Kokanee

[rayo]

Which lakes hold kokanee in New York?

[areyounuts]

I had to look these up. Sorry - don't know.

For those who would like to know about these fish ---

Kokanee salmon

Oncorhynchus nerka

Kokanee are the land-locked form of sockeye salmon. Because they never migrate out to the ocean to feed, kokanee are often much smaller than sockeye. However, other than their size, kokanee have very similar identifying characteristics as sockeye. Most kokanee live in a lake for most of their lives, so you can usually see them spawning near the edge of a lake or in a small tributary that feeds into a lake. There are kokanee populations in Lake Washington, Lake Sammamish, Issaquah Creek, and other the other small creeks that feed into these water bodies. If you see a fish, here's some tips to use to determine whether or not it's a kokanee...

[rayo]

I've caught them out west. They're landlocked sockeye salmon. Supposedly NY is one of the only states on the East Coast that has them; just can't figure out where.

[FLXTroutman]

No kokanee in New York lakes. I used to live out west north of Seattle and used to fish an inland lake called Lake Stephens

which held a nice population of kokanee. As stated by the post above these are land locked sockeye salmon. Those were stocked fish, however the the runs of sockeye into Lake Washington are sea run sockeyes which spawn in the resident creeks. People troll for them with a bare red hook if you can believe that. It mimics shrimp and krill which is the main diet of the sockeye and also gives the meat the intense red color. I used to use a small spinner set up made by Mack's Lures called a Wedding Ring. It had a spinner blade infront of several pink beads surrounding a "wedding ring" trailing a pink float body, think walleye floating worm body for instance.

[L&M]

C&P: New York State Conservationist| December 01, 1999

Kokanee have been stocked in several lakes in New York, including Long Pond, Franklin County (10,000), Polliwog Pond, Franklin County (41,600), Bug Lake, Fulton County (10,000), Mitchell pond, Hamilton County (5,000), Little Hill Pond, Lewis County (2,000), Deer Pond, St. Lawrence County (2,200), East Pine Pond, Esssex County (11,500) and Lake Colby, Franklin County (20,000). They have also been stocked to a limited extent in Lake Ontario.

[snyder]

General range: Found in only a few spots in NY: Green Lake, Lake Ontario, Lake Champlain, some streams and ponds in the Adirondack region.

Other Info.: The Kokanee is a Pacific Ocean fish, where they live as adults in the ocean waters and migrate inland through freshwater streams to spawn. The pacific variety is commonly called the Sockeye salmon. Once stocked aggressively in NY, their numbers have since dwindled and populations are dependent on small pockets of wild breeding. their deep red colors, and some say their excellent taste, is due to their plankton diet.

I found this @ http://nyfalls.com/wildlife/Wildlife-fish-salmon.html

[Second Chance 22]

New York quit stocking them several years ago due to budget cuts.

[rayo]

That sucks. On the bright side, I found out they stock them in Connecticut not far from NYC. Looks like I'll be trying for them there.

[Broadhorizons]

I'll add Taylor Pond to Hank's list.

[Second Chance 22]

Taylor's Pond was last stocked with Kokanee in 2001. NYSDEC does not believe any remain there.

[Schools Out]

Kokanee are from the Oncorhynchus genus so like the 7 other species in this genus, they die after reaching their spawning age... I imagine that by 2003 all were gone.

[1fish2fish]

I had the pleasure of catching a few Kokanee out of Polliwog Pond about eight to ten years ago. They are a beautifully marked fish (wish I took pictures) and put up one heck of a fight.

Every year, my son and I, along with about four to six other crazies, used to go to the St. Regis Canoe Area off route 30, north of Tupper Lake in the spring, just after ice out for some trout fishing and camping. This area consists of about thirty ponds that are connected by portage routes and campsites. Both Polliwog and Long Pond were stocked with Kokanee.

Pollywog Pond was one of the easier access ponds because it was right off the main road with a huge campsite. We would 'troll' Lake Clear Wobblers with the canoe for Kokanee or would cast to the shore line with small Cleos or spinners for Brookies and Rainbows.

After about three to five days of this, it was hard to come back to civilization! Even though I haven't been back there in about six years, my son has taken his sons there numerous times. The tradition continues!