Are there any Alpine Lakes with Kokanee?

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cwbraue
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Are there any Alpine Lakes with Kokanee?

Post by cwbraue » Sun Jul 22, 2018 12:27 pm

I have been wondering about this for years, because one time about ten years ago I caught a fish in a high lake in the North Cascades that looked like a Kokanee to me. I had been catching tons of 9 inch trout and then I caught this skinny, whitish fish with different shaped scales that was definitely not a trout. If it was a Kokanee either someone illegally planted it, or a bird carried it from Baker lake 20 miles and then dropped it in the lake which is not very likely.

Anyways, I always wonder if Kokanee can thrive in our alpine lakes and if any have been planted. I would think a big lake like Dorothy Lake would probably be able to sustain a population, assuming there is enough plankton, and that there is somewhere for them to spawn.

And yes I know they are in Keechelus and Kachess, but I am talking about lakes over 3000 feet.

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