How does one "jig" for Kokanee?

The only jigs I know are meant for the dance floor. I've been reading that one of the ways to jig for kokanee is to use buzz bombs. What else do I need to know? Do I use two hooks? What size? Weight? When I told you guys I know nothing, you may not have believed me. Now you know how much of a greenhorn I am.

I am by no means the expert with only one trip under my belt but got some great advice and the lures from the guys/gals that caught the fish in the recent Pardee derby as well as won it, Mike & Kendra Tripp and other advice from Khanh Tran who caught a bunch jigging.

Buzz Bombs in 2 1/2 and 3 inch size were the ones that worked. They seem heavy but if you have to get them down to 100 to 130 feet it needs some weight. They come with a treble and rubber stopper. Here's the direct link:

http://www.buzzbombzzinger.com/buzzbomb.html

Last Sun was our first real attempt with the right lures that were heavy enough to get them down on the fish quickly. Maintaining your boat over the school is key so having good electronics makes a difference. I had so much fun I'm going back this Sunday to try for some more as the opportunity isn't that often it seems where we can find large schools together as most lakes they have been scattered this year in California.

A fairly stout rod is needed with these bigger lures so you can jig them 12-24 inches or so. My daughter used a Vance's 7'6" rod that I thought was going to be too light but she caught the most fish out of all of us. My Rogue Kokanee Downrigger rod worked as it has a bit more backbone than a Lamiglass.

That's about all I know... oh I forgot I lubed the lures with some Pro-Cure Gel in Kokanee Special.

Kevin

over here on blue mesa the kokes school up at the prespawn time prepaing for thier run. as Hytech said electronics and boat control and a cooperative school that will stay put is what ya need. we use 3/4-1 oz castmaster or crippled herings, tip the hooks with white shoepeg if legal or gulp maggots. really don't have to jig allot they will grab the maggots, yeah I know everyone says its an aggression bite, well I say bs, they grab the bait, seen it over and over, the guys who don't use bait fowel hook 80% of the fish. In no way any disrespect meant to HTech but I hate thoose buzz bombs, remind me of the bozos in linwood bay on FG snagging spawning lake trout. Htech how many are getting fowel hooked with thoose things? btw the kastmaster that work the best over here are silver with the chartruse or orange stripe. I use my lake trout rods, stiff medium hvy action with 15lb pline on it, we fish 60-100 feet so ya need some backbone in the hook set. allot of people use line counter sot they can tell were their lures are, I use my sonar to watch my lure, try to put it right above or in the top of the school, when one gets hooked it is fun to watch the whole school gets going and the action heats up.

Debates about jigging I realize can be a religious war of sorts that I have seen time and time again with the river salmon folks... back when California had river salmon. I'm happy to say our fish were not foul hooked and the likely reason for that is there is a right way and a wrong way to jig that is more prone to fowl hooking. I backed this up from a statement from a guy that said he was getting a lot fowl hooked ones and we observed his technique was pulling the lure up about 4 feet up at a time and letting it drop. In talking to another good friend that is a guide and has lots of experience he said the same thing. If you are going to use broad motions with the lure then you are more likely to snag. If you are going to keep it to 12 to 24 inches then you'll get more proper hook-ups. This confirms my daughters technique.. only about 12-18 inches of motion at best and she caught her fish with lure in the mouth.

As for bait...we basically used none except my other daughter put some corn on but she had no hits and did not catch any overall... I tried to get her to have a bit better technique but she got tired.

No disrespect taken as you certainly can go out and snag them if you want to but that's not my intent. The direct fish bite and action on the rod was the fun part for us. We're using a bit lighter rods and line than most would probably use.

Kevin

when i jig for kokes i lift slowly about 4-10in depend on how aggressive the fish are. watching the fish finder and let the fish tell me what they wantthumbsup

I certainly appreciate your willingness to comment on the techniques of jigging.
With your help, I at least now have some clue about at least getting on the lake. Maybe I'll even remember to put in the drain plug and remove the hold-down straps between the boat and the trailer.tooexcited

Here in Oregon jigging is a very popular way of fishing for kokanee. I am a troller, but this year was a bit different than years past where I fish. Paulina Lake had a late opening due to ice off, and that seemed to throw the turnover off as well. In normal years jigging is productive up til memorial day. This year jigging put fish in the boat over trolling a couple months later. So I thought what the heck...good time to learn this technique they call jigging. Having a few box's of jigs on the boat already, it made sence to give them a chance and get em wet! We targeted fish in around 50'-70' depth, finding good concentrations on the finder (Humminbird 777c2) and discovered we could actully see our jigs going up and down on the screen! Anyway, what we did was drop the jigs to the bottom and reel up a couple turns. Lift the rod up 6"-12" and let drop without resistance. The fish usually hit on the drop, so be ready to set the hook! Been useing maxima ultra green 4lb test and tie directly to the jigs. Might go with a thin braided line for next year, as a no stretch line could be a benefit when setting the hook. We have now found that this thing they call jigging will actually put bigger koks in the boat over trolling! I guess the fish are larger on the bottom, as they were a good couple inches larger than the rest. Pro-cure scent was always applied, and corn on the hook, will try useing scent only next season. One more thing...The use of "glow" jigs was very productive early mornings and towards dusk. The Gibbs minnow in pink and white was the lure of choice, www.gibbsfishing.com Also, check out the trolling lure "Hockey Stick"

Monte..... I am also learning to fish for these Kokanee! Where do you live & where are you fishing?

I have only tried jiging once or twice, when i did I used the lead jigs up to 2oz. I dont know if it helped but I use the small squid hoochies (2 hooks) about 10 to 12 " below the jig body baited with white corn.

Kokonuts said:

Monte..... I am also learning to fish for these Kokanee! Where do you live & where are you fishing?

I have only tried jiging once or twice, when i did I used the lead jigs up to 2oz. I dont know if it helped but I use the small squid hoochies (2 hooks) about 10 to 12 " below the jig body baited with white corn.

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I live in the SF Bay Area in California. I don't get out fishing as much as I'd like, but this Kokanee thing may change that. I fish Huntington Lake near Shaver Lake. I'm hearing Pardee has Kokanee too, and then there's Don Pedro which I've never fished. So far, I've worked too much and fished too little. Maybe that will get fixed.

Thanks for the tips. My understanding of what you are doing is using a lead jig and a small hoochie below that with two hooks under the hoochie. That's one I haven't heard of before!

Monte.... I live in Portland Or. & fish in Or. & Wash.

I buy the pretied double hook & leader set ups to use for Hoochies & Wedding rings. With winter comming up I'll be making up lots of new "STUFF" for next year.

What kind of stuff are you using?

Kokonuts said:

Monte.... I live in Portland Or. & fish in Or. & Wash.

I buy the pretied double hook & leader set ups to use for Hoochies & Wedding rings. With winter comming up I'll be making up lots of new "STUFF" for next year.

What kind of stuff are you using?

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Don't go by my approach to koke fishing...I'm just getting started. I have to get everything ready for next season and maybe then I can comment without making a fool of myself. What I know I've learned here and snooping around the internet. There's a good bunch of guys here who are willing to put up with all my newbie questions.

Asking how to jig for Kokanee is like asking how do you troll for Kokanee. There are many different ways to jig for Kokanee and there are many different kinds of jigs. I am no expert, but I have picked up a few tips and tricks. First it is good to have a sensitive rod and to use a braided type line with no stretch. I do put about 10 feet of 6 lb mono on the end of the braided line. A double uni knot works well for that. I just bought a Berkley Tactix (TSX661FML) dropshot finesse rod. My catch rate went up this year due to the rod. The rod has a sensitive tip to detect a bite, but has enough back bone to transmit the hook set fast. Kokanee bite a jig quickly so if there is much lag between the bite and hook-set many fish will be lost.

I use a wide variety of jigs and lures. My most productive this past season was the Gibb’s Minnow. I also have buzz Bombs, Crippled Herrings, jigs from people that make them as a hobby and some that I have made myself. I also use spoons as jigs and have had some luck with those when a standard jig does not produce.

I jig for Kokanee anywhere from the surface to over 100 feet deep. Catching them near the surface in the spring is my favorite method. You can put a lot of fish in your boat fast when the fish are on the bite with jigs. For example, it is not uncommon to catch 25 fish in less than two hours at Odell when the bite is on.

Most of the time I don’t use bait, but there are times when it makes a difference. I use corn, worms, eggs and sometimes shrimp.

As for the way to jig, it will all depend on the fish. Sometimes a standard 10-18” rise will work, but other times a very deliberate raise and drop will do the trick. Another method is to employ a quick little 3” pop. I have also caught fish near the surface using the biggest side arm jig I can manage. I have gotten some odd looks from other boats because it looks like I am a bass fisherman or a snagger. 99% of the fish I hook are in the mouth.

As was already mentioned, it is important to stay over a school of fish. Usually if you are not marking fish, you will not be catching them. Often time schools of fish will pass under your boat every 10 or fifteen minutes. At that time I will stay anchored and wait for the fish to pass thru again. If you can’t stay on top of fish another method is to wind drift and jig. There is some estimation involved because you have to guess your depth. One way to try and find the fish is to let out, say 60 turns of line, then every few minutes reel up a few turn while keeping track of the count. Next time down you will know how many turns to drop the jig. It is also important to use heavier jigs when drifting.

I hope this helps.

Hello FRG,

Welcome to the forum. You have some good ideas on jigging. I'm very likely going to the ISE show in Sacramento this weekend and will be looking at some gear. What pound test braided line do you use above the 6 ft of leader?

Jigging for kokanee will be new to me...I've only jigged for fish in salt water before. Mostly halibut and ling cod.

That's a great write up FRG! Has your catch rate been better targeting suspended fish at a specific depth in deep water, or jigging just off the bottom closer to shore where you can anchor? Last year I had the jig hook get hooked around the line alot while raising and lowering. Is there a certain trick to keep this from happening. Do you keep some tension on the lure while lowering, or let it free-fall without resistance? Also, have you ever heard of anyone lowering their downrigger balls where they are jigging and useing the black box for attraction to the jigs?

Good write-up FRG... those Oregon guys can get spoiled on 25 fish limits... we are all jealous. ;-) When you are jigging on the surface those fish must almost be close enough to eyeball. After finally having the opportunity to jig a couple times this last year I now have a tray of various jigs ready for 09 when the opportunity arises.

FM,
I like use use a small diamerter braided line. My preference is Fireline with an eqivelnet diameter to 6 lb test. If the line is to thick it will impeed the drop of smaller jigs. And, if you are wind difting your blow back will be less.

SB -I target biting fish. If I see fish at the surface I will see if they are biters. If they are not and I see suspended fish I will try those. Often at Odell the biters are right on the bottom. At Paulina, I have had better success targeting suspended fish but will try for fish if I seen them on the bottom.

The Gibbs seems to like to get tangled more than other jigs especially when vertical jigging. It is not that much of a problem when casting and working fish in the top 10 feet of the water column. I think if you drop your rod tip slower it will help, but I don't really have a cure for that as it happens to me as well. I find when using a swivel it is worse. I have not tired the downrigger thing, and think you might loose fish because of it.

Fallriverguy said:

First it is good to have a sensitive rod and to use a braided type line with no stretch. I do put about 10 feet of 6 lb mono on the end of the braided line. A double uni knot works well for that. .

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Do you use a backing on the reel or spool most of it with braided line?

I'm making some jigs out in the garage right now, and thought I'd share on how to make a cheap but effective kokanee jig. Buy some crescent weights in 1/2 and 3/4 once. Remove the chain and swivels from both ends, and hammer the lead into the shape you want...a fish like shape. Dremel the rough spots off. Heat up with a torch or buy a used toaster oven, and dip in powder paint for a base coat. You can then re-heat and sprinkle different colors of powder paint, then re-heat to get the jig to gloss over. I have done some up with reflective tapes, glitter, and eyes, then finished off with a few coats of clear acrylic. Add a split ring and a red treble hook, and your good to go!thumbsup

twisted lines said:

Do you use a backing on the reel or spool most of it with braided line?

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The reels I use do not have a large spool capacity so I don't use backing, but I have in the past used some cheep mono for backing.

And, SB, I use a 1/2 keel sinker painted colonial red. At times it works very well.

Thanks, I was thinking of splitting a spool for two reels, talking of cheap;
Just ordered the flutter jig mold, I don't have cabin fever just a lot that needs done....