I went out for cutthroat again after doing pretty well a month ago. I was gettting a lot of releases off the downrigger but not hooking anything.

Finally I caught a nice 14.5" kokanee around moss bay. I usually only catch cutthroat so I am not sure what was different about today. I got a nice cutt after that, then right as I decided to call it quits, I hooked a big sockeye/kokanee. It gave a huge fight and probably took 6 or 8 minutes to land it on my kayak. I knew I couldn't keep it so I got a quick photo and let it go as fast as I could. Based on estimates of my photo and measuring my kayak in the spot it was, I would guess it was about 22". I got buzzed too closely by too many boats and decided to call it a day.

Question for any of you who know better than me. Is this a resident sockeye that gets this big(22") or are they migrating through the lake? I know some of you are catching sockeye in baker lake but I don't know too much about what the fish are doing. A week or so ago, SalmonBarry mentioned catching both kokanee and sockeye, but it is still unclear to me if there is an actual difference between them, or just the legal WDFW definition of >15" or <15".

WDFW:
In all waters of Lake Washington, KOKANEE/SOCKEYE less than 15" in length are KOKANEE while those
15" and over are SOCKEYE SALMON.

I cooked the kokanee for dinner tonight and was one of the best fish I have cooked. The taste was much better and meat much firmer than a cutthroat.

Hoping I can get some coho action in the lake this fall!