mizefish
1/14/2019 10:48:04 AMBroken spots on the back, dark mouth (what we can see of it anyway), and jaw extends well past the eye...without seeing the tail I think you can't eliminate the possibility that it's a young chinook.
fivefish
1/14/2019 9:43:12 PMPlenty of salmon spawn in the creek. It's nice when you find the results of that.
FishingTenor
1/14/2019 10:54:01 PMI am pretty sure the Issaquah hatchery releases chinook and coho every year. I am surprised that the salmon have waited so long to set up residency in the lake. It has been my log time belief that local Kokanee were a result of many years of sockeye release into Issaquah creek. Not sure when they stopped this, but note the severely declining Kokanee population in Sammamish.
sebastes
1/16/2019 5:52:24 PMThe Issaquah Hatchery Egg take goal this year was 2.26 million chinook eggs and 247,000 coho eggs. Typically they are released in April/May.
I work on kokanee recovery in Lake Sammamish so I thought I would share some of the history of the fishery that I have collected.
Historically, we have found there were three distinct kokanee runs in the Lake Sammamish/Washington Watershed: Early (Issaquah Creek), Middle (Lake Washington and Sammamish River), and Lake (tribs of Lake Sammamish). From the historical records we have dug up, prior to the cutting of balard ship canal and rerouting of the Cedar River (early 1900's) there were very few reports of coho or chinook in the system. The watershed was dominated by kokanee (landlocked sockeye) and Cutthroat. The fish population in the watershed has changed quite a bit with the introduction of chinook, coho, bass, perch, and a number of other species.
As for the status of the original kokanee runs...Unfortunately, the early kokanee run in issaquah creek were extirpated due to a belief that they carried disease which could harm the more valuable coho and chinook at the hatchery. The middle run may have either gone extinct or hybridized with planted baker lake sockeye. The "late" run is the last remaining native population of kokanee we have in the lake.
If you have more interest in kokanee restoration efforts in Lake Sammamish, i'm happy to share.
Dave
I work on kokanee recovery in Lake Sammamish so I thought I would share some of the history of the fishery that I have collected.
Historically, we have found there were three distinct kokanee runs in the Lake Sammamish/Washington Watershed: Early (Issaquah Creek), Middle (Lake Washington and Sammamish River), and Lake (tribs of Lake Sammamish). From the historical records we have dug up, prior to the cutting of balard ship canal and rerouting of the Cedar River (early 1900's) there were very few reports of coho or chinook in the system. The watershed was dominated by kokanee (landlocked sockeye) and Cutthroat. The fish population in the watershed has changed quite a bit with the introduction of chinook, coho, bass, perch, and a number of other species.
As for the status of the original kokanee runs...Unfortunately, the early kokanee run in issaquah creek were extirpated due to a belief that they carried disease which could harm the more valuable coho and chinook at the hatchery. The middle run may have either gone extinct or hybridized with planted baker lake sockeye. The "late" run is the last remaining native population of kokanee we have in the lake.
If you have more interest in kokanee restoration efforts in Lake Sammamish, i'm happy to share.
Dave
