Opening Day of Kokanee Snagging on Navajo Lake, NM

October 1 marks the opening day of kokanee snagging season in New Mexico, and the day dawned with me and some friends on the banks of Navajo Lake, doing our best to bring in some kokanee. It was my first time going kokanee snagging, and I’m here to tell you, it was a lot of fun.

Kokanee spawn in one of two ways. Either they go up streams and inlets and lay eggs in the gravel beds of those streams, or they lay eggs in the rocks and gravel beds on the edge of lakes and reservoirs. In the snagging season, fishermen target these bright red spawning kokanee as they move towards the more shallow waters. It’s one of the only opportunities anglers have to effectively fish for these landlocked salmon from the shore. The kokanee in Navajo Lake spawn along the edge of the lake. We were fishing near the dam, where there was a really steep drop off. In fact, had the water been any lower, we would have been fishing off the edge of about a 15 foot cliff. It was a great spot for targeting the schools of kokanee.

The Crowd at Navajo Lake

Salmon snagging is very popular in that area, and the dam there is a well known place for the spawning kokanee. From where I stood on the bank, there was about 50-60 people within a 100 yard stretch. Yes, that did mean that there were people about every 3-5 feet along the shore, slinging big, nasty, treble hooks into the water. Lots of lines got crossed, people snagged each other’s lines, and it was a bit wild. Normally, this would sound like a fishing nightmare, but most everyone came to the day expecting the crowds. People were patient, kind, and helpful. I only noticed one guy who was losing his patience with the crowd, and he left fairly quickly. All in all, it was a lot of good people, all having a good time. Furthermore, I didn’t see anyone get stuck with one of those hooks, which I thought was impressive all by itself. 

About Snagging

I learned how to snag kokanee from a native who grew up snagging in New Mexico. To snag, you throw out your big hook and let it sink down to where the fish are. This takes some trial and error, counting how long to let it drop, to dial in on where the fish are hanging out. Then, you give the line a massive jerk. I had best success having the tip of the pole pointed down, then jerking the pole up so the tip was pointed straight up, over my head. By doing that, I could pull that hook through 6-10 feet of water at high speed to hook into a kokanee. Then, if you didn’t hook into one, you reel the line back tight, and lower the tip of the pole back down, then jerk again. You repeat this until you’ve reeled all the way back in, or caught a fish. 

The Gear You’ll Need for Kokanee Snagging

The gear for snagging is simple. You need a sturdy pole, stiffer than your usually kokanee pole, strong monofilament line, and the hook. That’s it. 

This was my first time out snagging, and my friend told me to bring a good, sturdy pole. I brought my catfishing pole and it worked great. Too much flex in a snagging pole can make your jerks less effective. As for the snagging line, I ran 20lb monofilament, and that seemed to be perfect.

The hooks were about as big around as a golf ball. They are big trebble hooks that have a weight cast around the shaft of the hook itself. Because the hook and the weight are all one unit, it’s the only thing you’ll need. You’ll need several though. Because the kokanee are spawning along the rocks, you will certainly loose a few hooks. I’d recommend getting the hooks online. Shops around Navajo Lake sell out quick, or get pretty expensive. We ended up buying ours at a small fishing shop close to the lake, and the prices were a bit ridiculous. You’ll save money picking up your hooks before hand. 

Weighted Snagging Treble Hook

The Fish

The fish we caught were in various stages of color change, from almost silver, to bright red. People describe spawning salmon as being mushy, but these weren’t very mushy to me. Perhaps that’s because we were there on the first day of snagging season, but the texture was fine. What was interesting to me was the coloration of the flesh. All the other kokanee that I’ve caught have been a vibrant red to pink inside. These were more of a pale pink to an orange. None of them really were the darker red color.

As for size, the average fish was between 12-14″ long. Locals tell me that they were considerably smaller this year though, which is usually a sign that population numbers are up. In a usual year, kokanee in Navajo Lake are between 14-18″ long, with some that are even longer. The males were significantly fatter in terms of girth, and the hump on their back added additional weight to the males as well.

As for the taste, I smoked the kokanee using my teriyaki smoked kokanee recipe (which is incredible). The fish tasted more like a fishy trout than any other kokanee salmon I’ve ever made, and I make a lot of them. That’s not to say it was inedible, but it wasn’t as rich and good as the kokanee I’m used to. Even fresh, it somehow didn’t taste fresh. It made sense to me why the most popular use for these salmon was for canning when they’re snagged.

The Caviar

This was a new experience for me. The friend I went with loves making his own caviar from kokanee eggs. In fact, one year he came snagging, and offered to clean everyone’s fish (yes, with the big crowds and all), in order to get the eggs from people so he could make caviar. That year he ended up getting about 15 lbs of caviar. We only harvested the eggs from the fish we caught, which was probably only about a quart of eggs. We got back to town and he showed me how he made his own caviar. There I was, covered in blood and mess from cleaning the kokanee, making and eating kokanee. The phrase “posh redneck” was used more than once. It was nice to be able to make use of a part of the fish that usually ends up in the trash for most anglers.

The Ethics of Snagging

Many states don’t allow for any snagging or foul hooking fish at all. If you accidentally do so, you’re required to release them, so I understand that there are mixed feelings about the ethics of snagging. If you’re big into fly fishing, you might not agree with my opinions, but all fishing methods have various levels of efficiency. Most of us would probably call fishing with dynamite unethical, and unless you’re a tree hugging hipster who thinks the fish donated the overpriced sashimi for your sushi, most of us don’t have a problem with the fly fisherman. The main goal is a responsible harvest, to preserve the resource, and still get good use from the natural resource. Snagging, if done responsibly, allows for both of these aims.

It’s important to note that snagging wasn’t like fishing in a barrel. Our group of 3 fished for about 5 hours and we caught about 30 fish. That’s an average of 2 fish per person per hour. Some times were hotter than others, but we were never literally pulling them out, one after another. The snaggers around us reminisced about times that were like that, but every fisherman has probably experienced that fishing paradise once or twice in their life, regardless of the method used.

There are also bag limits. In New Mexico, the limit was 12 kokanee. I’m sure if a huge school of kokanee just decided to hang out in front of a dozen fishermen for hours, you could fairly quickly pull in a lot of fish. Bag limits keep that in check. The states that have a snagging season manage the population appropriately so they can support it, and they adjust the limits as needed. Furthermore, from my research and asking around, snagging seems to be the primary method of targeting the kokanee in New Mexico. 

The biggest indicator is that kokanee snagging has been happening in the state for more than 20 years. It’s extremely popular, and the kokanee population has thrived with the practice. 

Lastly, the people out salmon snagging are there working to fill their food storage. There are some rigs that show up with campers and camp stoves and are pressure canning the kokanee as they’re being caught for their families to eat throughout the year. 

I went into the day curious to see if I would have any ethical concerns with snagging, but I can report that because of all those reasons, I had no ethical concerns at all. It was good, clean, fun, and I would love to go back and do it again.

Do I think Kokanee Snagging Should be Allowed in Other States?

First off, kokanee snagging is allowed in several other states. About 1/3 of the states that have a kokanee salmon population currently allow for a snagging season. But not all of them do. Utah, where I live, does not. 

Should Utah Allow for a Snagging Season?

On the trip, my friend asked me if I thought Utah should open a kokanee snagging season, and I said- Yes, and No, and overall probably not. Because I run this website, I am in frequent communication with state biologists. Because of that, I know that kokanee fishing is growing in popularity. I also know that the state’s often times doesn’t currently have enough kokanee fry in their hatcheries to stock every lake and reservoir at the level they want to. Starvation for instance only gets stocked if and when Flaming Gorge meets its stocking quota, which has only happened about 50% of the time since the state started stocking kokanee in Starvation. Right now, having a kokanee snagging season would devastate the kokanee population in the state. It’s not a good idea at the current time, and I think we’re a long way off before that would be remotely feasible or responsible.

Perhaps we could see population levels get to a place where a snagging season would be viable. If every lake or reservoir had a self sustaining kokanee population, and state hatcheries had kokanee to spare, at that point I believe the state could support a kokanee snagging season. I think it would be a lot of fun to bring that to Utah, but think its unlikely because of how popular the fishing for kokanee is during the rest of the year. I don’t know that the state will ever get to that level, but its nice to dream.

Whether Utah gets a snagging season or not, Navajo Lake isn’t too far of a drive for those looking to try out

Final Note

New Mexico, your online platform for buying fishing licenses is a mess. Please do better.

Kokanee salmon snagging season in New Mexico goes from October 1 to December 31.