Kokanee Salmon Fishing on Flathead Lake, Montana

[Art Meister]

Born and raised in Kalispell, Montana, I was able to do some of the best fishing in the United States. In the past 25 years I have seen the decline and decimation of many game fish including Kokanee Salmon (Landlocked)in Flathead Lake. Flathead Lake is 28 miles by 15 miles with 185 miles of shoreline. It is very pristine and the largest natural freshwater lake West of the Mississippi River.

Up until about 1984 it had annual runs of Kokanee Salmon of several hundred thousand fish that would migrate and spawn up the Flathead River which feeds into the lake. My family would take part of the legal salmon snagging season to help out on our annual food supply. The runs of 14 - 20" fish would literally blacken the river. The salmon runs crashed in part from over-fishing but mostly due to the Montana Fish and Game planting Mysis Shrimp in the ecosystem that competes for Plankton that the salmon feed on. I've been down several times talking to the Montana Fish and Game officials about using funds to build a fish hatchery up the Flathead River for the Kokanee Salmon but the words fall on dead ears. All the coastal states use hatcheries to great success but Montana Fish and Game fails to see the light which is a real shame because it has lost a great fishery. The Lake Trout,(Mackinaw), numbers and size in the lake has dwindled because the loss of the kokanee feed source. Since the loss of the Kokanee the Mackinaw has turned to aggressively feeding on juvenile Bull Trout, Cutthroat and Perch.
The Montana Fish and Game needs more pressure from the public to push a fish hatchery measure and bring back the great resources of this lake.

[Paul Rana]

I live on the peninsula that forms Woods Bay, Flathead Lake. I remember once in 2000 I saw two very unusual fish in the canal that links the Woods Bay Marina with Woods Bay. These two fish stayed in the canal for several days. One day I was able to paddle my kayak near to these two fish and noticed that they had curved lips and slightly resembled a salmon or a steelhead trout. They were darkish in coloration with maybe some lighter spots on their bellies, but I couldn't be sure. Initially I thought they were black. I knew nothing of Kokanee Salmon or the history of their profusion in Flathead Lake at this point. I passed on my sighting to neighbors who told me that I must have been mistaken for there were no Kokanee in Flathead Lake after the mid 1980s. I'm now afraid that I may have said hello and goodby all in the same day to those two lonely Kokanee.

[Art Meister]

In regards to Paul Rana's comments, I believe you probably did see a couple of Kokanee salmon. The salmon runs crashed on the Flathead river first. For several years there was salmon on the main lake that would spawn on the lake shore. As you well know they drop Flathead Lake 10 feet every fall for flood prevention in the spring. Thus any salmon eggs would be sitting high and dry. In the infinite wisdom of the Montana Fish and Game they continued to plant salmon fry by the millions directly into the lake which became a regular chow time for all the predatory fish. The ones that did survive would to spawn on the lake shore and that is probably what you saw. I used to launch my boat at the Woods Bay Marina and remember seeing some salmon in there. The Montana Fish and Game also brought some land with a good year around natural spring that would make a great hatchery site but has never done anything with the land.
People have no idea what a great resource has been lost in one of the greatest fisheries in the lower 48. With the loss of the salmon went the Cutthroat, Bull (Dolly Varden) and Lake (Mackinaw) Trout.
I wish a large coalition could unite to get this great fishery back in line again.

[Bob Barbour]

I did a video about the loss of the Kokanee in Glass Lake NY.
DEC stopped stocking.

"A Large Coalition" Art, Good Idea!

I am going to Dillon MT this fall, would like to talk to this forum more. I am new to the West & Kokanee sources, need contacts for documentary update.

Check Kokanee King at

www.BarbourMultimedia.com

[Ric Howe]

Mysis shrimp were introduced to Flathead Lake to provide a food source for all the different species to utilize. What they did not know at the time was that Mysis shimp compete with Kokanee in the same food source, plankton.
We have found in California that the only lakes where our kokes don't do real well are lakes that have populations of Mysis.
Most of my family lives in the Bitterroot and I have a great interest in Flathead Lake. All that i've read and heard has said that the Montana biologists are stumped on how to get rid of the shrimp and bring back kokanee populations to self sustaining levels again. We have the same answers here. Nothing.
Any kokes stocked in Flathead would probably not make it to their 4 year life expectancy and probably would show slow growth patterns as well as a high mortality rate.
Don't give up though! They're too good eating to do that!
We have a couple very good organizations here thet help the Cal F&G rear & stock kokanee into lakes that don't contain the shrimp. We are getting a full 4 years at maturity and kokes to about 22" and 3-4lbs are the top end. All fought with lightweight tackle, it makes for a great gamefish to target.
Hope some solution is finally found for Flathead Lake. It could once again become the top producing kokanee lake in Montana again.

[Isky]

I am a recreational fisherman in upstate NY and was looking for information on fishing Glass Lake when i came across this thread. The lake is only a few minutes from my house but have never been up there. I am interested to know what your project on the lake came up with? My email is [e-mail], Thanks for any info you could provide.

Bob Barbour wrote:

I did a video about the loss of the Kokanee in Glass Lake NY.
DEC stopped stocking.
"A Large Coalition" Art, Good Idea!
I am going to Dillon MT this fall, would like to talk to this forum more. I am new to the West & Kokanee sources, need contacts for documentary update.
Check Kokanee King at
www.BarbourMultimedia.com

[Steven Burk]

As noted by others, the problem is the mysis shrimp has broken down the natural foodweb for the lake and now the whole watershed/fishery is feeling the impact. Also, lake trout are another problem in that they eat everything that swims and it is hard to control their populations effectively. The mysis effectively killed off most of the abundant lake trout prey and the lake trout finished off everthing else. All that is left now is a bunch of undernurished lake trout. The ideal solution would be to eliminate the mysis and lake tout so that the native cutthroat and bull trout populations could be restored. Possibly after that was achieved sterile lake trout could be stocked at some level to provide a trophy fish spiecies for anglers. Kokanee are open water feeders and overlap with the cutthroat somewhat, still some balance between the two species could probably worked out. The number one priority should be to find a way to eliminate the mysis - nothing will be acomplished until then.

[Don Davies]

I caught a 12" salmon around Cromwell three years ago and a few small salmon 9"in the River above the lake 5-6 years ago. I grew up in Kalispell and fished the salmon for many years. what a shame to lose that fishery.

Art Meister wrote:

Born and raised in Kalispell, Montana, I was able to do some of the best fishing in the United States. In the past 25 years I have seen the decline and decimation of many game fish including Kokanee Salmon (Landlocked)in Flathead Lake. Flathead Lake is 28 miles by 15 miles with 185 miles of shoreline. It is very pristine and the largest natural freshwater lake West of the Mississippi River.
Up until about 1984 it had annual runs of Kokanee Salmon of several hundred thousand fish that would migrate and spawn up the Flathead River which feeds into the lake. My family would take part of the legal salmon snagging season to help out on our annual food supply. The runs of 14 - 20" fish would literally blacken the river. The salmon runs crashed in part from over-fishing but mostly due to the Montana Fish and Game planting Mysis Shrimp in the ecosystem that competes for Plankton that the salmon feed on. I've been down several times talking to the Montana Fish and Game officials about using funds to build a fish hatchery up the Flathead River for the Kokanee Salmon but the words fall on dead ears. All the coastal states use hatcheries to great success but Montana Fish and Game fails to see the light which is a real shame because it has lost a great fishery. The Lake Trout,(Mackinaw), numbers and size in the lake has dwindled because the loss of the kokanee feed source. Since the loss of the Kokanee the Mackinaw has turned to aggressively feeding on juvenile Bull Trout, Cutthroat and Perch.
The Montana Fish and Game needs more pressure from the public to push a fish hatchery measure and bring back the great resources of this lake.

[Don Davies]

Has anyone tried to control the shrimp through harvesting? My cousin, a fish biologist on the Columbia, mentioned that the shrimp are commercially harvested, but he didn't say where or how its done. Any information available?

[Justin Cena]

well they are having fishing contests for the lake trout and they change it so you can keep more lake trout

[Dwayne Theriault]

I work harvesting Mysis Shrimp on the Okanogan lake in British Columbia as this lake also is over run in Mysis shrimp .

Its possible to fish them without much harm to salmon or other fish stocks .They are hard to lower in numbers though .Our efforts here seem to be lowering them almost none .

[e-mail] if any body wants to now more about this fishery .I would be interested in helping develope a fishery in Montana if its felt its needed .

[Danny]

Dwayne:

You live in a beautiful part of Canada. I visited the Okanagan two summers ago and probably saw your shrimp boat on the lake. How do you guys catch those shrimp anyway?

Cheers,

Dan
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