Although the Lake Sammamish Kokanee were close to being wiped out three years ago, it proved this season that it's one tough little fish.

The Issaquah Salmon hatchery managed to return 62,000 fry to the creeks and rivers that feed into the lake. That's up from only 16,000 last year.

As pleased as biologists were, the great anticipation is for the return in the fall, when the first hatchery-born fish will spawn.

The community gathered April 19 to celebrate the Kokanee project by releasing a few dozen into Laughing Jacobs Creek, which runs through Lake Sammamish State Park.

With other breeds of salmon, such as Coho, people are figuring out that the health of the runs has a lot to do with ocean conditions.

The Kokanee, however, never leave the lake.There is no excuse, said King County ..... http://www.issaquahreporter.com/news/148554875.html

Do none of the Lake Sammamish kokes head out the slough, through Lake Wa, and to the sound/ocean?

I seem to remember seeing a guy catching sockeye in the slough near Bothell Landing when I was really little.

If it went to the salt it would be called "sockeye". There are, or were, sockeye that spawned in the Lake Sammamish tribs. It is also quite possible that Sammamish kokanee could rear in Lake WA and then go back to the natal trib to spawn.

Yeah, koke would be a misnomer in that case. But I guess my question is the certainty level of whether Lake Sammammish Oncorhynchus nerka do/don't leave the lake, and whether that affects returning spawner numbers.

There were such big numbers of kokes in sammammish earlier in the year at least I stopped completely fishing it for trout because you would need to weed through 10 kokes to get one cut. They are not very hardy fish so catch and release is not the best idea for them just to get a fish. There were some larger than average ones in there this year though.

As with most sockeye lakes, there are resident and migratory fish. Since Lake WA smolts are in the 150mm range, if you're catch "juveniles" in the summer and they are in the 200+ range you are into kokanee.

Adult kokanee are significantly smaller than adult sockeye, in these lakes. So, it is fairly easy to tell once they mature. I have heard that there are often differences in coloration, too.