What is a Kokanee?

According to Random House Webster's College Dictionary a Kokanee is "any of a lake-dwelling, non-migratory population of Sockeye Salmon". According to Robert,  a Sockeye Salmon is "the finest eating Salmon there is". So, what does all this mean? It means that Kokanee lovers will do just about anything to be there when the bite is on. Typically the Kokanee fishing heats up in June and lasts till early fall around September when the fish begin their spawning change. During the summer months they tend to run in schools and feed deep. Kokanee addicts usually have downriggers or use leaded line or heavy weights to get their bait down to the fish which will run 30 to 90 feet deep, depending on the water temperature or individual lake. Different lakes tend to have different average size fish.

The picture displayed on this page was taken at East Lake Oregon during the middle of the summer. The fish on this day acted like Kokanee usually act: finicky and peculiar to this lake on this day. They would not bite anything that we offered with regularity except a gangtroll using a leader of about six feet with a size six hook, piece of corn, and a piece of worm. Unlike most lower lakes, East Lake is high up, so the water stays cooler. The fish were down only twenty seven feet. The wind was howling and very cool (which accounts for the poor quality of the picture). We trolled by letting the wind blow us across the lake and across the spot where we marked the most fish with the fish finder. On almost every pass we caught three or four fish. It wasn't long till we had our fill of these delicious, hard fighting, fun to catch fish.

Below are some links to Kokanee information provided by other pages.
Information from The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Kokanee & Sockeye Salmon
Salmon 
Fishing in New Mexico
Search the Fishfinder@usfederal.com for all your fishing needs!

Any questions?