May have been posted in the past, but worth the read. Keep in mind that Diamond is a "put&take" fishery. Fish do not spawn well there at all. I was pretty lucky to see some study's done that show how many bugs per sq inch. Lots of food in that lake. We are asking for the same study to be done in Crane.

http://www.dfw.state.or.us/fish/diamond_lake/docs/2009_diamond_lk_mgmt_plan_082509.pdf

Royal

If you go to the ODFW site, then find Diamond lake....... under "monitoring", you can find a 2008, 18 page report detailing the "benthic invertebrate" status ....It is very impressive as it shows the amazing positive result of cleansing the lake..... of chubs...

P.M.

unfortunately, since they run the fishing management plan to benefit the resort, they insist on keeping a 5 fish limit and kill way too many fish. This lake could easily become the best trophy trout lake in Oregon with the growth rate these trout show, but everyone wants to catch a limit. I firmly believe that half of the fish taken there end up in the trash.
A great place to fish, but it could be much better. I would love to see a 2 or 3 fish limit, but that would be bad for business.

Actually the state is somewhat concerned that too few fish are being killed... and for good reason I think. During 70s and 80s the bag limit was 10 fish, plus fishing was more a popular family activity, gas was cheaper, there were no computer games to speak of et. There were many more people fishing the lake then and many more fish killed.... 4-5 times more.
It will be interesting to see how well the lake continues to support robust growth. Right now fish grow about 8" per year....a fingerling planted this past spring is now 11" or so and will be about 12" by ice out next april.....By september of next year that fish will be 19-20". The lake currently has many in that size range from the 2008 planting. It will be very interesting to see how well they do in the third year...... given all the factors.
P.M.

I truly hope that you are right, Pond. That is a wonderful place to fish.
This next year should tell us a lot. It will be the first full year of the basic management plan with no planting of larger sized trout.
I will tell you that the small ones I caught this year were fat and sassy.
I will be quite content if you are correct.

Diamond proves to me that the ODF&W can successfully kill off a lake to wipe out an unwanted species and that lake can very quickly rebound. The LMB anglers would fight it but I think the same approach should be considered for Crane and Davis. Both waters should be returned to trout only fisheries.

Amen!

P.M.

Gene, I agree that a LMB eradication approach should be studied for both Crane and Davis, but I believe LMB (and everything else) removal would probably have a higher chance of success at Davis. Crane is so large, an adequate impound-wide Rotenone treatment will be difficult to achieve. The volume of Crane inlet water will dilute nearby Rotenone application. Outlet water containing Rotenone may produce undesirable results in upper Wikiup.

The smaller, self contained Davis appears to offer a Rotenone solution closer to Diamond Lake. However Diamond did not have any trout species to be saved as do Crane and Davis.

Based upon my family's experience using Rotenone in 4 small lakes used to raise catfish comercially, I do not believe Rotenone will move from Davis into Wikiup and cause any sort of a problem. Our lower lake never had Rotenone applied below its earthen dam. The stilling basin below the lowest dam always contained all types of species before, during and after Rotenone application in the above lake and were never noticably harmed. Evidently Ronenone in water seeping through earthen dams dissipates before it collects below the dam. I observed that some insects, frogs and some catfish could burrow in mud bottoms where Rotenone had been applied and would survive the chemical 2-4 weeks after water was restored. Although certainly potent, Rotenone is not a wild kill-all, eradicate-all solution but must be managed carefully. But it has been used over 60 years and a lot is known about it. Native trout at Davis could be restored. But a "Restore the Natives" study should be conducted for both Crane and Davis.

John

It never ceases to amaze me how much effort ODFW can put into what is basically a glorified pellet head trout fishery while at the same time holding wild fish in other waters in so little regard.

I am a little surprised that you have such disdain for "non wild fish" (hatchery-raised until fingerling size).... To me, it's all very similar to using a greenhouse to start plants.
I would bet you $1000 that you would not and could not tell the difference between a hatchery raised adult fish ( any markings aside) and a "wild' fish.
Nearly all the lakes in B.C. contain "glorified pellet heads"..... most are beautiful and fat and healthy and strong...... makes sense they all have identical genetics....
This kind of "thinking" reminds me of the "wine experts" who could not tell the difference between "Charles Shaw's Two Buck Chuck" a very decent wine actually, that costs only $3 at "Trader Joe's" and wines costing 10 or 20 times more...... let me just suggest that it's ALL IN YOUR HEAD.
That's not to say that "wild fish" don't need some protections et. It's just the disdain for "non-wild' fish is so undeserved in my opinion......
P.M.

If it were not for pellet heads there would be no trout in D. Lake [or most other cascade lakes] in the first place. Streams and rivers are a different story.

Are you kidding? You have $1000 to spare huh?
I don't disdain all put and take fisheries but the attention Diamond Lake gets from some of you guys puzzles me!
I've been there and sure the scenary is beautiful but for crying out loud it's really not much different than Red Hills Lake as far as the quality of fish present.
The way some of you guys here and on ifish talk about it's some kind of Shangri-La.
ODFW spends way too much time and money on their studies for this pellet head fishery in my opinion.

Waking fly,
You sound like you are carrying a lot of bitterness.....so sorry

P.M.

Waking fly, there is a place for that kind of situation you so disdain. Why not Diamond Lake, where the ODFW cannot screw up the native fish, since there weren't any? Feel free to create another thread to rant about what the ODFW does wrong, but this one is about a success story.

I had several very stellar, memorable days on DL this Sept.
We rented a boat for a couple of mornings and tooled around the lake, had lunch and did some fishing.
I hit a Mayfly hatch and hooked and landed a dozen or more nice fish on a dry fly. Released all but one fat football ( which was wonderfully pink fleshed ). I missed about 50 other strikes as I am getting slower. It was really great because the bait guys fishing around me were sitting there getting bored from inactivity. It really killed them to watch me releasing some pretty hefty fish.
I don't know what the best limit size or management plan is, but right now DL is a great fly still water fishery. I'm suprised that more folks aren't using flies here as the insect activity is amazing.
It is a beautiful place, w/ great camping and excellent fishing. I would say that ODFW scores a point for this one.
Adrian