Kokanee salmon stock hit and miss

OKANAGAN — The numbers are in and they show mixed results for kokanee salmon stocks throughout the valley.

Recent surveys done this past fall indicating growth of the fish stocks in some Okanagan lakes, while not such encouraging news elsewhere.

Okanagan Lake showed a slight increase in kokanee last year,with a total of 126,000 in 2013 and Kalamalka Lake had very encouraging numbers, with a total of 45,000 kokanee, the highest figure since 1994.

But Skaha Lake had its lowest total since 2001 with only 18,000.

Finally, although higher than last year, wood lake is still highly depleted.

It continues to show very low returns because of significant mortality from poor in-lake conditions in 2011. Although Wood Lake did rebound from lows measured in 2012, kokanee stock there remains well below historic levels. As a result the spring 2014 opening for wood lake will remain brief, lasting from April 15th through May 31st.