Kokanee run spawns adventure for anglers

'Tis the season for salmon snagging, an unusual form of fishing still practiced today that reaches back to the late ice age. As autumn rolls around, certain species of fish, including kokanee salmon, will begin their great journey upstream to spawn. This once-in-a-lifetime event, for the fish, is something that anglers and non-fishermen alike can enjoy every year.

Kokanee are a land-locked, freshwater-only variety of the famous sockeye salmon of the west coast. Sockeye salmon will live their entire lives in the ocean, only to return to their freshwater breeding grounds to spawn and die. Kokanee salmon are generally a smaller species, nearly identical in every way except that they will live their entire lives in freshwater lakes. However, kokanee will also run. These fish will eat less and less as they morph into strange and colorful beasts. Their silvery skin turns pitch black on their face and blood red along their length. The males' mouths will protrude and turn up like a reverse beak. Strange indeed, but it is all to help them traverse the long distance back home. Their bodies will even flatten slightly and grow more in height to give a greater surface area along their sides to help them swim more efficiently.

After the fish swim upriver to their spawning grounds, sometimes up to hundreds of miles, they will spawn. Once their task is complete, in this beautiful epic journey, the salmon will perish. Their young will grow for a short time from egg to fry (small baby fish) and then will return, as their parents once did, to the big water below to live out their lives. Generally, salmon will live for seven or more years before they run to spawn.

This spawning run is the part of the journey that excites local fishermen who know the cause of waters flowing red with fish. Though kokanee can be caught year-round, the spawning run draws people from across the country. One of the best runs in the state is right next door to Sanders County, in Lincoln County. Along the tributaries of the Kootenai River and Lake Koocanusa, anglers will find their favorite spots and try to time the flow of fish to catch their limit, which in Montana is 20 fish daily and 40 in possession. The season begins September 15 and goes through the end of November; however, the fish are done spawning long before then. When the run is good, the fishing is easy, as the water can literally run red with so many fish that the river will seem to run backward, against gravity. When the run is poor, or too late in the season, there are some tricks that locals should take advantage of to improve their results.

The snagging hooks are key. Massive treble hooks with a big lead weight on the center. Size matters, as one wants the weight to drop the hook straight to the bottom, even in a swift current. The size of the hook is important too. The wider the points of the hook are from the center, the greater the surface area the fisherman has to snag a fish with. Another bit of advice is to use a short stiff rod so that the line will get taught quicker. Speed and timing will be very important. The last trick is to buy some bright flagging tape from the hardware store. Tie about three inches of the tape onto the eye of the hook. This will help the angler set up the snag well every time. The tape aids the angler in spotting his or her hook, even in water that is flowing fast with disturbance on the surface.

To put all these tools together, an angler will need to stand in a spot where they can see the red flashes of fish. Then the angler should then cast upstream of the fish and let the hook sink down to the bottom. Once there, the skilled angler will tighten the line and point their rod down at the brightly flagged hook. The angler can then wait for the fish to move up, or with skill, "hop" the hook down gingerly to where the fish are. The final trick is to put the target fish in between the hook and the end of the rod. The lowering of the rod drops the line low, allowing the fish to position itself over the line. Once this is achieved, the fisherman must quickly jerk their rod up to set the hook. The line will catch on the fish's belly, guiding the hook into the side of the fish, effectively "spearing" the fish from below. "Grappling," if you will. At that point, it is fishing as usual, and all the angler must do is reel the fish in and then cast back out for another.