Rainbow Trout and Kokanee Salmon are the two most targeted fish on the west coast. They are both delicious fish and are both fun to catch, two of the main reasons they are so popular. There are many fisheries on the West Coast, from California to Canada and Alaska, that have made it their purpose to maintain a steady population of Rainbows and Kokes in the lakes and surrounding rivers.
ニジマスとヒメマスはアメリカ西海岸で最もターゲットになる魚だ。両方とも美味しくて、釣るのが楽しい。それで、この２種類の魚は非常に人気がある。カルフォルニアからカナダ、アラスカまでの北米大陸の西海岸にはたくさんの養殖場があり、その目的は湖と周辺の川で、ニジマスとヒメマスの個体数を安定的に維持することである。
But what is the difference between Rainbow Trout and Kokanee Salmon? Rainbow Trout are a type of ocean-going trout with two branches of species. The steelhead branch spends most of their time in the ocean, while the main branch spends all of its time in freshwater. Kokanee Salmon are landlocked in lakes and even those in rivers do not have the urge to seek the ocean. で、ニジマスとヒメマスの違いは何か？ニジマスは２つの種系統を持った降海型の鱒である。１つの系統のスティールヘッド系は多くの時間を海洋で過ごし、他方もう１つの系統の主系統の方は淡水で過ごす。ヒメマスは湖に陸封されいて、川に棲むヒメマスでさえ降海しようとしない。
Rainbow Trout
ニジマス
Rainbow Trout have two branches, or subspecies considered Rainbow Trout. The main branch, simply called Rainbow Trouts, are smaller than the other branch. These are usually the fish that are talked about when talking about Rainbow Trout. They taste amazing and give a good fight on the hook.
ニジマスには２つの系（ニジマスと考えられる亜種）がある。主系は単にニジマスと呼ばれ、もう一方の系よりも小型である。これは通常ニジマスについて話すときに､話されれる魚だ。味は美味しくて、釣れたときのファイトは素晴らしい。
The second branch are called Steelhead Rainbow Trout. Steelheads are ocean-dwelling trout that are bigger and more aggressive than river Rainbows.
２つ目の系はスティールヘッド・ニジマスと呼ばれる。スティールヘッドは海洋の鱒で、川のニジマスよりも大きくて攻撃的だ。
Biology
生物学
The average size of a rainbow trout, not a steelhead, is around 2 – 5 lbs. This is a good sized fish to eat, and one can feed one person easily. When I catch Rainbows, I usually catch three or four, depending on the bag limit, and feed my family a delicious dinner. The Rainbow Trouts have an average length of around 12 – 30 inches.
A steelhead’s average weight is 8 – 11 lbs. They are larger than rainbows for sure, and because of this, they usually travel to the ocean to get more nutrients to survive with that weight. The average length is 20 – 35 inches.
A freshwater rainbow trout can have all the colors of the rainbow of their back and sides, or they can be a dull olive-brown or dark blue. Their bellies are usually silver or pale, but are always a lighter color. The colors of their scales depends on their location, maturity, and sex.
The steelhead variation tends to be more silvery and narrower in proportion, while being longer and larger.
スティールヘッドの変形は、より銀色と体型がより細く、より長く、より大型になりがちだ。
Lifecycle
生活感
Rainbows can spend their entire lives living in a river, returning to a specific point in the river to spawn. Unlike other types of fish, the trouts can spawn multiple years in a row without dying. Some trout spend part of their lives in the ocean, but they always return to the rivers and streams to spawn, or to lay their eggs. They start to spawn around 3 or 4 years of age.
Steelhead trout spend the majority of their lives in the ocean, returning only to spawn. Steelheads are larger than rainbows and are so because of the rich nutrients found in the ocean. The rivers would not be able to support a trout that big, unless the population of fish was depleted to nearly zero.
When rainbow trout spawn, it doesn’t matter too much if the parent was a residential rainbow trout or a steelhead rainbow trout. The offspring could be either a steelhead or a smaller river rainbow trout.
Both the freshwater rainbows and the steelhead can live around 11 years, but not many make it to being alive that long. They tend to average around 4 – 6 years.
淡水のニジマスとスティールヘッドの両方の魚はだいたい11年間生きる。
Kokanee Salmon
ヒメマス
Kokanee Salmon are actually land-locked Sockeye salmon, a different ocean-dwelling fish. Kokanee salmon, or Kokes, spend their complete life in fresh waters. Some populations are completely stuck in the lakes they live in, while others have access to rivers and streams. Some even have a way to the ocean, but do not choose to return there.
Kokanee salmon, although related to Sockeye salmon, are a lot smaller than their ancestral species. Because the lakes and rivers don’t have enough nutrients, or in their case plankton, the Kokes cannot get as large as the ocean-dwelling Sockeye salmon.
The average weight for a Kokanee salmon is only 1 lb. Some can get up to 3 – 5 lbs, but that is not very common. Most that get close are caught by humans or eaten by other fish, usually rainbow trout.
The average length of a Kokanee salmon is 9 – 12 inches.
ヒメマスの平均サイズは9-12インチ(22-30cm)である。
Kokanee salmon are silver fish, but only until its time to spawn. When that time comes around, the males turn a deep red and start to develop a hump on their back. Their jaw becomes hooked and they get some wicked looking teeth.
When the males turn red, their meat begins to ripen. This is because as they start to get ready to spawn, their bodies begin to die. The red is the first indicator of a dying fish, so when it starts, their meat deteroriates.
The life cycle of a Kokanee salmon is pretty standard. Starting at an egg placed in a stream, most Kokanee salmon start life off in a small stream. Once they get big enough, they travel to a lake or a river, if they aren’t already there.
Once they arrive there, they usually spend the rest of their lives in that one lake, occasionally getting hooked by a fisherman, or chased/ attacked by rainbow trout.
Kokanee salmon never enter a saltwater body of water in their lives. They spend 100% of their time in freshwater and most populations are completely stuck in a lake of some sort.
ヒメマスは生涯において､決して海水に入らない。100%､淡水で過ごす。大半の個体は
完全に何らかの湖から抜け出さない。
There are many fisheries that place fish into lakes to get a population going. These fish will face many hardships after being introduced to a new lake.
Sometimes the food sources aren’t enough to support a large number of them. There is also the fear of rainbow trout eating them.
あるときは、食物源が大量の魚を維持するのに十分でない。また、彼らを捕食するニジマスの脅威もある。
Differences between Rainbows and Kokes
ニジマスとヒメマスの違い
Trout and salmon are very similar, but they are different species of fish and thus have their significant differences
鱒と鮭は非常に似ているが、彼らは異なった種であり、かなり異なっている。
Diet– Rainbow trout are omnivores, meaning they eat plants and meat. Usually, rainbows eat insects that fell into the river, but they also eat mice and frogs, and are known to eat other fish. Rainbow trout, especially the steelheads, love to eat Kokanee salmon. They do not eat other rainbows, however.
Kokanee salmon are strictly plankton eaters. This can be hard on them because the plankton are very sensitive to levels of oxygen. If the levels of oxygen are depleted enough, then there can be a wipeout of the Kokanee salmon’s only food source. Many winters, the Kokanee get very close to this point, but somehow every year, the plankton come back for the spring.
Caudal Fin (tail) – Rainbow trout’s tails are not notched very much. They are more square than they are forked. Kokanee salmon, on the other hand, has a very notched tail. The dorsal fin on the Kokanee is more of a right triangle, starting from the point of the fin. On a rainbow, the tip is created by an obtuse angle that gives it more of a sloping look compared to the Kokanee’s drop-down fin.
Location – Kokanee can only be found fresh water such as lakes and some rivers. Most Kokanee can only be found in the North Western parts of America, including the USA and Canada.
Rainbow trout have been introduced to every continent on the planet, with the exception of Antarctica, successfully. Rainbow trout can live in freshwater lakes and rivers, but can also thrive in the salt waters of oceans and seas. The freshwater branch are small enough to live in some streams as well.
Kokanee salmon and rainbow trout are very similar in some ways, but in others, they couldn’t be more different. They are both extremely tasty fish and are fun to catch. Try your luck with catching these and see just how fun they can be to catch and eat yourself!
Are Trouts a type of Salmon? Salmons are different than trouts but are both part of the same family and genus. Because they cannot reproduce together, they are considered separate species, as long as because of behavioral patterns and physical attributes.
Do Kokanee and Rainbow taste the same?Theyare both fish and have fish tastes and textures, as they are both known as oily fishes, but the actual taste is different. Kokanee meat is sweet, while rainbow trout meat is savory.
(That Always Seem to Work for Me! ボクにはいつもうまく行くようだ!) by Malachi Rhyker ヒメマス釣りの21の秘訣
Kokanee Salmon are a type of land-locked Sockeye Salmon that was trapped in a lake or small stream sometime around 15,000 years ago. The North Western Americas are covered with lakes filled with Kokanee. They taste great and are fun to fight, so it’s no wonder that they are one of the most popular fish to target in Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and in British Columbia.
Kokanee are aggressive fish, a factor that has to be taken into consideration when trying to target them. I have been fishing for Kokanee for a few years now, and I have a few tips that I would love to pass onto new anglers trying to catch a few.
Kokanee trolling can rarely be done without a dodger or two on your lines. The dodgers reflect sunlight towards the fish and attract the fish towards the boat. By bending the dodger a little in the middle, you are able to give the dodger action of its own. It will be able to swing back and forth and get the kokanee to come closer.
A hoochie is a very effective Kokanee lure, and there isn’t much reason why. The Kokanee seem to love hitting the little plastic limbs/ tentacles that are on hoochies. And because the hook is right in the middle of the limbs, the kokanee are usually hooked pretty well.
Having multiple lines in the water will make it seem like that your hooks and dodgers are a school of fish. The Kokanee Salmon will follow your ‘school’ around until they get irritated enough to strike out.
Kokanee are zooplankton feeders, so it is a mystery why the fish love to bite Kokanee. There isn’t much rhyme or reason to why, but because it works, corn is used very often. Regular white shoepeg full kernel corn can be used, and the cheaper, the better.
ヒメマスは動物性プランクトン給餌者であり、なぜ魚がヒメマスに食いつきたがるか？はミステリーだ。それは何故か？について訳も理由もない。これはドジャーとタコベイトは効果があるので、コーンは稀にしか使われない。Regular white shoepeg full kernel コーンが使われる。安ければ安いほど､より良い。
The corn is the correct size, but the real reason that the corn is used is because it can retain smells very well. The real tip here is soaking the corn in another substance and getting a strong foreign smell that will irritate the Kokanee down to the fish.
Experiment wiht different smells, but be sure to use garlic for at least some of your corn. The Kokanee don’t really like the smell of garlic. It’s too strong for them, and it doesn’t smell like anything else around them. Because of this, the Kokanee will become aggressive towards the corn.
これと違った臭いを使った実験として、少なくともコーンにニンニクを使え。実際にヒメマスはニンニクの臭いが好きでない。あまりにも臭いが強くて、彼らの周辺のどの臭いとも違う。これが理由で、ヒメマスはコーンに攻撃的になる。
3. Downrigger
ダウンリガー
A downrigger is the piece of equipment that will be able to get the line down deep into the depths of the lake. There is a very heavy weight connected to the boat that will drop straight down. There is another little piece connected to the weight that can be clipped to the line. This will take your line down to the depth and keep the lures running around that point.
When the fish bites your hook, the line pops off of the weight and is able to be freely reeled up. The weight can be brought back up and the line reattached. The process repeats itself but keeps everything very constant.
Downriggers have only one downside. They are expensive to buy. They run for around $500, but can get up to $1200. There is an easy solution to not having one, though.
Attaching a 1.5 oz weight to the line will allow the line and lure to get as deep as you want the line to go. Using a regular salmon weight can also get the line down deep as well. Just attach it just before the dodger and the leader. The weight will add more weight when trying to reel in a fish, so the fish will seem bigger than it actually will.
Another alternative is using a weighted line. A weighted line is a line with a lead core that is covered in, usually, a braided line or a different material. This keeps the line sensitive, but because of the lead, the line will sink and will be able to act as a downrigger and get the line deep enough.
代替は重いラインを使うことだ。重いラインとは、普通、鉛を網糸か他の材質で被覆したラインのことである。ラインの感度は維持されるが、鉛なのでラインは沈み、ダウンリガーの役目もし十分深く沈下する。
When fighing a fish, the line will add more weight and it will be more dificult to get the fish up to the boat. While this seems line a downside, I actually enjoy the challenge to get the fish up. Especially with their soft mouths, it is a challence to get the fish up without tearing their mouths.
魚とファイトするとき、ラインは重さを増すので、ボートに魚を巻き上げるのがより難しくなる。ここでラインがダウンリガーのように見えるけど、実際には魚を上げることを楽しむことができる。特に口の柔らかい魚に対して、口を切らないように釣り上げることはチャレンジングだ。
5. Reel in Slowly
ゆっくりリールを巻け
Kokanee Salmon have very soft mouths. And because of this, there is always the worry that the hook set and reeling in can rip the hook out of the Kokanee Salmon. Make sure that as you reel in, or think that you might have a Kokanee Salmon on the other side of the line, that you set carefully and not too violently, and that you reel in gently.
But be careful: not enough tension will allow the fish to be able to get away and twist out of the hook. The tension will allow you the control you will need to get the Kokanee towards the boat.
Anyways, its more fun to slowly reel in a fish than just cranking in until you get one on the boat. Because these fish take a little more finesse to get them to the boat, they are very fun to fight.
Another easy way to reduce the amount of stress put on the Kokanee’s mouth is by using Monofilament fishing line. Mono line, as it is very regularly called, is made of a semi-clear material that has the most stretch out of all types of lines. As the name implies, it is made out of one material and is very durable because of this. The clear color makes it a good choice for a fishing line.
The stretch it has is just enough to still be very sensitive but also has enough give that it will stretch as the hook sets. This helps as the fish is started to be dragged along behind the boat. The give will allow the hook to be set gentler and the hook not pulled out as the boat continues and the fish starts to fight.
Because Kokanee Salmon have very soft mouths, when they jump out of the water, they might become unhooked and get away. If you can get the Kokanee to the surface, there is always the chance that the Kokanee will be able to get off the hook.
Having the net right there ready will help to get the Kokanee Salmon into the boat and not let them get away. This will also help with making sure that they Kokanee don’t try to get under the boat or to somewhere that the line can break or get tangled.
A longer net is usually. You will be able to get the fish further from the boat. While that can be both a good and a bad idea, it will be beneficial if the Kokanee has less time to get off the hook. Make sure the mouth of the net is wide as well. This will make scooping the fish up easier and make it more certain that the fish won’t get away.
Another great mystery of fishing is why Kokanee hate pink. It is a known fact that Kokanee strike things that annoy them, and pink is the color that has got the most success, so Kokanee anglers use it frequently.
The best lures for Kokanee are usually pink and imitate bait fish. There are also many Kokanee baits that are purposely dyed pink because the color is just so successful. A pink hoochie lure with a piece of scented corn will catch the most amount of fish in an average year.
Although pink is the best color, some anglers don’t use it as often as other people. They use reds, oranges, and some light purples. I’ve talked to a few anglers on the water, and although they swear by pink, they are usually using an orange or red. Not sure why, but I guess experimenting is sometimes good. Who would have thought.
When trolling for Kokanee, don’t change the type of gear that you’re using. It’s good to use a variety of lures, but try to make it a rule of thumb to keep each rod consistent with the type of lure that is used on it. This will make things easier, because a hoochie set up is slightly different than a spoon setup or a different kind of lure.
Instead, change the color of the lure. If you’re using a pink wedding ring, switch to a red wedding ring, or change the color of the blade that circles the lure. Sometimes bronze will work better where silver or nickel fails.
Changing lures is less effective because the hoochies work the best. It’s as simple as that. There is also the option of using different baits. Instead of corn, try dyed-pink shrimp, or dyed-red maggots. Colors matter more.
Kokanee Salmon like deep water. Because of this, they are usually not that close to the shore. Try around 50 feet away from the shore when trolling. If you aren’t getting any bites, go deeper than you had been trolling.
After changing the depth, change how far out you troll. Sometimes moving a few more feet out into the water will be enough to get the fish to start biting. Keep on getting trolling at varying distances and depths until you get one that works well. If there are other people on the lake trolling, try trolling the same distances as them. If they seem friendly enough, ask them, but be sure not to fish where they are. It’s very annoying.
If you’re having more troubles catching Kokanee, go to your locat fish shop and ask people there if they know where the Kokanee Salmon hang out at. Its different at every lake.
Because Kokanee Salmon usually group together in a school, having access to a fish finder will be very valuable to your fishing experience. The sonar-using device will be able to find the fish easier than solo fish. Once you know the location of the school of fish, troll over that area a few times.
ヒメマスはグループになって回遊しているので、魚探は君の経験に非常に価値がある。
A fish finder can also be helpful in finding out how deep the water is in a certain area. One of my friends uses his fishing boat to pull his kids around on water skiis. He uses the fish finder to tell if its deep enough to let them ski safely. If you can use it for multiple things, that can make the purchase even more worth it.
A fish finder can get kind of expensive, but they are very worth the price. Find one online for a reasonable price. Amazon sometimes has surprise deals on fishing supplies, so check back regurlary on Amazon.com.
Because Kokanee group up in schools, troll a little faster over the areas that you spotted a school with your fish finder. This will make them more aggressive and more likely to strike.
Kokanee Salmon school up because it gives them a sense of protection, but this actually will make them safer. Kokanee are sought after by many fish-eating species of fish.
Because they are so skittish if a faster lure comes by a lone fish, they will get spooked and will swim away from it, rather than striking. Because of this, more fish will be aggressive and will be more likely to bite the hooks.
Many trolling guides and anglers tend to go for the sharp turns that will lower one side of the boat and lift the other. If you have lines on each side, one of your lines will be lifted and the other will be dropped. While this is a good method of fishing, there is an even better way of trolling.
Traveling in the pattern called “Serpentine” will get you the best results. By going back and forth, the lines will both be dropped and lifted quite frequently. This can get you seasick, with this movement, but the fish will probably bite frequently enough that you will be able to get a rest in between.
The ‘S’ shaped path will turn more fish towards the boat as the dodgers will be able to reflect more light in more directions. This will also make your artificial school of fish seem more like a school of fish trying to swim away from a predator.
Keeping a constant speed can quickly become the downfall of your trolling experience. The fish will not be interested in a lure that has one set action. By changing the speeds at which you go, the lure and dodger will have a variety of actions that will attract the fish.
When I go trolling on the lakes, I usually change the speed in a range of about 1 MPH. This is a pretty big range, and it doesn’t have to be so dramatic with your experience. I usually start around 1.5 MPH and make my way up to 1.8 MPH. if I don’t have that much luck, I slow down again until I catch something, or I’m going 0.8 MPH.
The speeding up of the boat, consequently, will increase the speed of the lures on the boat. By going slower, the lures will slow down and not travel as fast. Kokanee strike when the lure is falling, so when the boat slows down enough, the kokanee will strike more often.
One of the quickest ways that your fishing trip can go down the drain is with tangled lines. Sometimes its unaviodable. The fish fights towads another line and snags it before you have time to get the other rod out of the way, or you just didn’t notice.
あなたの釣り旅行がうまく行かなくなる(down the drain)手っ取り早い(quichest way)方法の１つが、糸の絡みである。これはときどき避けられない。魚がもう１本のラインに向かってファイトし、ロッドを除く時間が無かったり気が付く前だったりして、ラインが引っかかってしまう。
One of the most common ways that a fishing line can be entangled with another is because of the wind blowing the lines into each other. When trolling, make sure never to go sideways into the wind, else you risk getting the lines messed up.
Making sure that you always travel with or against the wind will help with keeping your lines untangled and ready to twitch if a fish strikes. The wind can be a great hinderance to fishermen, but there are easy ways to get around the wind’s bothersome personality.
When trolling or jigging for Kokanee, the action of the lure is very important. If the lure or bait is not properly presented to the fish, the fish may very well ignore the hook completely. The most important action that the Kokanee are most likely to bite is when the lure is falling.
When talking about jigging, this is a very good thing to hear. The jig is usually falling, so there is a lot of opportunities to present a falling hook and bait to the Kokanee Salmon. Jerking the jig up slightly and letting it fall back down will both make the lure seem alive and get the action that you will want.
For trolling, making the lure fall isn’t always easy. But it is possible. The lure does drop a little when the boat turns in its path. It drops significantl when doing a very sharp turn, such as a U-turn.
Kokanee are most likely in a school with a few other fish. Because of this, the fish are going to be more aggressive. They are going to bite, so now the goal is to get the bigger fish to bite first.
One tactic to do this is to troll deeper. The bigger Kokes are going to be deeper in the water. They can survive here because the other species that try to prey on Kokanee will not be able to kill them or eat them.
But this tip is about how fast you’re traveling. The bigger Kokanee are going to be able to swim a little faster than the smaller Kokanee. This means that you can troll faster than you originally thought you could. Instead of trolling around 1.5 mph, go for a little faster. 1.8 or almost 2 mph .
This will help you catch bigger Kokanee, which are more fun to fight, and more meat to eat.
これはファイトが楽しく、美味しい大型のヒメマスを釣るのに役に立つ。
18. Line Counter Reel
カウンター付リール
A counter reel is a device that can accurately tell you how much fishing line you have let out of your reel. This is very helpful for trolling and jigging, the two main methods used to catch Kokanee. If you pair that with a fish finder, you will be able to know exactly how deep you will have to drop the line, and you will be able to get the line down exactly down that far.
For trolling, the drag the water has on the line will have to be taken into consideration. There are a lot of things online that can tell you how deep the line will go depending on the weights you have on the line, the type of line, and how fast you are going.
Jigging for Kokanee Salmon is best done on the bottom of the lake and worked up to the surface. It’s not always a good thing to let your hook touch the bottom of the lake, so paired with a line counter and a fish finder, the line counter reel can be a very useful tool.
Kokanee Salmon are land locked, so they are stuck in the lakes. They can be caught year round, so get out to your lakes! In the winter, you can go ice fishing. While this adds more expenses with more needed equipment, you’ll be able to use that equipment for any type of ice fishing.
During the late spring and early summer months, go jigging and try your luck with dropping jigs on Kokanee Salmon schools you find with your fish finder. Once the Kokanee start going deeper in the later summer and early fall, try your luck trolling for the fish.
In any kind of Kokanee Salmon fishing, this applies very strongly.
ヒメマス釣りのような場合、これがうまく適用できる。
Trolling– If you have five lines out, have one at the recommended depth and distance behind the boat. For the other four, change it up in increments of 10. One 10 feet deeper, one 10 feet shallower, one ten feet further back, and the last 20 feet further back from the original.
Jigging – In jigging, you have one rod that is action-focused, and another suspended in the water with bait. Jig starting at the bottom, but once you have a depth that works well, drop another line down at that depth and let it sit and be bit.
Ice fishing – When Ice fishing, its a good idea to have as many holes as you can, and to space them out every 10 or so feet perpendicular from the shore. The first should be about 10 feet under the ice, and the next four down another 10 feet than the last. If the lake is shallower, put the rest a few feet above the bottom of the lake.
A lot of the Kokanee Salmon require a few specific pieces of equipment to be most effectively caught. Even if it is just a boat, it’s really good to have. Actually, especially if its a boat.
For trolling, and although it isn’t exactly required, a downrigger would be a very good sale. Consider buying quite a bit of leaded fishing line, and also a few weights. There are small salmon downrigger clips that can be easily attached to a line and will get the hook down to the correct depth.
Another piece of tech that would be very useful would be a fish finder. The ability to see the bottom of the lake would be amazing to have. The fish finder isn’t a bad purchase because of how useful it can be. It can help out with jigging and with ice fishing.
Is Kokanee a salmon or trout? Kokanee Salmon is actually land locked Sockeye Salmon, an ocean and river species. They tend to be smaller than Sockeye Salmon, and they act more like trouts, but they do not breed with either. Kokanee Salmon are considered a separate species than Sockeye Salmon.
What do Kokanee Salmon like to eat? Kokanee Salmon are strictly zooplankton eaters. Despite constantly biting lures, Zooplankton, very small organisms floating in the water, is their only source of food. Many types of fish eat Kokanee, though. Kokanee Salmon are also known to eat very small insects, but that is a lot less common. Kokanee Salmon have gill rakers that make eating other things harder.
Kokanee Salmon are fish that tend to hang out around deeper water levels. There isn’t a whole lot of consistency, though. They hang out just under schools of bait-fish, despite being almost completely zooplankton feeders. Being close to these baitfish, however, is good cover from the other fish that want to eat them, such as Rainbows or Bull trout.
But, how deep would be the optimal depth to troll? Kokanee salmon can be found at varying depths depending on the time of year and body of water. The most common range for kokanee trolling is between 10 and 40 feet. I generally troll at 18 feet until I can get a good reading from the fish finder.
Kokanee Salmon are deeper swimming fish. They have sensitive eyes, so the salmon stay lower in the water to stay away from the more intense light that is common in shallower levels.
The Kokanee have a habit of swimming parallel with the shore. I learned this when ice fishing with some buddies in January 2018. A veteran fisherman came over to my set of holes that were all lined up about 5 feet apart. He said that since my holes were all lined up parallel to the shore I might as well be fishing in one hole of having them all together.
ヒメマスは岸辺と平行に泳ぐ習性がある。2018年の1月に友人と氷上釣りをしていたとき、このことを知った。一人のベテランの漁師は、5フィート間隔で開けた穴にやって来て、岸辺沿いに平行に穴が開いているので、1箇所に1つの穴のように釣れそうだ、と言った。
After I got over the slightly rude call-out of my mistake, I set up my lines every 10 feet from the shore. I started catching Kokanee a lot more frequently. I applied this knowledge during the spring and summer fishing seasons and noticed that this was true as well. If I timed it correctly, I could follow school of fish as they traveled either up or down the side of the bank.
私は間違いへの少し無礼な避難から立ち直ったのち、岸辺から10フィート毎に釣り糸をセットした。ヒメマスが頻繁にずっとたくさん釣れ始めた。春と夏の釣り期間にこの知識を応用し、これはかなり真実であると気が付いた。もし正しくその時間を計ったなら、魚が岸から上がってくるか､下がっていくとき、その群に付いて行くことができる。
Kokanee like to hang out just off the drop-offs in the deeper parts of the lake. Places like these allows the fish to not move but still be close enough to a food source, kind of like the river fish who hang out right next to the heavy currents where their food comes from.
ヒメマスは湖の深場に落ち込むところで、ぶらつくことが好きだ。このような場所は動かないで、食料源に十分近い。それは、食料が流れてくる強い水流の隣でたむろする川魚のように。
Kokanee Salmon are some of the more energy-aware fish, so they spend a great deal of time just chilling in the water conserving their energy. The only time that they move is when there is food in front of their faces or there is something annoying them.
ヒメマスはエネルギーを非常に意識する魚で、彼らのエネルギーを温存しながら水中で冷え込みながら､大半の時間を過ごしている。移動するときは、ただ彼らの顔の前に餌があるときか、目障りなものがあるときだけである。
Kokanee will follow a dodger and hook if it looks like food, but then will bite only when the action of the lure makes it angry. Because of this, you will first need to travel over the Kokanee and get your hooks near enough to be seen.
ヒメマスは、もしそれがエサのようならドジャーとフックを追うが、ルアーアクションが彼らを怒らしたときにのみ食いつくだろう。それで、まずヒメマスを探し回る必要があり、彼らの十分近くにフックを持って行く必要がある。
How to Get Your Line Deep Enough for Kokanee
ヒメマスのいる水深に釣り糸を持って行く方法
Getting your hook to be seen by the fish can be difficult because some Kokanee are at least 20 feet down, and most of the time they are around 60 feet down. The easiest way to get a hook and line down that deep is by using a downrigger on a bigger boat. The downriggers are usually more expensive and can be dangerous to put on a kayak.
ヒメマスは少なくとも20フィート(6ｍ)、おおくは60フィートの深さにいるので、釣り鉤を魚のいる水深へ持って行くことは難しい。フックとラインをその水深へ沈めるのに最も簡単な方法は、大型ボートからダウンリガーを使うことだ。ダウンリガーは通常最もお金の掛かる方法で、カヤックに取り付けることは危険だ。
Downriggers
ダウンリガー
The down rigger is a piece of equipment that will help bring down the line to very deep depths. What it specifically does is attach a weight that is very easily unclipped from the line. The weight is connected to a crank and line that has a line counter on it to tell exactly how deep the line has gone.
ダウンリガーとはかなりの水深へラインを沈めることができる装置一式のことである。特別な点はオモリを取り付けていて、ラインが非常に簡単に外れるようになっている。オモリはクランクとラインに接続されていて、ラインの水深を正確に計るためにライン・カウンターが付いている。
Once a fish in on your hook, either you or the fish will yank hard enough to get the hook away from the downrigger’s weight and you will be able to reel in the fish uninhibited by a heavy weight to get it down that deep.
フックに魚が掛かると、釣人か魚はダウンリガーのオモリからフックを外すに十分な強さで引っ張るであろう。そして深く沈めた重いオモリに束縛されずに､リールを巻いて魚を取り込めることになる。
But down-riggers can get very expensive, even a manual crank one. The electric ones can get up there, as much of the fishing equipment can be. The downrigger is the best way, but there are still good ways to get your line down to 50+ feet.
ダウンリガーは、手動クランプ式でさえ高価である。
Leaded line
レッドコア・ライン
There is something called a leaded line. This is a type of fishing line that has a lead core. The outside is usually covered by some type of braid or a different material.
レッドコアラインと言われものがある。鉛芯釣り糸のことである。外側は編み糸や他の材料で被覆されている。
What the leaded line is supposed to do is to get the line down deep without hurting the action of the lures as a weight would. The line is very strong but is somewhat thicker in diameter than other lines this makes it only good for trolling, but it does very well. You can get to those optimal depths with a leaded line very easily.
この鉛芯ラインがなすことは、オモリがルアーアクションを害することなく、ラインを深く沈めることだ。ラインは非常に強く、トローリングに適した他のラインより直径は太い。しかし非常にうまく働く。非常に簡単に鉛芯ラインで最適な水深に持って行くことができる。
The price of the leaded line can get expensive as well, but if purchased in the right amount, it is still very much cheaper than buying a downrigger.
鉛芯ラインはかなり高価だが、もし適量を購入したなら、ダウンリガーよりかなり安価である。
Sliding Weights
滑るオモリ
Sliding weights are just what they seem to be. They are a weight that is able to slide up and down on the line. This can help with the line being too weighted down. The sliding weight can help get the lure down to the wated depth, but then after that, the weight does not inhibit the line and actin of the lure.
上下に揺れるオモリは、まさに彼らが目にするものだ。それらはラインを上下に滑ることが可能なオモリだ。これはラインが沈下しすぎないようにするのに役に立つ。滑るオモリはルアーを望みの水深へ沈めるのに役に立つが、その後、オモリはラインとルアーアクションを抑制しない。
Best Rigs for Catching Kokanees at Any Depth
どの水深でもヒメマスが釣れる最適な仕掛け
Because Kokanee Salmon are so popular to catch, there is a lot of knowledge on the best ways to catch them. Every professional angler, and everyone who knows how to catch Kokanee Salmon when trolling knows that hoochies are the way to go. I’ve written a complete guide on the best setups for kokanee fishing before.
ヒメマスは釣りとして有名なので、その釣りについてたくさんの知識がある。トローリングのとき、ヒメマスを釣るにはどのプロアングラーや誰もが知っていることは、Hoochies(タコベイト）が最善の方法であるを知っている。私はa complete guide on the best setups for kokanee fishing before.に記事を書いた。
Hoochie
タコベイト
A hoochie is an artificial lure that has many little plastic trailers that attract fish towards the fish. They come in a lot of colors, but the ones confirmed to work the best for Kokanee trolling are bright pinks.
タコベイトは人工のルアーで、魚を引き付けるたくさんの小さなトレーラー（ヒラヒラ、蔓草）が付いている。たくさんの色があり、ヒメマスで最も有効と確信されているモノは明るいピンク色だ。
Because the best depths to troll for Kokanee are very deep, you will have to use some very bright colors to have the fish be able to see the lure and bite it.
ヒメマス釣りのベストなトローリング水深は非常に深いので、魚にルアーが見えて、食いつくことができるように、明るい色を使うべきだ。
The Kokanee are triggered by pinks and will attack them out of anger or irritation. Pink works especially well during times that are not the Kokanee’s feeding times. Other good colors are oranges, reds, and some light purples. The warm colors are the way to go with Kokanee.
ヒメマスはピンク色でトリガーが掛かり、怒りと苛立ちから攻撃してくる。ピンク色はヒメマスの採餌時間帯でないときに、特に効果的だ。他の効果的な色は、オレンジ、赤、薄紫だ。暖かい色はヒメマスにベストな選択だ。
On the back of the hoochie’s hook, put one kernel of white shoepeg that was soaked in garlic the night before. The smell that the garlic will give the corm will introduce a new smell to the Kokanee Salmon, and that will irritate them into biting.
タコベイトのフックの後ろに、前日の夜にニンニクに浸した白い靴べらの小片を付けろ。ニンニクの球根の匂いはヒメマスに新しい匂いになり、苛立って食いつく。
Dodgers
ドジャー
A dodger is a piece of metal that attracts fish towards the hooks trailing behind. The dodgers reflect light at the fish and acts as the scales of a fish swimming in the water.
ドジャーはその後ろで引っ張るフックの方へ魚を引き付ける金属片である。光を反射し、水中を泳いでいる魚の鱗として働く。
Some dodgers can be bent to give them the action that makes them sway in the water. If there are three lines out in the water with dodgers, all followed by hooks and lures, those will look like a school of fish and the Kokanee salmon will most likely strike out of annoyance.
あるドジャーは水中で揺れ動くアクションになるように曲げられている。もし水中で、離れてドジャー、ルアー、フックの3列になっているなら、魚の群のようになり、ヒメマスは苛立って攻撃してくるようだ。
Flashers
フラッシャー
These are about the same as the dodgers except they are much smaller and they spin around much more erratic. The purpose of the flashers is to get reflect more sunlight in a wider range of area. The flashers will act as small baitfish swimming in the water. This artificial school of fish will be targeted by the Kokanee Salmon and the stragglers of the school, the hooks, and lures will be bit first.
これはより小型でより不規則に回転する点以外は、ドジャーと同じである。フラッシャーの目的は広いエリアにより光線を反射させることだ。フラッシャーは水中を泳ぐ小魚のように動く。この小魚の人工的群はヒメマスのターゲットになり、その群のはぐれた魚、フック、そしてルアーが最初にエサとなる。
Spinner Blades
回転ブレード
Usually only found on spinner lures and spinner baits, spinner blades act as an action giver to a hook. They spin around the hook, reflecting light and creating a disturbance in the water. The fish will pick up on the disturbances and will come from pretty far away towards the lure.
通常、スピナールアーとスピナーベイトのみが知られていて、回転ブレードはフックにおびき寄せる効果がある。それらは、水中で光を反射して乱流を生成しながら、フックを中心に回転する。魚は乱流に追いつき、遠くからルアーの方にやって来る。
The reflection is to attract closer fish to strike, and it works very well. A spinner blade can be attached to a hoochie, which will give it that extra advantage in the deeper waters where the Kokanee live.
その反射は近くの魚を襲いかかるように誘惑し、非常に上手く行く。回転ブレードはタコベイトに取り付けることができ、ヒメマスが棲む深場で非常に有効になる。
Extra Tips for Trolling for Kokanee
ヒメマスのトローリング釣りの特別のティップ
Trolling is an art, and every art meduim has things that can be done to make the final product look better or be easier to accomplish.
トローリングは1つの芸術だ。すべての芸術手段は最終作品の見栄えを良くするか、簡単に実行できるモノだ。
Buy a Rubber Snubber: A Rubber Snubber is a piece of rubber that is attached between the leader and the line before the dodger and the hook. This helps keep a lot of tension out of the Kokanee’s mouth. ラバーのスナッバーを買え：これはリーダとドジャーとフック前のライン間に付けるゴムバンドで、ヒメマスの口からの強いテンションを保つのに役立つ。
Soft Mouths: Kokanee have very soft mouths, so sometimes the hook can be set too violent and the hook can be ripped out of the fish’s mouth. The Rubber Snubber will help keep that set gentle enough not to rip it out. 柔らかい口：ヒメマスの口は非常に柔らかく、ときどき乱暴にフッキングすると､フックがヒメマスの口から外れてしまうことがある。ラバースナッバーは口から外れないように優しくフッキングするのに役立つ。
Buy a long net: Because of the Kokanee’s soft mouths, it is hard to get one in the boat by lifting it out of the water. A long net will help get the fish out of the water safely and to not get off the hook. 長い柄のランディングネットを買え：ヒメマスの口は柔らかいので、ボートから水中のヒメマスを上げるのは難しい。柄の長いランディングネットは口からフックが外れないように、安全に水中から魚を引き上げるのに役立つ。
Related Questions
関連質問
How fast should you troll for Kokanee Salmon? Around 0.8 MPH up to 1.5 MPH. There are some fishermen who have found luck at 2 MPH, but I have not seen much luck going that fast.
ヒメマス釣りのトローリング・スピードはどの位か？だいたい0.8-1.5mph(1.3-2.5km/h)だ。ときどき2mph(3.2km/h)の釣り人を見掛けるが、釣れている人を見たことがない。
What times of year can Kokanee be caught? Kokanee can be caught year round. Trolling is best around mid summer and early autumn, while jigging is better during the winter while ice fishing, and during early spring.
ヒメマスは年のいつ釣れるのか？ヒメマスは年中釣れる。トローリングは真夏と初秋がベストだ。ジグは氷上釣りの冬の間と初春がベストだ。
Kokanee Salmon are one of the most targeted fish in the USA. They are delicious and are fun to catch. They come in decent sizes and don’t require too much to target. Sockeye Salmon are a larger type of fish that spends a lot of their time in the ocean.
So, what is the difference between Kokanee Salmon and Sockeye Salmon?
Kokanee Salmon are really just landlocked Sockeye Salmon. They spend the entirety of their lives in a lake or a river connected to a lake. Because they live in freshwater lakes, they tend to be smaller in weight and length in relation to sockeye salmons. They also cannot produce offspring together.
Sockeye Salmon spend most of their lives in the ocean, but they still have a need for freshwater streams, rivers, and lakes. Kokanee spend their whole lives in lakes. Because of the differences in habitat, it should change a lot about them, right? Wrong. There aren’t many differences.
All around, Sockeye and Kokanee have a very similar structure. It wasn’t too long ago that the Kokanee Species didn’t even exist. A few hundred years ago, there was only Sockeye Salmon. But after a few flooding and drought instances, there were Sockeye Salmon that got stuck in lakes.
The only difference physically is their size. Kokanee Salmon are very much smaller than Sockeye, which can make them harder to distinguish. Usually, a small Sockeye is just called a Kokanee, and it’s pretty accurate.
The two types of salmon start out with a silver coloring that is very appealing to a lot of piscivorous fish, such as Steelhead Rainbow Trout and some largemouth bass.
When the Salmon start to spawn, their coloring goes from being the silver to a deep, bright red. This is because their bodies stop growing and making more tissues, and start to decay. The red is a result of the decay and death of their bodies. Their tales are heavily notched and do not have any black markings on the dorsal fin, unlike most other fish in their family. The biggest difference that the Kokanee have when compared to the Sockeye Salmons is their mouths. They look exactly the same, but the mouths of the Kokanee Salmons are very soft and do not do well with a hook and a lot of tension behind it. When trying to catch a Kokanee Salmon, be sure to set the hook correctly, but not yank it out of the fish’s mouth.
The reason that Sockeye and Kokanee don’t interbreed is that they spawn during different time periods. The Sockeye are in the ocean when Kokanee are spawning, and the Kokanee are more dormant during the time that Sockeye come in from the oceans to spawn.
Sockeye begin life in the rivers and lakes. After 1 – 3 years of living in the lakes, they travel to the ocean where they will hunt for food and get bigger.
After any time from 1 – 5 years, the Sockeye Salmons will return from the ocean and spawn. After they spawn they will die and the process restarts all over again with a new generation.
The first two or so years of the fish’s life will probably be the easiest part. Lakes are relatively safe and they can get big enough to make the journey to the ocean pretty quickly. Once they get to a certain size, however, their habitat will not be able to support them and they leave.
The Sockeye spend anywhere from 1 – 5 years out at sea due to the amount of food in the ocean. If there is a lot, then they will stay and feed. If the ocean was struggling that year, they will return to the river and die there.
Kokanee Salmon are born in some of those same lakes and streams and spend the rest of their lives in those lakes. The Kokanee get as large as the habitat will allow them to get and wait until they get caught by a human until a different fish kills them, or until they go spawn somewhere after a few years and die there.
Kokanee and Sockeye Salmons are also very big energy conservationists. If there is no reason to move, then they will not move. The only exception to this is when something is annoying them. Kokanee salmon are very aggressive fish and do not take well to intruders of their personal space.
The Kokanee Salmon and Sockeye species are plankton eaters but are also known to sometimes eat shrimp and insects during the juvenile parts of life.
The ocean has pretty good constant oxygenation, which helps keep plankton alive year round. During the winter months of the year, however, the lakes freeze over, putting a cap over the water that stops the oxygen in the air getting to the water. Because the plankton are sensitive to the levels of oxygen in the water, they can sometimes die out.
The lack of sunlight can also hurt the oxygen levels. If not enough light is getting down to the plants on the bottom of the lake, then the plants down there will die, stopping yet another way of getting oxygen into the water.
If this happens too early in the season, the Kokanee can lose their most precious food supply and start to die. If it gets especially bad, or they’re being forced to move a lot, then the Kokanee cannot get enough oxygen and die of that…
But every year, when the plankton population returns to full force, the Kokanee Salmon come back strong as ever. Kokes are a hardy species.
The range that a Sockeye Salmon lives in is pretty large. The main center of their habitat is the British Columbian coast and the Washington Coast. They span south as far as California’s Mendocino County Coast, about mid-north California.
Sockeye Salmon have been seen as far north as the Canadian Arctic, or Northern Canada. Some have even been seen as far east as the Anadyr River in Siberia. Sockeye Salmon have gone inland as far as mid-Idaho, but these are usually Kokanee Salmon and landlocked.
Kokanee Salmon have been introduced to nearly every continent on the planet, and have been able to thrive nearly everywhere. In the USA, they can be found in every state to the West, though some states only have a few lakes where a Kokanee Fishery was established. For the Eastern States, North Carolina’s Nantahala Lake is the only place where Kokanee Salmon exist. This population was established for the sole purpose of being forage food for some of the other types of fish in the lake.
Sockeye Salmon are listed on the endangered species list. Because one species of fish can be so spread out across the world, the fish are separated into specific populations to be categorized on the endangered list. The population found in the Snake River are endangered, while the population in some lakes are listed as stable. Overall, the species is not in danger of being extinct. Kokanee Salmon, on the other hand, are very stable and are listed as “Least Concern possible” on the list. Kokanee Salmon are able to survive a lot of hardships which has allowed them to be introduced to nearly every environment. 絶滅に瀕した状態
紅鮭は絶滅危惧種リストに載っている。ある種の魚が世界中に拡散したので、その魚は絶滅危惧種になるように、特定の個体数で分離されている。いくつかの湖での個体数は安定しているが、Snake川で見つかる個体数は危機に瀕している。全体的には、その種は絶滅するほど危険な状態ではない。リストには低危険種としてリストアップされている。姫鱒は、殆どの環境に導入されたたくさんの困難を越えて生存することができる。
Kokanee and Sockeye
There are no populations in the USA that need to be concerned about. In most places, the bag limit for Kokanee Salmon is around 15 per person.
There aren’t a lot of differences between the two fish. The location that they are found and the size they will grow up to be are the two biggest differences. Their diets, life cycles, and the best ways that they are caught are all very similar, if not identical.
As a general rule of thumb when talking about the two types, a Sockeye or Kokanee Salmon caught in a lake is a Kokanee.
Do Kokanee and Sockeye Salmon taste the same? There is a slightly different taste, but there is a difference. Kokanee Salmon are less oily than Sockeye Salmon. Because the Sockeye Salmon live in the ocean, they have a richer diet than Kokanee Salmon, who are stuck to feed in lakes.
What is the healthiest salmon to eat?Wild Alaskan Salmon is the healthiest fish to eat. Kokanee Salmon and Sockeye Salmon rank lower on the list than Wild Alaskan Salmon but are still very healthy fish to eat. The fresher you can get the fish, the healthier the fish will be. 最も健康に良い鮭は？
アラスカの天然の鮭は最も健康によい。姫鱒と紅鮭はこのアラスカの鮭より順位は低いが、食するのに非常に健康的だ。魚がフレッシュであればあるほど、魚は健康的だ。
Rainbow Trout and Kokanee Salmon are the two most targeted fish on the west coast. They are both delicious fish and are both fun to catch, two of the main reasons they are so popular. There are many fisheries on the West Coast, from California to Canada and Alaska, that have made it their purpose to maintain a steady population of Rainbows and Kokes in the lakes and surrounding rivers.
