Lake Chelan Kokanee Get Together May 3-4, 2014

[downriggeral]

Hi Mike,
This sounds like fun and I have never fished Lake Chelan. Will pull the camper out of storage and bring my wife along on this outing. We certainly can pitch in for the potluck. We've got the top and heater on the boat if it's cool or rainy!

A few pointers on tackle and locations and we can figure it out from there (with a little help from fellow WA Lakers).
Thanks for putting this together. - Alan

[Steelheadin360]

Stevens is gonna miss you..

Oh Stevens will have its waters pillaged as well! But last year Stevens didnt get hot till May. So I think Im safe playing in Chelan until then

[Mike Carey]

Hi Mike,
This sounds like fun and I have never fished Lake Chelan. Will pull the camper out of storage and bring my wife along on this outing. We certainly can pitch in for the potluck. We've got the top and heater on the boat if it's cool or rainy!

A few pointers on tackle and locations and we can figure it out from there (with a little help from fellow WA Lakers).
Thanks for putting this together. - Alan

I will add you to the RSVP list.

[Steelheadin360]

I don't know if anyone watched North West Wild Country this morning.... BBUUUTTTT. The Chelan fishery was brought up. Test fishing in December turned up a 20" fish. And I have heard reports of 18-20" fish already being caught in the lower basin. Now lets do a little math here. A fish in a healthy fishery will put on 1 1/2-2" per month. 4 months of growing will add 6-8" onto that fish! We are talking 4 pound Kokes... I don't think I'm gonna be able to hold out until March

[Mike Carey]

nice! Anton Jones informed me one boat is full and he is working on the second. Lot's of people have expressed interested at the Sportsman's Show so we may have a pretty good turn out.

[jdbuck]

I have booked Sat may 3rd with Darrell and Dads guide service for the Kokanee fish in. My wife Kathy and myself will attend the potluck at 5 pm. We are staying at the Lakeview hotel in downtown Chelan. We are excited, thanks for doing this. JD Buck

[Mike Carey]

I have booked Sat may 3rd with Darrell and Dads guide service for the Kokanee fish in. My wife Kathy and myself will attend the potluck at 5 pm. We are staying at the Lakeview hotel in downtown Chelan. We are excited, thanks for doing this. JD Buck

RSVP list updated, thanks and looking forward to seeing you May 3rd!

[mav186]

Hi Mike,
I'm in...reservations made...see you then!

Mav

[stryker17]

sounds like fun, we will try and be there, we were there last year but missed the get together, will be staying over on the Columbia river but will make it.............

[Steelheadin360]

Mike we should get together and make a tackle how-to and get everyone ready to go! Lake level will drop from all the fish we are gonna pull out!

I know there is already a few floating around here but this year a ton of new gear hit the market based of the Mysis Shrimp these footballs feed on.

[Toni]

Mike we should get together and make a tackle how-to and get everyone ready to go! Lake level will drop from all the fish we are gonna pull out!

I know there is already a few floating around here but this year a ton of new gear hit the market based of the Mysis Shrimp these footballs feed on.

"Effect Of Plankton On Light In The Water Column

Plankton is the general term. Phytoplankton is the plant plankton that forms the bulk of the kokanee diet. Phytoplankton is light dependent, reacting with light to grow. Because it is plant, it does not move around on its own, but is pushed about by currents and wave/wind action. Phytoplankton has its own set of minimum light and nutrient requirements.

Zooplankton is the animal plankton. Zooplankton feeds substantially on the phytoplankton. Zooplankton has the ability to move about without being totally dependent on current and wave/wind action. For our kokanee, the most important zooplankton are daphnia (water fleas). Daphnia are intolerant of light and when sunlight hits the water, daphnia descend down the water column. In spring, the kokanee are waiting for them from below. The chase often ends (or continues) with kokanee jumping out of the water, much to our entertainment. The absolute enemy of kokanee is the tiny mysis shrimp. Mysis eat the phytoplankton at such a rate that it virtually eliminates the food supply available to young kokanee. If there are no young kokanee, soon there will be no mature kokanee. These lessons were learned too late in Flathead Lake and Lake Tahoe.

Plankton growing in the water scatters light. But this scattering of light is actually a good thing for the kokanee fisherman because of the growth of plankton in the water. Kokanee are filter feeders, and their diet consists of this plankton. Without this plankton, there would be no kokanee fishing. More plankton, more food, more scattering of light. So bring on the light scattering plankton!!

When light is scattered, there is less of it to penetrate below what scattered it. In the case of plankton, it can be thought of as a canopy effect. The growing plankton shades the water beneath it. Again, less light below. In a healthy kokanee lake or reservoir, there will always be less light at depth."
http://www.fishwithgary.com/kokanee_uni ... part1.html
http://www.bonnercountydailybee.com/new ... 963f4.html
" At first, kokanee size and numbers surged because the large, mature kokanee ate the newly-available mysid shrimp.
• As subsequent generations of kokanee were produced, they had to compete at an early stage for the most critical part of their diet.
• As young kokanee lost ground against the mysid shrimp, and starved or failed to thrive, mature kokanee either reached their lifespan or were fished out.
• Gradually, overall numbers began to decline."
http://www.greatcanadianlakes.com/briti ... _page2.htm

[Steelheadin360]

That's why the fish at Chelan have bellies full of them... And the fishing gets better year after year even though the Lake has had the shrimp since the 90's

Adult Kokanee use them as a food base. Which in turn reduces the shrimp population, allowing the younger fish to feed.

Mysis Shrimp lures= Big Kokanee

Many Oregon Lakes have HUGE populations of Kokanee in Mysis shrimp Lakes, Take Odell Lake for example. 25 fish limit and they are considering bumping it up this year because there is to damn many fish, and they are all huge from feeding on the Shrimp

[Gringo Pescador]

Mike we should get together and make a tackle how-to and get everyone ready to go! Lake level will drop from all the fish we are gonna pull out!

I know there is already a few floating around here but this year a ton of new gear hit the market based of the Mysis Shrimp these footballs feed on.

We could do a Kokanee 101 from Gringo's garage video..

[Bodofish]

That's why the fish at Chelan have bellies full of them... And the fishing gets better year after year even though the Lake has had the shrimp since the 90's

Adult Kokanee use them as a food base. Which in turn reduces the shrimp population, allowing the younger fish to feed.

Mysis Shrimp lures= Big Kokanee

Many Oregon Lakes have HUGE populations of Kokanee in Mysis shrimp Lakes, Take Odell Lake for example. 25 fish limit and they are considering bumping it up this year because there is to damn many fish, and they are all huge from feeding on the Shrimp

This is exactly what we want for Kokes. It's the sole reason the OR lakes produce the big fish!!!! Hang on they're coming!!!

[Toni]

I am trying to understand my opponent, kokanee. In my research mysis shrimp doesn't mean that there will be consistently big fish. It appears that when there is an abundance of mysis it kills a lot of the small kokanee because they eat the same food, zooplantain. Unless there is a large flow in the lake to exchange the nutrients. Therefore, the one generation almost dies out giving more food for the older generation. That generation grows larger. But in some instances several lakes kokanee have crashed because that generation of large fish spawn out. Others have a few large fish for a year or two and then come back with abundance of small kokanee. This has happened at Wallowa.
2013 Oregon derbies have won with small fish (or average depending on what you are use to).
Odell Lake large fish just under 13 inches
Green Peter large fish just under 11.5 inches
Wickiup no individual fish just total team weight

Predicting Wallowa downfall
http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregon ... _lake.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Increase limits of small fish
http://www.dfw.state.or.us/news/2013/may/052213c.asp

[Idstud]

From what I have read in my research about Kokanee over the years is they thought Mysis shrimp were a good thing to help them with food but really isnt for the competition for food our fishy friends have to deal with. On of my books "Kokanee A complete fishing guide by Dave Biser" talks how mysis shrimp will hide down deep if not on the bottom of the lake where Kokanee dont go during the day. When night time comes and our Kokanee are in rest mode the shrimp rise to feed evading getting eaten by our fishy friends. I bet those shrimp lures will bring in some nice Koks for sure since thats a major competitor. We need some mysis shrimp smelly jelly.

[Bodofish]

I am trying to understand my opponent, kokanee. In my research mysis shrimp doesn't mean that there will be consistently big fish. It appears that when there is an abundance of mysis it kills a lot of the small kokanee because they eat the same food, zooplantain. Unless there is a large flow in the lake to exchange the nutrients. Therefore, the one generation almost dies out giving more food for the older generation. That generation grows larger. But in some instances several lakes kokanee have crashed because that generation of large fish spawn out. Others have a few large fish for a year or two and then come back with abundance of small kokanee. This has happened at Wallowa.
2013 Oregon derbies have won with small fish (or average depending on what you are use to).
Odell Lake large fish just under 13 inches
Green Peter large fish just under 11.5 inches
Wickiup no individual fish just total team weight

Predicting Wallowa downfall
http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregon ... _lake.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Increase limits of small fish
http://www.dfw.state.or.us/news/2013/may/052213c.asp

That's interesting to say the least. And I wouldn't even begin to dispute that and please don't take offence as I am normally not interested in catching fish the size of bait so I don't follow it very closely. I was basing my statement off of the correlation between size of fish and Mysis population, that's been published for a number of years on the OR lakes. There's also the big impoundments, I always want to call one Flaming Geyser but it's Flaming Gorge. It has a high Mysis count and it makes for big other species as well. There is also Flathead Lake, I'm not talking about stocked put and take Koke lakes but, those that are self sustaining lakes with a now native population. I know Flathead was a big Koke destination in the 60's and went to almost 0 Kokes when the Mysis were first introduced and it totally turned the lake upside down. The Kokes eventually learn to eat the shrimp, now they grow big, Sockeye big, not the huge numbers of little guys but less fish but, bigger ones.

Very interesting to read the current hypothesis on Koke size and population.

[Steelheadin360]

One month and 5 days until my first Chelan scouting trip...

Long story short, The main reason we have these genetic freaks at Chelan is mostly unknown. Many people say the Shrimp, which makes sense because of the stomach contents of many large kokanee, other say they cross bred in some sockeye which led to a big size. And yes I am afraid one year the fish will return tho their small size. But for now they are huge and I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas.



For those who are interested here is a very good read on the food chain and Mysis shrimp at Chelan. The only time the have found that the Kokanee and shrimp compete for food is the two times the fish generally arent in that part of the lake.

http://www.chelanpud.org/departments/li ... 9232_1.pdf

[Idstud]

One month and 5 days until my first Chelan scouting trip...

Long story short, The main reason we have these genetic freaks at Chelan is mostly unknown. Many people say the Shrimp, which makes sense because of the stomach contents of many large kokanee, other say they cross bred in some sockeye which led to a big size. And yes I am afraid one year the fish will return tho their small size. But for now they are huge and I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas.



For those who are interested here is a very good read on the food chain and Mysis shrimp at Chelan. The only time the have found that the Kokanee and shrimp compete for food is the two times the fish generally arent in that part of the lake.

http://www.chelanpud.org/departments/li ... 9232_1.pdf

Thanks for sharing the info I figure all that can help you learn about these great fish helps and thanks for Toni's share as well been working on that read. I hope they keep getting bigger and I know of some lakes south east that put out great sized Kok's like flaming gorge in Wyoming/Utah. We need some lakes closer to get some big fish in them. That 3 hour drive is a killer. Have fun on your scouting take lots of photos.

[strider43]

what does a Mysis Shrimp lure look like?