Fish Lake kokanee

[PBH]

The kokanee at Fish Lake have just started to head up Twin Creeks.  What a great time of year to be up there!



















Click for video of kokanee:
https://imgur.com/9KhkszD

[Kent]

Fish Lake is always beautiful. I see you took the Mytoge (or something like that) road, on the east side of Fish Lake. We took that road last summer, for the first time. Beautiful views. How is the road and the views on the road(s) on the west side of Fish Lake?

[Cowboypirate]

Hard to beat fall in the wilds of Utah. Really nice photos.

[PBH]

 How is the road and the views on the road(s) on the west side of Fish Lake?

The road to the High Top (west side) is pretty good.  You can take the Hancock road (easy road, RV trailer accessible) or the steep road up from SR 25.  The steep road is much improved due to some logging activity.  It is not suitable for an RV, or trailer, but a 4x4 truck could handle it easily right now.


These pics are from a different year in November.  I killed a cow in November right at the High Top (almost 12,000 feet):

[Bovineowner]

Great pictures!!!!! Fish Lake is a beautiful mnt range. Lots of fine memories down there archery hunting. Thank you!

[Mildog]

Great Pictures and Video !! Excellent ! Very beautiful this time of year up there.
Thanks for posting!
Mildog

[Hookinup]

The kokanee at Fish Lake have just started to head up Twin Creeks.  What a great time of year to be up there!



















Click for video of kokanee:
https://imgur.com/9KhkszD

Looks like heaven to me....  do you know if Fish Lake gets a survivability rate of 5-10 with natural spawning like DWR says happens at Strawberry?  Does DNR do any stripping of eggs down there?

[gofish435]

Thanks for the great pictures.

My father grew up in Richfield and would take us to Fish Lake every summer for a week.  Beautiful country for sure.

[PBH]

This quote feature is pathetic...it always screws up the responses....

I'll try this again....

---

Hookinup:

The management plan for Fish Lake kokanee does not rely on natural recruitment from Twin Creeks. Twin Creeks is too cold for successful natural recruitment of salmonids. It always has been. Historically (before white-men introduced any fish to Fish Lake) all natural recruitment of trout (cutthroat) came from Lake Creek (the out-flow).

The plan with Fish Lake is to use hatchery raised kokanee to stock Fish Lake. They also like to use late-spawning fish in hopes that more "lake spawning" will happen and provide some "bonus" natural fish. Utah's hatchery system is currently able to provide enough kokanee to provide this opportunity at Fish Lake.


The DWR used to use a small hatchery behind the current cabin on Twin Creeks to raise lake trout. They ended this a long time ago (early 80's?). Today, Twin Creeks is protected from angling to provide people an opportunity to see spawning fish in action. However, due to the cold water temperatures of this spring, natural recruitment from Twin Creeks is almost nil.

[PACKFAN]

The kokanee at Fish Lake have just started to head up Twin Creeks.  What a great time of year to be up there!
















I wish they would have stocked kokanee there years ago. I hope they do well there. Beautiful place to fish for them. 


Click for video of kokanee:
https://imgur.com/9KhkszD

[PBH]

Pack -- we all do. However, our hatchery systems could not support koknaee years ago, and as pointed out earlier natural reproduction just doesn't work well enough to sustain a population without hatchery stocking.

hopefully this is successful and and kokanee (lake trout!) continue to thrive in Fish Lake.

[sliverslinger]

Very cool!