what do you mean they have shoulders?? i live in lk stevens fish koke;s a lot my favorite eating fish. are they trying to establish a koke fishery? what are the sizes??

I hooked one that was 15-16 inches and wide across the back.in past trips i have seen fish 17-18inches.fish and game says 2-3 years before they open it to retention.

Wow, those are some big Kokanee. My understanding is that their size is based on food supply so low numbers of Kokanee may be causing larger fish. I'm curious where you heard they are hoping to open it for retention of Kokanee in a few years. It'd be great if the fishery has recovered that fast, but I haven't heard that before. I know they have been doing much better from reports of accidental catch such as yourself as well as spawning numbers this previous fall.

Timber Bliss, unlike lakes like Stevens, American, etc. it is my understanding that the Kokanee found in Lake Sammamish are not and have not been augmented by stocking programs from other lakes. Kokanee numbers started to shrink at some point due to several factors and there's been a big push by King County in the past few years to save the species from extinction including a program to remove naturally returning fish from local streams and breed them in the Issaquah hatchery. Google Sammamish Kokanee and you'll find the King County website about the program.

But I just don't get why no cutthroat?
Last year they were active throughout the winter.

I agree cobber! I'm done with Sammamish until the kokanee fishery opens.I think the cutts are still there but the kokanee are more agressive feeders and get to the bait first.I also am feeling guilty about all the bleeding kokanee we release anymore. Two years ago it was 1 koke for every three cutts/ t last year it was about 50/50 and this year i'd say the kokes are at least two to one over the cutts.This is at depths under twenty feet anyway which is where we spend the bulk of our time.I think the prospect of the kokanee coming back and having a fishery for them again is worth laying off the lake fof a while.

I agree cobber! I'm done with Sammamish until the kokanee fishery opens.I think the cutts are still there but the kokanee are more agressive feeders and get to the bait first.I also am feeling guilty about all the bleeding kokanee we release anymore. Two years ago it was 1 koke for every three cutts/ t last year it was about 50/50 and this year i'd say the kokes are at least two to one over the cutts.This is at depths under twenty feet anyway which is where we spend the bulk of our time.I think the prospect of the kokanee coming back and having a fishery for them again is worth laying off the lake fof a while.

I generally fish at about 30-35 f t.the last four trips to the lake were all kokanee,with worms.last year i got 4 cutts for every koke on worms.this year just the opposite.if i try maggots or corn,kokanee city.nice fish ,can be a quality fishery in a few years.

They could chang e the rule tommorrow if they wanted. 5 trout limit only two kokanee maybe kept

They could change any rule tomorrow if they wanted, but it doesn't mean it's warranted. It seems like these fish are doing great now, but ten years ago these fish were practically extinct. I read through quite a bit of the research (very interesting stuff, albeit more than a little over my head). There are several distinct runs, some of which were/are more imperiled than others so while you may feel that there are plenty of fish right now, it doesn't mean that there are plenty of the right type of fish needed to rebuild the stocks. It also doesn't mean that they are out of the woods yet.

There is a lot to it I agree but the bottom line for me is that I can't keep the kokanee from biting and still catch cutts. For me I don't like hooking and releasing fish that are endangered and or on the rebound. I don't care how careful I am , it's not doing them any good. There are too many other places to fish without those issues. They aren't like bass or sturgeon in hardiness and even with those critters there are kills in C&R. Just my opinion.

The Kokes we are catching have been released into the creeks around the lake and they were raised in a hatchery. The cutthroat are the ones spawning naturally. You dont see any rainbow trout at all in Samamish and you can still keep those. Rainbows are probably extinct in Samamish and Lk Washington been years since I even seen one caught. They have released 40 thousand kokanee fry into the creeks around Samamish each in the last 2 years that comes to 80 thousand fish no wonder we are catching them 10-1 cutthroat now. Yes they should change the rule and allow 2 kokannee today imho.

i have landed 5-6 rainbows myself at sammamish in the past 5-6 years.i watched a guy land a 24 incher at issiquah creek fishing from shore with powerbait.i got mine jigging for perch around the creek.one time i saw a river otter with a 5 pound bow in it's mouth at issaquah creek.the otter was huge and started barking at me.another time i was wading out from shore fishing for smallmouth.i had 3 on a stringer i threw up on shore.i waded out to fish some more,i hear a noise and look back,a heron is swallowing my fish,stringer and all.10 minutes latter the ravens ate my worms.i went home.

While 40,000 is certainly a lot of fish, keep in mind that Lake Sammamish is 5,000 acres. American Lake, which is 1100 acres, gets planted with 200,000 Kokanee a year. Those are fish intended only for catching, they don't need to have a remnant able to reproduce since they're stocked every year. The reason they don't care about Rainbows is that they're not native to the area (Cuts and Kokanee are). The reason the Sammamish Kokanee are special is that the Kokanee are native and their genetic legacy goes hundreds or possibly thousands of years back.

A 2 Kokanee limit would be interesting, but, given the fish's fragility, it would probably have to be implemented in such a way that your first two Trout/Kokanee would have to be kept (regardless of size) and once you hit two you were done fishing. Not sure if that would be better or worse for you cutthroat anglers.

You guys are all pretty funny. Give up using bait, use barbless hooks, troll a variety of spoons, small rapalas etc. and you'll find more cutthroat bite. If you are using little hoochies with double barbed hooks with a small grub or worm on it what do you expect to bite Kokanee will bite that more aggressively than the Cutthroat. Anything with barbs or double hooks are going to hurt fish (Trout or Kokanee). The Cutthroat are still biting well. Fish a little harder and change depths, speeds and lures. If you really care about trout and Kokanee, use bait as a last resort. Bait kills. Barbed hooks kill.