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Phil - Historically Baker had a lot of small "kokanee". In reality testing determined that those "kokanee" were from sockeye parents who were unable to find their way out of the reservoir. A decade or so ago there was major improvements in the smolt trapping system resulting in most of the...

While the Stevens kokanee are smaller than normal there seems to be good numbers and with refinement in your approach should result in some success. Typically the best fishing occurs in the first 2 or 3 hours of daylight in the morning and if as often is the case once the sun hits the water the...

I tend to be a bit of rod collector and have 6 for my kokanee fishing. Have two old 4 weight glass rods (7 1/2 and 8 foot) that I rebuild for kokanee fishing and two lamiglass including the yellow ultra light; all 4 are great rods and do a very nice job on the kokanee. That said my every day...

"My Office" Shortly after retirement I took an outdoor writer friend kokanee fishing and as he climbed into the boat his comment was "Wow -like your new office". I referred to her as "My Office" ever since. Curt

Red - Thanks for the link; I had seen it. Of concern is that no where is there any discussion on the fish resource found in Stevens or the potential impact on that resource from this treatment. Also found it interesting that there was no mention of the chemical treatment of herbicides to rid...

They are parasitic copepods; pretty common in many of the State's lakes. Often see them on rainbow trout and even summer steelhead in the rivers. Typically they do not cause the fish significant problems and as external parasites they do not affect the edibility of your kokanee (much like sea...

Whatcom has a huge hatchery program located at the SE (upper) end of the lake. That hatchery has been active for more than a century and is the source of most of the kokanee populations in country. The annual release back to Whatcom is typically in the 5 million range. The typical egg take...

Check out the following - http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/washington for a short video on the "Basic Techniques for Kokanee". Curt

In my opinion of all the variables in kokanee fishing (bait, scent, speed, depth, lure color, lure type/action, lure size, etc.) the bait choice may be the less important. I typically fish a single bait (usually the "natural" color gulp maggots). On a tough bite I often am changing my gear...

Should be interesting - the chance to fish with two rods will be fun the lake's regulars. That coupled with the 10 fish limit will allow you to experiment and test various presentations. Something that you regulars may want to keep on your radar is the potential impacts on the resident trout...

FiliIslander - Fished the lake again this morning. Most folks seemed to have been struggling a bit. By fishing a little deeper (32 to 45 feet on the wire) than most folks and a little faster (1.15 on the GPS) over deep water my buddy and I did well. Used O silver dodgers with either pink...

Not sure which kufa rods you have. While typical kokanee gear will work one needs to be careful that you clear all the gear and get the downrigger wire up. The sockeye are typically 4 to 8 pound fish (average about 5# though other anglers seem to be catching larger fish than I do). This...

Probably made my last trip to Stevens yesterday - time to chase other fish. Had a great season! From late April through mid-July I usually fished two or three times a week giving me a chance to track the fishery, compare notes with other anglers (both successful and those less so). I love...

To expand a bit on the information in the article. The tributary spawners can further be divided into those populations that use the inlet streams and those that use outlets. There seems to be a strong genetic component to that division as well with outlet spawners producing fry that swim...

kokonuts - I remember reading something several months ago about the Yale kokanee and some concerns folks have how that population was doing - a clipping from one of the local papers. It seems to me that last year there was something like 45,000 kokanee spawning in Cougar Creek (Yale trib)...

lowe1648mt - From WDFW's web site it seems to be pretty clear cut - "A Game Fish Guide license is required if you accept a fee to take a person fishing for game fish in any state water. " Tight lines Curt

JDL - This mushrooming interest in kokanee fishing is not just a western Washington phenomenon - it is happening throughout the western US. It is likely due in part to anglers looking for fishing alternatives to more "traditional" fisheries that may have fallen on hard times. That interest is...

Smokin kokes - I'm sure that the lakes on your "list" have been considered for their potential to produce kokanee fisheries by the State's "managers". Just a couple examples - Lake Whatcom has a native kokanee population and has supported a very large hatchery program for roughly a century...

Another user of tooth paste to restore the shine on nickel/silver dodgers and a lemon joy user to wash the old scents/refresh of my dodgers and lures. Tight lines Curt

jdlunk - I did a little poking around this morning looking for kokanee hooking mortality studies. The only one I could find that was somewhat relevant was from Idaho in the mid-1950s. As part of a tagging study they held hook and line caught untagged fish in a live box for 8 to 10 days. In...