Sharphooks
12/26/2018 9:16:33 PMTMbob:: Interesting report. Hope to get out there soon myself. Just curious, what where the size of the Coho that you caught as described above?
TMBob
12/26/2018 10:00:26 PMSharphooks....I don’t measure fish because of the time factor and it’s hard to do while their in the net, but I am going to say 12-13” and a few maybe be up to 15”
stevertd2010
12/26/2018 10:32:10 PMNice color on the cut. Was the wood row boat dark green on the hull? I've seen him out there several times.
Sharphooks
12/26/2018 11:19:15 PMstevertd2010: In case you are unaware, the colors showing on the Cutthroat in the above photo implies its a fish that is approaching its spawning period. My guess would be within 2 weeks. I for one always return that type of Cutthroats back to the lake so they can create more Cutthroats and I do it very, very carefully. so as not to injure them. That's the only way we can protect and maintain the Cutthroat fishery on Lake Sammamish as those fish are naturally produced. There are no hatchery plants of Cutthroat going into Lake Sammamish. The bottom line here is if you want the Lake Sammamish Cutthroat fishery to survive, practice catch and release or at the very least severely limit what is taken home and return the majority of what is boated back to the lake.
TMBob
12/27/2018 6:52:55 PMYes it was....told me about a Spruce Fly. I looked it up. No luck, I dont own any but I tried a few others today that produced excellent action from 3-4pm
chaochichen
12/27/2018 11:30:04 AMThe "coho" in the picture looks more like a kokanee
stevertd2010
12/27/2018 7:47:50 PMThat's hard to verify, but I go with a coho because I see some spots on the dorsal fin. There are no spots on a kokanee. But without a better picture at different angles, not totally sure. Also coho typically shed a lot of scales, although that is not the determinate identification.
herefishy
12/28/2018 9:38:38 AMNo adipose fin, silver on the tail, spots on back/head and sharp medium sized teeth. Enlarge the picture and you can see it on this fish. It is a hatchery coho. The kokanee in lake Sammamish have an adipose fin, no silver on tail, no/few spots, very small teeth. Both my husband and I have caught kokanee fishing lake Sammamish, some up to 20 inches (approximate size as we do not take them out of the water to measure). All are released gently and swim away unharmed. There is a large abundance of hatchery coho in the lake since they released them earlier this year. Normally they leave for salt water but for some reason they have stuck around. In the Fall, we couldn't keep them off our lines while fishing for cutthroat. At that time, they were running around 8 - 10 inches and had to be released. Now they are running around 13+" and if over 12" maybe kept as part of your trout limit. I have also noticed a decline in cutthroat this December with the coho in the lake. If this has any correlation who knows, but they do compete for the same food source.
Sharphooks
12/28/2018 10:58:40 AMHerefishy: The residualized Coho now found in Lake Sammmamish that are now running up to around 16 inches in length from recent spring Issaquah Salmon Hatchery releases certainly represents quite an oddity. I was very skeptical at first when I first heard this was happening, however, I now confirm through some of my fishing buddies its actually happening. A long time friend who happens to be a retired fisheries biologist tells me he thinks this phenomenon was created by weather events earlier this year which created unusually high lake water temperature in the upper layers of the lake which forced these young fish to stay in very deep lake wate where they found a comfort zone. They then decided to stay in the lake rather than quickly migrating out of the lake to salt water as they normally. He thinks they likely will stay in the lake until they finalize their life cycle which should make it highly interesting for us fishermen. I'll be out on the lake next week to see if I can connect with some of these 12 inch or more fin clipped Coho that are now considered to be legal. Regarding your comment about the catch decline of Cutthroat in the lake this winter, I've fished the lake about 6 times in the last couple of months and I completely agree with your observation. The winter Cutthroat fishing on Lake Sammamish is nowhere near as good or as consistent as it was in previous years.
TMBob
12/28/2018 5:47:48 PMYes the fin was missing...I started to look for this. As for a decline. I wish I could comment on this, but with only one outing last year and 8 this year I cannot say much other than I feel at “times” it’s been just as hot as the much smaller hatchery planted lakes that I have frequent weekly the past two years. About 2.5 per outing for me but with very limited experience of this fishery, plus I only fish the upper water column with no electronics. It’s also a BIG lake!