World record kokanee
Monster Kokanee New Record!
Flaming Gorge Reservoir, the world’s most prolific big kokanee salmon factory, out-did itself on June 14, 2009 when Brian Ekx of Vance’s Tackle set a new reservoir and Wyoming State record with this monster 24.75-inch, 6.26-pound koke!
The leviathan smacked a pink/blue No. 1 Vance’s Sockeye Slammer towed behind a blue/copper Vance’s dodger. At the helm? The male himself, Vance Staplin, who said that the record fish almost didn’t happen because Brian’s dad Scott, had a “small” 3.5-pound koke on at the alike time that tried it’s optimal to tangle up Brian’s line.
The ocean-sized landlock set the record — and also helped propel Team Vance’s to victory in the Buckboard Marina Fishing Classic.
Ekx’s fish beat the previous record of 6.04 pounds, which had stood since 2009. Though certainly a massive koke, the new Wyoming record was still well shy of the all-tackle world record of 9 pounds, 6 ounces, which was caught by Norm Kuhn in Okanagan Lake, British Columbia on June 18, 1988.
The downside of the whole deal…if you ca
Four months after landing a monster kokanee, Ron Campbell has landed in the world record novel – twice.
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The Pendleton angler, who took a 9-pound 10-ounce kokanee salmon at
Wallowa Lake June 13, learned last week that his fish is now officially
recognized by the International Game Fish Association as a world record
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fish in two categories.
“Learning that was quite a rush,” Campbell said.
Still, he cannot help but wonder.
Wonder about an even bigger fish that got away. Less than a week before landing his world-record salmon Campbell lost a kokanee at Wallowa Lake after a stiff battle.
“On the second hop he broke my 10-pound check line. I got to view him twice and he was a monster,” Campbell said.
The angler believes the fish weighed 12 pounds. He can’t wait until next spring to begin hunting it, assuming it survives the winter.
Whether or not a second world record salmon awaits the fisherman is uncertain. Still Campbell, who grew up in La Grande, already has a whopper of an angling legacy. The kokanee he landed June 13 bettered the following IGFA nature records for:
andbull; the heaviest kokanee ever caught in
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Fishing for Wallowa Lake Rainbow Trout
Fishing for Wallowa Lake Mackinaw (Lake Trout)
Wallowa Lake is now renowned, after producing the world’s largest kokanee in 2010. Ron Campbell caught his 9 pound, 10-ounce monster in June that year, eclipsing the previous record from Canada and also blasting previous U.S. and state records.
The deep waters of Wallowa Lake, in northeastern Oregon near Joseph and Enterprise, were home to kokanee even before these land-locked sockeye salmon were planted here and in other large lakes and reservoirs around the state.
Wallowa’s kokanee have broken the state record many times, including numerous times in short order from late 2009 leading up to Campbell’s fish.
On the down side, Wallowa Lake’s kokanee fishery is notoriously cyclical. While the fish may be big some seasons, they aren’t always easy to catch in big numbers. Wallowa Lake also has popular fisheries for rainbow and lake trout (mackinaw).
Editor’s note: Most of the kokanee caught in recent years have been pan-sized.
Rules to Fish By
Wallowa Lake is open to year-round fishing. Its kokanee limit currently is 25 per day, with no size
Two fishing buddies from Pocatello, Idaho recently broke the catch-and-release kokanee state record twice in three weeks.
For those unfamiliar with kokanee, it is the freshwater establish of the well-known sockeye salmon of the northern Pacific. Sockeye, the salmon you find at the grocery store, are anadromous. They run out of the ocean and into rivers to spawn each fall. Kokanee also make a fall spawning dash up creeks and rivers, but their lives are spent entirely in freshwater.
It is thought the two species diverged thousands of years ago when ice melt created a system of massive freshwater lakes and rivers across northern North America. While the sockeye continued their anadromous lives, kokanee did not to go back to the sea. In some regions the two species still interbreed, while in others kokanee have become entirely landlocked. Kokanee exist in lakes and rivers across the northern United States and Canada. They have even been transplanted into systems as far south as North Carolina.
According to the Idaho State Journal, Cody Spencer and Rob Mackesey got onto a good nip as kokanee ran out of Palisades Reservoir and up Elk Creek to spawn in August. Palisades is a 16,000-acre i
Wallowa Lake Fishing
Fishing at Wallowa Lake is a popular pastime that is both enjoyable and can be quite productive. Whether you fish from a boat or from shore seems to make no difference- if all you want to do is catch fish, and you just might get yourself in the record books!
Wallowa Lake holds eight articulate records and the
largest ever Kokanee caught in the World!
In 2001 a 6.7 pound Kokanee was caught that broke the previous (Wallowa Lake) state record. That write down held until 2009 when it was broken with a fish of 27" and 7.1 pounds,only to be broken seven months later by a 7.5 pound fish! Then, just a month later on Mar. 24, 2010, Wan Theece of Enterprise caught an incredible 8.23 pound U.S record breaking breaking monster only to have that log broken again by Bob Both with a 8.85 pound fish a little over a month later. But then on June 13th, 2010 Ron Campbell caught what will go down as the biggest Kokanee on record worldwide, a collosial 27 3/4", 9.67 pound pig, again, caught right here in Wallowa Lake. This eclipses the official Lake Okanogan BC record of 9.375 pounds. These Kokanee Salmon are bigger