Wallowa Lake produces record kokanee

Northeastern Oregon’s Wallowa Lake is producing a bonanza of state-record kokanee of saltwater proportions. Wan Teece of Enterprise caught a 26.25-inch long kokanee weighing 8.23 pounds on March 24, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife recently confirmed. Teece and her husband, Jack, were trolling near the middle of the lake with a Jack Lloyd blade set-up dragging a Double-Whammy lure with 2 ounces of lead to keep it down deep. “From what we currently know, this kokanee is the largest ever caught in the United States,” says Bill Knox, assistant district fish biologist in Enterprise. The world record is 9 pounds, 6 ounces caught in 1988 in Okanagan Lake, British Columbia. Wallowa Lake had already turned the heads of anglers in late February when it produced a 7.5-pound state record kokanee, and a 7-pounder came out of the lake in July.