Tough Kokanee Fishing @ Flaming Gorge

[marinaman]

I've been having a slow season for the kokanee. Has anyone been having much luck? I've caught some of the biggest kokanee I've ever caught but the numbers have been way down. I only fish the bottom ten miles of the Gorge and was curious if it has been slow up north or if I should pay the gas bill and head up canyon?
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[RILEYFISH]

Sounds like your doing about teh same as most really hit and miss up North also.
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[CROSSINEYES]

we got into to some the last 2 days by the pipeline.[]
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[halojm]

Its been tough everywhere this year. We have found quite a few around Rawlins draw. I still think we might be a week or two from it really turning on. This years water temps have really put the lock jaw on them. But as the temp approaches 60 things are about to change. Good luck.
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[RDRRM8E]

Quit screwin' with the mack food! LOL!

There were boats in Rawlins this weekend. Kyle had clients in there trolling for Kokes. Also try Swim, off the deep water humps. Kokes have been coming out of there also but I heard that the size was pretty wimpy.
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[Ryno]

UDWR performs annual population estimates for kokanee on Flaming Gorge in August each year using a sampling tool called hydroacoustics. These hydroacoustic surveys are completed the entire length of the reservoir, from the Confluence down to the dam. Since 1996, the longterm average for young-of-the-year kokanee (measure of recruitment) is about 300K fish. In 2006, recruitment was down from the longterm average about 41%. In 2007, matters got worse, and recruitment was down 73%. Those are the 4-year olds and 3-year olds that anglers are targeting this year. As you can tell from the data, kokanee numbers are down. You can also tell from the catch rates and size of the kokes anglers are catching. Typically, fewer fish means bigger fish.

Not that the kokanee fishing won't get better as weather stabilizes, but you also have to consider the population of catchable kokes is down considerably. On a positive note, recruitment was excellent in 2009, and a 207% increase from the longterm average was observed. The 2009 year class will be age-3 in 2012, which could be a banner year (depending on survivorship of course). Hope it helps, Ryan
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[portofthesea]

Cool information Ryno, Thanks!--Gary
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[marinaman]

Thanks for the input everyone, I think I'll stay down on the southern end. That is pretty interesting Ryno, glad to hear there is a positive outlook for the future.
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[piscispursuit]

Ryno nice post. Are these numbers available on the web somewhere so that the public can track them out of general interest, or are they Fish & Game internal survey stuff?
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[JeepNut]

We were up at the Gorge last Monday through Saturday. We tried Sheep Creek, Hideout, Horseshoe, Antelope, and Linwood but couldn't buy a Koke. We caught lots of nice macs and rainbows but no kokes. We finally broke down and bought the Wyoming muscle sticker and headed up above the pipeline, marsh bays, squaw hollow and still only caught macs and bows. I'm pretty sure we had a few kokes on but we lost them. Friday at lunch time I talked to Fishley and he suggested the state line area and we were able to get some there. Thanks Ashley !. Saturday we started out at the crack of dawn and picked up several more but once all the boats showed up it slowed a bunch. I did find plenty of schools near Rawlins but they would just give me a bit of a bump.
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[wormswart]

hello everyone. First post for me but i figured i would let you all know how we did up there this weekend. I went up for a couple days with my son and my dad. After only catching trout and one smallie on the first night we really got into some fat kokes on our second day. We caught 8 total kokes with six of them running between 3 and 4 pounds. We trolled just off the flats of kingfisher island. I think thats what its called. Alot of people fishing the cliff edges but we were more out in the middle just at the dropoff. saturday morning we caught 5 more kokes and couldnt keep the rainbows off. Wind finally sent us home mid afternoon. All in all in just over 2 days we brought in probably 50 total fish. 13 kokes 4 smallies 3 lakers and the rest rainbows. Never could get that brown.
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[JeepNut]

We were some of the ones along the cliffs but didn't find kokes there, I guess we should have moved. My son in law did catch a brown off of the east side of kingfisher. We let it go so it is still there for your next time up.
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[Ryno]

Good question. In the near future summaries will be available on the DWR website for the Blue Ribbon fisheries, Flaming Gorge included. Each year there will be an updated annual summary on specific waters so anglers can read about population trends and what they could mean in terms of angling.

I've attached a graph (JPEG format) of kokanee population trends from 1996-2009. Surveys were not reported in 2004, due to equipment issues. Once again, these estimates are calculated using hydroacoustic surveys of the entire reservoir and estimates are truthed using open water trawling. Only fish less than 350 mm or 14-inches are reported. Size classes indexed are the typical standards for year classes in the Gorge, meaning fish less than 112 mm are Age-0, fish 112-235 mm are Age-1, and fish 235-350 mm are Age-2. You can see the variablility in year classes over time; along with low points and high points. Hope it helps, Ryan
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