Northwest Fishing Magazine September 2025 Volume 5 Issue 1 - Flipbook - Page 38
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"Look at all those fish
marks - kokanee for sure
- darn things aren't biting
though!"
It was a tough weekend of
fishing for my wife JoAnn
and I - lots of fish marks,
but just a couple bites.
Such is kokanee fishing.
Kokanee anglers know
this and accept our lot in
life - some days can be
lights out, other days you're
scratching your head in
frustration.
Kokanee anglers are always
looking for the next great
kokanee fishery and are
eagerly searching the
internet for fisheries that
are exploding or unknown.
To that list we humbly add
Billy Clapp Reservoir. This
reservoir and kokanee have
an interesting history and
offer a tantalizing possibility
of another kokanee
destination to add to
Washington's list of quality
kokanee fisheries.
I first became aware of Billy
Clapp kokanee reading old
reports from Dave Graybill,
The Fishing Magician, a
Central Washington expert
on all things fishing. He
talked about (and filmed)
big, 18" kokanee coming
out of Billy Clapp Lake. I
scoured the internet and
found tantalizing glimpses
and reports of big kokanee
caught over the years.
Intrigued, I dig deeper,
trying to puzzle out the
mystery that is Billy Clapp
kokanee. My research
revealed a few interesting
factoids. First, up until
recently (more on that in
a bit) Billy Clapp Lake has
never been stocked with
kokanee. So how is it that
it holds kokanee? For the
answer to that, we have to
talk about Banks Lake, just
north of Billy Clapp.
Banks Lake has a long
history of Washington
Department of Fish and
Wildlife efforts to create a
thriving kokanee fishery,
but due to white fish and
walleye predication the
kokanee fishery has never
been able to get firmly
established.
Oh, there's been some
scattered reports of 14-18"
kokanee being caught,
but overall reports indicate
small fish and little angler
effort, save some locals
that "may" have the
fishery dialed in. Certainly,
Banks is not considered
a destination kokanee
fishery. Add to that my
recent conversation with
WDFW biologist Mike
Schmuk who informed me
that the long term plan
was to end the Banks Lake
kokanee planting program.
Mind you, WDFW has been
planting 400-500,000
kokanee fry per year into
Banks, so it's a big deal
that WDFW has decided
to close the chapter on
kokanee in Banks Lake.
