Yale Lake & Small Fish

[Kokonuts]

I've been wondering about the very small size of Kokanee at Yale & if they could reproduce. I was told by some friends that they found Eggs in some 8" fish last week so I guess they can.

I am planning on watching them spawn this fall if possible & I am wondering if anyone here has ever seen them spawn at Yale?

Does anyone want to join in on a small unoffical project to find out as much as we can about the small size of fish this year??

Kokonuts

[Smalma]

kokonuts -
I remember reading something several months ago about the Yale kokanee and some concerns folks have how that population was doing - a clipping from one of the local papers.

It seems to me that last year there was something like 45,000 kokanee spawning in Cougar Creek (Yale trib). Probably a good place to see the fish doing their "business".

Regarding the small size of the fish. Suspect that the natural production is seeding the lake to point that growth is being affected. This gets to be a catch 22; as growth slows down the fish can take longer to mature.

The fish in lake where they are maturing at say 14 inches may have mostly 3 year old spawners while in a lake where most of the adult fish are less than say 10 inches they may not mature until age 5 (or even older). EVen though older those smaller spawners have significantly fewer eggs than the larger/faster growing fish

I think that Yale is fairly old reservoir (more than 50 years?) and may be relatviely nutrient poor; again leading to slower growth rates. It probably got a pretty good nutrient input following St. Helens but any benefits from that are likely long gone.

Some of the above is what can make kokanee such a tricky fish to manage a fishery for. Typically there is a relatively narrow range of densities (fish/acre) in a lake that will produce a satisfactory fishery. Too many fish the grow rates slow down to the point that they fish are less likely to bite and are limited interest to anglers - have seen lakes where kokanee were maturing at less than 6 inches (even though they were 6 years old) that had little angler interest yet the spawning creeks would be stuffed with the little
buggers. At the other end of the spectrum at very low densities the fish will be very niced size but the catch rates so low that angler interst wanes.

On a plus size there is little doubt that as the size of the kokanee affect their catchability in a very positive way. Those 14 to 16 inch fish may twice as catchable (a off the top of my head guess-estimate) as say the smaller 10 inchers.

Enjoy your investigations; I'm sure that you will find some interesting facts. The more we know about and understand these critters the more enjoyable our fishing is likely to be and as a nice bonus increased understanding of the fish we chase typically leads to increased catch rates. Looking forward to what you may learn.

Tight lines
Curt

[Mudinchev]

You know Shawn and I are in!

[BonkinKokes]

I've been up to Cougar Creek twice to see the kokes spawn. Those fish and there were thousands of them were in my estimate 10-12". I was up there in 2010 and 2011. I plan on going this year as well. I fished Yale for the first time at the KFF picnic. The fish I kept all had sperm or eggs developing.

Perhaps Yale needs a big shot of tiger muskies to do some thinning of the ranks.

[Kokonuts]

Thanks for the fast reply's! Maybe we can plan a day to meet at Cougar Creek durning the Spawning!

Kokonuts