New species enter lakes

Add tiger trout and saugeyes to the long list of game fish species in Spokane area lakes.

You know that tiger muskies are at home in Newman and Mayfield lakes.

Next year, you will be catching two more species of hybrid fish.

Tiger trout, a cross between female brown trout and male brook trout, have been released into Fish Lake. Saugeyes, a cross between a sauger and a walleye, have joined Liberty Lake's fish population.

Spokane regional fish biologist John Whelan said the hybrids are being produced at the Ford hatchery. Hatchery personnel have had some problems creating the hybrids, he said, but they have produced enough to make a dent in the fish populations of Fish and Liberty.

About 5,000 4- to 5-inch tiger trout have been released into Fish Lake. Those that survive should be about 8 or more inches long next spring.

The tigers have tiger-like markings along their sides. Like brook trout, the leading edges of the pectoral and anal fins are white.

The tiger is a surface feeder and is more aggressive than either of its parents. Because it is so aggressive, it is relatively easy to catch, and because it it will take dry flies as well as wet flies, fly fishers will like it.

The tiger is a mule of the fish world. It is sterile and therefore can't reproduce.

Fish Lake, southwest of Spokane, long has been the most popular brook trout lake in the Spokane region. Brook trout grow fast in the small, bug-rich lake.

The Fish and Wildlife Department has released only about 1,500 saugeyes into Liberty Lake, Whelan said. Liberty already has a slowly growing walleye population.

"We wanted to release more of the saugeyes, he said, "but we had trouble at the hatchery and couldn't hold them there any longer. "

Saugeye are close relatives to walleyes. Like all members of the perch family, it's an outstanding table fish.

Few Inland Northwest anglers have ever heard of saugers let along fished for them. Midwest and eastern anglers, however, have been catching them for many years. In fact, saugers usually are in the same waters as walleyes, and anglers who fish for walleyes often catch saugers.

Eastern fishers say that a good walleye fisherman is a good sauger angler. Saugers take the same lures and baits that walleyes do and they fight much like walleyes.

Northwest anglers who spend most of their time fishing for walleyes contend that the walleye is a good fighter. Trout and many bass fishers, however, will tell you that a walleye is a mediocre fighter. Eastern anglers say the sauger isn't as good a fighter as the walleye.

Generally, saugers prefer the largest of America's lakes and reservoirs. Walleyes, on the other hand, thrive in both big and medium-size waters.

Saugers travel long distances during the course of a year. Eastern fish managers have learned that they don't do well in small lakes. Whether their hybrid offspring will thrive in Liberty Lake isn't known and won't be known for a couple of years.

Whelan said the saugeyes have the potential of helping control Liberty's fish population. Like walleyes, they are extremely predaceous and could keep the perch and other small fish populations under control.

The Fish and Wildlife Department has been stocking Liberty with walleyes for several years. Whelan said two age classes are missing, but enough walleyes have survived to provide some fishing. Anglers have caught a few that were more than 18 inches in length.

Tiger muskies have been in Newman Lake for several years and finally are large enough to attract the attention of anglers. A tiger muskie, a cross between a northern pike and a muskellunge, must be 36 or more inches before it can be killed. Whelan said that several keeper tiger muskies have been caught this year, including a few that were 40 inches long.

Mayfield Lake in Lewis County holds the tiger muskie record. The fish weighed 28.25 pounds.

Tiger muskies have been stocked in several North Idaho lakes. Largest are in Hauser, where the state record has been broken four years in a row. The present record fish, which weighed 37.13 pounds and was 49.3 inches long, was caught last year.

Most anglers use spinner baits, plugs such as Rapalas and spoons when they fish for tiger muskies.

There are hybrid trout in a few Washington and Idaho lakes and streams. The most common is the cutbow, a cross between a rainbow and cutthroat. Hybrids occur naturally in many streams.

It's not unusual for an angler to catch a cutbow from the Coeur d'Alene, St. Joe and Lochsa rivers in Idaho and from the Clark Fork, Bitterroot and Blackfoot rivers in the Missoula area of Montana.

Rainbows and cutthroat spawn in the spring while brown and brook trout spawn in the fall. That's why crosses between rainbows and brown trout or between cutthroat and brook trout are rare.

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