The kokanee return to Ririe Reservoir — have you been fishing yet?

If Ririe Reservoir freezes over next winter, it looks like we will have some enjoyable kokanee fishing for the first time in three years. In the meantime, the kokanee in Ririe are mostly small, but are willing to hit lures while fishermen are trolling for them.

Last Wednesday my friend, Mike Bruton, and I hit the water and caught these small salmon from four to 12 inches long.

Most of the fish were in the eight-to-10-inch range, but it was a welcome experience and there were two happy fishermen as we caught the fish from in the lower part of the reservoir near the Juniper Boat Ramp. We found the fish mostly from 40 to 65 feet down where they were feeding on plankton and were scattered in small schools with a lot of singles being marked.

“In our recent gill netting on Ririe, we found a lot of last year’s plant in our nets,” Brett High, the Upper Snake Fisheries Manager, told me. “But we only found one two-year old, that would have been in this year’s spawning class this season. It looks like we will have some good fishing for the rest of the summer and during ice fishing.”

High indicated the Idaho Department of Fish and Game are pleased with the number, even though the report of the last survey has not been completed.

The fish that we caught on Wednesday were part of the 2023 plant of 254,000 late spawn kokanee that were planted when they were under three inches. At a meeting with the Fish and Game earlier this spring, High told us that getting the kokanee back in Ririe was their “number one” goal for this year. But so far this season, on the official stocking chart, only 76,032 early spawn kokes have been put into Ririe Reservoir. But those were stocked when they were between three to six inches in length, and we caught two of those on Wednesday that were between four to six inches.

The difference between the early spawn and late spawn kokanee is that the early ones spawn in August and September while the late spawners spawn in October and November. They also differ in their flesh color with the early ones having bright orange flesh while the late ones have much lighter flesh. The color of early spawner’s flesh comes from additional stomach enzymes that changes their digestive system process.
Many anglers feel the taste of the flesh of the early spawners taste better than the late spawners while others claim there is no difference.

For years most of the stocking fish came from Deadwood Reservoir for Idaho, but in 2016 and 2017, the early spawn kokanee did not produce enough fish to supply the stocking of those fish. The Fish and Game continues to explore different avenues for getting more kokanee to plant because of their popularity for both trolling and ice fishing.

This also brings up several other problems with the Ririe fishery, walleyes were illegally introduced to Ririe in the early 2000’s. They have been blamed for the disappearance of the kokanee and much of the perch populations. This summer’s testing has revealed that the walleye population is growing and Ririe does not have a bait fish population of dace and shiners to support them. That means they target game fish like the kokanee and perch to make their living.

This summer’s testing found a 32-inch and a 29-inch walleye along with a strong age class of 12 to 13 inchers feeding on gamefish. Hopefully they can be eliminated to protect Ririe for the preferred gamefish.

For right now, I am thrilled to have some kokanee in Ririe and hopefully we will get some good ice this winter to enjoy catching them for a very tasty meal.