Fishing Forum

So this past Saturday while fishing for wipers and walleye at Willard bay, I caught what I am pretty sure was a Kokanee Salmon. Sorry, I didn't get a photo of it. However, having grown up in Alaska catching salmon and having been a commercial salmon fisherman for over 15 year, so I am pretty familiar with salmon and this was definitely a kokanee (red or sockeye salmon as we refer to them). It was NOT a trout of any species I am familiar with in Utah.

It was about 12 inches long and about 3/4 of a pound. It hit a crank bait and was pretty buggered up so we just kept it.

I have provided a link to the Utah DWR Kokanee Salmon page. The fish I caught was exactly like the picture on that page. That page indicates that kokanee can be caught in 4 lakes in Utah:

Causey Reservoir
Flaming Gorge
Porcupine Reservoir
Strawberry Reservoir

http://www.utahfishinginfo.com/utahfish/...salmon.php

Does the Porcupine eventually drain down into Willard Bay? From what I can tell, it does. Do people catch kokanee at Echo or Pineview? Anyhow, one thing I do know is that those kokanee salmon will find a way to survive. If they have made their way into Willard, they will start looking for a way to spawn.

Just to emphasize my point, the Alaska DFG(Dept of Fish and Game) enhanced the red salmon fishery years ago at Tustemena Lake which is drained by the Kasilof river on the Kenai Pennisula. Anyhow, they ended the practice over 20 years ago when the the hatchery was contaminated with a disease. Now the problem is there is constantly an over escapement of reds going up the river and not enough room for all the spawning reds.


Anyhow, I am a little puzzled. Where in the world would it have come from? What reservoir would it have been washed down from?

For a little fish it gave a good battle. I thought it was a wiper at first.
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[font "Calibri"]That lost and wayward fish had to of come from Causey. Causey drains into Pineview, Pineview feeds the Ogden River and the Ogden River dumps into Willard Bay. That’s a crazy and rare find for sure. Congrats, not many folks can tell that story. [/font]
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Ummmm You caught and kept a large gizzard shad... [crazy]
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Mike,

Good guess, but I can promise you, it was NOT a gizzard shad. I can assure you with 100% confidence it was a kokanee salmon. Gizzard shard do not have an adipose fin nor the fin structure and layout of a salmon.
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I think he was tired of being a landlocked species and was trying to get back to the ocean to become a sockeye again.
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Well, the small distance a red salmon would have to go from a lake upstream to Willard bay is nothing like the distance many salmon go. For example some Yukon River salmon travel as much as 1840 miles to reach their spawning grounds. Each year the small baby salmon make their way back to the Bering Sea.

If you can imagine, the Salmon River in Idaho, used to have a major run of Red salmon. But with all the dams on the Columbia River, their numbers have dwindled to the point of extinction. The salmon of that drainage used to travel over a 1000 miles to get to the ocean or back to the spawning grounds.

Anyhow, it doesn't seem unreasonable for a little kokanee to make its way down to Willard Bay.
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The wife and I were loading the bopat up in the S Marina on Sunday and she spotted someone carrying a stringer that had a fish with red all over it. She wondered what species it was and I mentioned it looked a lot like a Kokanee but I didn't think they were in Willard. I just let it go assuming I was mistaking the color. I wish now I wouldv'e went over and took a closer look. Wondering id there aren't a few in there. This one looked closer to 15" but I can't be positive.
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There is no way Porcupine drains into Willard but it could have come from Causey. That would be a long haul but Tiger musky make it down to Willard ever so often so if that little koke made it to Pineview it is very possible it made it to Willard. Too bad you did not get a pic of it though, I think the DWR would have been interested in seeing it as well, pretty rare, it is the first time I've ever heard of it happening. Thanks for sharing your report and info on the koke.
WH2
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