fish in the okanagan???

bearbait · #1 04-07-2008, 02:53 PM

do a trip to kelowna evey year and wondering what fish are in okanagan lake???cant seem to find anything...
thanks
rob

meat grinder · #2 04-07-2008, 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bearbait

do a trip to kelowna evey year and wondering what fish are in okanagan lake???cant seem to find anything...
thanks
rob

How many years have you been doing this trip.

Versatile · #3 04-07-2008, 03:24 PM

Sturgeon are in okonogan.

Rob Miskosky · #4 04-07-2008, 04:54 PM

Okanagan Lake has rainbow trout (some very large ones if you get lucky - 20+ pounds, although the best we ever pulled was just over 16). It also has kokanee, sturgeon, yellow perch, squaw fish and suckers. There is also a very small population of lake trout. I say small because for years people said that they weren't there but then the odd one started showing up. I caught one myself around 4-5 pounds a few years back. Some have made it up Vernon Creek from Kalamalka Lake.

Best time for fishing the rainbows is in late fall when the weather is cooler. The rainbow come up from the deeper waters and will take bucktails trolled at a fairly decent clip.

We fished it for years on the Vernon end from Fintry, across to the hole-in-the-wall with good success.

bearbait · #5 04-07-2008, 06:38 PM

cool..thanks for the info....i knew about the kokanee and rainbows and theres carp forsure ive seen them in the boat launch in west bank...did not know about the sturgon though...i figured with the lake bieng so deep there must be lakers in there....saw alot of rises last summer so may try the fly rod on some rainbows this year...any tips or info is greatly apprisated..
thanks
rob

been doing trip for 3 years now boating with the fam.

flower · #6 04-07-2008, 08:24 PM

He if you are going to Kelowna you should try Kalmalka. I lived there for years and years never caught much in Okanagan but there are some big brutes in Kalmalka. I have caught many 10+ and one of 22 pounds. That would be my first recomendation.

My 2 cents worth
Flower

Okotokian · #7 04-08-2008, 12:05 AM

Was told by my wife's stepdad that the fishery on Okanogan was screwed a few years ago with introduction of shrimp. This was some time ago, may have recovered somewhat now. Ditto on the suggestion regarding kalamalka... He takes us trolling on the south end (Just North of Kelowna) and we catch plenty of really nice sized Kokanee.

flower · #8 04-08-2008, 08:11 AM

Yep Okanagan has been really messed up for Kokanee because of the shrimp Both kokanee and the shrimp feed on the same things and shrimp seemed to have won. It really sucks.

dugh · #9 04-08-2008, 12:52 PM

bear, there may be some small bass/trout lakes in that area. I know there are some further south by Oliver.
Good fishing
Doug

nekred · #10 04-08-2008, 01:00 PM

the mysis shrimp introduction has ruined fisheries across the northern hemisphere!...

the problem with mysis shrimp is they live deep during day and come up to feed at night so they do not get predated upon heavily!....

They are direct competitor with the kokanee

In Kotenay lake they were accidentally introduced and they noticed rainbow trout number and fish size went u shortly afterwards. After conducting a scientific study it was erroneously thought that he mysis shrimp intro had attributed to this. The article was pubished and mysis shrimp was introduced in many lakes across the northern hemisphere....

later it was found that the change in the rainbow population was due to introduction of fertilizer plant at the same time as the mysis shrimp that assisted with creating more algae, and thuse more microfauna in the water... improving insect poplations which provided more trout food.

bad science led to bad management!....

A colleague did a review of this disaster as his grad paper...

Okotokian · #11 04-08-2008, 03:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nekred

the mysis shrimp introduction has ruined fisheries across the northern hemisphere!...

the problem with mysis shrimp is they live deep during day and come up to feed at night so they do not get predated upon heavily!....

They are direct competitor with the kokanee

In Kotenay lake they were accidentally introduced and they noticed rainbow trout number and fish size went u shortly afterwards. After conducting a scientific study it was erroneously thought that he mysis shrimp intro had attributed to this. The article was pubished and mysis shrimp was introduced in many lakes across the northern hemisphere....

later it was found that the change in the rainbow population was due to introduction of fertilizer plant at the same time as the mysis shrimp that assisted with creating more algae, and thuse more microfauna in the water... improving insect poplations which provided more trout food.

bad science led to bad management!....

A colleague did a review of this disaster as his grad paper...

Reason number one to stop dickin' around with nature.

Rob Miskosky · #12 04-08-2008, 05:10 PM

That is correct, mysis shrimp did play a big part in the kokanee collapse in Okanagan Lake. I was talking to my dad at Christmas time (he lives in Vernon and has spent countless hours fishing Okanagan Lake) and he said the kokanee are finally starting to come back. I think he said the regulations have improved and you can keep some kokanee now?

On a further note, Okanagan Lake also has some very good burbot fishing - forgot to mention that earlier.