Kokanee

[MMDon]

Food is an interesting equation. While less fish equals less food eaten, in a lot of biomass structures, it still comes down to the amount of plankton available per surface acre foot. Less fish in some waters won't up that equation enough to make a difference. In Ririe it's all about dry farm run off. Lot's of run off simply ups the amounts of nutrients and minerals in the water needed to support the kokanee's diet of plankton. Since it has a narrow surface area, less fish or more run off will up the size of the fish as we have seen in the past. Not the same equation for Mackay however. A simple test for this is to see if your boat is hotter on the wire during the spring at the head water as compared to the dam end. If you run a voltage test from your battery to your down rigger wire you will notice a much greater difference in the spring, end to end, than in the fall. The same with heavy run off years as compared to lighter precip years. Higher mineral concentrations in the spring means larger year fish. Mackay always registers the same end to end.
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