Progress on First trip to the Gorge

Not a lot of kokanee's for us yet. Couple of Kokes, 1 bow, and 10 macks. 1 Mack was 40 " and 29.24 lbs after 2 hrs in the boat. Caught on Rocky Mountain Gear and 8 lb Test!

We are camped at Buckboard and heading out again looking for kokes later this afternoon. Does anyone have any ideas where the and stupid & hungry Kokes are? Seemed like we were seeing plenty at 14 ft, but almost no action. I am using Rcoky Mountain Bahama Mama Doger and Suicide spinners and squids. Thinking about swithing to Hookies later this afternoon. ????? Koke Help any One

nice mac. You say you caught it on RMT stuff. What exactly were you using to hook that monster. We fished out of buckboard last weekend during the derby. Koks mostly came from 20 to 35 feet. It was hit and miss as to where they were. Most however came from around squaw hollow after water temp reached about 53 degrees. RT dodgers with squids or spinners were working really well. Tipped with gulp sparkle wiggers and either herring or carp spit pro cure for scent. You might also want to try between big bend and the island, a few came from there also. Hope this helps.

Also try a pink hyper plad dodger with a pearlescent squid, combos of Pink and Green together worked well also. Vary your depths, Look at our watermelon dodger. this has those color combos. I would also recommend a double glow rainbow squid, double glow pink and double glow caribean squids. Halojm hit the depths just right on. We ran pretty consistant at 28 -30 feet and did pretty well. Check your leader length on your squids behind your dodgers. Keep them at 10"-12". How fast are you trolling? 1.5- 2.0 was working great for us last weekend. Good luck to you.

If you need and of these combos, Chris and Lauretta have them in the buckboard marina store. Tell them the RMT boys sent ya in.thumbsup

Thanks for the Guidance Gentlemen

Wraping it up and headed back to our turf in Idaho Saturday. This is an incredible fishery. I'll be back for sure.

The Mack was caught on a Bahama Mama 4.5" dodger and RMT Assasin, florecent orange and green. It came apart in the boat, completely accepatble. Absolutely no complaints. I put it back together it with new hooks and put it back to work.

latter

This may come too late for your trip this time but for what it's worth, our team didn't do well during the Derby this year. We picked up a few smaller kokanee between Anvil Draw and the first beach north of the Squaw Hollow cliffs. We boated a nice 3 lb bow (spawned out female) that had recently been hooked really deep with bait. I cut off about 2 feet of heavy line near her mouth just so she wouldn't get snagged on anything and released her unharmed. I already knew she wouldn't make the weight for the Derby and realizing she is Good Broodstock, I let her go. She put up quite a fight even after spawning so I just hope that the burbot don't scarf up all the eggs.

The fish you're marking at 14' may be rainbow especially if they're not of spawing age yet. Hope you had a GREAT trip though.