The overall objective is to restore the kokanee fishery in Banks Lake. In 2002 we implemented an evaluation study to determine the success of hatchery releases of kokanee into Banks Lake.  We are currently evaluating the survival and harvest contribution rates of three different release strategies, spring fry, fall fingerling and yearling net pen releases.  Initial results based on age-2 and age-3 kokanee from four different brood years indicates that fall fingerlings perform best, followed by net pen reared yearlings. Therefore, we will work to discontinue spring fry stocking and will expand on the WDFW fall fry and net pen program. However, to legitimately evaluate these strategies we need to continue to sample the kokanee population over the next several years to quantify how many age 2 to 4 yr-old fish are produced by each release option.  

A summer hydroacoustic surveys (July) will be used to estimate age class abundance and distribution of limnetic fish species (target verification with limnetic gill netting survey). A littoral gill netting and electrofishing survey will be conducted at the same time as the limnetic hydroacoustic survey. Fall Walleye Index Netting (FWIN)  will be used to monitoring the walleye population and collect fall predator diets using gill nets and boat electrofishing in October. Adult kokanee will be collected during the FWIN survey to Water quality and zooplankton monitoring will continue to identify if sub-optimal conditions occur for kokanee during survival-based studies. An annual creel survey will be conducted to evaluate harvest rates of kokanee and other game fish on the lake.