Non-native Fish

While Lake Roosevelt is known for fishing opportunities, not all those fish are native to this area. Some species are stocked to encourage fishing opportunities or to improve access to fish as a food source. Other species were introduced by anglers or entered the lake by traveling through water drainages. While non-native fish can compete with native species, they are not as destructive as invasive fish. Invasive fish and other aquatic invasive species present in the lake can severely disrupt the ecosystem of Lake Roosevelt.

 

Primary Non-native Fish at Lake Roosevelt

 

Walleye

© Joseph R. Tomelleri

Walleye

Sander vitreus

• Two separate dorsal fins—the first one is larger and spiny looking; lower part of tail fin has a white marking on the tip

• Grow as large as 20-30 inches, roughly 5-15 lbs.

• Known by anglers to be a challenge to catch, but yields a tasty treat

• Native populations live in some Great Lakes, the Arctic, and Mississippi River basins

• Introduced as a stock fish for sportfishing, often done illegally; now they are widespread throughout the United States

• Often eat young salmon and trout, reducing the population of native fish, and creating more competition for resources

 

Brown Trout

USFWS / Duane Raver

Brown Trout

Salmo trutta

• More closely related to Atlantic salmon than native salmon and trout of Washington state; native to Europe, northern Africa, and western Asia

• Dark spots on their bodies that are surrounded by light halos distinguish them from other trout; lower part of body can have red spots instead

• Average growth is from 12-18 inches

• Popular game fish by anglers, especially fly anglers, for their large size

• Very adaptable to different water temperatures, oxygen levels, depth, and velocity

• Reduces native fish through competition and predation

 

Brook Trout

USFWS / Duane River

Brook Trout

Salvelinus fontinalis

• Considered a char and is related to lake and bull trout, rather than rainbow or cutthroat trout

• Bodies are a darker color with light spots; red spots can have blue halos around them

• White edges on their bottom (ventral) fins; tail looks nearly squared in shape

• Grow between 12-16 inches

• Native to eastern Canada and most of New York state

• Known to outcompete with cutthroat trout, sometimes leading to complete replacement in a body of water

 

Tiger Trout

Doug Watkinson / Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Tiger Trout

Salmo trutta x Salvelinus fontinalis

• Result of artificially mating a male brook trout and a female brown trout; result is sterile (cannot have offspring)

• Rare, but they can hybridize in nature from time to time

• Appear to have dark tiger stripes on their brown-gray body

• Grow up to 20 inches long and can weigh up to 5 lbs.

• Generally spotted in the spring and fall; they move into deeper water when it warms up in the summer

• Stocked in lakes, as they are mostly produced in hatcheries

 

Smallmouth Bass

USFWS

Smallmouth Bass

Micropterus dolomieu

• Less popular and abundant than the largemouth bass

• Dark vertical bars on gray-brown body; in murkier waters, the vertical bars will look brown-yellow

• Grow between 12-24 inches

• More abundant in the spring and fall, when the water is not too cold nor too warm

• Anglers seek them as a sportfish, rather than as a dinner table option; they tend to be strong and more acrobatic against the fishing pole

• Widespread in the United States due to sportfish stocking; native to part of the Great Lakes, Hudson Bay, and Mississippi River basins

 

Largemouth Bass

USFWS / Duane River

Largemouth Bass

Micropterus salmoides

• One of the most popular game fish in the United States

• Body color ranges from a grayish-white to olive-green, with a broad black stripe and greenish-black speckles along its sides

• Averages 12-15 inches in length, but grows larger in quality populations

• Adults consume a wide variety of prey from fish and insects to small rodents, birds, and some amphibians

• Native range includes the Great Lakes, Hudson Bay, and Mississippi River basins, and the Atlantic Slope drainages from North Carolina to Florida

 

Pumpkinseed Sunfish

USFWS Duane Raver

Pumpkinseed Sunfish

Lepomis gibbosus

• Most common sunfish species in Washington

• Orange, green, yellow, or blue in color, with speckled sides and back, and a yellow-orange breast and belly; sides are covered with vertical bars of green or blue; has a distinguishing orange-red spot on the margin of its black gill cover

• Average less than 1 lb. in weight and 3-6 inches in length, but can grow to 8 inches

• Diet includes insects, mosquito larvae, small mollusks, snails, other crustaceans, smaller pumpkinseeds, minnow fry, and worms

• Native to the Atlantic Slope drainages from New Brunswick south to Georgia and westward to the upper Mississippi basin

 

Yellow Perch

USFWS / Duane Raver

Yellow Perch

Perca flavescens

• Identified by golden-yellow coloration and dark vertical bands running along their sides which extend over their backs and end near their white belly; intensity of color may vary with age and with water clarity

• Averages 0.3-0.5 lbs. in weight and 7-10 inches in length, though can grow larger depending on water quality

• Commonly found near the shore of both large and small lakes, but also inhabit slow-moving rivers and streams, brackish waters, and ponds

• Native to the tributaries of the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, and the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basin in North America

• Widely introduced to non-native areas for sport and commercial fishing in the late 19th and early 20th centuries

 

Lake Whitefish

NPS / Harpers Ferry Center

Lake Whitefish

Coregonus clupeaformis

• An abundant species in Lake Roosevelt, not generally pursued by anglers, caught most often by those angling for trout or kokanee

• Laterally compressed fish, taller than they are wide in body shape, with a blunt nose featuring a down-turned mouth

• Dorsal scales range from brown to green to blue/black in color, with silvery blueish sides, white undersides and nearly transparent fins

• Average length 20 inches, but can grow up to 39 inches; average weight 2-3 lbs.

• Specialized in feeding near the muddy bottoms of lakes and ponds

• Native throughout Canada south into New England, the Great Lakes basin, central Minnesota, and the Copper and Susitna River drainages of Alaska

 

Black Crappie

Pomoxis nigromaculatus

• Deep and laterally compressed body with seven or eight spines on its dorsal fin

• Silvery-gray to green in color with mottled black splotches on their body and rows of dark spots on their fins

• Typically 4–8 inches long, with maximum reported length 19 inches

• Often forms schools and feeds early in the morning

• Inhabits quiet, warm temperate waters; usually associated with abundant aquatic vegetation and sandy to muddy bottoms

• Preys on threatened and endangered juvenile salmon that spawn in rivers of the Northwest United States

• Native range in North America extends from Virginia to Florida along the Atlantic coast and southwest along the Gulf of Mexico from the western panhandle of Florida across to Texas

 

Brown bullhead

USFWS / Duane Raver

Brown Bullhead

Ameirus nebulosus

• Identified by the presence of strong barbs or serrations on the back edge of its pectoral spines, and pigmentation in the chin barbels

• Averages 8-12 inches in length, but can grow larger

• Opportunistic bottom feeders eating almost anything that is available

• Has a highly-developed sense of smell and touch, which it uses to find food in murky waters

• Native to the Atlantic and Gulf Slope drainages; Found from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to Mobile Bay, Alabama, and in the Great Lakes, Hudson Bay, and Mississippi River basin

 

Bluegill

USFWS

Bluegill

Lepomis macrochirus

• Gets its name from darkened blue spot on the edge of the gill plate; the sides of the head and chin are often a dark shade of blue; sides are blue-green to brown-orange in color; yellow breast, yellowish-white abdomen, and olive green fins

• Deep, slab-sided (tall and flat) fish with a small mouth

• Averages 7.5 inches in length, maximum reported length 16 inches

• Occurs naturally in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains

• Feeds mainly on slow-moving aquatic insects