Help with Kokanee fishing

Hi guys,

I just moved to Boise from Sioux Falls, SD. I'm 28, an avid walleye fisherman, but have little to no experience with salmon and very little with trout.

I brought my 18' Alumacraft with me and am anxious to get out. I was thinking of trying my luck on some Kokes at Lucky Peak Monday morning. I have really nice Lowrance HDS graphs to help locate fish

My rig does not have downriggers. I do however have several leadcore/linecounter combos that I used back home for walleyes.

I've been paging through old posts trying to get an idea of how to start. Most sound like they are fishing downriggers.

Can anyone give me any advice about where to start, what to use, ect? I'm not looking for anybody's secrets, just some general info to get me started would be greatly appreciated.

After leaving my fishing buddies behind back in SD, I have open seats in the boat. If anybody wants to show me first hand, I'd be glad to take you out Monday

Thanks in advance,
Andy

sdhuntandfish,
Welcome to the forum, welcome to Idaho, and welcome to Boise. The first thing I would do is go over to see Joe over at the Tackle Shack off of Fairview and Locust Grove,(next to Fred Myer's in Meridian). This is the same business as kokaneetackle.com. He is a great guy, and will be able to set you up with all the dodgers, hoochies, spinners, and all your other tackle needs.
Downriggers are definately something you will want to have if you are going to spend any time fishing for kokes later in the summer. Right know your mono and lead will get you down to where the fish are. Most are in the top 20 feet of water. That will change quickly in the next couple of weeks. It is not uncommon to catch kokes in mid June at 50 feet down or more in Lucky Peak and Arrowrock.
Good places to start are across from Spring Shores, the narrows above and below Spring Shores and near the dam. Use your fish finder to it's fullest and don't be afraid to move around until you find a feeding school of kokes, then stay with them until they stop feeding.
Don't know if you are available, but I plan going later in the week with a buddy of mine who is also a South Dakota native, if you want to join us.

My buddy and I have been doing pretty well lately on Lucky Peak. His boat doesn't have riggers. We use either leadcore or trolling sinkers with line counters. Dodgers and hoochies in pink, green, blue, or orange have been pretty solid lately. The kokes are between 12 and 30 ft deep. We had a triple yesterday. 1 leadcore rod was 5 colors back( about 25ft deep) 1 rod was 3 colors back(15ft deep) and the other rod had a 1.75 oz trolling sinker 70ft back(about 20ft deep). We were trolling 2.2mph which is way faster than I prefer to go, but for some reason the kokes have seemed to prefer it this year, for us anyway!!!! You can PM me for more info

Thanks for all the help guys. If I don't make it out tomorrow, hope to hit it hard next weekend if I'm not chasing walleyes at Salmon Falls Creek Reservoir.

Like I said, I'll have open seats in the boat. It's nice fishing with new people.