Northwest Fishing Reports

Hey all, I was just wondering what the biggest Silver (Kokanee) seen come out of Riffe Lake either at the Fishing Bridge, boat, or Mossyrock Dam. The reason I ask is because I was there Friday morning with my sister, her boyfriend, and my cousin. At 7 in the morning, my sis hooked into a MONSTER, and i mean, a MONSTER silver! The fish came in at 28 inches, 6 inch girth, and a total of 5.5 pounds! I have fished this lake since 1999 and this is by far the biggest silver i have seen caught by 2 pounds easy! Can anyone else shed light on bigger fish or the same>

Nice fish!!

Sounds like a long/skinny fish - maybe a spawned out steelhead that had been trucked above the dams and could not finds it way back downstream after spawning.

Tight lines
Curt

That's a good size for a Koke. You normally don't see many of them get that big. If it is a Koke then it's a four year fish getting ready to spawn, 4-6 pounds is about right. Most don't make it to spawn. Most of all we catch is planted as fry.

I believe that Riffe Lake silvers are landlock salmon and not kokanee. The lake is planted with both coho and Chinook though it is my understanding that the majority of the silvers are coho.

Tight lines
curt

OK???????? silvers are landlocked sockeye.

i thought kokes were sockeye and silvers were coho?

bpm2000 wrote:i thought kokes were sockeye and silvers were coho?

I'm never going to get used to this calling Salmon different names for different reasons.

I can rule out the Steelhead idea, this was no steelhead. The black mouth and silver body excludes the steelhead. Ill have pics to heat up the debate as soon as my sister gets them to me,

Sometimes steelhead smolts get miixed in with kokanee smolts and can be incidentaly planted in lakes and they do look like kokanee, but they groww faster and dont die after spawning, and there sides are as silvery as a koke

As one who can never resist the urge to add to the confusion, here is my take on the "silver" situation in Riffe Lake....


In many areas of the state "silver trout" are the moniker used to describe landlocked kokanee planted to amuse spotfishers rather than to swim out into the ocean to get fat and sassy on photoplankton and krill....

Coho are one of the 5 major specied of pacific salmon and they are also often referred to as "silvers".....


two totally different species referred to using a similar moniker... (e.g. silver trout and silver salmon)....


the "silvers" in Riffe lake (as I have been led to believe and this belief has been confirmed by several successful attempts to catch them though the ones I caught were in the 14" range not the 28" monster under discussion... OK.. I'm jealous) are "coho" salmon planted for the purpose of growing up in the lake and amusing sport fishers rather than to swim out into the ocean and eat large quantities of shrimp and baitfish after which they swim back home to spawn and die....




the similarity of name causes a lot of confusion, but I've read many posts and articles by people who are involved in the management of this fishery and the common theme in all is that the "silvers" in Riffe lake are not "silver trout" (e.g. landlocked kokanee) they are indeed silver salmon (landlocked Cohos)...

ok... hopefully everyone is now more confused than ever and we can continue with the discussion....

Does riffe have fish laders?

No fish ladders on Riffe. The lake is a compound formed by the creation of Mossyrock Dam on the Cowlitz river just West of Morton. The Cowlitz River is dammed by a few dams, however Barrier Dam, about 10 miles downstream of Riffe, was not installed with a fish ladder, thus the spawning salmon come to a standstill when they hit Barrier and these fish are often times shipped up and over the dam to the lakes and river above the dam by trucks.

ALSO, I will have the pic posted tonite, this will heat the discussion. Look for it in a new topic

Riffe gets planted with lots of Koke fry. Sockeye. I seem to remember something about some Choh being dumped in there too. Easy to tell the difference. Coho's have silver streaks in their tails and spots on the upper part of their bodies and TEETH. Kokes have no spots, and the tail has a distinct V shape. They do not look like trout. They do not have teeth.

Good job on the discription Littleriver, You wouldn't believe how many times I've been through, it's not really a trout....... and it's not a Coho either............ They just do.

Most of the Kokes around here never make it to four years. I've seen some big ones but they have to be in very large resurvoirs and not much pressure to get big. Great Lakes Kokes get to be 5-6 pounds.

I think you mean Coho fry, not Kokanee fry. Riffe Lake has never received a Kokanee Plant.

That is a huge Silver. Our biggest ever in 20 years was 19 inches. Great job!

Ok I must be thinking of Alder. Looking back on the State stocking schedule and report and haven't seen any plants since 2003, here's the clip;

Lewis
Mayfield Lk.
BT
20,741
CT
1,170
RB
15,402
Mineral Lk.
RB
69,811
Riffe Lk.
CT
35,000

According to the posts, this must have been a Coho since this fish had some razor sharp teeth! I know this because my sisters boyfriend and I both cut our fingers on the teeth when trying to get it out of the lake. So Koho it is, sorry, no pic yet, i was swamped with work and weights last night. Soon though.

I don't want this thread to go away before we get a chance to see the pictures of this monster.....Where they at Columbiafan04? Or is this a case of

Just kidding. I'm stuck on the edge of my seat...help a brotha out

My head is spinning after reading all the "kokanne/silver" debates:-))))

They are landlocked coho according to DFW.....not kokanee (landlocked sockeye).

I was fishing there mid-June casting a jig along rock banks and had two huge what looked like chinook chase but not bite my jig. They had very large black spots on their back like chinook salmon....my understanding is barrier dam hatchery is dumping coho/chinook into Riffe once in awhile......perhaps your 28" silver was a chinook???

Tonight, I PROMISE THIS TIME! Tonight it will be posted! As long as I can get the scanner to work properly. But look for it after 7:00 PM when i get back from the gym. I PROMISE GUYS, It will be there. I will post it here and in a new thread!

Ok all, here is that picture! I had to email it to my work, so that’s why it waited till this morning. That is my sister in the pic, she is the one who hooked this fish.