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So, I was on Ririe a couple days ago fishing for Kokes and as I was trolling along, I found 2 kokes about 14-15" long floating on top of the water, but they weren't dead. They were still moving their tails and didn't look like they had been on top of the water very long. I saw another one, but, one of the Bald Eagles got it before I could pick it up. Has anyone seen this before? Anyone know what is causing this? I brought both home and both were females full of eggs and the meat was still really pink so I cleaned them and bagged them separate incase something serious was wrong with them and couldn't be eaten. Any help or information would be appreciated.
To go with this, fishing has really tapered off. F&G checked me and we talked a bit and they said in the last 7-10 days koke fishing had really slowed and not many were being caught. Most I saw on my finder were between 30-40 down in a big band with another group 55-65 down.
Thanks for any info on this.
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I saw a couple dead ones yesterday. I did not investigate closely. We were skunked for the 1st time ever for Kokes yesterday we only had two on in 5 hours of fishing.
Windriver
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Here are my thoughts and without any other details, like what time of day it was, how many others were out fishing and what the water temp was, this is just a guess but it could have been fish that someone released but they did not survive. Mortitly is very high on kokes(around 80%), when released, if the water temp is above a certain temp. They could also be fish that were hooked but got off during the fight.
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Water was 69-70, no one else fishing in the area I was in and I was there a couple hours, no evidence of any physical damage, it was around 10:00 am. I saw 3 total as I said, 2 that I retrieved and 1 that an eagle got. Also from Windrivers post, he too saw fish dead after I had been there different day. Not saying, but, I haven't seen this on Ririe before this earlier in the year when a lot of people were fishing for them. Not to say that you don't have good thoughts, but, it just didn't make sense when there was nothing and no one else fishing in the area before, during, or after I was done. I counted 3 other boats actually fishing and a total on the day I saw this, of only 3 other ski boats and they all showed up after this happened. Still looking for an answer. I sent a message to Idaho Falls F&G and nothing from them yet. Thanks
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Always a good idea to contact the F&G, hopefully they will get back with you. It could have something to do with that warmer water temp, kokes are pretty fragile fish and are very sensitive to their surrounding, so you never know, could be something unrelated to what I said above.
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