Northwest Fishing Magazine October 2025 Volume 5 Issue 2 - Flipbook - Page 21
For these kokes size
matters genetically. A
longer growing season
means consistently larger
kokes if the food supply is
adequate to support them.
DUDE: No harm in larger
kokes.
KOKANEE: When the
early spawn/late spawn
characteristics become
predictable, then such
a population of kokes
can be introduced into a
water system that would
be compatible with that
characteristic. Manipulation
of the species.
DUDE: You are not going to
wax philosophical on me
now are you?
KOKANEE: No. Just sayin'
DUDE: I got an invitation for
next year to go and fish
Wickiup Lake in La Pine,
central Oregon.
KOKANEE: Believe me -- I
know about La Pine and
Wickiup.
DUDE: I hear the kokes
there are huge -- sixteen to
twenty two inches or more,
and the daily limit is twenty
five. I was passing through
there last September and
decided to go check the
reservoir out. I could not
believe what I saw. The only
water I saw was in the river
channel. There were vast
wide areas of shallow dry
lake bed gently sloping to
the river, which was not
very wide.
KOKANEE: And you probably
want to know where the
fish go when the reservoir
dries up. Well let me tell
you. The reservoir is to
capacity just about every
year in spring. But during
the season, the water is
gradually drained out down
the Deschutes River. When
the dam was constructed,
it was not constructed for
kokanee. It was built to
provide irrigation water
for downstream farmers
and alfalfa growers. The
kokanee in Wickiup are
early spawners. They have
to be.
