Kingchinook
Active member
All that needs to happen is people who are in a position of writing articles about lakes need to be really careful they don't put too many people on One body of water
Palmer Lake limit reduced
- Thread starter Bogey
- Start date
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Smalma
Well-known member
Not to beat a dead horse but I have a couple questions about Palmer and its kokanee.
Does anyone know what portion of the kokanee in the lake are from natural production and what portion are from the hatchery plants? Or to word it another way how successful are the natural spawners in producing fry to the lake? Is the success of the spawning kokanee in producing fry strongly influenced by environmental conditions?
Managing for quality kokanee can be a tricky business; especially in lakes with significant recruitment from naturally spawning fish. As mentioned earlier the size of the fish is strongly influenced by the density of the various year classes of kokanee in the lake. I noticed that over the last few years there has been some variation in the size of the kokanee being caught. That is pretty typically of populations with variable recruitment of fry. More but smaller fish with more recruitment.
If the goal is to continue to cintinue to produce large kokanee having more spawners in some cases work against achieving that goal.
On kokanee fisheries that rely mostly on hatchery plants not sure that so-called "over fishing" is every much of problem. Or that what might be considered "over-fishing" may be a good thing if the goal is to produce large fish. Remember that many of our kokanee waters have an artifical component to them and the traditional thinking about "over-fishing" as applied for many of our native salmonids may not be applicable.
A reduced bag limit will likely reduce outside angler use. However whether that will be successful over the long term in securing a consistent large fish fishery. Depending on the specific circumstances of Palmer it may require more than bag limit reductions to insure the fishery continues like it was the last couple years.
Tight lines
Curt
Does anyone know what portion of the kokanee in the lake are from natural production and what portion are from the hatchery plants? Or to word it another way how successful are the natural spawners in producing fry to the lake? Is the success of the spawning kokanee in producing fry strongly influenced by environmental conditions?
Managing for quality kokanee can be a tricky business; especially in lakes with significant recruitment from naturally spawning fish. As mentioned earlier the size of the fish is strongly influenced by the density of the various year classes of kokanee in the lake. I noticed that over the last few years there has been some variation in the size of the kokanee being caught. That is pretty typically of populations with variable recruitment of fry. More but smaller fish with more recruitment.
If the goal is to continue to cintinue to produce large kokanee having more spawners in some cases work against achieving that goal.
On kokanee fisheries that rely mostly on hatchery plants not sure that so-called "over fishing" is every much of problem. Or that what might be considered "over-fishing" may be a good thing if the goal is to produce large fish. Remember that many of our kokanee waters have an artifical component to them and the traditional thinking about "over-fishing" as applied for many of our native salmonids may not be applicable.
A reduced bag limit will likely reduce outside angler use. However whether that will be successful over the long term in securing a consistent large fish fishery. Depending on the specific circumstances of Palmer it may require more than bag limit reductions to insure the fishery continues like it was the last couple years.
Tight lines
Curt
