Northwest Fishing Magazine April 2025 Volume 4 Issue 6 - Flipbook - Page 25
being a kokanee. Wherever
that 54 degrees is in the
water column, that is your
target depth. Early season
temperatures may not
be as high as 54°, which
accounts for sometimes
slower fishing.
There are a few reliable
devices available that you
can use such as the Fish
Hawk model 840. Search
Amazon for more options.
Since kokanee have
a very elongated air
bladder, you can use your
fishfinder to determine
their approximate depth.
Kokanee will show a
bright orange with a color
fishfinder. Take an average
depth of the images and
have that as your initial
target depth. Set your
presentation within five
feet top and bottom of that
target depth. If the fish
that hit your presentation
are smaller than what is
generally being caught,
lower your target by five
feet. Continue this process
until you are zoned in.
Generally, kokanee fishing
picks up in the spring,
when water temperatures
are warming, and continues
through August. This
period can be broken down
further into categories,
each with distinctive
features and methods for
the best approach to your
fishing. But to grasp the
reasons for the differences,
some additional discussion
is necessary.
Zooplankton is animal
plankton. Zooplankton
can move about without
being totally dependent
on current and wave/wind
action. For our kokanee,
the most important
zooplankton are daphnia
(water fleas). Daphnia are
intolerant of light and when
sunlight hits the water,
daphnia descend down the
water column. In spring,
the kokanee are waiting
for them from below.
The chase often ends (or
continues) with kokanee
jumping out of the water,
much to our entertainment.
The absolute enemy of
kokanee is the tiny mysis
shrimp. Mysis eat the
phytoplankton at such
a rate that it virtually
eliminates the food supply
available to young kokanee.
If there are no young
kokanee, soon there will be
no mature kokanee. These
lessons were learned too
late in Flathead Lake and
Lake Tahoe.
As long as the kokanee
can find that plankton in
their preferred temperature
range, all is good. Kokanee
gorge and grow and
grow and gorge. But as
the season progresses,
54 degrees continues to
lower in the water column
and reaches a point
where there is no growing
phytoplankton where the
54-degree temperature
depth is located.
The temperature range
has dropped in the water
column to the point
where 54 degrees is below
10% light. The result is
that the phytoplankton,
though abundant, is in a
temperature that is too
warm for the kokanee.
When that happens,
kokanee will stop eating.
And stop growing too.
