[Rex Johnson]

Kathy,

Thanks for the link on Tiger Muskie Contest at Mayfield Lake. I found it very interesting because there were 24 fishermen in this contest and they fished for 2 days, catching only 1 Tiger muskie. It is becoming more and more obvious why we have yet to catch a Tiger in the Anderson Lakes; they are darn hard to hook and catch, even for people who spend a great deal of time trying and claim to be the “experts”.

But we will keep trying,

Rex

[Rex Johnson]

Here are this years winners of the Casting Contest:

1st Place Spinning Distance: Ed Lebert
2nd Place Spinning Distance: Don Wicklund
3rd Place Spinning Distance: Bob Burnell
1st Place Spinning Accuracy: Bob Burnell
2nd Place Spinning Accuracy: Ed Lebert
3rd Place Spinning Accuracy: Don Wicklund

1st Place Fly Casting Distance: Jim Welch
2nd Place Fly Casting Distance: Pete Smith
3rd Place Fly Casting Distance: John Nelson
1st Place Fly Casting Accuracy: Jacob Waller
2nd Place Fly Casting Accuracy: Jed Sires
3rd Place Fly Casting Accuracy: Kent Lufkin

Prizes were given to all winners.

Thanks to all participants.

[Rex Johnson]

Roger,

That looks like a King Fish winner to me!

Congratulations.

Rex

[Rex Johnson]

Sunday, 15 of us went to the Anderson Lakes to do the first survey for this year. Due to the gates, we had to caravan in; everyone except for Josh Cowart and his friend. They wanted to check out the access to the old trail that comes in from the west. On our arrival at the lakes, Josh and his friend were already there, which is good news for people who want to go to the Anderson Lakes whenever their schedule allows. I will get details from Josh and post the “trail” access later.

At the lakes, everyone helped to carry the heavy diving gear from the rock slide on the old road down ¼ mile to the lakes. It is amazing how heavy the diving gear is. At the lower lake, Vlad Karpinsky and Ricco Giancana put on dry suits and diving equipment to try to photograph the Tiger muskies in the water. Ricco used conventional scuba gear, and Vlad used a rebreather. Steve Regis brought his electronic fish finder to find the Tigers, so the diver would not have to hunt for them. Unfortunately, Vlad and Ricco found the visibility in the lake was so poor that they had a hard time even seeing their hands in front of their faces, much less fish at a distance. Although this was a little disappointing, we continue to learn something each and every time, so their efforts were very much appreciated.

After the divers were done, just about everyone tried to catch a Tiger with the impetus of Don Wicklund’s $100 reward to the first person who catches a Tiger muskies from the Anderson Lakes using hook and line. Don reminded everyone that this will be the last year he offers this reward. To earn this reward, one must document the Tiger with photographs of the fish and the lake together, so that there is no question that the fish came from the Anderson Lakes. Although no Tiger were caught on Sunday, many nice brookies were. It was very nice to see that the brookies continue to improve in these lakes from the terrible condition they were in when we first started this experiment. Even though the Tiger muskies are difficult to catch or see in the lakes, they clearly are making an impact on the brook trout. Just as we hoped, the Tigers are eating enough brook trout that the reduced population of brook trout has more to eat per fish so that they are no longer stunted.

Bill Henkel made an excellent comment about one of the benefits of using Tiger muskies that even I had overlooked. They are so hard to catch that in fact we do not have to worry about fishermen decimating their numbers and therefore reducing their effectiveness. And with their long life (about 25 years), these lakes should now be a good fisheries for years to come.

Since we were funded this year by WDFW (ALEA Grant) to take biological samples to compare to the samples Bob Pfeifier and I took during the first year of this experiment, Yanling and I spent most of the day on Sunday, taking vertical and horizontal plankton samples as well as collecting invertebrates. We have preserved them and will collect more later in the summer for analysis and comparison. Most of the money from the ALEA Grant will go to pay to have these samples analyzed.

All in all, we had a good time at the lakes. Lots of fish were caught, weighed, and measured. The weather was cooperative and everyone was in good spirits, friendly, and helpful. It was a fine example of what a joint Hi-Laker, Trail Blazer outing can accomplish. Although as Hi-Lakers and Trail Blazers, we go to separate meetings, at the Anderson Lakes we were all there for a common cause.

Many thanks to all the participants:
Joe Alexander (Brother-in-law of Don Wicklund) and his son, Brian
Doug Archambeau
Brian Curtis
Josh Cowart and his friend
Kathy Cropp
Ricco Giancana
Bill Henkel
Vlad Karpinsky
Steve Regis
Mick Scott
Don Wicklund
Yanling Yu

[Rex Johnson]

Pat,

Thanks for your excellent comments and suggestions on the HLM process. I will discuss with Brian as to how difficult it would be to implement your suggestions on the Web page. Of course, I would like to point out that if members turned in surveys on the lakes, then all of the necessary information to make good management decisions on a lake would already be there and we would not need to have an extra blank column on the HLM page.

Rex

[Rex Johnson]

Andy and Rich,

Thanks for your comments. As far as verifying the existance of the Tiger muskies in the lakes; we are still working on that. Vlad has volunteered to go back to the Anderson Lakes this spring when the water is more clear to once again use his scuba gear to try to verify and hopefully photograph the Tigers. So we are definitely planning to do this. However, to mention this in the proposal is in my opinion, not a good idea. It would case doubts on the entire experiment which it not advantageous when one is asking for money. In addition, the Biologist on this experiment (John Weinheimer) is convinced that the Tigers are there, they are just doing what Tiger muskies do; hiding. We have already tried gill netting the lakes and no Tigers were caught. However, this is also not a surprise since Tiger muskies do not swim around looking for prey. They are well known ambush predators. They just hide and wait for their prey to come to them. Since there are plenty of prey in these lakes, the Tigers are probably getting very fat by now. Our surveys have also shown that the Browns are just about gone.

Thanks again,
Rex

[Rex Johnson]

Dave,

Yanling and I have surveyed this lake twice now. Both times we saw absolutely no signs of any fish. Clearly there is no repoduction occuring there now. Yanling nominated the lake and we stocked it. We will see what happens. I have talked to people who have been to this lake many years ago. They say that the lake used to have a nice outlet with a small stream; perfect for production. There is no outlet now. There are lots of signs that the lake level has dropped a lot. From the tall grass growing where the outlet used to be, I would bet that there is no way fish can reproduce in this grass. So I am guessing that something changed at this lake which caused the change in lake level and the disappearance of the outlet area. I assume that the lake now drains underground. It should be an interesting experiment; hopefully one with no more reproduction.

Rex

[Rex Johnson]

I have received an email from Jim Mighell saying he has done Upper Ptarmigan. Brian Curtis chatted with Jamie about King Lake and Jamie said he would not be able to do it this year so it is a possibility. However with the current snow conditions, I would not recommend it.

You might check with Ben Eacker to see if he has done the Park Lakes yet. They might still be doable and with his goal of stocking 3 different species in both lakes, he most certainly could use the help.

Rex

[Rex Johnson]

Rich and all Trail Blazers:

The only way I can tell if a lake has been stocked is when the sponsor fills in their stocking sheet on line. At present, the following people are scheduled to stock lakes this year and have not filled in their stocking sheets:
John Taylor
Milt Tanggard
Pat Barton
Vern Cohrs
Mark Boyle
Ted Allestad
Jamie Van Etten
Mike Blodgett
Pete Smith
Jim Mighell
Phil Leatherman
Jim Smith
Allison Woods
Michael Mitchell
Dave Harwell
Sandy McKean
Jim Jacobson
Henry Mills
Brian Curtis
Mike Ward
Chris Boyles
Ben Eacker
Steve Bucher
Hans Helm
Chuck Russell
Steve Norris
Tye Groshong
Jim Tobler
Mike Quinn
Ken McLeod
Ken Masel
Ed Conroy
Jonathan Leathers
Mick Scott
Arnie Graham
Leif Nagle

If you have stocked your lake, please fill in your stocking sheet on line. If you need help in stocking your lakes, please post a notice on the forum, or contact me via phone (206-366-1629) or email. The stocking season is rapidly coming to a close so please do not delay.

Thanks,
Rex

PS. Mildred 2 has reported repro so it will not be stocked at this time.

[Rex Johnson]

Cliff,

Does this mean that you or your friend knows how to read fish scales to determine age? I have been trying to learn and it most certainly is not obvious to me where the rings supposedly bunch together more to indicate the winter cycle. Any chance you can pass on the tricks?

Thanks,
Rex

[Rex Johnson]

Steve,

Thanks for letting us know. We will keep our fingers crossed on this. When we think about the Hi-Lakers, one cannot help but think about George and some of his adventures like doing Sourdough Lake (in and out) in one day. Any time you want to feel humble just try that one.

And of course no one can beat George for his KISS principle (Keep It Simple Stupid). I highly suspect that no one else uses only eggs to fish but most certainly it is simple, it just makes it hard to release the fish if you do not want to keep them. Obviously George likes to eat his fish.

Just last year, we all went into Indian Ponds together. It was one of those delightful days in the mountains with good company, good weather, few bugs, and fish. Lots of good memories.

Rex and Yanling

[Rex Johnson]

And the 4th and last group of photos from the overnighter.

Rex

[Rex Johnson]

#3 Group of Photos from Overnighter.

Rex

[Rex Johnson]

Here is the #2 group of Photos from the Overnighter at Jack’s cabin.

Rex

[Rex Johnson]

Pete,

I have reread the email from Jim Uehara on the HLM Meeting in Cle Elum and it would appear that I was wrong when I told you that the meeting had been scheduled for July 22nd. The email from Jim Uehara says the week of July 22nd. As of today, I have not heard anything new from Jim yet, but when I do I will be sure to let you know.

Rex

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