Pardee

Just got back from spending all day sat and sun at Pardee. Sad to say we caught nothing at all. But we havnt caught a koke yet anywhere so it may just be us. We did see plenty of fish on the finder between 30-40 ft and heard lots of people were hitting there limits early. We watched them on the FF pass by our offerings time and time again. We tossed everything in the tackle box down there in every combo we could think of. Im sure eventually we will figure out what we are doing wrong. It was a beautiful weekend out there though just hotter than anything. Oh one more thing to note not sure if this is normal for Pardee since it was our first time out there but there is a ton of debris in the water like sticks logs and small stumps. Happy hunting all.

Tim

Maybe we can help mechdawg... where did you fish on the lake, what were you using and how fast was your boat traveling? What corn scents were you using?

The debris is probably from the tremendous snow melt happening with the warm weather as I heard the river mouth area on up is pretty stained.

Kevin

We tried several lines from where the river enters the main reservoir to the dam all along the dam and spillway area and then up and down past the outlet where all the other trollers were. Speed we tried everything from .8 to 2.2 mph. We used different colored dodgers with hoochies in pink, yellow/orange, purple, white. Several wedding rings and even just a #2 hook on a leader from the dodger. lol. For scent we tried krill, garlic, and harring all applied to the dodger. The corn we used wasnt scented as far as I know its what we baught from the marina at Pardee. We even tried a few gulp maggots in pink and white. Like I said we tried alot of different things. At berry some of those combos have caught us several rainbows but no kokes.

Love this board you all have been so helpfull to us. And it is still fun trying even if we dont catch em allthough catching them would be nice.

I would try and keep that speed from 1.0 to 1.5... depending on the dodger of you go faster than that they will roll. (exception are slingblades). What brand and size Dodgers were you using? How long were your leaders on the hoochies? Good call to try just corn on a hook... that has worked a number of times for me last year when the fish got picky.

Seems like you had the right scents but having scented corn is a plus most of the time. Some days it can be like that but Pardee is a place youu will have a much higher percentage than most lakes.

Kevin

4.5" chartreuse vance dodger, 5.5" Sceps watermellon, 6" Sceps charteuse/white, 4.5" unkown copper orange and green and a 9" double bb flasher. Leader length on the hoochies range from 8" to 14". Again thanks for all the help.

mechdawg said:

4.5" chartreuse vance dodger, 5.5" Sceps watermellon, 6" Sceps charteuse/white, 4.5" unkown copper orange and green and a 9" double bb flasher. Leader length on the hoochies range from 8" to 14". Again thanks for all the help.

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Well you definitely have some of the right dodgers with both the Vance's and Sep's in 4.5 and 5.5 (known as a 3/0 dodger). That Watermelon Sep's will typically roll above so the Kokes will have a tough time tracking the lure. I like a pretty short leader for Hoochies, down to 6 inches, but it all depends on what the fish want. Pinks and Oranges are my favorites in the Hoochies. Running your rig beside the boat before you put it down is a great way to check out the action on the lure.

Maybe have a few RGT's (Radical Glow Tubes) either in spinner form or by themselves in pink, natural and red. Throw in a few Uncle Larry's Orange lures (Hot Belly and Copper Pop) and an Apex or two (Pink, Orange, Clear UV) and that would give you a few more options.

Kevin

mechdawg: I have been fishing Lake Pardee for years now. I live just down the street. Lol 30mins. We have been limiting out, every trip. I have been using Seps 4/0 dodgers in the splatter series. Match the colors of the lures to the dodgers. I have had a lot of great luck with the Uncle Larry's spinners. "Hot Belly" "Mad Irishman" "Mad Temptation (Blue)" "Copper Popsicle" I run them at 1.3 - 1.5. I have been doing best with a 12" leader. Also the Apex's have been doing great, also. All Nickle, Pink Glow, Orange Glow, and Watermelon have been working great. As for the Corn. Soak them at least the night before in Pro-cure Oils, Garlic and Herring are the two best. Kokanee Special has been working too!!! Let me know when your going up, the next time your going up, maybe i can help you on the water...

Robbie (Koke Machine)...

Thanks for the info. We may have to take you up on your offer next time we come down. Just got in from a day at Berryessa. Usually we catch at least a few trout but today not a thing. We have checked our voltages and are running about .17 for whatever that is worth.

Thanks for the info. We may have to take you up on your offer next time we come down.

Your voltage is way to low. Should be between +.6 and +.65 for kokanee. You would have a great boat for Mako shark. If you have an aluminum boat you have what the commercial guys call a "hot" boat. Not only will you not catch many fish, you will also wind up with small holes in your aluminum hull. You will probably have to run a check on your electrical system to make sure everything is properly grounded. Adding zincs to your hull will help if your hull is aluminum, but not if you have a glass hull, you will have to find and cure your electrical grounding problem. A voltage check with a GOOD voltage meter should show a positive voltage of .6 to .65 measured with one probe to your hull and one probe on your downrigger wire with the downrigger ball submerged. This test will work on an aluminum hull but not on glass. You will have to probe from the downrigger wire to a your boats wiring system on a glass boat. I fought this same problem for a couple of years on my 22' aluminum Bayrunner. Fishing off the N. Coast during the best king salmon season in memory I could practically drive salmon out on the bank with it. Mako sharks on the other hand followed me around like homeless puppies. Adding zincs helped some but I had to eventually install a Black Box to consistently catch any kind of trout or salmon.

We have checked our voltages and are running about .17 for whatever that is worth.

It is a fiberglass hull. I cleaned the zincs before we went out today and it helped a little we went from .17 to .22 volts now. Im sure we are still doing something fundamentally wrong we keep trolling through schools of fish throwing all we have at them but not bites. Today we were at San Pablo trying for some trout and still no bites. Im sure we will figure this all out eventually.

Just a boat ride

mechdawg said:

It is a fiberglass hull. I cleaned the zincs before we went out today and it helped a little we went from .17 to .22 volts now. Im sure we are still doing something fundamentally wrong we keep trolling through schools of fish throwing all we have at them but not bites. Today we were at San Pablo trying for some trout and still no bites. .

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Hey Mechdawg, believe me, been there done that, you are just wasting gas. If you want to see the effect your .22 voltage is having on fish, just increase your set back from your release to your lure to 150 ft. If you are lucky your lure may be far enough from the low voltage on your downrigger wire for a kokanee or trout to bite. If this happens, pay close attention to how the fish acts when you get it close to your boat, especially your downrigger wires. The fish will probably go into a frenzy trying to get away. This happened to me several times on my boat before I finally got it corrected. Try running a ground wire from your main and trolling motor to your neutral ground bar in your electrical system to see if that ups your + voltage. AND browse this for very good explanation http://www.protroll.com/books/?id=5&p_id=5