Kokanee forecast: Populations continue to flourish in area lakes

Gary Gill was out this week pulling kokanee into his boat with his grandkids.

It was windy on Lake Coeur d’Alene as the anglers trolled wedding ring spinners off the north shore catching the silvery bluebacks in about 25 feet of water.

“They were little, but there were plenty of them,” said Gill, the vice chair of the Lake Coeur d’Alene Anglers Association. “We probably lost 20.”

When it comes to the lake’s kokanee population, Gill’s observations fall in line with what biologists are predicting.

Fishery biologists this year are calling for plenty of kokanee — a small, landlocked salmon also known as a silver, or blueback, which is a staple among North Idaho anglers.

Populations should be similar to a year ago, with fish sizes remaining around 10 inches on average, according to Idaho Fish and Game.

“Fish numbers are high, and we’re expecting fish size to be on the smaller side,” said Rob Ryan, the department’s regional fishery biologist.

The size of bluebacks in area lakes is dependent on populations, Ryan said. When numbers are low and kokanee have fewer competitors for their food source — zooplankton — they tend to get bigger. In Hayden Lake, where the department stocks fish to limit populations, kokanee can reach 14 inches.

Fish numbers in Lake Coeur d’Alene have rebounded since 2006 when populations took a sharp dive resulting in a closed season that year. Since then, limits on the popular game fish have gradually increased. Anglers can now keep 15 fish each.

At the beginning of the summer fishing season, many Lake Coeur d’Alene blueback anglers start fishing at the southern end of the lake where cold water from two rivers infuses the big lake and sends food downstream.

As the summer progresses and water temperatures warm, schooling fish move north and are found at lower depths.

“Right now, at 20 feet the water temperature gets to 55 or 56 degrees pretty quick,” Gill said. “That’s pretty much where they will stay.”

Lake Pend Oreille’s kokanee tend to be bigger because populations are lower. The lake’s blueback had their own comeback story after populations dropped in part because of a burgeoning predator base. The number of Mackinaw — lake trout — which consumed a lot of blueback has since been curtailed through an ongoing bounty program, and kokanee numbers are climbing back.

“They have responded really well to the predator reduction program,” Bill Harryman, senior fishery technician on Lake Pend Oreille said.

Gill trolls a small dodger, a flasher to attract fish, hooked to a 12-inch leader and a spinner baited with corn.

“They are kind of scattered,” Gill said. “So, you kind of have to troll all over.”