DUDE: You know I have read so many times on various fishing forums about how some guy had a great time fishing for kokanee. He is bragging about how many he caught and retained, and how many he caught and released "in good shape to live for another day." Thoughts?
KOKANEE: Maybe I'm mellowing a bit in my old age. I am always grateful for good intentions. But I also believe that there are times when good intentions produce not so good results.
DUDE: Let me guess -- it is more complicated than I would have thought, and probably more complicated the well-intentioned kokanee fisherman realized.
KOKANEE: Indeed. Let's start first with the fact of just how old are the kokanee that bite. Most kokanee will respond to a well-balanced color and scented lure starting in their third year. Spawning will take place later in either their third or fourth year depending on location. Biting has everything to do with spawning. For the kokes that will be spawning later in the season, their scales are on course to transition from soft and flaky to absorbed and hardened.
DUDE: Come to think of it, the scales are very soft and flake off easily in the early spring bite. They get on everything. But late in the season, the scales do not flake off at all.
KOKANEE: It is a natural process of maturing. By pre-spawn, the kokes are well along in resorbing their own scales. They need hardened scales to withstand the rigors of the spawn. Do you know why fish have scales?
DUDE: Scales are the protective outer layer of the fish's skin. I can understand why hardened scales are protective, but what about soft scales?
KOKANEE: The outer part of these soft scales has a consistency similar to mucous, making the fish extra slippery in the battle not to become prey. The slime can come off without a problem. But the scales themselves have a very important function -- they act as a barrier to ward off infection. If some of the scales are removed from the fish, infection easily moves in. Remember, theirs is a water environment. Infection is easy to come by. Fish will not be able to get a prescription for an antibiotic, and the fish has no biological mechanisms to replace the lost scales. The result is usually a slow and painful death.
DUDE: So how does the well-meaning fisherman cause the harm?
KOKANEE: The harm is more likely early in the season when the scales are very soft. The scales come off with the use of any net, as well as any touching with the human hand. Well intentioned fisherman wanting to remove the hooks so the "fish can live another day" are shredding those protective scales. And although the fish when released happily swims off, the fatal damage is already inflicted. That fish gives the impression that all is well. All is not well.
DUDE: So how long does it take?
KOKANEE: You mean before the infection becomes fatal? Depends. Hours. Days. But it will happen. Of course other species benefit. Ospreys for example love those well-intentioned fisherman. So do mackinaw -- lake trout. Fish in weakened condition become a tasty addition to the food chain.
DUDE: So if a fisherman wanted to simply just release the kokanee without touching it from any means, just how is that accomplished?
KOKANEE: Let me refine your question a bit. Remember we are talking about the time in their life cycle before the scales are fully hardened. Let’s say a fisherman has a two rod stamp - which many states now have. Two rods - but single limit. Let’s further say that the fisherman is one fish shy of a limit. Both rods are out. Bam. A double. Only one can be taken. There are only two choices. First, land the one and then "release the other to live another day" using the net and manually removing the hooks - and thus killing the released fish. The other choice is to land the one fish, but as to the other fish, just let it have some slack. Unless it has a hook through the bone in the snoot, it will self-release. Neat - no net, no human hands, no loss of scales. Actually does live another day.
DUDE: What if it does have a hook through the snoot?
KOKANEE: Easy. If you have brought the fish to the side of the boat and just let it swim there, the fish will be pretty tired. Control the distance to the side of the boat with your rod. This works best with the boat 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 pre-spawn 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. 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. And it may come as a surprise to you but the kokanee fishery at Wickiup is entirely natural.
DUDE: Not supplemented?
KOKANEE: Not at all. This is a great example of the adaptation I was speaking about earlier. The kokes have to be ready to spawn before the water supply challenges and limits their ability to graze. Fortunately, just enough water is available to make redds that will be properly oxygenated even with the draw down.
DUDE: But the size and the great number?
KOKANEE: With so much of the reservoir being shallow when full, the draw down encourages a great variety of insect hatches. One species in particular thrives there. These are a type of fly. In larval form they are called chironomids. They are produced in such abundance as to be mind-boggling. Wickiup kokanee have discovered that these chironomids are a better source of protein than the zooplankton water fleas known as daphnia. These chironomids don't run and hide when the sun comes up, and the kokes can feed on them round the clock. And they do. An abundant protein source makes for very large kokes, much the same as the Mysis shrimp did for the third year kokes at Wallowa Lake. Only the chironomids don't destroy the next generation of kokes.
DUDE: And let me guess, the second year kokes at Wickiup can eat chironomids because the fly larvae are small enough, unlike the Mysis.
KOKANEE: Exactly. So the second year kokes gorge and become very large second year olds. As such, they have more strength to make it through the severe winter conditions at Wickiup. So when spring comes, now as three year olds, they are still in great shape, large and cranky - just the way they should be. In the meantime the three year olds have spawned. The drawdown of the reservoir provides a good measure of protection as virtually all motorized boating ceases. If left alone, the redds will produce huge numbers of kokanee fry ready to start the cycle.
DUDE: You have taught me so much and I don’t know how to meaningfully repay you.
KOKANEE: Well, there is a way you can do that.
DUDE: Anything.
KOKANEE: You know all those mornings when you get on the lake just before first light, and then some light starts chasing the darkness away? How quiet and still things seem to be. Your mind is filled with anticipation of the great fishing day ahead. And you take a slow deep breath – just trying to take it all in. Don’t ever lose that feeling, and don’t keep it to yourself. Pass on such ethics to your children, and family and friends. Help out and encourage those just starting out in the sport.
DUDE: Yes, I can do that.
KOKANEE: I’ll be on my way now. Gotta fulfill my real purpose. It’s been great chatting with you and I’m really glad you responded in the way you did. As for me, the ladies are calling.
