of lakes in the Sierra lots I’d barely legal brookies. Not much rainbows or goldens. Barbless hooks required have to let a lot loose but you can get enough bigger one for a meal. They are all hungry and would probably bite on a bare hook or currant. Just use a wallys world fly.

[Brian Curtis]

[Malachai Constant]

To tell the truth I have not got a WA fishing license for years. I did when I had kids but it just bot my bowl of meat. I have got them in Canada and CA and would in MT or ID. Do not care for the fat fishery fish dropped the week before opening or the emaciated highland lakes fish. I am old and miss the fish of my youth.

[Bedivere]

The idea that fish populated downstream from lakes doesn't stand up to logical scrutiny if one knows the geological history of this area. Lakes were carved out by glaciers. This entire area was under miles of ice at one point. As the ice sheets retreated they left the large features such as puget Sound and Lake Washington and Lake Sammamish behind. Then the local glaciers also retreated and left the the mountain lakes behind. A great example of that we've seen in just the last 40 or 50 years is Pea Soup Lake on Mt. Daniel. So, if the lakes are simply depressions in the landscape carved out by glacial action and then they filled with water as the glaciers retreated, where did the fish come from? They didn't just spontaneously appear and there weren't any people around to plant them 12,000 years ago. Also, the vast majority of high lakes in the Olympics and Cascades were barren of fish until people came along and put them there in the last 100 years or so. A personal anecdote illustrating this: The Entiat river has a rather large falls on it just upstream from the junction with Ice Creek that not many people know about. Back before the Wolverine fire (2015, was it?) the lower stretches of the Entiat were great fishing (maybe they still are?). So, one day I was hiking back from Ice lakes and decided to get a little fishing in where the Ice Creek trail crosses the Entiat, which is a considerable distance upstream from where Ice Creek actually joins the river. I didn't know about the existence of the falls at this point. No luck, not a fish in sight, which I thought was really odd given how good the fishing was downstream a ways and the river looks really "fishy" in this area with lots of boulders and nice pools. So, I worked my way downstream along the bank, fishing as I went and getting totally blanked. Then I found the falls. Once I worked my way around the falls and began fishing on the downstream side I had the great fishing I'd always had in the Entiat. It was during this trip that I also stumbled across Gordon Stewart's cabin, another feature of the area that not many people (including me) knew about. I'm sure it's all ashes now...

[Pyrites]

Lower Charlia before the Buckhorn Wilderness was created had a small population of planted Atlantic Salmon. They were quite fun to catch, and for a few of the medium sized ones, tasty. Best.

[Brian Curtis]

[Brian R]

The upper lake is little more than a tarn, I'm surprised there are any fish at all. The lower lake is lovely and deep. I may try to access it cross-country via NF Tunnel Creek soon. I have no experience as a wildlife biologist, so I have a couple questions. First, why would a fish population remain "stunted" after multiple generations? Wouldn't competition/selection return a population to its coded size in fairly short order? Now, I understand how a planting of small phenotype fish might prevail after decades, but anadromous fish seem pretty homogeneous by species, so I suspect their code isn't that malleable. Did the use of Rotanone damage survivors? Do they eventually speciate in isolated lakes? Second, is it possible post-glacial high lakes that sit above impassible obstacles were planted by birds? I've seen hawks and even eagles drop live fish several times over salt water.

[80skeys]

[Bedivere]

[Brian R]

Thanks for the info, very much appreciated. Re a bird dropping a lone live fish in a lake above an obstacle, I do know some fish species will reproduce asexually in the absence of a mate, e.g. sharks. But still, yes, seems implausible.

[Brian Curtis]

[Brian Curtis]