Northwest Fishing Magazine September 2025 Volume 5 Issue 1 - Flipbook - Page 14
kokanee gordon
DUDE: Some years, kokanee
are pretty small, but in
other years out of the
same fishery, the kokes are
much bigger. Is there an
explanation?
KOKANEE: Yes. The correct
answer takes in many
considerations. Better sit
down, as this might take
some time to lay out for
you.
DUDE: Done.
available food supply for a
single kokanee. If you have
just one large bucket of
food for just one kokanee,
that koke will be well fed.
However, if all you have is
one bucket of food for a
thousand kokanee, then,
with not much food to go
around, no one is getting
fat or big.
DUDE: OK -- number of
fish and an available food
supply – got it.
KOKANEE: I want you to
know that if I give away too
much information, I might
lose my spawning rights.
KOKANEE: You have only the
start of it. Let’s talk about
birth control.
DUDE: All the more reason
to pay attention.
DUDE: You are not going to
play political football on me,
are you?
KOKANEE: Size is first
approached from an
available food concept. And
one needs to focus on the
KOKANEE: Would you rather
catch a bunch of small
kokanee or a few less of
much larger kokanee?
DUDE: It’s obvious.
KOKANEE: Kokanee are not
an endangered species.
We are very successful
at spawning, hatching,
and generally have lower
fry mortality than most
salmon species. But if the
spawning habitat is cut off
from spawning kokes, then
cutting off that habitat acts
as birth control.
DUDE: Oh. Fewer fish for the
same food supply equals
bigger fish.
KOKANEE: For many
excellent kokanee lakes,
there are several spawning
creeks coming into the
main body of water. Placing
weirs in the creeks so the
kokes are not able to reach
their spawning grounds
effectively cuts down the
population.
