While Flaming Gorge Reservoir might be the place anglers think to go for kokanee salmon in Wyoming, the Pathfinder Reservoir-to-Miracle Mile stretch along the North Platte River is a lesser-known salmon fishery.
The hitch is that anglers who catch them in the river during spawning runs won’t be rewarded with a tasty meal.
“Once they start running up the river to spawn, they get kind of mushy and soft. They’re basically dying at that point. They’re not great table fare,” Matt Hahn, the Casper regional fisheries supervisor for Wyoming Game and Fish, told Cowboy State Daily.
In the pecking order among fish, kokanee have it rough in Wyoming.
In Flaming Gorge, many of them get devoured by burbot and lake trout before they can grow to a significant size.
In the North Platte system, it’s mainly walleye that gobble young kokanee.
That’s why kokanee must be stocked in places such as Pathfinder Reservoir about 47 miles southwest of Casper.
“I don’t think we could have a fully wild kokanee population in that system because of the walleye predation,” Hahn said.
Three-Year Life Cycle
Kokanee spawned in the Miracle Mile section of the North Platte swim downriver as small fry and head to Pathfinder Reservoir. They spend most of their lives in the reservoir, where they feed on zooplankton.
Generally, the best place to find them is in deep water, Hahn said.
During their prime, they are silver in color and are great eating, he said.
They can be baked, broiled, smoked or “prepared just about any way you would prepare salmon,” he said.
When they are 3 years old, the urge to spawn drives them back upriver from the reservoir. They take on a bright red color and push themselves to the limits to return to where they spawned — such as the Miracle Mile.
The spawning runs typically last from August until October.
The kokanee are single-minded about getting upriver and have essentially stopped eating at that point, Hahn said.
The best tactic for catching them in the river during spawning runs it to use brightly-colored lures, Hahn said.
“You’re trying to illicit an aggressive strike,” he said.
Browns And Rainbow Main Draw On ‘The Mile’
Kokanee “aren’t unheard of” on the Miracle Mile stretch of the North Platte River, fishing guide Trent Tatum told Cowboy State Daily.
But they’re hardly the main attraction that draws anglers to the Miracle Mile, added Tatum, co-owner of the North Platte Lodge and The Reef Fly Shop Cottages and RV in Alcova.
And “The Mile,” as central Wyoming locals call it, also flows through public land.
“That’s the allure of The Mile. It’s public, it has access,” Tatum said.
Though there doesn’t seem to be much demand among for kokanee along the popular sections of the North Platte, they aren’t resented by trout guides and anglers, Tatum said.
“They’re not doing any harm, in my opinion (to trout fisheries),” he said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
