Welsh does encourage anglers to keep some fish, but emphasizes catch and release and the importance of sustaining the fishery. Of the 500 fish caught last year 300 were released. The average sized fish measured an unbelievable 23 to 27 inches and weighed 4 to 5 pounds. Local biologists and University of Washington, School of Fisheries Masters Program student Gretchen Nowak, openly admits not much is known about Lake Washington cutthroat. Last summer Nowak began studying the lake's cutt' population because of concerns for the lake's dwindling sockeye salmon.
People are concerned because cutthroat trout are a main predator on sockeye fry.
The experts still aren't sure if these fish are anadromous like salmon or adfluvial, which means they leave the stream and stay in the lake instead of going to sea before migrating back to their natal waters. Anglers don't seem to care where they're going to or coming from, as long as they continue traveling the lake's underwater highway the year 'round. Last summer Nowak enlisted Welsh's help to catch several cutthroat for her ongoing cutthroat study. The methods Curt used were great, they worked for us during our study all summer long. Some of the fish caught were fitted with tracking transmitters to enable Nowak to track the fish's telemetry to determine where they spend most of their time and why.