Kokanee are doing swimmingly in area lakes, according to the provincial government.
Numbers for the land-locked salmon in main Okanagan lakes are increasing, a fall 2015 survey shows.
The Wood Lake kokanee population continued to demonstrate signs of recovery after poor in-lake conditions led to a significant increase in mortality rates in 2011.
In 2015, more than 20,000 kokanee returned to spawn to Middle Vernon Creek, the main tributary of Wood Lake. That's a more than two-fold increase from previous years.
Given the high numbers, the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations will continue to allow a fishery on Wood Lake from April 1 to Aug. 31.
Results from spawner surveys of Okanagan shorelines and tributaries show:
- Okanagan Lake kokanee spawners totalled 336,500, an increase from 80,500 last year – and the highest return since annual counts began in 1992.
- The large return was primarily a result of an increase in shore-spawning kokanee.
- Stream-spawning kokanee totalled 31,500.
- Shore-spawning kokanee totalled 305,000 fish.
In Kalamalka Lake, Kokanee numbers totalled 36,500, well above the 10-year average return of 20,000.
Kokanee are land-locked sockeye salmon found in all of the Okanagan main valley lakes.