Anyone like Kokanee ?

Nevada Ed

Nevada Ed

US Veteran
Bronze Supporter
Joined
Nov 2, 2012
Messages
13,791
Reaction score
13,326
Location
Reno Nv
Took the boat out along with a fishing buddy the other day to see
how the kokanee were doing at one of the three local lakes.

With the high temps now, we had to get off the water at 10:30 am
but we did manage to bring kokanee to the boat.

Here is a picture of three of the big "Silver bullets" that will be going on the BBQ at 5pm, tonight.

There is quite a difference when battling a 15-16 Kokanee, than when you are hooked up to a smaller 10-12 inch salmon.
Every jump or run, makes your heart stop, when they get up close to the boat.

We did good today, never lost one at the boat, even though, these larger kok's took longer to get to the net, but the net men were on topo of their game today, when we had to trade off.

Mama, is all ready licking her lips, waiting for the meal to hit the table.

Have a great summer, everyone.

 
Register to hide this ad
I like Kokes. In general I have to fish for them through the ice.
 
I could eat salmon every day of the week. That's only a slight exaggeration. Kokanee are as good, if not more so, than saltwater-going salmon.

By the way. . . . Cook your salmon hot and fast, just until it just firms up. Many people overcook it. A Coho or Sockeye fillet takes about 10-12 minutes at 425deg. Chinook, usually being thicker might take a couple minutes more.
 
I am sort of spoiled with the lakes around here, that have "Almost Salmon"
with the kokanee in our lakes that I think , taste even better than their "Big" ocean King Salmon brothers.

I do the Sac river for "Kings" in my boat, and yes, a 30-50 pound King is a thrill on the rod, but there is gas and motel rates involved.

At my age , it is even, on going fishing or going to the store for a Salmon filet.

Any way you can get it, if you like fish, Salmon is great, smoked, grilled, broiled or snatched out of a stream if you are in bear skins and starving !!
 
I had to double check your location before reading post. I LOVE Kokanee. But I'm referring to a Canadian Beer. It's big (or at least was) in southern Ontario. We would load up at the duty free liquor store on our way up north fishing every Memorial Weekend and Labor Day weekend. To be honest it was pretty good when I've fishing at 10 below too. Funny thing is I think most Canadians consider it cheap beer lol. But for those of you that have never had beer brewed in Canada, trust me. They do it better than us.
 
I had to double check your location before reading post. I LOVE Kokanee. But I'm referring to a Canadian Beer. It's big (or at least was) in southern Ontario. We would load up at the duty free liquor store on our way up north fishing every Memorial Weekend and Labor Day weekend. To be honest it was pretty good when Ice fishing at 10 below too. Funny thing is I think most Canadians consider it cheap beer lol. But for those of you that have never had beer brewed in Canada, trust me. They do it better than us.
 
Last edited:
Nice fish..) When I lived in CT, we had a small lake in Litchfield County that had a thriving Kokanee Salmon population. We used to fish at night, and usually did well. Yep, they fight and jump way out of proportion to their size. They were fun on light tackle.

Larry
 
Bald1 said:
I had to double check your location before reading post. I LOVE Kokanee. But I'm referring to a Canadian Beer. It's big (or at least was) in southern Ontario. We would load up at the duty free liquor store on our way up north fishing every Memorial Weekend and Labor Day weekend. To be honest it was pretty good when I've fishing at 10 below too. Funny thing is I think most Canadians consider it cheap beer lol. But for those of you that have never had beer brewed in Canada, trust me. They do it better than us.
Click to expand...
Hahaha, had I known this discussion was aboot fish, I never would have clicked on it. ("aboot" is Canadian) (it means "about") But I also thought we were going to discuss the Canadian beer!

I had a friend half a lifetime ago who helped my gateway to motorcycle trip and distance riding and when I told him I had a trip planned to Manitoulin Island and up toward Timmins, he told me that I just had to get some Kokanee and enjoy it AND bring him some back also! No small order on a motorcycle!

I was so much younger then and hadn't refined my taste for beer. Back then, it just tasted like any other pilsner. Because of this discussion I'm so very much looking forward to trying it once again.

Meanwhile, you chuckled as the Canadians just think of it as a cheap beer. My brother and I are huge fans of Alexander Keiths, another one that seems to be "just a cheap beer" in Canada but it's a treat for us, especially in the can.

The Alexander Keith's tries to bill itself as an IPA, but that's just NOT what it is. It's a smooth pilsner and I love it — I cannot stand almost any IPA. Then again, I also don't have a manbun.
 
Per post #2;

The Kokanee only turn Red and ugly when they go into their spawning colors, as well as a curved jaw with teeth, for fighting for their spawning beds, against other males, to win a female, to spawn with, usually up a creek or river that feeds into the lake.

They have a silver skin like a normal salmon during their 3-5 year life cycle, depending on the waters and areas, that they live at.
Depending on their food source and their numbers in the lake, they can grow to to around 10 to 18" in length, on average, however Utah has a lake noted for BIG kokanee that can get to 24" , in it's N/E corner !!
 
Bald1 said:
I had to double check your location before reading post. I LOVE Kokanee. But I'm referring to a Canadian Beer. It's big (or at least was) in southern Ontario. We would load up at the duty free liquor store on our way up north fishing every Memorial Weekend and Labor Day weekend. To be honest it was pretty good when I've fishing at 10 below too. Funny thing is I think most Canadians consider it cheap beer lol. But for those of you that have never had beer brewed in Canada, trust me. They do it better than us.
Click to expand...
Canadian here , yes Kokanee is a cheap beer and it's good .
brewed with water from the Columbia glacier and endorsed by saskwatch lol
I grew up on the Fraser river and ate so much salmon I could go the rest of my life without it and be content .
Fraser river turkey locals called them
The natives would dip net them and sell them , we had a good spot for dipping on the ranch so we got lots of turkey from the the boys lol
As a side note , there was an old seasonal fishing village on one of the river benches nearby, there were the old holes in the ground from the kickwillies and pressure flakes all over near fire reddened stones
Even found a few arrowheads and scrapers drill etc
I spent days and days down there as a boy
It's kind of making me homesick thinking about it
 
The size of the Kokanee or landlocked sockeye salmon depends on the quantity of their food supply. They are zooplankton feeders and eat tiny freshwater "shrimp". They are native to many of our waters in the Pacific N.W. and Western Canada. Locally we have impoundments like Roosevelt Lake that produce Kokanee (locally known as Silvers) in the 2-4lb with regularity, the state record is just over 6lbs...that rivals the ocean run fish. Most wild run Kokanee are under a foot in length, I've seen creeks red with them in the fall when they spawn. The Girard strain of Rainbow Trout feeds almost exclusively on Kokanee, it is native to Trout Lake, B.C. as well as other Canadian Lakes. We had them in Christina Lake, B.C. There again the native Kokanee were usually around six inches in length, huge balls of them could be seen on your fish finder, with the big trout under them just waiting for one of the fish to slip outside the protective ball.

I screwed up and forgot that this was a beer thread...Canadian friends of mine drink Kokanee Export in place of water, keep hydrated eh? My favorite Canadian beer was Molson Canadian, always had a two four in the beer fridge. They had an outfit in Grand Forks, B.C. called "You Brew It". You bought the kit for the beer type you wanted to have them brew, Lager, Porter, etc. all you did was add the yeast to the brew and come back in thirty days with clean bottles, bottle and cap right there, take it home. My buddy and I mixed up a Canadian Lager that went over 8%, I bottled it in big old Dad's root beer bottles that were around 12 ounce or better, a couple of those bad boys and you were on your way. It was a blast on bottling day, they had a mixer that added CO2 to the tap, you stuck the tap into the bottle and hit the lever, bottle filled up, you capped it. Ever now and then you could "overfill" the bottle so you had to sip a bit off...Ooooops. They frowned on that practice as they were not licensed as a tavern, we would often bring the load home along with the load we were carrying....I often wondered why this never caught on in the states, liquor laws more than anything else, the state getting their greedy hooks into everything.
 
Last edited:
Sevens I'm a big fan of Alexander Keiths as well. My deer hunting buddy lives in Southern Ontario. Every yr he comes down for opening weekend of NY Rifle deer season. He has 2 jobs. Bring Keith's and bring walleye fillets for big Friday nite fish fry at the cabin. Been doing it since 08. And if he happens to bring some Crown Royal or Canadian Club I won't complain
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Nevada Ed
1st smoked trout of the year
Replies
8
Views
500
S&W ucla
S&W ucla
Nevada Ed
New member to 1st time kokanee fishing
Replies
2
Views
360
paplinker
P
Nevada Ed
You know you are getting old, when..
3 4 5
Replies
88
Views
3K
Memphis
M
chief38
Tonight we had the best Ribeye we've have had in 10 years
Replies
16
Views
857
peterdeb
peterdeb
chief38
Mister Wi-Fi does NOT like me! In fact I dread doing anything that involves hooking up a new Wi-Fi devise!
Replies
11
Views
657
oldbrownhat
oldbrownhat

Latest posts

Back
Top