This is an update for those of you curious about the salmon and kokanee fishing on the lake. I spoke with Mike at the Issaquah hatchery after I caught some jack salmon a few weeks back. He told me that last year the hatchery had returns of 3,000 kings (peak mid-September) and 20,000 coho (peak mid-October).These returns are not suffiecent to open up any kind of fishery, HOWEVER, if you happen to be trolling for trout in September and October around the south end of the lake, you may well get to catch and release some of these fish. Could be a lot of fun on a trout rod. As long as you're not targeting these fish, i.e. dragging obvious salmon gear, you are free to fish for trout, and salmon do hit trout gear as I found out!

Regarding kokanee, I spoke with Bob Pheifer at Washington Fish and Game. He told me that a decision on Lake Sammamish kokanee has not yet been made, but they could be looking at it in the near future. There are a couple options they will look at. One option would be to do nothing, just let the natives stay where they are and keep fishing closed. Another option would be to augment the lake by either using natives to enhance a hatchery program or to bring in outside koks to build up a stock. The kokanee spawn in August up Issaquah Creek. He told me that depending on which way things go there could be open kokanee fishing within a few years. Stay tuned...

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