LBC affect on other lakes

marshworm · 04-20-2008, 07:12 PM

Hi All,
While fishing Suttle last thursday for Kokanee my fishing partner posed a very good question about the kokanee limit reduction on LBC. He wondered out loud what effect reducing the limit on LBC from 25 to 5 will have on the number of people fishing for kokanee on LBC? We discussed how many fisherman would travel to other lakes in Central Oregon in seach of a more generous limit on kokanee? The discussion centered around Suttle mostly but other lakes where mentioned also. What is everybody's thoughts on this? Would other lakes be able to sustain their populations of kokanee should a substantial increase in anglers occur?

jzell · 04-20-2008, 07:48 PM

"Harvest Reform" comes to the kokanee world.

A concept of serious consideration. Hopefully the "best science" will be used to guide us.

FallRiverGuy · 04-21-2008, 06:45 AM

If they end up at Odell or Suttle that will be a good thing.

bwild · 04-21-2008, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FallRiverGuy

If they end up at Odell or Suttle that will be a good thing.

marshworm · 04-21-2008, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bwild

I assume (which is a dangerous thing to do) you are saying okay to odell and suttle because of the number of kokes present and the size being small compared to say wickiup. I fish suttle almost exclusively and what I see each year is the smaller the fish the smaller the crowd going after them. If this holds true after may 1 then its a good bet that wickiup will get more than its share as I hear the size of the kokes there is substantial.

Bobberman · 04-21-2008, 03:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marshworm

I assume (which is a dangerous thing to do) you are saying okay to odell and suttle because of the number of kokes present and the size being small compared to say wickiup. I fish suttle almost exclusively and what I see each year is the smaller the fish the smaller the crowd going after them. If this holds true after may 1 then its a good bet that wickiup will get more than its share as I hear the size of the kokes there is substantial.

I think (also dangerous) that the jist is that fewer Kokes in suttle = bigger kokes in suttle. BuT that is just a guess

moknots · 04-21-2008, 04:54 PM

Please do come fish Suttle. One of my favorites, and typically overstocked. No rocket science here -- fewer fish = bigger fish. So, Marshworm, I also found that the water temps at Suttle on Friday were VERY conducive to conversations like that. I am hoping that the water will warm up soon, so we can busy ourselves with catching fish instead! How'd you do?

Jimmy · 04-21-2008, 08:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moknots

No rocket science here -- fewer fish = bigger fish.

First let me say that I don't know anything about kokanee fishing at all. I know they taste great smoked.

Many years ago ( 25 plus years ) My family would take us camping to Blue Lake, a small lake just up stream from Suttle. We would usually stay there a week at a time and go once or twice a year. I remember fishing Suttle at least one day on our trips. We would jig for kokanee and catch kokanee from 12-15 inches and they were thick. Just before they closed Blue Lake they raised the limit to 25 for the Kokanee on Suttle Lake. I remember fishing it after they did that and we hardly caught any kokanee at all and the ones we did were not any bigger. My question would be have you actually seen a increase of size since they raised the limit to 25 ?

On a side note. Suttle Lake is where I caught my first Brown Trout and I been hunting them ever since.

marshworm · 04-22-2008, 07:08 PM

moknots- last thursday was a fine warm day. only boat at suttle was ours. no problem finding the school just off the bouy as you had said however their jaws seemed to be froze shut. Stayed over them from 8 to 1 and after taking several naps in the sun called it quits. a very nice peaceful day!

Jimmy- to your question on size at suttle. No I have seen no increase in size with a limit of 25 in place. However what I have noticed is that in 2003 the fish were very nice and heavy 11-12" ,2004 we found good sized fish 10-11", 2005 the fish were on the smaller side 9-10" and rather slim looking, 2006 there was a huge number of small 7-8" kokes. 2007 good numbers of 10-11" kokes that were extra heavy with big shoulders. This year, based on the fish we caught last October after the spawners had were on the beds, I expect to see 12" fish the norm by mid July. Of course food is the key. I have this idea that the fire that went thru the link creek basin is what caused the abundance of food last year which resulted in the size explosion of the fish the first two weeks of July. Put a lot of nutrients in the water which the zooplankton loved. Also I am not sure if both groups of fish in suttle are on a 4 or 5 year spawning cycle however the group of fish that spawn on the cinder beds are always bigger than the link creek fish.
If I ever figure it all out I'll let ya know! Saturday looks good to me at suttle!

Jimmy · 04-22-2008, 10:20 PM

Thanks,

Does anybody ever limit at Suttle on the kokanee?

marshworm · 04-24-2008, 06:16 AM

I would be lying if I said no.
However I do know the days are rare when you can limit in just a few hours like I have heard of on other lakes. I travel 1 1/2 hours to get to suttle so when I go it is always a day trip. This plays well for me as I find if you put in the time the fish will go home with ya!

Kokanee at Suttle are very much like the wimmin's when it comes to not being able to make up their minds on a consistant basis on what they want .....but its such a pleasure tryin' to please em'!

moknots · 04-25-2008, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimmy

Thanks,

Does anybody ever limit at Suttle on the kokanee?

Yup. Had my limit last saturday, by noon, of SNOW. Oh, you mean limit of FISH. Yes, but like Marshworm says, 'taint always gonna happen. We've made off with limits many times. Only to go back and struggle for a few the next time.

Nice meeting you up there Jimmy. Looked like you had your limit of snow pretty early too