Lake Tahoe Kokanee Salmon Fishing

Nestled on the border of Nevada and California, sits Lake Tahoe, a beautiful lake with stunning views, and fantastic kokanee salmon fishing. Kokanee are a landlocked salmon that live in the lakes of northern California. They are known for their bright colors, long runs and large mouths. They are a hard fighting fish with a feisty personality, and are some of the best fresh water table fare anywhere. I’ve been fishing for kokanee salmon for years, and have had opportunities to connect with and interview local officials and biologists about the fishing at Lake Tahoe.

Lake Tahoe has hundreds of thousands, if not millions of kokanee salmon. They have one of the largest self sustaining kokanee populations in the United States. Kokanee salmon fishing at Lake Tahoe can at times be overshadowed by the lake trout or Mackinaw fishing, but you’ll still find plenty of anglers out targeting kokes. Lake Tahoe kokanee are generally between 12-18″ in length, but you can occasionally find some tankers in there. The state record kokanee in both California and Nevada came out of Tahoe and weighed in at 5 lbs 2 oz.

Kokanee fishing is growing in popularity across America, and more and more anglers are discovering the salmon in Lake Tahoe. I’ve put together the best information on depth, speed, location, and gear we could find in order for you to have the best success when going fishing for kokanee salmon on Lake Tahoe. Whether you’re looking for recommendations on lures, dodgers, scents, or corn vs maggots to tip your hook, we’ve got you covered.

About Lake Tahoe

The elevation is 6,224 feet and the depth of the Lake is 1,644 feet. Lake Tahoe is located on the border of California and Nevada, with part of the lake in either state. This reservoir is a popular place for all sorts of outdoor activities. It’s a popular destination location for anglers, water sporters, and vacationers. Lake Tahoe is one of my favorite places to fish because it offers a wide variety of species and types of water. There is something here for everyone, even the sister-in-law that hates fishing that you have to pretend to like!

Lake Tahoe is one of the biggest lakes in the United States. It’s also the second deepest lake, second only to Crater Lake in Oregon, and the third deepest lake in North America, beat out by Great Slave Lake in Canada, which has a depth of 2,015 feet. Kokanee love these deep lakes, and it provides a lot of livable and fishable waters for kokanee.

Amenities

Lake Tahoe is an extremely popular destination and tourist location. There are a lot of campgrounds, hotels, resorts, and restaurants. That’s why my wife likes it. I can fish, and sometimes bring her along, and then she can shower and have a nice dinner, and relax poolside. I don’t know why she needs a pool at a lake, but hey. There are several cities and towns around where you can find anything you’d be looking for. Lake Tahoe is a popular place for kokanee fishing, with dozens of charter boats available to take anglers out on the water. The kokanee season runs from mid-June through October. I’ve found that the peak action is from late July through August, but I have caught fish all throughout the year. .

Where is Lake Tahoe

How to Fish for Kokanee in Lake Tahoe

The most popular way to fish for kokanee at Lake Tahoe is trolling with a downrigger. You’ll want to troll at 1.2-1.8 mph with a kokanee rig, and I list the most popular gear below for that. You can also jig for kokanee but trolling is definitely the more popular option. You need to find the kokanee, get on them, and then work that school of kokanee until they move on. Then you find them again.

Lake Tahoe is really big, and there are a lot of places where you can find kokanee, and I usually go through all the fishing reports and find where people are reporting having the most success. As I was going through the reports, I kept reading about people out for multiple days, and they’d catch nothing on day one, then they’d limit out in an hour or two the next day in the same spot. I can’t stress enough the importance of a fish finder at Tahoe. There are a lot of places to find fish, and they can be everywhere and nowhere. If you’ve got a fish finder though, you should be able to find schools of kokanee throughout the lake in deeper water, as long as you know what kokanee look like on a fish finder.

Most Common Depth for Finding Kokanee on Lake Tahoe

As it gets warmer, kokanee salmon go deeper. They can be hard to find, but depending on the water temperature, you can find Kokanee salmon from 30’ to 150’ with an average being around 80’, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to consistently find them at 80’. Electronics are very important, and especially at Lake Tahoe where the water is REALLY deep and kokanee depths can vary so drastically.

Most Popular Kokanee Salmon Rig for Fishing Lake Tahoe

I combed through several forums, fishing reports, and social media groups to figure out what most people were reporting having success with. Your most common kokanee trolling setups will probably work, and I’ve experimented with a lot of setups at Tahoe, but a little refinement and knowledge from locals never hurts. This is what people are reporting success with.

Most Popular Lure or Hoochie at Lake Tahoe

Squid hoochies are the most popular type of lure used on Lake Tahoe, though wedding ring lures are pretty popular as well as well. Pink was by far the most popular lure color on the water, with green and orange as secondary choices. Any of the lures below will work well. I personally prefer the double hook kokanee lures, as kokanee strike out of aggression, and the two hooks provides twice the opportunity to hook into a kokanee. I’ve had really good luck with pink wedding ring style bead lures.

Most Popular Dodger at Lake Tahoe

There were several popular kokanee dodger colors according to the forums. According to the forums and groups, a pink dodger is the way to go. People also liked pink combos. Pink and silver, pink and orange, etc. Watermelon, pink and green, also falls into that category. I’ve had my best luck with the Double D dodger from Mack’s Lures. They really ought to sponsor me for how much I talk about their gear, but I’ve just had good success with it at Lake Tahoe. I like the action and the quality of the dodger.

Most Popular Bait for Kokanee At Lake Tahoe

The most popular bait to tip the hooks with at the end of your lure or hoochie is overwhelmingly shoe peg corn. Shoe peg corn is a more firm and resilient type of corn that can stay on the hook better and longer than regular sweet corn. The corn can also absorb scent and flavor, and it provides a kokanee something soft to bite into. If they aren’t hit on the first strike, they’re more likely to strike again. I’m a fan of fire corn, which is a dyed and scented corn. The pink has always done the best for me at Lake Tahoe, but it also comes in red, chartreuse, and plain. Maybe they have some other colors, but those are the only ones I’ve tried.

Most Popular Scent at Lake Tahoe

Kokanee are extremely sensitive to scents, so many anglers use a scent spray or gel to help both cover the human scent, and attract the kokanee. Gulp maggots or scented shoepeg corn can help cover that scent, but others like adding a gel as well. According to our analysis of the forums, the most popular scent is Bloody Tuna. I’ve also had luck with garlic scents here as well, whether that’s garlic scented corn, or a garlic scented gel. I like having a couple different scents in the tackle box. It makes me more versatile so I can pivot if something isn’t working.

Video of Kokanee Fishing on Lake Tahoe

This video showcases a good snapshot of the sizes of kokanee on Lake Tahoe, as well as how hot the fishing can be on the water.

About Kokanee Salmon

Kokanee salmon are sockeye salmon that are landlocked in fresh water. They primarily feed on Zoo plankton and are generally found in larger lakes that can maintain a cool temperature, or have enough depth to maintain a cool temperature. Kokanee are native to many lakes in the western United States and Canada including Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California and Idaho in the United States and British Columbia and Yukon in Canada. Populations of kokanee salmon are also found in Japan and Russia. 

Additionally, kokanee have been introduced to many other lakes in the United States including in those states mentioned above as well as in Montana, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico in the west, as well as in New England, New York and North Carolina in the east. Kokanee have also been introduced to lakes in southern Alberta and Saskatchewan in Canada.

History of Kokanee Salmon at Lake Tahoe

Kokanee salmon were introduced to Lake Tahoe in the early 1940s. The introduction was part of a program to establish a recreational fishery in the lake. The first kokanee salmon were obtained from nearby Donner Lake and were stocked in Lake Tahoe in 1944.

Mysis shrimp, also known as opossum shrimp, have been introduced to Lake Tahoe and other freshwater systems in the western United States. They were introduced as food for kokanee salmon, trout, and other sport fish.

Mysis shrimp are native to the Great Lakes region of North America, and were introduced to the western U.S. in the 1960s and 1970s. The shrimp were initially introduced to provide a food source for kokanee salmon, which had been introduced to many western lakes to create recreational fisheries. Mysis shrimp are a preferred prey item for kokanee salmon and other sport fish, and the introduction of the shrimp was intended to boost fish populations and support recreational fishing.

However, the introduction of Mysis shrimp has had unintended consequences. The shrimp have become an important food source for many native and non-native fish species, and their abundance has altered the food web in some freshwater systems. In Lake Tahoe, for example, Mysis shrimp have been implicated in declines of native zooplankton populations and changes in the growth and reproduction of native fish species. The impacts of Mysis shrimp on Lake Tahoe’s ecosystem are the subject of ongoing research and monitoring.

Other Fish You Can Catch Trolling for Kokanee Salmon at Lake Tahoe

Cutthroat Trout

There is a healthy cutthroat trout population at Lake Tahoe, and I’ve found they bite on kokanee rigs more than most other types of trout. Cutthroat trout are a lot of fun to catch and will often bite on the same gear as what you’d use for kokanee.

Rainbow Trout

Fishing for the rainbows in Lake Tahoe is about as popular as kokanee fishing, and there’s a chance you’ll hook into one when fishing for kokanee. If you’re looking for table fare, I personally like the taste of kokanee more than rainbow trout, but they’re both a lot of fun to catch, and bows are still tasty.

Lake Trout

Lake trout generally like larger baits than those used for kokanee salmon, but they can still strike at kokanee lures. Small lakers, less than 24″ long, especially have been known to strike at kokanee jigs and lures.

Brown Trout

Brown trout are a fun fish to catch, and can grow to be older and bigger than many other species of trout. A brown trout can live to be 20 years old, which is about 5 times longer than your average kokanee’s life cycle. Brown trout are identifiable by their colorful speckle patter of red, black, and yellow spots.

Lake Tahoe Bag Limits:

You can have up to 5 game fish in your possession. No more than 2 may be Lake Trout or Mackinaw.

Lake Tahoe Kokanee Fishing Specific Regulations

The lake sits between California and Nevada. If you’ve got a license from either state though, you’re good.

Nevada Specific Lake Tahoe Kokanee Fishing Regulations

Kokanee fishing is open year round at Lake Tahoe on the Nevada size. Legal fishing light is 1 hour before sunrise to 2 hours after sunset (for reference, its generally considered “dark” and “night” at about 30 minutes before sunrise or after sunset, so you’ve got some opportunity for night fishing). There are a few areas closed to kokanee fishing, namely within 200 yards of the mouth of Incline, the mouth of Third, or the mouth of Wood Creek. It’s also closed within 500 yards of Sand Harbor Boat Ramp, and within the boat launch area inside the jetty at Cave Rock Boat Ramp.

In Nevada, kokanee salmon are considered to be part of the cold water game fish in their regulations. Be sure to check your Nevada fishing regulations before you hit the water for any updates or regulation changes.

California Specific Lake Tahoe Kokanee Fishing Regulations

The state of California classifies all landlocked salmon together, so kokanee salmon and landlocked chinook salmon are under the same classification. Fishing for kokanee is open all year long, and there’s a daily bag limit of 5 fish and a possession limit of 10, other than at Bucks Lake, Pardee Lake, New Bullards Bar Reservoir, Upper Scotts Flat Reservoir, and Trinity Lake, which have a bag limit of 10 fish and 20 in possession. There are no size limits on any landlocked salmon.

Be sure to check the current California Fishing Regulations to stay up to date on any changes before hitting the water.

How were Kokanee Salmon Introduced to Lake Tahoe

Kokanee were introduced to Lake Tahoe in 1944. There is some question to how this happened though. There was a fish hatchery in Tahoe City that either introduced some fingerlings by accident, either from an overflow or when cleaning out equipment, or the fish were released at that time as an experiment. It was the era when non-native fish were being released all across America. It is extremely plausible that either scenario could have happened.

Record Kokanee at Lake Tahoe

The record kokanee salmon in both California and Nevada came out of Tahoe and weighed in at 5 lbs 2 oz. It was caught by Bill Brush of Nevada City, on July 20, 2013. One source claimed that the fish was record fish was caught at 67 feet deep. The 2013 fish beat out the previous record by nearly a pound (4 lb 3 oz.), caught in 1973.