The Quadfather
7/23/2017 10:13:27 PMYellowaYak,
The 'Sockeye' are filling the lake currently via the locks. They are apparently pretty thick in the lake. I fished Moss bay last Monday. There were MANY large fish in the lower end of the water column on the sonar. I brought in a full size Sockeye to the side of the boat.
It's an amazing time to be fishing Lake WA.
The 'Sockeye' are filling the lake currently via the locks. They are apparently pretty thick in the lake. I fished Moss bay last Monday. There were MANY large fish in the lower end of the water column on the sonar. I brought in a full size Sockeye to the side of the boat.
It's an amazing time to be fishing Lake WA.
YellowYak
7/23/2017 11:01:48 PMThanks for the reply quadfather! So could the 14.5 one be a migratory salmon also? Do you know what is the average size of resident fish vs. migratory? I had a giant fish on a few weeks ago that I assumed was a monster cutt, but not I would have to guess it was a sockeye. I guess the bright silver is a good giveaway.
YellowYak
7/23/2017 11:08:54 PMThanks for the reply quadfather! So could the 14.5 one be a migratory salmon also? Do you know what is the average size of resident fish vs. migratory? I had a giant fish on a few weeks ago that I assumed was a monster cutt, but not I would have to guess it was a sockeye. I guess the bright silver is a good giveaway.
TrackerPro16
7/23/2017 10:44:55 PMI actually don't like catching them but this time of the year it is difficult to NOT to. And yes to the 22". Or bigger. I caught a monster Chinook last year. Took a long time to get it in.
TrackerPro16
7/23/2017 11:55:13 PMThe Koke's are 'supposed' to be Sockeye that stay in the lake instead of migrating out to the ocean, but in reality you could catch a -15" Sockeye that came in through the locks. The Sockeye will generally get bigger as they eat better and have a larger salty body of water to swim in.
YellowYak
7/24/2017 12:01:11 AMSo there isn't really a way to know if a fish is a big resident koke or a small migratory sockeye and vice versa? The skin color, flesh color, etc would be the same? I was under the assumption that it was similar to rainbows and steelhead where I thought it was obvious which is which.
Sideburns
7/24/2017 1:07:13 AMIve read that it may be impossible to distinguish between sockeye and kokanee... A 22 inch inch kokanee is possible i guess, but likely a sockeye.
On a related note, do any sea-run salmon species feed in the lakes before spawning? I saw several 20-24 inch salmonid looking fish in the shallows above the weeds near the bellevue boat launch last night. They sure looked like they were on the prowl for food. They looked much fatter and football shaped than cutthroat, and were cruising in small groups amongst many many similar sized carp.
I was out there with a friend (way too late) trying unsuccessfully to get his old 40 horse johnson running properly. Difficult to run a jet drive under load in a bucket. Turned out to be improper head bolts and failed head gasket. He just rebuilt the whole thing himself.
On a related note, do any sea-run salmon species feed in the lakes before spawning? I saw several 20-24 inch salmonid looking fish in the shallows above the weeds near the bellevue boat launch last night. They sure looked like they were on the prowl for food. They looked much fatter and football shaped than cutthroat, and were cruising in small groups amongst many many similar sized carp.
I was out there with a friend (way too late) trying unsuccessfully to get his old 40 horse johnson running properly. Difficult to run a jet drive under load in a bucket. Turned out to be improper head bolts and failed head gasket. He just rebuilt the whole thing himself.
motley
7/24/2017 1:37:44 PMNice fish! Hey I've been there I blew up an old Merc 150 after sucking up a piece of nylon rope from some one's old tie off buoy! BOAT does stand for (Break Out Another Thousand)
rmrauscher
7/24/2017 1:43:25 PMHard to tell if it was a resident or migrating. Think WDFW puts the size limit on kokanee because they are so similar to sockeye. One thing for sure they put up a heckuva fight!!! You probably caught one of the migrating fish.