Sammamish - kokanee vs trout identification
Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2017 10:21 am
Hi everyone,
I want to get started fishing Lake Sammamish but want to make sure I have my kokanee identification accurate so I don't retain any fish I'm not supposed to. I looked at WDFW publications but still would benefit from a little assistance.
It seems like the salmonid species I'm likely to encounter there are kokanee salmon and cutthroat trout. When the kokanee are in their non-spawning phase, they look a lot like trout. I know that cutthroat don't always have the classic red/orange slash under their jaw visible, which complicates things a bit. So, is the best way to distinguish between the two to look for spots on the tail? Tail spots = cutthroat; no tail spots = kokanee?
Side note - what's up with mouth color? The trout would be white, right? But if the mouth were black and the fish had tail spots, would that mean I somehow hooked a chinook?
Thanks for the help.
I want to get started fishing Lake Sammamish but want to make sure I have my kokanee identification accurate so I don't retain any fish I'm not supposed to. I looked at WDFW publications but still would benefit from a little assistance.
It seems like the salmonid species I'm likely to encounter there are kokanee salmon and cutthroat trout. When the kokanee are in their non-spawning phase, they look a lot like trout. I know that cutthroat don't always have the classic red/orange slash under their jaw visible, which complicates things a bit. So, is the best way to distinguish between the two to look for spots on the tail? Tail spots = cutthroat; no tail spots = kokanee?
Side note - what's up with mouth color? The trout would be white, right? But if the mouth were black and the fish had tail spots, would that mean I somehow hooked a chinook?
Thanks for the help.