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[skaha]

--Well sometimes not so little... Wallowa lk in USA has been producing plenty of kokanee near their new world record fish of last season.
--Okanagan lk former producer of the world record is still in recovery mode with a limited opening for kokanee this season.
--Kokanee numbers are up and judging from the  a recent  catch of a 25.5 pound rainbow by Jim Sutherland of kelowna, there is some benefit to the proliferation of the smaller shore spawn kokanee.
--I like on occasion to catch the near sockeye sized creek spawning kokanee (not in the creeks the fish that spawn in creeks).  Mid 80's 3-5 lb kokanee were not uncommon with the occasional 7 lb plus available.

--My unsolicited advice to the salmon commission, want to learn more about Sockeye... study their little cousins.
--Kokanee population studies could be used in part as controlled experiments... no ocean affect.. no worries about fantom volcanic ash or mystery beast feeding on them in the open ocean.

-- I'll even suggest Skaha kokanee as a good candidate for intense study... there are many reasons... the proposed reintroduction of Sockeye has already spawned an interest in gathering more and better information on the local kokanee.

--They spawn in an easily accessed  short river channel..   

--I'm not suggesting kokanee fishers quite fishn and start protestn but after years of neglect it is time to stand up for the little guy.

[troutbreath]

Was the Mysis shrimp totaly responsible for the drop in Kokanee? They need to get to the bottom of what all the factors are that affect the Koke population.

I mostly only keep Kokanee to eat. Wonderful fish when a pound or two. Buddy of mine eats them sushi style. I always heard about those big ones when they were around. We went fishing for them once way back. But the wind that day kept us off the water.  Ended up with some Osprey lake rainbow instead.

[Labman55]

When I was a kid, we used to travel to Penticton from Princeton in August every year just to stock up on Kok's for canning!
Of course growing up in Princeton, we had all the Rainbows we ever needed.
Now I travel from N* of Edmonton to Revelstoke in Aug. for the same reason!!!!!
Home Canned Kok's make the absolute best Salmon sandwiches a man can eat, IMHO!!!

[skaha]

Was the Mysis shrimp totaly responsible for the drop in Kokanee? They need to get to the bottom of what all the factors are that affect the Koke population.

--I'm not contending nothing has been done in the over 10 years that the fishery has been closed and studied.. I'm just getting frustrated and I believe funding and general interest is suffering. Many local fishers have not experienced the mid 80's kokanee fishery.
--There is a harvest program in place to reduce the Mysis population which has been deemed a significant problem in the kokanee population crash.... Shore spawning kokanee numbers are increasing, however the creek, river spawning kokanee are at best stable and possibly decreasing..
--I expect fluxuation in the population numbers and size, but do expect to catch larger kokanee in numbers at least one or two years in a cycle.

--Not all bad news
--The rainbows are certainly happy with the increase of shore spawn, kokanee. I expect Lyman Lures of kelowna wooden plugs in kokanee colours have also increased in popoulation.