10_2025_REELLIFE_digital - Flipbook - Page 20
moving forward. Without
netting the fish or touching
it, simply cut the line as
close as you can to the
hook and let the fish swim
off. In most cases, the fish
will be fine.
DUDE: You said "in most
cases."
KOKANEE: Yes that is what
I said. And kokes are
generally resilient to injuries
as long as the injury does
not entail scale removal.
I have seen some of my
friends with broken and
partially split lower jaws
reach full fat maturity. There
are some other injuries I
have seen that even I have
been amazed that the fish
survived.
DUDE: So as you have
explained it, any contact
with the soft early season
scales is likely fatal. But as
the season progresses, the
soft scales become harder,
and don't flake off. When
the pre-spawn kokes have
reached this maturity, and
I want or need to release it,
then I can use the net and
actually touch the fish to
remove the hooks.
KOKANEE: Correct. Just be
aware that this is a gradual
process over the course of
the fishing season.
A smart and caring
fisherman will make these
timing observations and
react appropriately.
DUDE: I have caught
kokanee in the later part of
the season, and the scales
are flaky and come off
easily. What gives?
KOKANEE: Think it through.
I told you that the process
of scale hardening
and absorption is a
characteristic of the prespawn kokanee. If you
catch a late season kokanee
with flaky scales, then it is
not pre-spawn. As it turns
out, there are quite a few
precocious young kokanee
that are ready to chase
lures as they get towards
the end of their second
year. They will spawn the
following year.
DUDE: I told you that I read
as much as I can -- with
a critical eye on content
-- and I have run across a
couple of other kokanee
concepts that I would like
to ask you about.
KOKANEE: I'll do the best I
can.
DUDE: I have heard rumors
that there are kokes that
are bred to become "late
season spawners." I have
friends in Idaho, who tell
me they can fish for kokes
on Thanksgiving, and the
scales are hardened, but
the fish have not yet turned
color and the males are just
barely beginning to show
signs of a kype. Seems like
most of us see color and
kypes sometime in late
July, and definitely by late
August and for sure by
Labor Day.
KOKANEE: The rumors
are true. We kokes are
fairly adaptable to our
environments wherever
situated. Some kokes
developed genetic
characteristics that better
guarantee survival. Let
us suppose a particular
kokanee world is a draw
down reservoir - so the
alfalfa farmers can get their
late summer water. In that
situation it makes good
sense to spawn earlier in
the streams and feeder
creeks as they will not be
water to spawn in in the
main body of water. But
some kokes have an easier
situation.
