Why, so many record setters come from Wallowa Lake.

Bill Knox, assistant district fish biologist with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, has seen five state record-breaking kokanee come out of Wallowa Lake in the last year.

There are several reasons for the big kokanee, Knox said.

Kokanee are a popular game fish that have been put in lakes all over the West. Recently freshwater shrimp were introduced to lakes as a food source for kokanee.

“It’s one of these magic bullet things,” Knox said.

In some places it worked out. Kokanee got bigger. In other places it didn’t. In some lakes kokanee declined or been wiped out all together.

That didn’t happen in Wallowa Lake. It’s left fish and wildlife biologists scratching their heads. Knox and others are still studying the lake to see why the shrimp worked there and not elsewhere.

But there is a catch to having large kokanee. The bigger the fish, the fewer fish there are in the lake.

In the last two years sonar surveys have shown low numbers of kokanee in Wallowa Lake.

“I just want people to understand these big trophy fish are a good news, bad news thing,” Knox said. “It’s great when you catch one but it also means there’s not as many fish as there used to be.”

Kokanee season usually lasts until late July. Knox said he wouldn’t be surprised if another record was set by summer’s end.