N.C. Kokanee

Kokanee Salmon is simply the name for a Pacific Sockeye Salmon when it is landlocked. Because they never migrate out to the ocean to feed, kokanee are often much smaller than sockeye. However, other than their size, kokanee have very similar identifying characteristics as sockeye. Most kokanee live in a lake for most of their lives, so you can usually see them spawning near the edge of a lake or in a small tributary that feeds into a lake. From September through December many kokanee salmon leave their normal lake and reservoir environment for streams. Kokanee spawn upstream from the reservoir or lake. Some kokanee will remain in the lake and spawn along the shore. They dig redds, like other salmon spawning in rivers. They spawn on rocky bottoms in Idaho's larger lakes.

I don't know where I got the idea, but I thought that kokanee were pretty much restricted to waters of the northwest and up into British Columbia. Oh how wrong I am as I found out from Bob Loomis, Director of Sales and Marketing for Mack's Lure Inc. which makes a lure that is very effective for kokanee. Bob talks about a company habitat in North Carolina. "They happen to have a run of Kokanee in a lake system back there called the Nantahala. That lake system was planted some 25 years ago with Kokanee as a forage base for walleye. The program was dumped and the river system in and out of it as well as the food was pretty conducive to the Kokanee and pretty soon they had their own program going. They do not have a lot of fish in there but the fish that they do have and there are a pretty good size. You're pushing a 4 pound Kokanee in, of all places, North Carolina.