Hey guys,
Squawfish get a bad rap, and to be honest, I think they're a cool fish! It's a waste to kill them when you catch them. The Columbia River is a different issue. Currently, there is no bounty on Lake WA squaw-daddies.
Just to fill people in on the latest Lake Washington research around salmon in the lake, it is neither squawfish or bass that get the rap for most predation. The smoking gun is the cutthroat trout. It turns out that they are most likely to eat the most salmon in the lake. But - I wouldn't kill any cutts you catch unless you want to eat them. Both cutthroat and squawfish are native fish and they deserve a little respect, dagnabbit!
They both provide awesome fisheries for those that target them.
On the other hand, sockeye salmon aren't even native to the Cedar River, but they probably get the most research money. As far as bass predation is concerned, most Lake Washington fish managers have realized that bass don't really overlap with salmon on time and spatial scales (i.e. early in the year when salmon migrate to salt, bass are usually deep and on the bottom of the lake while salmon are shallow and near the surface). The only time you see significant bass predation is in the ship canal, where everyone is crowded into a tight channel.
Sorry - a typical Sergeant rant.
As you were.
Best fishes,
Chris