Snagging Kokanee Salmon

For many, kokanee salmon are a mystery, especially since these fish have in recent years been stocked around the world at places where you wouldn’t usually find them. Some have never even heard of them, others may have caught a few, but if you don’t have a boat, you probably haven’t done more than that. But, in reality, kokanee salmon are quite a special fish that are becoming more and more popular worldwide. In a few places, and during the late fall and early winter, there is an opportunity for those fishermen to land a bright red salmon without having to go to Alaska by snagging kokanee salmon.

How to Snag Kokanee Salmon

Snagging, sometimes called foul-hooking, is done by catching a hook in the body of the fish. This is popular when fish are bunched up, like kokanee do in the spawn, making it possible to just drag your line through them and hook into a fish. Then you jerk your line into that salmon. It’s a matter of learning the timing, and coming to understand the light refraction of the water. So many times beginners will go to set the hook into a kokanee, and it looks perfect, but because of the light refraction, the hook will go over or past the kokanee, and you’ll be left emptyhanded. Once you get the timing down, and an understanding of the refraction, its like a switch is flipped. You’ll go from frustrated to knowing how to snag kokanee and being successful.

What Gear Do You Need for Kokanee Snagging?

To hook into kokanee, you need a good solid and weighted treble hook. This acts kind of like an anchor, as you pull it through the water, and has the size and mass to hook into a fish. The 3 prongs of the hook mean that no matter which direction the hook is facing, you’ll have barbs out to hook into a fish. The hook is also significantly bigger than your powerbait treble hook. The kokanee snagging hooks I like to use are just under 2″ in length, like the one below.

Kokanee Salmon Snagging Rig: Weighted Snagging Treble Hook

Where is it Legal to Snag Kokanee Salmon?

Snagging kokanee is actually not legal in most states, though there are 4 where it is legal. Be sure to double check your state’s and you water’s regulations before you go out fishing. We try to stay up to date on all area’s regulations, but we’re far from perfect, and the lawyers tell us that we need to say that this shouldn’t be construed as legal advice.

Snagging Kokanee is legal in the following states:

• Montana
• Nevada (I need to call. Lake Tahoe is open year round)
• New Mexico
• Colorado

Snagging Kokanee is illegal in the following states:

• Alaska
• California
• Connecticut
• Idaho
• Illinois (though Coho and Chinook are legal to snag)
• Maine
• New Hampshire (confirm land locked salmon are kokanee)
• New York
• North Carolina
• North Dakota
• Oregon
• Utah
• Washington
• Wisconsin
• Wyoming

Other States

No other state has kokanee.

Meat Quality During the Spawn

The meat quality during spawning and snagging season isn’t as good as it is during the rest of the year. The spawning salmon are nearing the end of their life cycle and aren’t as interested in eating. They’re really only focused on reproducing before they die. That bright red is beautiful, and is what salmon are known for, but its a sign that the end is near. Because of that the meat quality on the fish really starts to degrade. The best way to describe it is that it starts to get more mushy. The flavor usually isn’t affected, but the texture certainly is. If you’ve frozen a fillet before, and noticed how its more mushy after you thaw it, its kind of like that. It’s certainly not inedible, but its just not as good.

A friend of mine goes to the kokanee snagging states to stock up on salmon for his dog, and for the kokanee caviar. He eats the eggs, the dog gets the salmon. He’ll get dozens of salmon and he’ll pressure cook and can the kokanee salmon. He said the kokanee tastes too much like trout and he doesn’t like it. Do I think its only fit for dog food? Absolutely Not! It’s still good quality fish, especially if you get them in the early snagging season, like in October, instead of in late November and December. The earlier you can get them, the better they taste. Kokanee salmon during the spawning season is still tasty.

How to Find Kokanee Salmon

When not spawning, kokanee are usually found in deeper water, where they can find plenty of zooplankton, their main food source. When they’re spawning, they tend to go to tributaries of the lake’s they’re in, or they can go to rocky shoals on the edges of lakes to spawn.

About Kokanee Salmon

Kokanee salmon are landlocked sockeye salmon, which means they don’t return to the ocean and live their entire lives in lakes or reservoirs before spawning in rivers, streams, or gravel close to lakeshores. These salmon are delicious and are really strong fighters, making them a prime target for anglers, and the popularity of this fish is growing. Kokanee are a schooling fish that feed on zooplankton in the water. They tend to find where these plankton are at and then they congregate and feed all in that one area. These plankton, and the kokanee that feed on them, like to hang in water that is around 50-55 degrees, so these salmon are usually only able to survive in deep alpine lakes and reservoirs, and can be found from depths of 10 feet, all the way down to over 100 feet deep.