2013-2016 Idaho Kokanee Fishing Reports Quick Links

[jhmh2ofowl]

We are hoping to go up to Lucky Peak tomorrow, we tried it last weekend with no cooperation from Mother Nature. Landed one nice trout and two kokanee, lost three more with the kids. But we still had a great day. All on weddings rings, and we were about 20 ft deep. I was surprised looking at the water temp. I thought they would be a bit deeper. Hopefully the weather holds out for a nice evening.
Good Luck this weekend everyone!!!

[AverysAdventure]

Fished LP this AM from 9-12. Limited thanks in large part to a triple, in which all three poles went at the same time, and somehow landed three biggies, and followed that immediately with a double. Followed by 30 minutes of no action!! The fish seemed to be between 10 and 15. They weren't picky about pop gear or sling blades, wedding rings or pink hoochies. Took a while to find them, and when we did we had the area to ourselves. Tons of boats in the narrows and glad to stay away from that mess. Tried Berkeley maggots and wasn't sure if they helped or not. Mike

Thanks for the update Milke.

[brewsr]

Anyone been out this week with any new news? I am going down tomorrow. Thanks.

[sturgeon8r]

Greetings all. I normally fish LP down in Boise. But my daughter and I came up to Salmon fish. River a bit high. So we went out this morning. Fished from 6 to around noon. SLOW....... BUT still the best day to spend with my daughter. we hooked only 12 and boated 8 of them. 8-10 inches. fished Elk, creek, Dicks creek. and a spot in between. fished 30-45 foot. hooked 80% of fish in 40 foot. Pink trolled slow?
BE CAREFUL LOTS of logs and branches floating down.

Fished along side a guy from Nampa. Nice guy.

[ricks]

With the water rising I can see how a lot of stuff would be floated up. Thanks for the warning. And the post. I can't think of a nicer way to spend a day with your kids.

Rick

[JTM]

Another LP limit, This one took me 3 1/2 hours. They were eating green in the AM then seemed to prefer hot orange and would not touch green, also caught 2 Trout let them go unharmed. Lot's of boats in the mouth of the narrows and like Mike I was staying out of that circus. They are getting larger and meaner!!!!!



http://i717.photobucket.com/albums/ww179/JTM_62/DSCF0992.jpg (http://s717.photobucket.com/user/JTM_62/media/DSCF0992.jpg.html)

[sturgeon8r]

Fished from about 6 am to 11. caught all our fish from 630 to 830. caught 2 at 15. 3 at 25 foot and 1 at 40 foot? the one at 40 feet was a nice 13 inch fish. 4 fish on DR's 2 on longline.
pink hoochies. white maggots and green maggots.
heading back to Boise tonight or tomorrow. Careful on the lake. saw 3 trees floating this morning.

[amxerhull]

Fished from about 6 am to 11. caught all our fish from 630 to 830. caught 2 at 15. 3 at 25 foot and 1 at 40 foot? the one at 40 feet was a nice 13 inch fish. 4 fish on DR's 2 on longline.
pink hoochies. white maggots and green maggots.
heading back to Boise tonight or tomorrow. Careful on the lake. saw 3 trees floating this morning.


Thanks for the report. We have had better luck than you but most of our fish have been between 40 and 50 feet on the downriggers. If you are going to try one more morning, drop down to that depth. Our longlines have been 2 to 2-1/2 oz. between 75 and 100 feet back on the line counters.

John

[KokeKruiser]

Made my first trip to Dworshak for the season and had a great day on the water. We fished both Canyon Creek and Dicks Creek pulling 2 long lines and 2 on the down riggers. Caught fish anywhere from 5 to 45 feet but most where caught between 15-25 feet. Ended up bring 42 kokanee home with us and am looking forwarded to breaking the smoker out.

[fishingmom]

sturgeon8r anybody else make it up for the wkend? headed up that way shortly.....

[microfish]

Have recently been up as far as Hodson cr. The biggest concentration of koke's I say was at swamp cr. The last few weeks they have been pushing their way up the lake. at swamp we were catching them at the surface, no weight needed. about 30' behind the boat.
Sue, when are you going back up?
jeff...

[blitzfish]

If anyone is looking for a boat mate next weekend let me know. I live up the Lochsa a little ways and would love to get down on some Koke action, but I just don't have the boat/gear to do so. I of course don't mind chipping in for gas/bait/food/beer etc. Let me know if you are interested! I'm planning on coming down that way to probably fish the mornings for salmon below dworshak anyways and it would be a great alternative to the rest of the day.

Thanks!

Brandon

[fishingmom]

first trip up this year - started in dicks creek, found nice kokanee between floating dock and shore-they only hit going up and right after we crossed a point that came out so made loops thru same area,,,ran to elk river back to the buoys and fished our way back out, again got fish,,,all 10" except 4 a bit bigger,,,,fished 70' out with 3oz and 50-55 in elk river - ran weight attached to slider up on mainline, loved how it worked, landed 13 only lost 1 at the boat and had 3 nice takedowns that didnt stay, last fish of night might of been a rainbow hit hard and broke the leader,,,lure that worked was green apex with pink firecorn and mikes kokanee juice....hi jeff (cch jeff or jeff j??) no more fishing til my boat gets looked at, ran thru a bit of small surface junk at canyon that was all over, engine stuttered then picked back up seemed fine, less then a minute later temp gauge topped out and before i could get things shut down boat did on its own,,,,overheated enough to have radiator fluid bubbling over, kicker got a workout yesterday....

[kodiak1]

Has anyone fished Anderson Ranch? If so, did you stumble into any of the recently planted Chinook? I'd sure like to know what size they are. Mike

[bsukoker]

Fished arrowrock yesterday from about noon to 7 pm. Bite was slow for us. Caught 7 total, lost a couple. 5 of the fish were some of the biggest kok's I have caught out of arrowrock. 2 tipped the tape at 18" and were absolute pigs. We used orange and also pink uv hoochies, trolled behind willow leaf, same colored flashers and divers at about 15 to 20 ft. Had a couple hook ups on our deeper diver at about 30 ft. Not seeing any big schools yet still. Road was "quite pleasant" as usual and the beaches were already covered in garbage and oh how fun it is to troll to hip hop music cranked full boar by 10 different boats! Hope the campers clean up a little as they leave. surface temps were 62 to 66 depending on location in reservoir.

[Battleship Oakes]

Has anyone fished Anderson Ranch? If so, did you stumble into any of the recently planted Chinook? I'd sure like to know what size they are. Mike

Fished Saturday from 9 to 4. Started at the dam and worked all the way to lime creek. Didn't see much on the fish finder. Nothing landed. Was targeting big fish all morning. Switched to Kokanee gear after lunch and still didn't do any good. Had a couple hits, but that was it. My buddy showed up with his boat and fish most of the day for Kokanee. They landed 1 dinky kok.

Surface temp was about 56. Water has been rising over a foot a day so that isn't helping. Maybe worth a shot in a few weeks once the water level has settled down.

[downriggeral]

Hi fishingmom, Sounds like you lost the sea water pump. I assume from the sounds of things you have a fresh water cooled (heat exchanger with antifreeze coolant) stern drive? Usually there is a water pump in the stern drive to bring in lake water to the heat exchanger. They get old and brittle and then ingestion of junk does them in. Hope you can get it fixed soon and back on those kokes! Alan

[fishingmom]

i have a customweld, 4.3 with american turbine,,,,my husband took a look today, oil was good and clean and engine turned over, i didnt get a chance to pull the bowl cover and check if i can see anything up in there but will take it in and have it looked over - while running up in the morning also had something sucked in, stopped and reversed in a circle and ran fine rest of time.....thanks

[kodiak1]

That has been my plan......starting by the dam. Maybe we just have to be patient and let them get bigger. We'll have to stay in touch until we figure this one out. But, this is what I most enjoy about fishing.....starting from scratch and figuring out how to connect. So many variables with Chinook. Unlike kokes, where you can at least narrow down the depth a bit, the Chinooks can be anywhere from 100+ to the surface. Thanks for sharing. Sorry you didn't at least pick up a few stunted kokanee!! Oh well, all the better to fit in the mouth of a Chinook. Mike

[brewsr]

Fun day on Sunday. Fished between Dent and Elks and lucked into a school. Down pretty deep with 4oz and about 160' of line. Caught 25 in a very fun afternoon of fishing. Lost a bunch, but am still learning.

[downriggeral]

Hopefully you'll luck out and it will only be trash in the cooling water pick-up off the turbine. Tight lines

[microfish]

first trip up this year - started in dicks creek, found nice kokanee between floating dock and shore-they only hit going up and right after we crossed a point that came out so made loops thru same area,,,ran to elk river back to the buoys and fished our way back out, again got fish,,,all 10" except 4 a bit bigger,,,,fished 70' out with 3oz and 50-55 in elk river - ran weight attached to slider up on mainline, loved how it worked, landed 13 only lost 1 at the boat and had 3 nice takedowns that didnt stay, last fish of night might of been a rainbow hit hard and broke the leader,,,lure that worked was green apex with pink firecorn and mikes kokanee juice....hi jeff (cch jeff or jeff j??) no more fishing til my boat gets looked at, ran thru a bit of small surface junk at canyon that was all over, engine stuttered then picked back up seemed fine, less then a minute later temp gauge topped out and before i could get things shut down boat did on its own,,,,overheated enough to have radiator fluid bubbling over, kicker got a workout yesterday....

jeff j here

[fishingmom]

thought i might have seen you come thru dicks crk on sunday jeff? will be back up june 17th probably launch at dent this time....said hello to you at gibbs eddy a few weeks back not sure you heard, you were busy getting ready to launch, i was sitting in a friends sled...

[bayhorse]

Fished yesterday also,ended up with 7 total,4 being 18" and 2 at 16" and a small one damaged by the hook. Also kept three nice trout. Fished away from the crowds so it took a while as the fish seem to be scattered. Red was our most productive color,although nice fish caught on pink and green also. Smaller fish, Trout, and squaw fish were caught on riggers. Our big fish were caught on long lines out 100' with 5/8 ounce of weight ,sling blade and uv crappie tubes.
Have a great season. If you see two old farts in a 1972 starcraft Falcon 14' painted bronco orange and blue say hi!

[microfish]

thought i might have seen you come thru dicks crk on sunday jeff? will be back up june 17th probably launch at dent this time....said hello to you at gibbs eddy a few weeks back not sure you heard, you were busy getting ready to launch, i was sitting in a friends sled...

I have been on the lake most everyday since early april. There are kokanee everywhere! The biggesy concentration I have found is fall cr to weitas cr. pretty good school! Most of them can be caught at the surface, no need for wieght. kinda nice! The bass catching has been pretty good. The big hens are pouting at the moment. they just finishing up the spawn and when they start eating again, we will start catching. Lots of little males to play with! Looks to be a pretty fun summer coming!

Sue and all: Don't be afraid to ask for a fishing report! Currently i am on the lake 6 out of 7 days. The wife wants to move my posy office box up there.

[fishingmom]

thanks jeff, will be in touch before i go again mid june,,,,not a bad place to spend your time, my favorite....

[kodiak1]

Fished LP this AM 8-11, caught 15, but more trout than kokes. Couldn't keep the trout off. Pretty constant action all morning. Strangely, talked to two boats at the ramp who hadn't had so much as a bite. Different area? Maybe. The other day we landed all the kokanee but one, but today we lost 9 in a row. Part of the problem might be that we took a newbie along!! Beautiful day and little wind. Mike

[sawtooth]

Kodiak, It sounds like a great day at the lake. I think the 20/80 rule applies here, and from your reports, you are one of the 20% who catch 80% of the fish! Nothing like a newbie to help drop your hookup to catch ratio, but it is all worth it when they finally get one to the net.thumbsup

[kodiak1]

Sawtooth,
Wish that were true, but then again, if you've been fishing for over 60 years, you sure should have picked up something along the way!! I do think the fishing this summer will be better than last year. Seems like there are more kokes in the res. God knows there are more trout! Who went and told them that shoepeg was tasty?! Mike

[JTM]

Anytime I take a newb out to show them how to fish I stink, not sure what the connection is but for that reason I dread taking anyone else out. I will be on the lake tomorrow morning running FRS 8.8 or 21.12 if any one is out and wants to chat.

[MackayGuy]

How many of you folks were at lucky peak today? From the number of boats on the water I'd have to say everyone. Wow there were a lot of boats out fishing today. And it was a zoo. Everyone going every different direction and about half the boats paying absolutely no attention to where they were going.

On a better note the kokes are getting bigger.

[JTM]

I was there and it was a zoo!! What a crowd for a Friday.. Once again I chose to not join the circus at the mouth of the narrows, It was much tougher fishing today at least for me it was. I think it was because they dumped so much water in so fast wow did it ever come up in one week. I managed another limit but had to work for it, They seemed to like a Kokabow Kestrel at 20 feet the best. And I agree they are much nicer fish!!!!

[conservationist]

Yep, lots of folks out today. Wife and I fished primarily in front of Spring Shores. Brought 8 Kokes home, released some trout. Strange, but only one combo of our arsenal was much good. Primarily pink blades over pink hoochie. Nice size to the fish. Fished between 15-20 feet.
7219

[JTM]

Anybody run FRS? I think it would be cool if we could converse on our FRS Walkies. I for one would love to have some expert advice when I am out on the lake fishing.

[Bowhunter1968]

Put on @ 730am lost 2 right at the boat 1st hr. Landed 2 15" nice keepers then it was quiet and a boat parade by dam area...dodgers cold flashers warm. Squids over rings.

[Predator]

Fished Thursday early. On at 6:00 off and on trailer by 9:00. Water temp was up t0 58 plus degrees. Hooked 23 kokes and a few rainbows. All on squid behind flashers. Spring Shores off of ramp and then entry of narrows. Not too deep Thursday. All between 18 and 25 feet. Aggressive fish and getting fat. Fished again today. On water at 6:00 and off around 10:00. Mucho boats. Fishing was spotty and we worked harder for our fish. Took 9 nice kokes home, lost about that many for some reason, and did 6 or 7 trout. Water temp up over 60 at Spring Shores. I think the new water is messing with the bite. The depths ranged from 17 feet to 55 feet. No one color combo. We tried some diff stuff and caught fish on all of it. Spent most of morning around corner from Spring Shores towards dam. Stayed away from the fleet. I think the bite will settle down once we reach full pool. The cooler morning Thursday was key. See you out there Sunday am. Maroon Willie Predator sled/Merc 250

[Battleship Oakes]

Fished 7 to 2. Landed 1 trout and had a few drive bys. Stayed away from the fleet mostly but it didn't look like anybody else was catching much. Fished near dam and up the sf arm.

Lots of fish but they just wouldn't bite. Apex, houch, wr, etc. Threw everything we had at em.

[kok-head]

fished 6/1/14 from around 11am - 12:30pm, took about 15min to find a school that would cooperate, fished the narrows just below spring shores, had lures from the surface down to about 20’ and reeled in fish from every depth in between, the bite was good and the fish were shallow enough to just long-line and I didn’t bother using the downriggers

fished mostly pink lures, 2.5” squids and 1” crappie tubes running about 9” behind 4” and 5” dodgers kept us busy with a fish about every 5min, only landed one good size one and lost 2 more about the same size at the boat, released about 10 or so little guys and kept the 2 small kokes after releasing them and watching them float

talked to lots of guys at the ramp who were skunked, they either had kokabows and flashers or they were running squids with way too long of leaders

I sat at the ramp for about 20min before I launched and didn’t see one net come out so I decided to get away from the 2 big groups of about 30 boats, I made sure to stay a good 200yds or so from any group of boats and I had a feeling that all those big boats and their gear were spooking the schools upstream and downstream, so if it’s packed in the area you are in just reel up and move away from the “dance floor” and you should find some good schools being scared right to you




7223

[salmonster]

We were on just after 6:00 yesterday. Predator (post below) was the only boat we saw on the water when we put in. Did pretty well until 8:00 when it shut off for a while. Like some of the posters below, I also seem to do better when I stay away from the big pack of boats. That said, two or three boats seemed to be working the same school and all were catching fish, and spinning right back around to go through them again.MackayGuy might have thought we were crazy, but we spin back around after going through and getting multiple hookups. Seemed to turn back on a little after 10, but only on our shallow running gear (12-15 ft). We managed a couple of limits of 15" koks and we were out at 11:30. Turned quite a few smaller koks and trout back. Great day.

[MackayGuy]

MackayGuy might have thought we were crazy, but we spin back around after going through and getting multiple hookups.

Why would you think I would think you were crazy? My concern, or complaint if you will, is those that are not looking where they're going....at all. I saw several boats plowing through a crowd, not once in 10 minutes did anyone on the boat ever look in the direction they were heading. Other boats were scrambling to get out of their way. The boneheads were oblivious. I saw one guy actually look around and saw they were seriously close to another boat and just turned back around and seemed to ignore the situation. I swing back over a school myself, but I don't cut people off or make them have to avoid me. Common sense and courtesy. Or maybe they have a special boat license which gives them the right of way.

[Stripes]

Hey Predator "lost about that many for some reason"
I know why, "blame shifter". thumbsup
How was Sunday?

[pthept]

Sunday was a zoo around the mouth of the narrows across from the marina so I headed down past the nursery and fishing was slow but peaceful. A couple of schools came by and I hooked/landed two 16 inchers nice and fat. I was there from 10 AM to 1 PM. Used lead core three colors one with squid behind dodger and other with green kokabow behind willow flasher both with shoe peg.

[pthept]

Are the squaw fish heavy this year? Cabellas report seemed to suggest more squaw than anything else?

[pthept]

Rapid influx of water has to be affecting the bite. Should be full by next weekend if the flows continue. Most people find the stabilized water level should help the bite. Having a great season this spring and find that while there are plenty of boats there is still enough area and fish to make the experience well worth the time. Thanks for all the informational posts. Many of my friends would rather golf than fish, therefore leaving me to launch and fish alone. Netting and reeling a nice Koke alone was comical, Hope no one documented the boat in the tight spin while I had one hand on the reel and the other trying to net the spunky Kokes. Surely would have made a "Come on man" of the fishing channel.

[JTM]

My last fish on 5/302014.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjKV73BqSBY&feature=youtu.be

[MackayGuy]

Nice fish Jon, but whoops.....now everyone knows one of your secret spots.

[amxerhull]

We fished Canyon and Dicks yesterday. Kinda slow, 11 in the cooler. We had been finding good numbers of them at 40 to 50 feet on the downriggers but yesterday they were at 25 feet. Didn't make much sense but maybe the thermocline is changing. Anyone else having better luck?

[jumperzee]

No, not much better luck. Very slow last weekend. Canyon was going good two weeks ago, same spots last weekend produced little. Was marking plenty of fish at 40-50' like you, but couldn't entice a strike. Didn't seem like many other boats were having better success. Picked up a few at Merry's, Freds, and Canyon...8 total for a morning by myself. Looking for much better numbers than that.

[kok-head]

Nice fish Jon, but whoops.....now everyone knows one of your secret spots.

hahaha! the joke is getting legendary MackayGuy, “Heroes get remembered, but legends never die”

[kok-head]

My last fish on 5/302014.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjKV73BqSBY&feature=youtu.be

nice solo net job, and thats a mighty long leader, does your lure have any of it's own action?

[kodiak1]

I also wondered about that.

[MackayGuy]

thats a mighty long leader, does your lure have any of it's own action?

I was wondering that myself. I've been trying to shorten all my leaders this year to get more action....especially with hoochies.

Watching that video reminded me of something that happened to me a week or so ago, never had it happen before with a kokanee. I got a good hit and started bringing it in. Then it felt like I lost it and didn't have it on, so I just started reeling in my line to re-bait and reset it. When the lure (spinner in this case) got about 10 feet from the boat, almost on the surface I noticed a nice size fish right at the lure and thought "wow, I do have him, he's just running at the boat and I didn't feel him". I stopped reeling to play him a little and realized he wasn't hooked, but just attacking the crap our of my lure. I held to see if I could hook him up, but he just kept going after the lure, kinda head butting it. He finally gave up and left. I know they hit our lures, not because they're hungry for the corn, but more in agressive defense after being attracted to the lure.....but I'd never really seen it happen like this before. Pretty cool. I know I caught him later that day. laugh hyst

[ricks]

I am hopefully getting my Humminbird back from its second trip back to Virginia for warranty replacement of the Transducer. You’d think if they get a bad transducer they would test the replacement? Nope. Instead I got the pleasure of a 2 hour install, a 1.5 hour drive to Dworshak to test and find the new one didn’t work at all. At least this time they paid shipping both ways.

Anyway, friday I get it installed and sunday I am going to try Dent. Me fingers be crossed!

Rick

[kok-head]

I was wondering that myself. I've been trying to shorten all my leaders this year to get more action....especially with hoochies.

Watching that video reminded me of something that happened to me a week or so ago, never had it happen before with a kokanee. I got a good hit and started bringing it in. Then it felt like I lost it and didn't have it on, so I just started reeling in my line to re-bait and reset it. When the lure (spinner in this case) got about 10 feet from the boat, almost on the surface I noticed a nice size fish right at the lure and thought "wow, I do have him, he's just running at the boat and I didn't feel him". I stopped reeling to play him a little and realized he wasn't hooked, but just attacking the crap our of my lure. I held to see if I could hook him up, but he just kept going after the lure, kinda head butting it. He finally gave up and left. I know they hit our lures, not because they're hungry for the corn, but more in agressive defense after being attracted to the lure.....but I'd never really seen it happen like this before. Pretty cool. I know I caught him later that day. laugh hyst

don't tell me where that fish was or i'll be tempted to invade your area and catch it

last fall i was fishing LP and i had a line out very far (about 130ft) and with the sinker i had on it the lure was prolly running around 15ft deep or so, + or - a few ft

when the wife said it was time to head in i reeled it in quickly (just about as fast as i could) and hooked a good size kokanee, right when the kokanee hit the lure i looked down at my line counter on my reel and it showed about 30ft

that kokanee either ran it down or grabbed it as it went by and that lure was moving fast, i didn't know a kokanee could swim and accurately grab my lure at a speed like that, in well over 100 trips fishing for kokanee ive never had that happen, and one of these days something stranger will prolly take place

[JTM]

nice solo net job, and thats a mighty long leader, does your lure have any of it's own action?

Thanks, and yes the lures I use have there own action and that is my favorite leader length. I will shorten them up some for Hoochies but I'm a fan of the longer leader.

[JTM]

I was wondering that myself. I've been trying to shorten all my leaders this year to get more action....especially with hoochies.

Watching that video reminded me of something that happened to me a week or so ago, never had it happen before with a kokanee. I got a good hit and started bringing it in. Then it felt like I lost it and didn't have it on, so I just started reeling in my line to re-bait and reset it. When the lure (spinner in this case) got about 10 feet from the boat, almost on the surface I noticed a nice size fish right at the lure and thought "wow, I do have him, he's just running at the boat and I didn't feel him". I stopped reeling to play him a little and realized he wasn't hooked, but just attacking the crap our of my lure. I held to see if I could hook him up, but he just kept going after the lure, kinda head butting it. He finally gave up and left. I know they hit our lures, not because they're hungry for the corn, but more in agressive defense after being attracted to the lure.....but I'd never really seen it happen like this before. Pretty cool. I know I caught him later that day. laugh hyst


I also had this happen this year for the first time, I had my release go off so I started reeling in fast to reset and a nice Koke followed my lure all the way up to the boat. I was stunned, he pulled off right at thte boat Maybe they like it faster????

[JTM]

Nice fish Jon, but whoops.....now everyone knows one of your secret spots.


Dammit I never thought of that LOL!!! Don't tell.......

[mowrus]

I also had this happen this year for the first time, I had my release go off so I started reeling in fast to reset and a nice Koke followed my lure all the way up to the boat. I was stunned, he pulled off right at thte boat Maybe they like it faster????

I was fishing Friday of last week and did well.. But started to notice the the kokes we landed had the hooks out side of the mouth. They were hooked in the eye or jaw or both. An other question is we had lots of take downs but when we picked up the rod out of holders they were gone. We were long lining. Using hoochies with double hook..Any thoughts on uping the odds? Nice fat fish 16-18 inches.

[kok-head]

I was fishing Friday of last week and did well.. But started to notice the the kokes we landed had the hooks out side of the mouth. They were hooked in the eye or jaw or both. An other question is we had lots of take downs but when we picked up the rod out of holders they were gone. We were long lining. Using hoochies with double hook..Any thoughts on uping the odds? Nice fat fish 16-18 inches.

thats kokanee fishing, lots of bites somedays when they just toy with the lure but don't aggressively attack, soft rod and monofilament line and downriggers (so you don't need sinkers) give you the best chance of landing them

many days ill notice the rod barely moving in the rod holder during a strike so it could be a small hit from a small fish and they might just be missing the hooks (but grabbing the squid body or head) when trying to strike

[spoons]

Hey JTM, I'd appreciate it if you stayed out of my secret spot.

[JTM]

thats kokanee fishing, lots of bites somedays when they just toy with the lure but don't aggressively attack, soft rod and monofilament line and downriggers (so you don't need sinkers) give you the best chance of landing them

many days ill notice the rod barely moving in the rod holder during a strike so it could be a small hit from a small fish and they might just be missing the hooks (but grabbing the squid body or head) when trying to strike

I agree with kok-head some days I boat every fish I catch and some days I can't put a fish in the boat to save my life, that is what keeps me coming back!!!!

[JTM]

Hey JTM, I'd appreciate it if you stayed out of my secret spot.

Too funny spoons!!!!!! This made me laugh out loud!!!

[amxerhull]

We fished Canyon and Dicks yesterday. Kinda slow, 11 in the cooler. We had been finding good numbers of them at 40 to 50 feet on the downriggers but yesterday they were at 25 feet. Didn't make much sense but maybe the thermocline is changing. Anyone else having better luck?

Had a much better day yesterday (Thursday). Put 42 in the cooler and lost as many. They were at 25 to 30 feet on the downriggers. Longlines didn't fare as well but those that we caught were with 2 ounces at 100 to 130 feet out. Sunburn abounds!

John

[JTM]

I was there again to day, I did not know that Turner was going to be closed. Anyway I went to Spring Shores #2 and man were there some truck and trailers there, strangly the fleet was not hammering the mouth of the narrows not sure where they were? Now I love to fish the mouth and this was my chance so I jumped on it, I got into some very nice fish. It was a great day on the lake but our time is short there was a ton of wakers and jet ski's out already.......

http://i717.photobucket.com/albums/ww179/JTM_62/DSCF1016.jpg

http://i717.photobucket.com/albums/ww179/JTM_62/DSCF1008.jpg

[MackayGuy]

The ironman triathlon is going on this weekend a the dam side of LP. I was going to go up today, but got tied up and didn't make it. Looks like you had a good day.

[Sluggo]

Hey everyone...I would like your thoughts/suggestions on a mystery to me. We fished LP yesterday and had three setups. 1. Downrigger with sling blade and squid/hoochie. 2. Weighted Line with flashers and kokabow. 2. Regular line with 1/2 oz weight, flashers and kokabow. All the action was on the flashers and kokabow. We did not get one hit on the downrigger. This seems to be the pattern with us at LP. When we fish Anderson Ranch, it is just the opposite with most of the action coming on the downrigger. I am stumped why I cannot get the downrigger to produce at LP. I have tried different setups and as well as different lengths with the downrigger but to no avail. Any thoughts or suggestions?

[JTM]

The ironman triathlon is going on this weekend a the dam side of LP. I was going to go up today, but got tied up and didn't make it. Looks like you had a good day.

It was a great day!! I was on the lake and enjoying the wonderful weather, catching fish is a bonus..

[Allyn S]

Made my inaugural trip of the season today. Fishing was slow but steady. Told my son when we went out that either no one was going to be out there because of the race or everyone was going to be. We weren't alone. Only fished for 3 hours because I wanted to get back before they closed half the roads in the valley down. Ended up boating 8. Had plenty of bites to limit out but my son was a little exuberant on setting the hook and was yanking it out of their mouths. Been using the standard Cannon releases for years but today made me breakdown and order a set of Chamberlains. Think it will help on the hookups. Saw several fish getting caught but no one seemed to be killing them. When I left at 10:30 this morning there were 20 boats fishing the mouth of the narrows.

Fished slingblades and hoochies at a variety of depths from 18-35' caught a fish about everywhere in that range.

[kok-head]

Hey everyone...I would like your thoughts/suggestions on a mystery to me. We fished LP yesterday and had three setups. 1. Downrigger with sling blade and squid/hoochie. 2. Weighted Line with flashers and kokabow. 2. Regular line with 1/2 oz weight, flashers and kokabow. All the action was on the flashers and kokabow. We did not get one hit on the downrigger. This seems to be the pattern with us at LP. When we fish Anderson Ranch, it is just the opposite with most of the action coming on the downrigger. I am stumped why I cannot get the downrigger to produce at LP. I have tried different setups and as well as different lengths with the downrigger but to no avail. Any thoughts or suggestions?

At times it seems likes only certain setups will work, I've run into similar situations fishing for steelhead, it seemed like in a certain hole I could only get them to hit jigs but no hits when drifting gear along the bottom

On any given day there will be dozens of different combinations of setups and methods that will produce at lucky peak, I caught a limit of fish today on long lines but I spoke with several people at the ramp who could only get their downriggers to produce

I would suggest to keep tweaking your rigger setup, I've had slow days before that turned into limits of fish by simple changes like shortening leaders by 2in or by coming at the kokanee from the north instead of the south, if you keep making changes you will eventually produce

[JTM]

At times it seems likes only certain setups will work, I've run into similar situations fishing for steelhead, it seemed like in a certain hole I could only get them to hit jigs but no hits when drifting gear along the bottom

On any given day there will be dozens of different combinations of setups and methods that will produce at lucky peak, I caught a limit of fish today on long lines but I spoke with several people at the ramp who could only get their downriggers to produce

I would suggest to keep tweaking your rigger setup, I've had slow days before that turned into limits of fish by simple changes like shortening leaders by 2in or by coming at the kokanee from the north instead of the south, if you keep making changes you will eventually produce

This is some amazing insight take heed, I will only give any lure or depth about a 15 minute window to produce, then I change.

[MaGoo]

I was in a local sporting goods store the other day. A sales person told me he had heard that Arrowrock had a large fish kill last fall. Now I fish Arrowrock about 90% of the time, and as I recall fished to the last of September. As I recall lower ramp still had near 20' of water at end of low water ramp. I never saw any fish kill. I looked at Bureau of Reclamation data, and lowest water level listed was on 8/30/2013 @ 3111.53 that leaves about 17' water at the end of ramp. Now is this someone just spreading B.S. ? It does amaze me that some people have nothing better to do.

[spoons]

Late start yesterday. One 13 inch koke. A few more hookups. Lots of missing corn... Caught the koke on front downrigger, purple hoochie at 20 feet. I had pink/orange, green and the one purple from 25ft up.
Nothing on cowbells deep nor on top.
Too much wind and too many huge wakes. Definitely needed to get an earlier start. Put on at 9 from Springshores. There were a butt load of boats straight accross... and I was working my way over to them when some jackhole in a lund came flying out of the marina and cut accross my cowbells less than 50 feet behind my boat and proceeded to start trolling right in front of me. After that I just decided to stay away from people as much as possible. He did not hit them but I almost wish he did. You pretty much can hang a deer with the line that I use to pull the cowbells. It would have been a good lesson.

[KokeJunkie]

Late start yesterday. One 13 inch koke. A few more hookups. Lots of missing corn... Caught the koke on front downrigger, purple hoochie at 20 feet. I had pink/orange, green and the one purple from 25ft up.
Nothing on cowbells deep nor on top.
Too much wind and too many huge wakes. Definitely needed to get an earlier start. Put on at 9 from Springshores. There were a butt load of boats straight accross... and I was working my way over to them when some jackhole in a lund came flying out of the marina and cut accross my cowbells less than 50 feet behind my boat and proceeded to start trolling right in front of me. After that I just decided to stay away from people as much as possible. He did not hit them but I almost wish he did. You pretty much can hang a deer with the line that I use to pull the cowbells. It would have been a good lesson.

I hear ya spoons. I was out there yest too and there was a mess of boats. And some pretty poor boating etiquette. Boats cutting in front, behind, and worst of all making high speed passes. And these were fellow fishing boats too. Expect it from the wakeboarders but not fishermen. I cringed every time the wake would rock my downriggers and the weights would slam down. I figure its only a matter of time before a cable snaps and I lose one. Good day of fishing otherwise. Two limits in as many hours.

[BigggCountry]

I don't know if there was or wasn't a fish kill over the winter, but it has been way tougher fishing this year. Last year my buddy and I had several days where we caught 30-50 kokes. This year our best day has only brought 6 to he boat. If there was a fish kill id bet it was from the run off from last years fire

[campdog]

Leave it to you, to catch one directly under the boat fro the front down-rigger when everyone else is doing well with a longer set back. At least you don't have to worry about anyone running across your rig that way

[spoons]

Leave it to you, to catch one directly under the boat fro the front down-rigger when everyone else is doing well with a longer set back. At least you don't have to worry about anyone running across your rig that way

Exactly! The poor thing thought it would be safe under the boat...

[metalheadgene]

Not sure about the fish kill theory either. I have expereinced similar results this year as well although we have caught some big ones. In regards to the impact from the fire...it is really going to get interestng because any day now they will be increasing the flows on the SF from 300 to 1600. Based on what I saw from last fall and this spring while fly fishing I think there is going to be a whole lot more silt and debris coming into the resevoir as soon as they open the spiggot!

[kok-head]

I hear ya spoons. I was out there yest too and there was a mess of boats. And some pretty poor boating etiquette. Boats cutting in front, behind, and worst of all making high speed passes. And these were fellow fishing boats too. Expect it from the wakeboarders but not fishermen. I cringed every time the wake would rock my downriggers and the weights would slam down. I figure its only a matter of time before a cable snaps and I lose one. Good day of fishing otherwise. Two limits in as many hours.

scary, might wanna get some lighter weights or stick to early spring or late fall fishing, and if you don't run them currently these help:

http://www.kokaneetackle.com/p-519-scotty-trolling-snubber.aspx

[Goldknight]

Headed up to the new house with the last load of house goods and the Boat. Come to find Canyon Creek boat launch is 3 miles from the new house. So excited that I may not even be half way unpacked before the boats in the water.


Thurston

[ricks]

Headed up to the new house with the last load of house goods and the Boat. Come to find Canyon Creek boat launch is 3 miles from the new house. So excited that I may not even be half way unpacked before the boats in the water.

Thurston

well…..not going to get a lot of sympathy from us about your long trips to the fishing holes :^)

post a pic of your boat so we can stop by and commiserate with you.

Rick

[conservationist]

I hear ya spoons. I was out there yest too and there was a mess of boats. And some pretty poor boating etiquette. Boats cutting in front, behind, and worst of all making high speed passes. And these were fellow fishing boats too. Expect it from the wakeboarders but not fishermen. I cringed every time the wake would rock my downriggers and the weights would slam down. I figure its only a matter of time before a cable snaps and I lose one. Good day of fishing otherwise. Two limits in as many hours.


I just sit on the front pedestal seat with my AR-15 Locked and Loaded, wearing camo and a big bowie knife on my belt while looking a bit demented. Don't seem to have trouble with boats getting close 2 times in a row! tooexcited

Actually I just try to avoid weekends and go early.

[skipm]

My last fish on 5/302014.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjKV73BqSBY&feature=youtu.be

Very nice fish bruddah! Cool vid too :-)

[kodiak1]

Fished LP this AM with great results. Two limits of kokes and some caught and released trout. We were back on the trailer in two hours. Per usual, the last koke took about as long to catch as the previous 11. They seemed to like the PeeWees, but w.r.'s were keeping up. Nicest thing is we were all by ourselves most of the morning. Best fishing we have had this season. Better get up there. Mike

[kok-head]

Fished LP this AM with great results. Two limits of kokes and some caught and released trout. We were back on the trailer in two hours. Per usual, the last koke took about as long to catch as the previous 11. They seemed to like the PeeWees, but w.r.'s were keeping up. Nicest thing is we were all by ourselves most of the morning. Best fishing we have had this season. Better get up there. Mike

thanks for the report, hopefully you got into those fat 16" fish, ive seen a few bigger than that caught this year in LP too but lots of the 16" fish on the move right now

[JTM]

Very nice fish bruddah! Cool vid too :-)

Thanks Bro, Getting better with my GoPro. I have a cool one where the fish jumps right into my motor but all you see is my feet LOL!

[Goldknight]

Will post that pic once i am up there and unpack my camera. grin . Its a 15 foot alum Alaska, Red with a 50hp mariner. I know way to much motor but it works.

[skipm]

Thanks Bro, Getting better with my GoPro. I have a cool one where the fish jumps right into my motor but all you see is my feet LOL!

LOL! Those GoPro's are sweet, thinking about picking one up myself. We need to get out...been thinking about Anderson too :-)

[kenbarb]

duplicate post

[kenbarb]

Barb and I launched the boat at Bruces Eddy at 7:30am Thur., we were the only rig in the parking lot, I told Barb that everyone must be at Dent Acres. The plan was to fish with two downriggers, and one long line starting at Indian Creek. So after the short ride to Indian, we get the Honda started, engage the TR-1, drop one downrigger to 40', the other to 30', put the long line out 60' with 3oz banana weight, using the normal pop gear, and a pink wedding ring type lure that I had made up. For the setup on the downriggers, we attached the flashers directly to the ball, the line release was positioned 30" above the ball. for rods we used 5 1/2' ultra light spinning rods, reels were spooled with 10# braid. The terminal lure was about 24" beyond the spinners that were attached to the ball.

It was about thirty minutes before the long line rod started bouncing, Barb pulled in the 10" Kokanee, we baited with red scented corn and got the line back in the water, in about five minutes Barb pulled another one in. After we put that one in the cooler, and put the line back out, thought we better check the downriggers, brought one up, it had a Kokanee on it, took care of that one, and adjusted the Chamberlain release for a easier release. Raised the other downrigger, had a fish on that one too, adjusted the release, and put down to 30', both downriggers were now set for a very soft bite.

It was around 8:30am when the bite picked up, we were pretty busy pulling Kokanee in with quite a few doubles, all of the fish were on the small side, guess it was the schools we were getting into. We took a break around noon and motored to the Canyon Creek Campground for lunch, and a potty break for our little English Setter "Happy". After lunch we fished for Bass for a while, caught one on almost every cast, all C&R, what a great fishery we have here. Caught a couple more Kokanee, and called it a day, We motored to the middle of the lake and cleaned the fish, had a total of 25. The day was mostly overcast, and very comfortable, surface temp. was 68F, one other thing the bite on the downriggers slacked off, so we went from 30', to 50' and we were into the bite again, also the terminal lures were a green bead and small spinner lure that I had tied up, but I think they would have hit anything we put down.

Our next trip will be this Tuesday, the plan is to stay at Dworshak State Park until Friday. Our boat is a 21' NW Jetboat, white with maroon top, and the motorhome is a Bigfoot, so if you see us give a wave, or stop and say hello.

Barb & Ken

[kodiak1]

Wow, what a complete report! Glad to hear you're having so much success. I like smoking those size kokes, but on the other hand I have a lot of fun playing our nicely-sized kokes down here at Lucky Peak. Some are now approaching 17 and 18"ers. I sure miss your part of the country.....I worked at State Hosp. North in the 60's, and have fond memories of smallmouth on the Clearwater. When I got bored at the hospital...I lived on the grounds....I would head up and watch them pouring concrete at the dam site. Massive buckets would swing over the already constructed area by cable. This went on around the clock. Anyway, I digress!!! Keep hammerin' em. Mike

[Goldknight]

Great report. So looking forward to getting my boat in the water.

[kenbarb]

Mike, Those are really nice size Kokanee at L/P, they were larger at Dworshak last year and there are some larger ones now, it's just locating them. One thing that equals it out a little is the 25 fish limit here, they will grow a little as summer progresses on. you are right on with the Bass fishing.

Goldknight I will keep a lookout for your boat, can we see your house from the lake? You are going to love the easy access, and the beautiful area. Barb and I live in Hell's Canyon, right on the Snake River, it's a beautiful place with outstanding fishing. We feel fortunate and blessed for the privilege, so we know your feelings for your new home. hope to see you on the water soon. Ken

[hoolee99]

Fishing was spotty, lots of people fishing, wind howling in the morning oh yeah and had to save a guy who fell out of his boat no life jacket, he was close to his other people on a dock so he somewhat swam to them as we fished up all his crap
He lost and had to go get his boat for him. People amaze me I realize that you feel safe under control of you own boat I know I do but when it's cold and howling winds please use you're brain it only takes a second

[ricks]

Doggonit,

kenbarb and Goldknight, you're making me homesick for Dworshak. This is baseball season for me, I've been dragging the boat off to our games in other places. Last week, and next up to McCall. But soon, I promise, we'll cross wakes.

We did catch 15 in a couple hours on Little Payette last week. So all is not a sob story. But I sure miss being on the Dworshak.

Rick

[kok-head]

Ended up boating 9 fish this morning, 3 of the kokanee and one of the trout were over 16" and the others were all 13-14"

I too found fishing spotty, one moment they wanted a spinner on a downrigger and the next moment they wouldn't touch that but decided they would hit a squid on a long line, I kept track of how many times I'd spin around to go back through the school after getting a bite and out of well over 10 times only once did I get repeat bites, the rest of the time I'd have to spend 15-20 min trying to find where the school wandered off to or finding a different school that would cooperate

Fished the island most of the day, 5 and 10' on the downriggers and 100' of line out on the long lines with 1oz and .5oz sinkers

[spoons]

Same report from me. I covered a lot of water trying to find some schooled up that wanted to bite but no dice. boated 6 kokes and 3 trout on Saturday. Fished 20 feet up and the ones we did catch hit a variety of dodgers and pink or purple hoochies and pop gear with wedding rings.

[amxerhull]

Doggonit,

kenbarb and Goldknight, you're making me homesick for Dworshak. This is baseball season for me, I've been dragging the boat off to our games in other places. Last week, and next up to McCall. But soon, I promise, we'll cross wakes.

We did catch 15 in a couple hours on Little Payette last week. So all is not a sob story. But I sure miss being on the Dworshak.

Rick

Rick- What size were they? Last year they were about 7 inches and not very fat. Still fun, though.

John

[ricks]

Rick- What size were they? Last year they were about 7 inches and not very fat. Still fun, though.

John

They were not big, 8 inch mostly. But the water is cold and the meat is firm.

It was weird, the good fishing was in 25 to 35 foot deep water, not the deeper channel. In the channel we were marking fish at 50 foot, but never got anything to bite. Longlining in 30 foot of water with no weight would hit schools. Color didn't matter much either. Fun though, once we got it figured out. Had no luck at all on bass. Probably cause I am such a poor fisherman, but we couldn't even find them on the finders.

Rick

[gdub]

Fished Sat morning 630-1130, caught 4 by 830, then went on a streak of about 6 hookups and 6 losses. They were biting really well just couldn't keep them hooked, then at about 930 everything seemed to stop, wondered if it was the cloud cover. Then 11 hooked my 5th nice 16incher then had to get off the water to work on honey do list. Mixed bag on what they hit, dodger and pink hoochie and kokabow on a ford fender they seemed to like the most. Fished mostly around 20 feet. Just wonder when the weather gets a little warmer the bite might get a little better.

[Kokatoon]

Sounds like you fellas had better luck than I did. Fished Saturday from 8:00 to about 4:00. Only one nice 16inch koke. Caught it by LP dam, long line out 100' with 4oz of weight. Fender and WR. When I was tying the boat down at the ramp I talked to a guy that got on the lake at 9 and had his limit by 1. He said the key was scented corn. Wouldn't share what scent. Do you guys use scented corn and if so what do you recommend?

[ddisney]

this is my first year kokanee fishing and it has been great fishing at ririe. last 3 times i have gone out i caught my limit in 90 minutes

[kok-head]

Sounds like you fellas had better luck than I did. Fished Saturday from 8:00 to about 4:00. Only one nice 16inch koke. Caught it by LP dam, long line out 100' with 4oz of weight. Fender and WR. When I was tying the boat down at the ramp I talked to a guy that got on the lake at 9 and had his limit by 1. He said the key was scented corn. Wouldn't share what scent. Do you guys use scented corn and if so what do you recommend?

i don't use scents, lots of folks do though, tons of info on KFF about scents, i found a good thread on KFF titled "Favorite scent for kokanee?", its a good read

fishing down by LP dam isn't usually very productive this time of year, i would recommend dragging that long line through the fleet of the 50 or so boats that fish the narrows thumbsup just kidding, but if you find a good group of boats get 100-200 yds or so from the edge of the big cluster and give that area a try, or stalk the guy who wouldn't share his super secret scent with you and watch him next time to see if it actually took him 6hrs to get his limit 101ok101

some guys are so secretive with their lures and scents, sometimes they won't even show you where their secret trailer parking spot is laugh hyst

lots of folks feel like one specific thing is the "key", but it really comes down to a combo of 4 or 5 different things properly proportioned at the right time of day and year, im pretty confident that i could have done exactly what he was doing (and not used any scent) and probably done as well or at least close to it

guys on KFF who have kokanee dialed in even on a slow day can get a limit in 2.5-3hrs so i'm betting his "key" (to what was actually slow fishing whether he knew it or not) to his 1.5 keepers per hr pace was not changing gear / speed / approach / depth enough to get his limit in 2 or 3 hrs

[campdog]

Kokanee fishing can be frustrating at times, and an adrenilan junkies dream other times. Fishing one day to the next is never the same even though there are always a few lures that will always pick up a few fish. The challenge is to find the rig that will keep you busy until your arms get sore.

I've had days where one side of the boat will catch all the fish and the only thing that was different was one person was washing there hands with Dawn dish-washing soap about every 15 minutes.

[MackayGuy]

some guys are so secretive with their lures and scents, sometimes they won't even show you where their secret trailer parking spot is laugh hyst



Who are we talking about here? When I'm parked in my secret parking spot you can't even see my truck/trailer. nonono

[kok-head]

Who are we talking about here? When I'm parked in my secret parking spot you can't even see my truck/trailer. nonono

haha! if i ever find it i'll keep quiet, very "hogan's heroes" if you will..."i see nothing!"

[gdub]

Last year, I heard through different sites that scents were a must, so I packed corn with scent and some without. By the end of the year I wasn't using any scent and did really good, been out about four times this year, no scents and have done real well. I will say when I started using down riggers that's when I really started catching them. I really don't know if that's the trick but it sure is fun to watch them hit and pull the line out of the clip and watch them break water.:)

[Kokatoon]

Thanks for the feedback. For now, I will continue to fish scent free... I have always been fairly successful in years past. I am convinced that the solution is to fish more often. I think changing depth will help most of all. Most of the fish I saw on the finder were around 50'. Trolling at 1.4mph with 100' of line out and 4oz of weight should have had me close to that depth. I'm planning on heading out Thursday after work to test my theory.

[kok-head]

Thanks for the feedback. For now, I will continue to fish scent free... I have always been fairly successful in years past. I am convinced that the solution is to fish more often. I think changing depth will help most of all. Most of the fish I saw on the finder were around 50'. Trolling at 1.4mph with 100' of line out and 4oz of weight should have had me close to that depth. I'm planning on heading out Thursday after work to test my theory.

fishing more will help, nothing can replace time on the water, and you might be close to 50' deep depending on your speed, but the fish down there are going to be pretty sluggish and the cool water and near zero visibility will make fishing tough when fishing 50' deep in LP, and its hard to say if those are kokanee that deep, most folks aren't fishing deeper than 30' right now

[campdog]

Seems to be kinda quiet about the tournament this weekend. I'm not sure yet if I'm going to enter, it might be a really good day to spend at Arrowrock. Does anyone know how many there are registered?

[kok-head]

Seems to be kinda quiet about the tournament this weekend. I'm not sure yet if I'm going to enter, it might be a really good day to spend at Arrowrock. Does anyone know how many there are registered?

no idea about how many folks are signed up, but it could be in the thousands at this point 101shock1101

[cromedogg33]

Anyone fished Anderson lately? Should be up there in the next couple weeks and was wondering how the fishing has been going.

[JTM]

Planning on catching the big ones on Friday, So there will be no big guy's left for the tournament.

[conservationist]

Fished from about 8:30 to 2 PM. First 2-3 hours were a bust. Then hooked two nice 15-16 inchers and a dink. Fished another hour and nothing .. then 2 nice 15" fish ... Decided to go home while ahead. Felt bad as the dink was hooked bad and ended up in the bag. Only thing that worked was a 6 inch dodger with a pink hoochie with a bill. Only one side of the boat found fish.

[JTM]

It was a strange day on LP, I showed up at 9:30 and was the only boat on the lake! - OK that is BS there was a quite a few out, I had a limit in 2 hours but kept fishing and culling to try and get some bigger fish.

Almost all my fish came at 30' and on the same rod and side, I found some big guy's but could only manage to get a few to hit. Most times I can target the size but these fish went from 8" to 17" all at the same depth and speed with the same lure so go figure.

WR's at 30 was what worked for me. Oh yeah the 17 came right in front of another boat!! That's always nice........


http://i717.photobucket.com/albums/ww179/JTM_62/DSCF1019.jpg

[Lunddude]

Fished Anderson two weeks ago. Brought home 27 with the biggest right at 13 1/2" with the majority being 11-12". All fish were caught on hootchies with scented corn 20-30 foot deep on the downriggers. Very few boats were fishing for kokanee, good luck to you if you decide to go.

[Lunddude]

Seems to be kinda quiet about the tournament this weekend. I'm not sure yet if I'm going to enter, it might be a really good day to spend at Arrowrock. Does anyone know how many there are registered?

What tournament would that be?

[kodiak1]

Fished it last Thursday morning, and had to work for them more than last week. No jumbos, which tells me they might be feeding on a diff. schedule. Kept 10. They dropped earlier than last week. Mike

[Kokatoon]

Fished this morning was nice until the wind came up. Boated 2 nice Kokes and lost another 2 at the boat. Fished the same setup but only let out 65' of line. That was the trick. There were a lot of folks there for the tournament. Hopefully the wind dies down for them.

[JTM]

What tournament would that be?

This one.

http://www.robiecreek.org/FishingDerby2014.php

[sawtooth]

Did anybody make it up to LP for the derby? If so what was the size of the big fish and how many boats where there?

[Pzak]

I fished the derby. The leader when I left was a 17" fish that weighed 28 oz.

[DRM]

fished yesterday from about 3 - 9. one shy of both limits. looked like the water dropped 12 inches while we were there. did not find any of the bigger fish, but they will fit in the smoker nicely.

[JTM]

Fishing was spotty, lots of people fishing, wind howling in the morning oh yeah and had to save a guy who fell out of his boat no life jacket, he was close to his other people on a dock so he somewhat swam to them as we fished up all his crap
He lost and had to go get his boat for him. People amaze me I realize that you feel safe under control of you own boat I know I do but when it's cold and howling winds please use you're brain it only takes a second

Kudo's to you!! that was nice, and very humanitarian. Also thank you for this post, it made me think. I fish by myself and use an I pilot, If I were to fall over it would continue to troll along without me, I now carry my remote on my belt loop.

[cromedogg33]

Thanks for the reply. I believe I'll be staying at lime creek on my trip. I've heard that's a good place to start and then go towards the dam.

[duanetown]

Has anyone used any of the products from FWG (http://www.fishwithgary.com/) and if so what has your success rate been? Just curious, I have tried some of his methods but not his tackle this year at LP. It always seems that I go back to hammered silver fenders and squids with shoe peg corn for my best success.

[MackayGuy]

Has anyone used any of the products from FWG (http://www.fishwithgary.com/) and if so what has your success rate been?.
0.0% success with Gary's stuff. It looks great, but I've never had as much as a hit on it. He's got a great sales pitch. I am told that I just don't know how to fish with his gear. I do just fine without it.....and save myself some money.

[SuperD]

0.0% success with Gary's stuff. It looks great, but I've never had as much as a hit on it. He's got a great sales pitch. I am told that I just don't know how to fish with his gear. I do just fine without it.....and save myself some money.
I hope guys don't get offended when some of us can't catch fish on their tackle. I've never had luck with a few popular tackle vendors stuff. It just goes to show that their is a style to each of our own methods.

[campdog]

I believe that first and second ended up at 30.0 and 29.7 oz. I was a little short with 28.5 oz.
There was only 45 adults entered. I hope they do a better job promoting next year, there were a few that had no idea that there was a tournament going on. There was quit a few that signed up as they passed the weigh station to put there boat in.

[MackayGuy]

Yeah....they do need to promote it a little more. I didn't plan to fish it, but I took my wife and our neighbor out the day before. The neighbor had been hinting to kokanee fish, so we took her out on friday. She picked it up pretty quick and boated a 18+" football (which I believe as beginners luck....but it was a really nice fish. I get credit for setting her up). Probably the biggest koke I've seen come out of LP. And that started the discussion about entering the tournament on Saturday.....so the three of us did. I know some of the guys on the Fire Dept. so felt it was a good cause.....and it was a beautiful day. Didn't catch anything that we thought would win, so we didn't weigh anything when we came in. We did catch a couple of nice limit and supported a good cause.

[MaGoo]

Someone had said that thousand were going to fish in the derby. They were wondering where they could launch that many boats. I felt that with thousand boats I need not take mine. I could just walk from boat to boat. I am one that does not like crowds so I did not even think about fishing Saturday. In fact it has been twenty years that I have fished LP on the week ends. They need to advertise a great deal more. With 45 people registered I would say it was not very profitable. I am sure they need the money, but a lot more than what they got.

[SuperD]

What were the prizes?

[SuperD]

.... I had a limit in 2 hours but kept fishing and culling to try and get some bigger fish.


Can you guys help either me or JTM out? Is this even legal where you guys fish?

[MackayGuy]

Can you guys help either me or JTM out? Is this even legal where you guys fish?
I couldn't find anything specific in the regs regarding culling, but I interpret the following as being able to hold fish and release them and I assume you can replace the released fish to meet the limit in your possession?

Holding Live Fish: No permit is required to keep game fish alive that have legally been reduced to possession, in a live well, net or on a stringer while at the body of water from which they were taken. All fish must be killed or released prior to leaving the water body. However, anadromous salmon and steelhead must either be killed or released after landing.

[SuperD]

Thanks MackayGuy. I find that amazing.

[kokanee kombine]

we were at dent dads weekend and caught 53,fish were down at 50 feet.going back before the 4th since wallowa is crap.fished wallowa yesterday only caught 1 koke,skinny,7 inches.5 rainbows all released,any recent reports would be great,last time we fished elk creek,thanks

[kenbarb]

Barb (my wife) and I got away last Wed. with the motorhome and boat in tow, headed for Dworshak State Park & Freeman Creek Campground, from our home in Hell's Canyon it's a two hour trip, and a very scenic drive using the Kendric route. After launching the boat and getting things situated at the camping spot we went out Bass fishing for a while, the fishing was really good, catching fish along the shoreline in the bays.

Thursday we fished for Kokanee late in the afternoon, using two downriggers and one long line, hits seemed to be a little better on the long line. We did not get into any big schools, and quit fishing after catching ten. We were using ultra lite spinning rods with the downriggers, flashers attached to the ball, and the terminal lure 30" above the flashers, with a setback about 2' behind the flashers. The long line had a string of flashers, 3oz. banana weight, we used a 60' setback.

Friday was the day we had chosen to fish hard for Kokanee, was on the water at 7:00am, had the lines in at 7:30. Started at the Indian Creek area, and was into fish right away, the long line is the best producer , it is much quicker to pull a fish in, re-bait and get the line back in the water compared to the downriggers, so we decide to quit using the downriggers, and put out 3 long lines. The bite then really turned on, and it was a Kokanee frenzy, there was very little time between fish, several times getting triples, and a lot of doubles. We pulled the lines in and motored to the Canyon Creek Campground for lunch break, then it was back after Kokanee, we kind of lost the exact count on the fish, and decided to quit fishing at 3:00pm, we knew we were near our 50 fish limit. We pulled into a secluded cove and set up a production line for fish cleaning, turned out we had 49 Kokanee.

The weather was some overcast for short periods, a little breeze now and then, water temp. 64F to 68F, ambient air temp. around 80F. We used dyed scented corn, the best color was red & pink, with red being the best.

When we got back to the Park the weekend people were really coming in, with most of the camping spots filled, we are both retired and usually only go camping Mon. thru Thur., so it seemed pretty crowded, but was still really nice, and a lot of fun watching the little kids play, brings back a lot of memories. Stayed overnite, then drove home Sat. morning.

We have reservations for #14 campsite at the park for this Wed. & Thur. , so if any of you are in the area, stop by for a cup of coffee.

Ken & Barb

[JTM]

Can you guys help either me or JTM out? Is this even legal where you guys fish?

I only keep 5 in my livewell at one time until I decide I have the 6 I want to keep. Not an outlaw I checked with F&G.

[TJL]

Hi new to the forum. Just thought i would let you know i went up sunday and fished. brought 30 home all in the 11-13". in the morning we fished 20-30' up by the curlew and moved to fall creek early afternoon where we couldn't get touched below 20'. We caught them on an orange and a purple hoochie.

[JTM]

I couldn't find anything specific in the regs regarding culling, but I interpret the following as being able to hold fish and release them and I assume you can replace the released fish to meet the limit in your possession?

Holding Live Fish: No permit is required to keep game fish alive that have legally been reduced to possession, in a live well, net or on a stringer while at the body of water from which they were taken. All fish must be killed or released prior to leaving the water body. However, anadromous salmon and steelhead must either be killed or released after landing.

Thanks M.G.

[Lunddude]

Hi new to the forum. Just thought i would let you know i went up sunday and fished. brought 30 home all in the 11-13". in the morning we fished 20-30' up by the curlew and moved to fall creek early afternoon where we couldn't get touched below 20'. We caught them on an orange and a purple hoochie.

Welcome to the forum and thanks for the report. Looks like the kokanee at Anderson are running a little bigger then last year, which is a pleasant surprise. I think I'll head back to Anderson this weekend and put a few more kokanee in the freezer.

[Lunddude]

Thanks for the reply. I believe I'll be staying at lime creek on my trip. I've heard that's a good place to start and then go towards the dam.

No need to go any further south from Lime Creek then a mile. My best fishing came just north and south of the mouth of Lime Creek on the main channel. Good Luck if you go!

[JTM]

0.0% success with Gary's stuff. It looks great, but I've never had as much as a hit on it. He's got a great sales pitch. I am told that I just don't know how to fish with his gear. I do just fine without it.....and save myself some money.

I find this very amusing, I make my own lures and kill them on my creations, However everyone I give them to can't catch a cold on them.

It is all about the style and speed you fish, I have mine and it so does not work for others, Yet they can pound the fish!!!!

LOVE KOKE FISHING!!!!!!!!!

[Lunddude]

Must be great living the dream. I'm jealous, my wife says I can never retire :)

[ricks]

Must be great living the dream. I'm jealous, my wife says I can never retire :)

Afraid I am on the same planet. Wonder where Ken found Barb?


R

[fishingmom]

really nice report ken & barb,,,last minute decided to head up yesterday morning and took my niece, started below indian canyon zig zagged our way past floating dock, 3 lines varied depth bait and lure,,,nothing picked up ran to elk river and more of the same, we saw 3 caught the entire time,,,,we ran back into indian canyon and bass fished the rest of the day! (it was a very small stick that got plugged in impellar last time out, nothing hurt, had riverview go thru everything, couple adjustments and ran great, so much leaves sticks pine needles around and especially at big eddy ramp/dock already pulled a wad out of the grate)

[kenbarb]

Thanks fishingmom, Sorry to hear you didn't connect on the Kokanee, sounds like you were near the same area at Indian that we were fishing. Our boat has a 212 Hamilton Single Stage Pump, it has sucked in a stick a few times, but is pretty good about spitting them out. On another boat we had a 3 stage pump that ate sticks like a grinder, never getting plugged, but the harmonic noise it made was loud and very irritating. We will be going back in the morning for a couple of days, hope to find them again, will submit a report when we return.

Lundude & ricks, It is a dream come true. Barb has been my fishing partner for 57 years, and I give my blessing and thanks, she is a true jewel.

[hoolee99]

I had some guy I traded a sling blade for his homemade spinner lure that was mad with beads that said( bite me) I was sceptical however I have caught fish on it at lucky peak.

[bigtrout1000]

Great day fishing for Kokanee. We launched at Spring Shores around 7:00AM and there were a dozen or more boats already on the water. We fished above the launch first and landed 3 medium sized fish. We spend the rest of the morning down from the launch. Only a few lunkers over 18 inches but still came close to our limit. The weather was perfect and it looked like most boats were doing pretty good today. Nice to have a fishery so close to Boise. Fish in the morning and still had time to get some work in later in the afternoon.

I am new to this forum and would like to know where the big Kokanee are in Idaho? We are thinking about making a weekend trip to deadwood and would like to get some feedback on if it's worth the drive.

[conservationist]

bigtrout1000 .....I don't think you'll find the BIG Kokes at Deadwood, but there are tons of them. As to whether or not it's worth the drive ...depends on what you drive and pull in. I don't think I've ever gone up there without picking up parts of my boat trailer on the road.

[kok-head]

Great day fishing for Kokanee. We launched at Spring Shores around 7:00AM and there were a dozen or more boats already on the water. We fished above the launch first and landed 3 medium sized fish. We spend the rest of the morning down from the launch. Only a few lunkers over 18 inches but still came close to our limit. The weather was perfect and it looked like most boats were doing pretty good today. Nice to have a fishery so close to Boise. Fish in the morning and still had time to get some work in later in the afternoon.

I am new to this forum and would like to know where the big Kokanee are in Idaho? We are thinking about making a weekend trip to deadwood and would like to get some feedback on if it's worth the drive.

Welcome, lots of the smaller kokanee in deadwood, generally arrowrock produces lots of the 18-20" fish but they are tougher to find this yr

Deadwood does offer some great trout and chinook fishing, lots of 3-5lb fish, I haven't fished it before but lots of folks on this forum have, I'm sure they'd have some info to offer you

Good luck if you go to deadwood

[TJL]

Ya, glad to see them a little bigger this year. I did hear of some chinook caught a little earlier, about 12- 15". Another year and they should be reel fun.

[metalheadgene]

They increased the SF flow from 600 to to 1800 CFS yesterday...pretty much all in shot. Anyone been up there to see the impact?

[MaGoo]

Not sure about the fish kill theory either. I have expereinced similar results this year as well although we have caught some big ones. In regards to the impact from the fire...it is really going to get interestng because any day now they will be increasing the flows on the SF from 300 to 1600. Based on what I saw from last fall and this spring while fly fishing I think there is going to be a whole lot more silt and debris coming into the resevoir as soon as they open the spiggot!

I called F&G yesterday and talked to a girl that did not much. However she said that the fires above AR had killed all the fish in some of the streams. The F&G had gone to AR and felt that the dead fish had washed down from streams. I did not see any dead fish in September or did see any murky water. Also the water was on the rise in September.

[TJL]

Thought I would share a privoius photo of one of the fish we caught about a month ago. I think we ended up with 7 that trip. This one was around 19".

[MackayGuy]

Wow....nice fish!

[gonefishing]

I have found that there is more than one type of Kokanee in Ririe this year. Some of them have black spots on their backs and they are green on the top. They are very active fish that fight harder and more fun to catch. It has been a good year on Ririe with significant numbers of 3 year fish. Some fish are starting to turn so there is not alot of time left to catch them. Many popular areas have been fished hard and the fish have have been thinned out in those areas. Usual summer colors are working, pink & orange colors are working well. There are still small to medium size schools of fish and they are very active once you find them. Depths have been between 25ft and 40ft for the fish.

[kenbarb]

Started the short journey to Dworshak at 5:00pm Tuesday, arrived at Freeman Creek Campground around 7:00pm, the place was pretty much vacant. Checked out our reserved campsite and headed for the boat launch, there was two rigs parked at the launch, not a soul around. I backed the trailer into the water, then Barb powered the boat off and headed for the public dock while I parked the motorhome at the campsite, then walked to the dock to help Barb put the bumpers out and secure the boat. This is a really neat dock, very roomy, with a swimming section built in, lot of space to tie boats up, and it's free. We just hung around the camp for the rest of the day. Our goal was to fish Wed. and Thur., then go home Friday morning, the plan was to catch 25 Kokanee per day for a total of 50, which is all we wanted to deal with.

It's Wed. morning, we get up pretty early but don't get the long lines in until about 8:30am, start fishing at the Canyon Creek entrance, no sooner are the lines in when Barb's rod starts to twitch, and she pulls in a nice 12" Kokanee. The bite continues with Barb catching 5 fish before I even get a hit, she's using a pink wedding ring type lure with a "hot tiger" spinner blade, I'm using the same except my spinner blade is pink, so I switch to the same that she has, and put the same on the third rod, we are using scented shoepeg corn, dyed red and pink, once again the red seems to get the most hits, tried natural, they did not like it. We continue trolling between Canyon and Indian Creek, the catch rate is pretty much consistent. Around 11:30am we head for the Canyon Creek Campground to give our little English Setter a break, and a snack for us. There is a very nice trail from the campground, to the end of Canyon Creek, we walked about a half mile on it, very scenic, with good views of the lake, very shaded, nice walk.

Back on the water at about 1:00pm, start trolling from the campground, not seeing many fish on the finder, from the campground to the entrance we only caught two fish. Did a large loop into the main lake and picked up a few more, at around 3:00pm we landed the #25 and pulled the lines in, then found a isolated cove to nose the boat into, and clean the fish.

It was a really nice day with a lot of overcast, ambient air temp. was around 75F, water temp. was 67F/70F, there was a little breeze at times, but mostly flat water, beautiful day and pretty good fishing.

We thought about setting the alarm and getting up early on Thursday, but decided to sleep in instead, woke up during the night to the pattering of rain on the roof. when we got up it was drizzling rain, love to fish in the rain if the wind isn't blowing, this looks like one of those days. Barb fixes breakfast. and I head for the boat to sharpen hooks, and get everything ready for the days fishing.

We go back to Canyon and Indian Creek, it is absolutely beautiful on the water, cool, slight drizzle, and fish showing on the fishfinder, not another boat in sight. Right away we start catching Kokanee, after about two hours we have caught twelve, then the bite slows so we decide to go back to the Freeman Creek Campground for a snack, then try a location between Freeman and Dicks Creek. After the break we are back on the water, have found a small school of fish that are pretty nice size, we have caught about five fish when we see this very nice jetboat heading for us, they pull in close and ask if we are Ken & Barb, what a surprise to find out it is "amxerhull" John, and a couple of buddies, what a delight to meet John out there, had never talked to him before, except here on the forum, John I'm sure glad you stopped. We all fished the same area for a little while, the bite was good enough to finish catching our self imposed 25 fish limit. Pulled into a cove, cleaned the fish and headed for the dock, will pull the boat out in the morning and head for home, beautiful rainy day on the water, with good fishing. Now it's back to camp for a glass of wine, and Barb's favorite crooner Rod Stewart.

Ken & Barb

[Goldknight]

Great reports all. We finally made it to the new house. and yep had the boat in the water the next day even though the house needed lots of works. grin . Poor boat motor did not fare well in the move. Would only give me half power so off to the repair shop she went. You can see the house from the lake if your very near the dam. The view from the back porch is straight over the dam down to the river. Cant weight to get out there fishing.

Thurston

[campdog]

Camped at Curlew for the weekend and fished from there to lime creek. I caught most of the fish on a pink hoochie or pink crappie jig. All were caught between 20 and 30 feet at 1.5 mph with a 10 foot set back. The fish were very spread out all the way across the reservoir so it was fairly consistent fishing all day long. The fish were very aggressive with a lot of jumping, rolling and laughing at me when they threw the hook. We were only trolling two rods and only fished for a couple hours before and after breakfast and just before dark. We brought 68 fish home and lost more that that, with the biggest one at 14 inches.

All the other boats were trolling with wedding rings and flashers, and were catching fish all day also.

[Lunddude]

Camped at Curlew for the weekend and fished from there to lime creek. I caught most of the fish on a pink hoochie or pink crappie jig. All were caught between 20 and 30 feet at 1.5 mph with a 10 foot set back. The fish were very spread out all the way across the reservoir so it was fairly consistent fishing all day long. The fish were very aggressive with a lot of jumping, rolling and laughing at me when they threw the hook. We were only trolling two rods and only fished for a couple hours before and after breakfast and just before dark. We brought 68 fish home and lost more that that, with the biggest one at 14 inches.

All the other boats were trolling with wedding rings and flashers, and were catching fish all day also.


I too was at Anderson over the weekend, we camped at Deer Creek. I'm pretty sure we passed each other on the lake a time or two. I ended up bringing 35 home with the biggest right at 13 1/2" and most averaging 11-12". Fished hootchies @ 20 & 30' with scented shoe peg corn. Beautiful weekend on the lake that's for sure!

[nepetbutler]

Helped a guy start his boat today at springshores. In return he gave me 2 pink hoochies. tipped wth yellow firecorn . I stacked my d/r and started nailing kokes at 20 ft. Tomorrow I will attempt to troll and cook bacon at the same time. if you smell bacon wave

[amxerhull]

Ken and Barb: Sounds like you had a great time. It was god to see you, maybe we can share a bottle of wine with you someday.

We went back yesterday (Monday) and it was pretty slow. We put 15 in the cooler but worked hard at Canyon and Dicks to get them. Lots of boats, few nets.

The impending hot weather and holiday will probably keep us off the lake for a few days. We have never fished above Dent so we are considering an exploratory run up the lake for our next trip.

John

[ricks]

Wish I was there to greet amxerhull and kenbarb. I don't get many weekdays on the water though.

I went to the lake sunday. Seemed the perfect conditions with no moon and after a storm. We put in at Bruce's at 6:30 AM and powered on to Canyon Cr. Only one boat there. Dropped lines in and worked in and out of the bay but nothing on the finder, so picked up and went all the way up to Dent. Worked hard for a few fish across the lake from Dent Acres, so trolled on up to the bridge. Couple other boats there. This whole time I am running a DR at 25 and at 50 and a couple long lines. Swapping gear every 20 minutes or so trying to find colors. Around midday the two teenage boys stripped down to suits and leaped off the boat under the bridge - while we're trolling mind you. Once I picked them up the weather took a turn and we had a tremendous downpour for about 25 min. Tried to keep working but finally hid under the bridge. Trolled a half mile or so above the bridge and then back. Right around 2:30 we were back to the bridge and I promised the boys I'd wrap it up. Right then things got hot. I had all 4 lines on the downriggers at 50 and 35 foot and all of them hit at once. This was maybe 50 yards up lake from the bridge. We were able to boat a dozen on the day, all nice 10-12 inchers. All in all a perfect day but a bit slow. Hard work filling a cooler, for me, anyway. Wish I was a more talented kokanee fisherman. Best I can say is 'addicted'.

Rick

[fishslayer13]

Rick and kenbarb on sunday, we put in at dent and went up to cranberry was to slow so moved up to swamp creek. Swamp creek had fish but to much trash in the way and became tiresome to keep out of down riggers and lines. So moved up to the pinch and caught as many as we wanted. Left there and bass fished and ran up to gold creek and caught a couple and just toured around. The fish we caught were all very small at 10 to 11 inches but skinny. Have a friend that says the fish are fatter at grandad. Dont know, didnt fish up that far. Fish there were 18 and 26 feet on the line. Had a top line out a 100 feet out didnt get a tap on it all day. Red and green spinners did it all.

[ricks]

Now that is what we needed to hear! Awesome. I've never trailered into Grandad, gonna have to do that next, I guess. Sounds fun.

Part of why I am always chasing fish is I never am satisfied fishing where everyone else is, I have to go looking. (why I don't do 'combat' fishing for salmon on the rivers) Grandad is next! Can't wait.

Thanks!

Rick

[fishslayer13]

Im the same way I will rarely fish some where where there is more than a boat or 2. Swamp creek had no boats, magnus bay had no boats and we fished the pinch all to ourselves for an hour or so. Gold creek had 1 boat in it. Grandad will have more boats . I run my boat up from Dent to grandad when I go ,as the road beats your trailer and boat to pieces. Very rare to get a camping spot in there too. So we tent camp down the lake around silver creek. Gets us away from the people.

[ricks]

I run my boat up from Dent to grandad when I go ,as the road beats your trailer and boat to pieces. Very rare to get a camping spot in there too. So we tent camp down the lake around silver creek. Gets us away from the people.

Thank you! Never been up all the way. Looks like about 30 mile from Dent. See you there one day.

Rick

[kenbarb]

John it was a pleasure meeting you out there, Rick maybe we can bump into each other too. Barb and I are retired, to avoid the crowds we only fish Monday thru Friday.

At this point in time, and in my humble opinion, I think the Kokanee can be caught from Grandad to the Dam. To avoid a lot of travel time with the boat Barb and I usually launch at Freeman Campground, and fish from Elk Creek to Indian Creek, If fish aren't showing on the finder we make short moves until something shows, then try to find the lure and color they like, also the color and scent on the corn. Sometimes it's a waiting game until the bite come on, then it's a Kokanee frenzy. One thing about it though, whenever you think you have it all figured out, you find out you don't. Rick we feel exactly like you about being a more talented Kokanee fisherman, but if we went out and slayed them every time it would not be nearly as much fun.

fishslayer13, a couple of friends went from Dent to Grandad last Saturday, plugged his American Turbine so bad he had to remove the inspection plate and clean it out, said the junk in the water was really bad, worst day he's had this year, he also lost a fishing rod, and a friend of his free spooled one of the downriggers, and tangled the wire, to the point that it has to be cut to get it off, pretty bad day.

Good luck to you guys,

Ken & Barb

[fishslayer13]

[QUOTE=kenbarb;52446

fishslayer13, a couple of friends went from Dent to Grandad last Saturday, plugged his American Turbine so bad he had to remove the inspection plate and clean it out, said the junk in the water was really bad, worst day he's had this year, he also lost a fishing rod, and a friend of his free spooled one of the downriggers, and tangled the wire, to the point that it has to be cut to get it off, pretty bad day.

Good luck to you guys,

Ken & Barb[/QUOTE]

Its pretty bad, worst that I can remember in the last 10 years or so. I have a thunder jet off shore that has a very deep V and a 150 yamaha outboard on it, so works great in this type of conditions. So we didnt have a problem, just had to dodge the big stuff. On the way back down it was great as the wind blew everything out in most places. Did have some 2 foot white caps in a few places.

[metalheadgene]

Any reports lately?

[metalheadgene]

Got on the water around 6:15 am. The lake was like glass. Focused on run across from ramp towards the dam starting out. Caught 3 nice trout and 2 kokes that were 19 inches and fat. Got them about 35 ft down, one on pink hoochie and one on a red. This was all before 7:30 am. Then it shut off. Tried for a while around the confluence with no luck. We quit about 11am for the water maggots woke up and hit the water hard and fast. The lake is suprisingly low. Did not venture in the SF arm but the impact from the increased flows and subsequent scrub of the silt and debris from last years fires seemed to have settled.

[ricks]

I went sunday. Not a lot of luck, handful of 8 -9 inchers. Caught them across from Dent Acres on bright silver kokanee killers or bright chrome triple teazers behind bright dodgers at 35-40 feet. Had a great time, of course. Swimming was great - water temp almost 80 degrees in the coves. Have to pay attention out there. Some pretty big logs floating under the surface. I towed one guy back who thrashed his IO.

Rick

[kodiak1]

Fished AR yesterday, and the fishing was fast. Boated 30 between 9 and noon. Had to chase them down to deeper and deeper depths all morning. Started at 24 on the wire, and ended up at 37. Some of them had a reddish blotch on their skin. Didn't seem to matter whether you presented a pink hoochie or pop gear and w.r. As usual, they were under the scum line. Pretty much had the place to ourselves. Mike

[MackayGuy]

Hey Mike.....came by the turnoff to Anderson on the way back from Mackay yesterday and was thinking about a run up there while I still have the boat in Boise. What was the temperature like during the day? It was warmer up on the prairie yesterday than it was in Mt Home.....by a couple of degrees.

[kodiak1]

It was perfect in the morning, but by noon it was getting warm. I believe the car registered 89. The water temp was a surprising 71 degrees. It is def. worth the run if you like fast action. I did notice that the only boat near us wasn't getting much action due to no downriggers. We were fishing lead core on our third pole, and it shut off around 11, when they dropped further down. Mike

[DRM]

fished Anderson on Saturday. Same as Mike said, It was perfect, water was glass and only a few boats. We were after bass in the morning till about 1 when we needed some shade. drop the riggers down and in about an hour had 10 fish. was enough for the smoker and went back to bass fishing. was a great morning till everyone woke up and the wind chop started about 12 or 1 as well.
was good to get back on Anderson. just a great, clean lake.

[Lunddude]

Headed there Friday, should be a great weekend!

What was your biggest fish Mike?

[kodiak1]

one 14. Couple of 13's. Rest 11's or 12's.

[kok-head]

one 14. Couple of 13's. Rest 11's or 12's.

sounds like anderson is getting a bit better each year, i'm cheering for those chinook to serve their purpose

[centurion]

7518

Fished for a couple hours yesterday, caught a few fish. I think I caught a rainbow kokanee hybrid. Its tail is the shape of a koke, its colors are between a koke and a rainbow, it has spots like a rainbow, and the meat was nearly the color of a kokanee but looked trout like.

Thoughts? Is this just a trout?

[MackayGuy]

Spots on the tail and fins? Your attachment didn't attach.

[kodiak1]

W/0 the pic can't tell you what it is, but can tell you it isn't a hybrid. Sounds like a trout. Next time, just put your finger in the mouth. The trout has well-developed teeth, and the kokanee doesn't. Kokes are almost toothless. Also, kokanee have white gums and no spots on the tail. (They also taste a lot better!!!) Mike

[kok-head]

7518

Fished for a couple hours yesterday, caught a few fish. I think I caught a rainbow kokanee hybrid. Its tail is the shape of a koke, its colors are between a koke and a rainbow, it has spots like a rainbow, and the meat was nearly the color of a kokanee but looked trout like.

Thoughts? Is this just a trout?

I caught one today matching your description, it was about 11" and looked a lot like a chinook, had lots of spots along its back, I'm sure it was a kokanee though, couldn't be anything else

[kok-head]

Caught a limit today, most were about 14", one was over 17", my 3 yr old daughter reeled them all in, small hoochies around 25' deep, once we found them we limited in about 45min

[fishslayer13]

Fished saturday but had all kinds of head aches, fish finder died. Had to work on my Tr1 gold for an hour. So only made it up to reeds creek. The most people I have ever seen on the lake in my 30 years + of fishing there. Hot --- my temp on boat said 101 So was a short day only caught 6 and the biggest was 9 inches. Had a good run started on the off side of cranberry creek and started to hook some up and then 7 other boats decided to join me and I couldnt make the run where the fish where so I pulled up and went home. Never saw another fish caught by anyone the whole time. Good day with just the wife and I always good scenery.

[kenbarb]

Thanks for the report fishslayer13, You are more tolerant than we are to get out there in that kind of heat, it just gets to the point that it isn't fun anymore. It's amazing how a landing net attracts a lot of boats, but that's the way it is on weekends. What kind of trouble did you have with your TR-1 Gold? I have been using the TR-1 for many years, before Garmin bought them out. The first ones didn't have a throttle control, later the throttle control was offered as a add on, I used the old version until parts were no longer available, then purchased the TR-1 Gold, sure makes fishing a lot more fun when you are not captive to a trolling motor handle. Is there still a lot of junk floating on the surface? had to make a trip out of state, so we have not been out since the last report.

Ken & Barb

[fishslayer13]

Ive been stuck this year on weekends to fish and havent done much fishing of any kind. I may be having with drawls.

Tr1 problem-------The U bolt that holds the hydraulic cylinder to the trolling motor came loose and some how had enough twist to it, to rip a hole in the hydraulic hose going into the cylinder at the hose clamp. ( maybe already weak there) dumped half my oil out. So re-aliened the bolt tightened it back up, cut of hydraulic hose off. filled with new oil, bleed the system and re- attach the hose and back in business. This is a big deal if you knew how mechanically challenged I am ! LOL !

Glad that I always keep a new bottle of soy oil on the boat. First time I have ever had to use it !

Have 2 friends that went out yesterday but havent talked to them yet to see how they did. Hope they did better than us.

[idaho_Grizz]

Are the Kokanee turning color or do I have time for one more trip?

[MackayGuy]

Are the Kokanee turning color or do I have time for one more trip?

I was there last Friday and no sign of color yet. They're going deeper with the heat tho.

[idaho_Grizz]

Thanks, will try once more!

[Lunddude]

Fished Anderson 7/12-14 ended up bringing home 54 nice kokanee. All fish were between 11-13 1/2" and caught off the DR between 20-40" with Hootchies/Sling Blades & scented Shoe Peg corn

Got checked by Fish & Game on the water Sunday they said the checked some guys that had some juvenile Chinook that had mistaken them for Kokanee. These Chinook are right at 12-13" and are very hard to tell the difference from this years Kokanee. They said they checked the stomachs of the young Chinook and they were loaded with 2" baby Kokanee. They claim these Chinook should reach 3-6 pounds by the their third year.

They also claim the recent growth spurt on this years Kokanee at Anderson is due to all the fires we had in the area last year and all the nutrients that got flushed down stream and into the lake.

[kodiak1]

First, Mike, nice going on the kokes. I smoked my And. Ranch the other day, and boy did they come out nice. Smoked 'em whole. Sure a lot easier. Smoked them a bit longer this time, and it was an improvement. So, when they are talking about the third year, are they referring to next summer? You and I are going to have to figure out a plan to get after them. We'll have to introduce them to our Sekiu lures!! With the abundance of kokes in there, I'm guessing 6# rather than 3. Mike

[Lunddude]

Stephanie is smoking a batch of Kokanee today so her Dad has some to bring back to MN with him.

I'm thinking 3rd year Chinook would be next summer. I would think closer to 6# then 3# also.

I pulled the plug on my Tuna trip to Depoe Bay yesterday. We were scheduled to fish Tuna this Sunday with Dockside Charters but the poor fishing reports forced me to cancel. I'm still on for the 2 day/3 nights Tuna trip on the Ms Magoo out of Westport on 9/3-5. Really looking forward to that trip.

[kok-head]

Are the Kokanee turning color or do I have time for one more trip?

on 7/12/14 one of the fish we caught was just starting to turn, but all the rest were bright, so you still have some time

the 11-14" next year fish will always be ready for our lures, in october those 14" fish seem to fight like the early summer 17" fish

[nepetbutler]

nailed 17" kokes using a slingblade which i bent more to get more wiggle for my pink hoochie down 25'. Also used willow leaf pop gear with slingblade behind that and red wedding ring tipped with yellow firecorn soaked in procure shrimp oil.

[autorick]

My family and I will be heading to Freeman Creek campground next wed thru sunday for fishing and such. Hopefully the fishing picks up, weather cools down, and not as smokey out like it is in Post Falls.

[gonefishing]

Kokanee fishing is still surviving at Ririe. I have been getting limits every trip out including today. Some fish are getting the solid red patches and many others are starting to turn. Also, there are some nice shinny silver fish still available. Surface water temperatures are running close to 72 degrees and the bulk of the nice fish are being cught down around 45-55 ft.

[kenbarb]

According to the weather report you will not have to endure the triple digit heat, should be really nice. We always camp at the Osprey loop, from there it's just a short walk to the very nice public dock where you can park your boat for the duration of your stay. One place to try for Kokanee is straight out from the public dock, start trolling in 60' to 120' of water, troll toward Dicks Creek, sometimes this can be pretty productive, when and if you find a school just stay in that general area, and be sure to give Canyon & Indian Creek a try. Our most productive color has been pink, followed by red, and green, squids with smiley blades have been productive, but one day the hot lure was a wedding ring type with pink beads, and a hot tiger spinner blade, pays to keep changing lures until you find the hot one. Also pink, and red, dyed shoe peg corn has been great, with the red being the most productive. You will need to get to 30' and deeper, so if you are long lining you will need 3oz. or more.

If you would like a hike while you are there, try the trail that starts near the boat launch, it winds around Freeman Creek, and continues to Big Eddy, very nice trail with a lot of good views. Have a great time ,and enjoy the beautiful Freeman Creek Campground.

Ken & Barb

[kodiak1]

Fished today for 4 hours, and worked hard for 10 kokes. Started off too deep. Should have known in that I was not graphing many fish. Came up to 18 and started getting action. They were certainly hitting in streaks. You would see nets all around you, and then nothing for 20 minutes or more. Then nets everywhere again. Mike

[Idahomauledriver]

Been hearing reports that the fish are much further up the Lake. Grandad Bridge for example. Plan to head up there Sunday to take a look.

[More Cow Bell]

Got on the water today about 6:00 a.m., landed 8 before 7:30 then had almost no action for about 3 hours and called it quits. One 17", a couple of 14-15", the rest smaller. The bigger ones are starting to turn redish. Pink hoochie down 25' was the winning combo until 7:30 then I couldn't make anything work.

[amxerhull]

Has anyone had any luck the last few days?

John

[kenbarb]

Hey John, was thinking the same thing. We have not been out since we met you on the water, have heard that fishing is pretty slow, would sure like to see some reports. With the weather cool down it should be really nice out there. We might go for a few days pretty soon. We have a lot of Kokanee vacuum sealed, need to get them canned up pretty soon, think I might smoke some tomorrow, have a great orange juice brine that is better than good.

Ken & Barb

[amxerhull]

[Ken, I just got a call from friends who are camping at Freeman. They fished near the campground for a couple of afternoon hours and put 15 in the cooler. They said they are still in good shape. We are going up tomorrow but we may run up the lake mainly because we have never done it before.

nUOTE=kenbarb;52886]Hey John, was thinking the same thing. We have not been out since we met you on the water, have heard that fishing is pretty slow, would sure like to see some reports. With the weather cool down it should be really nice out there. We might go for a few days pretty soon. We have a lot of Kokanee vacuum sealed, need to get them canned up pretty soon, think I might smoke some tomorrow, have a great orange juice brine that is better than good.

Ken & Barb[/QUOTE]

[ddisney]

I went out yesterday and fishing was every slow. Only caught 3. All where still silver. I was using wedding rings in green, red, and red & green colors.

[amxerhull]

We made a run to Mangus. Fishing was slow but we had never fished there before so we may not have been in the right places. We ran back to Dicks and Canyon. Fishing was slow but steady. We put 25 in the cooler. They were in very good shape. Only 2 trailers in the parking lot. It was a fun day.

John

[sawtooth]

With all the boats on the lake I am surprised there hasn't been a Lucky Peak report in quite a few days. I guess the fishermen are tighter lipped then the fish. So I guess I will bite and post a report. Got a late start today and didn't get a line in the water until after 8:30 am. My buddy up on our first fish in the first five minutes and the fishing stayed consistent until we left with our limits at just before noon. I love it when the fish are in the same location as they were the last time you were out. More catching and less searching. We released a few of next years fish and several trout. Kept two dinks that we couldn't release because of how they were hooked, eight fish in the 14" range, one around 16", and an absolute football of fish that was just over 17". The 16" and one of the 14" fish were just starting to get light pink fins, but they cut up just fine. We ran four lines at a time at depths of 15', 20', 25', and 35'. The bottom two depths were the most productive, but caught fish at all depths. Pink hoochies and pink/orange homemade spinners behind sling blades were the ticket. With both producing about equally well. Corn on the hoochies and gulp maggots on the spinners. Get out there while the getting is good.

[kodiak1]

Thanks for the report, Sawtooth. You must be stacking the cables. If so, do you ever get the two tangled when they hit the bottom rig? Mike

[sawtooth]

We had one small tangle yesterday, but it is normally not too bad. Always put a minimum of 10 ft. between the lines. Heading to Washington in about a half hour to chase some of the kokes big salty brothers. Heard the "Big Migration" they were hoping for has not made it to the Straights yet, but I am still optimist that we will get into a few. Kodiak, I will give you a report when I get back.

[nepetbutler]

Many kokes in boat this am ,left of west boatramp, using Derek's pink hoochies tipped wth shrimp soaked firecor
n.

[galaxy51]

New to fishing Kokanee.
I have a nice boat with a convertible top for shade and downriggers. Also have two lightweight slow action rods and plan to use Hoochies at 20-30 feet deep at 1.5 mph.
I am guessing that I am on the right track but would very much appreciate any advice concerning fishing or camping at Anderson.
Is there somewhere to camp that will offer some shade during midday?
Is there portapottys at any of the campsites?
I plan to bring the wife and come up Thursday evening and stay untill Saturday. (July 31 - Aug 2)
What shape are the fish in during early August?
Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer.

[redrider]

Stephanie is smoking a batch of Kokanee today so her Dad has some to bring back to MN with him.

I'm thinking 3rd year Chinook would be next summer. I would think closer to 6# then 3# also.

I pulled the plug on my Tuna trip to Depoe Bay yesterday. We were scheduled to fish Tuna this Sunday with Dockside Charters but the poor fishing reports forced me to cancel. I'm still on for the 2 day/3 nights Tuna trip on the Ms Magoo out of Westport on 9/3-5. Really looking forward to that trip.

I'm wondering what is the limit on the Chinook when time comes to keeping ?

[kodiak1]

6. Resident Chinook are considered in the same category as trout unless they are listed as an exception to the general rules. Mike

[idaho_Grizz]

Mike are you going after salmon up in Washington this year

[kodiak1]

Yes. We are heading up the 8th, and will be on the salt by the 10th. Looking forward to it. Mike

[sturgeon8r]

fished from 530 am to 10 am. hooked 2 fish and landed 1 trout. Fished from mouth of Mose creek to round the corner from Spring shores.
fished 15 to 30 feet.

[kenbarb]

That is pretty good John, have you or any of your friends been out recently. We have been picking Huckleberries, and have been waiting for the weather to cool down a little, as soon as it does we will be off to Freeman Creek for three or four days.

[amxerhull]

Hello Ken and Barb! I'm afraid my news is a little dated. Our last trip was July 24. We put 53 in the cooler, all caught in Canyon Creek near the floating dock. The downriggers ruled, set at 42 feet. Small flasher with a pink hoochie was the hot set-up but wedding rings caught their share. We haven't been back because of a wedding, a trip to McCall (shake the bush and fill the bucket with huckleberries, what a year!) and the hot weather all of which kept us from returning. I don't know if it is too late for kokanee but we are catching steelhead now so our kokanee season is probably over.

Let us know if you go and get them, all plans can be changed with a good kokanee report!

John and the Brew Crew

[sturgeon8r]

fishing is way SLOW!. 2 fish in 3 hrs. 1 drive by. But a ton of fun with my daughter.

[kenbarb]

Good catch John, makes a busy day when you are catching that many, were you using a flasher like the Slingblade, and how far was the set back from the ball? I'm really glad you were catching them like that, sure beats pulling a string of spinners. I can't believe the Huckleberry crop, we picked a gallon yesterday morning, we now have enough for pancakes, pastries, and jam until next year.

Ken & Barb

[amxerhull]

We use a slingblade or a similar flasher about 12 inches ahead of the hoochie. The short leader allows the slingblade to give the hoochie its action. We set the hoochie about 20 feet behind the ball although we seem to get hits at all distances back. Many times the wedding rings outfish the hoochies but not that day!

John

[campdog]

I was thinking about going the Anderson Ranch or Cascade next weekend. I would Rather catch more Kokanee but I'm not sure what kind of shape the fish are in at Anderson Ranch right now. Has anyone fished around the middle of August at Anderson Ranch??????

[mrgene]

I was thinking about going the Anderson Ranch or Cascade next weekend. I would Rather catch more Kokanee but I'm not sure what kind of shape the fish are in at Anderson Ranch right now. Has anyone fished around the middle of August at Anderson Ranch??????

I did about 5 years ago . They were about 70+' down & I threw about 1/2 of them back as they were just starting to turn red. Caught one about every 10 minutes tho. Best fishing was b/t Casey ck & dam including some nice rainbows. Hotter then than this year too. I bought some live maggots in M H for bait.

[Lunddude]

I was thinking about going the Anderson Ranch or Cascade next weekend. I would Rather catch more Kokanee but I'm not sure what kind of shape the fish are in at Anderson Ranch right now. Has anyone fished around the middle of August at Anderson Ranch??????

Should still be good. I fished Anderson from 7/30 - 8/3 and only caught 1 fish that was a male 15 1/2" long that had started to turn and had a pretty good hook to his lower jaw. Fishing was pretty slow up on the north end, in fact very few fisherman were even out fishing for kokanee. After 3 days of frustration and only a few fish to show for my efforts, I pulled the plug on the north end and made the run down to the dam. It turns out I should have done that about 3 days earlier as I pretty much started catching fish right away. I fished in 160-170 feet of water @ 40 & 50' down on the DR with hootchies & sling blades with scented shoe peg corn. The orange hootchies & sling blades produced the best results with green a close second. All fish caught down by the dam were 13-14" & bright chrome with no sign of color change. Good luck to you if you decide to go.

[bayhorse]

Thanks for the report! Hoping to go this Saturday. I also spent 2 days on the north end weekend before last and landed 5 only to have a fellow and his dad come in as we were leaving with thirty plus they caught that afternoon also towards the dam.
O well nothing like a little humble pie! Thanks again

[redrider]

I did about 5 years ago . They were about 70+' down & I threw about 1/2 of them back as they were just starting to turn red. Caught one about every 10 minutes tho. Best fishing was b/t Casey ck & dam including some nice rainbows. Hotter then than this year too. I bought some live maggots in M H for bait.
My neighbor told me that they used to eat the red ones too. I asked him how the meat was, and he said just fine. Still firm since they didn't get beat up like salmon do fighting falls and etc. We are headed up Thursday for 3 days, and it looks like the best bet will be heading for the dam area, since the reports say not much luck on the north end.

[SuperD]

I'll second that fact that the blush colored fish still eat okay. And if you smoke and/or can like I do, absolutely no difference in my opinon.

[sturgeon8r]

fished today. 630 am to about 1030. Tried fishing all the way up to Mores Creek. Had 3 quick drive-bys. come to find out they were Perch. landed 1 perch trolling in about 20 feet of water.
Fished out in the SECERT spots. 1 Nice Koke. Hooked jaw and turning red. :)

[bayhorse]

Went up sat morning and put in at elk creek at 6:00 am trolled straight across and first fish in the boat at 6:15. Hook ups were steady until around 9:30-10:00 and then it was lights out for about an hr we had several doubles and a triple! It slowed down mid day until about 4:30 we started to pick them up again steadily despite the wind and rec boaters. All were caught at 50-60 ft. Silver sling blades with orange or green hoochies were good. Our best was a pink micro weeding ring w/smiley blade behind a wonder bread sling blade and a pink little devil behind a pink and silver sling blade. White corn w/garlic and anise. All were cookie cutter 10''-12'' bright and in good shape. The 2 of us finished the day with 42 on ice. Lost as many as we landed. Great day! Thanks to Lundedude who's report inspired us to go

[kok-head]

bayhorse,

sounds like you and Lunddude have been making a dent in the population, and I'm hoping that the fish you both are catching are next years spawners, if you guys and the bull trout and the chinook keep it up Anderson should be turning out some consistent 16"+ kokanee in the next few years

[ericsod1981]

Bayhorse would you post some pictures of the setups your describing? Im new to most of this and Im not sure what some of the setups your describing are. Pink micro wedding ring? Wonder bread sling blade? Pink Little devil? I bought a new to me weldcraft jet boat and want to take it out to Anderson on Saturday to get the kokanee skunk off. Ive boated several trout from Warm Lake and Cascade but no Kokanee Thanks. I'd love to get someone that's got a better idea of what there doing to go with me Saturday.

[bayhorse]

7630
Try this I haven't had much success at posting pics. I am a bit of a technical dinosaur.

[bayhorse]

Ericsod the wedding ring is top- next is the little devil-green is a wiggle hoochie.
I run them 18-24 inches back of the sling blade.
The crappie tube and small hoochie 8 inches back.
Good luck.

[mrgene]

Bayhorse would you post some pictures of the setups your describing? Im new to most of this and Im not sure what some of the setups your describing are. Pink micro wedding ring? Wonder bread sling blade? Pink Little devil? I bought a new to me weldcraft jet boat and want to take it out to Anderson on Saturday to get the kokanee skunk off. Ive boated several trout from Warm Lake and Cascade but no Kokanee Thanks. I'd love to get someone that's got a better idea of what there doing to go with me Saturday.

ericsod,
Did the boat come with down-riggers? The koks are pretty deep this time of year, usually 50-70'.
Good luck.

[ericsod1981]

Thanks Bayhorse
The boat didn't come with downriggers but I took mine off my old boat and mounted them on the new one. They're Cannon manual downriggers but they work. I had a guy sunday morning trying to sell me two new cannon electric downriggers at the city boat ramp in cascade for $300 which was a steal and also what made me leery of it as well.

[ericsod1981]

Anyone interested in going to Anderson Saturday morning? I'll drive and provide the boat.

[mrgene]

Anyone interested in going to Anderson Saturday morning? I'll drive and provide the boat.


ericsod,
Sounds like an offer I couldn't refuse normally but, I have other commitment for Saturday. Maybe we can get together next year. I live in Nampa.

[Lunddude]

Just returned from fishing Anderson 8/18-20. Fishing is still good down by the dam though the fish were a little smaller this trip. Most fish were 11-12" and all next years spawners with small egg sacks already formed. I think we'll see some nice size kokanee in Anderson next year judging by the size they are now. Once again orange hootchies trolled behind orange colored sling blades seemed to be the ticket, with green being a close second. Best fishing was 50' on the DR with plenty of fish marked deeper. The best part of the trip was on Tuesday when I owned the lake (at least it felt that way) I only saw 1 other boat the entire day while fishing down by the dam, "Pure Heaven"!!

[Lunddude]

Went up sat morning and put in at elk creek at 6:00 am trolled straight across and first fish in the boat at 6:15. Hook ups were steady until around 9:30-10:00 and then it was lights out for about an hr we had several doubles and a triple! It slowed down mid day until about 4:30 we started to pick them up again steadily despite the wind and rec boaters. All were caught at 50-60 ft. Silver sling blades with orange or green hoochies were good. Our best was a pink micro weeding ring w/smiley blade behind a wonder bread sling blade and a pink little devil behind a pink and silver sling blade. White corn w/garlic and anise. All were cookie cutter 10''-12'' bright and in good shape. The 2 of us finished the day with 42 on ice. Lost as many as we landed. Great day! Thanks to Lundedude who's report inspired us to go

Good to hear I inspired someone LOL!!

I played hooky and fished Monday through today it was a great, no boat traffic, almost thought it was September. Plenty of fish to catch that's for sure. I'll be headed back again after Labor Day sometime.

[Lunddude]

bayhorse,

sounds like you and Lunddude have been making a dent in the population, and I'm hoping that the fish you both are catching are next years spawners, if you guys and the bull trout and the chinook keep it up Anderson should be turning out some consistent 16"+ kokanee in the next few years

Those were my exact thoughts today while fishing, 16" kokanee for next year!

[galaxy51]

Anyone interested in going to Anderson Saturday morning? I'll drive and provide the boat.

PM sent. Maybe it can work out.

[kodiak1]

Can't decide if I'm happy or not!! Sort of like the idea of plenty of stunted kokes to feed those Chinook in there! Especially after just returning from Sekiu where they experienced their worst king fishery in memory. They were predicting it might be the best since 1938, but the ocean fish never dipped into the Straits like they usually do. So, Anderson might be my best bet to satisfy my Chinook addiction! Mike

[Lunddude]

Sorry to hear that Mike. Did you catch any kings at all?

[ericsod1981]

No message received galaxy 51

[ericsod1981]

You can call me galaxy51 @861-5435

[Physion]

Yesterday I fished from Brown's Gulch to the Bowl. Nothing. Not a bite. The water was more turbid than usual for this time of year. Last year in the same area I boated (didn't keep) 22 kokanee over two days, Aug. 20 and 21. Thoughts?

[kok-head]

Yesterday I fished from Brown's Gulch to the Bowl. Nothing. Not a bite. The water was more turbid than usual for this time of year. Last year in the same area I boated (didn't keep) 22 kokanee over two days, Aug. 20 and 21. Thoughts?

Lots of folks have a tough time convincing kokanee to bite in July and August, maybe the fish just see too many of the same presentations over and over and they are worn out from the last few months, luckily most of the lucky peak kokanee folks don't fish for them in September and October, it will be good fishing this fall when the pleasure boaters store their boats and when the water cools off again

[galaxy51]

I took Ericsod up on his invitation to fish with him and I am glad I did.
We stacked the dowriggers and boated 26 Koks and 2 Rainbows. Lost 6-8 at the boat because we got cocky and started hoisting them in the boat instead of using the net. White corn with homemade Anise treatment worked well.
We caught most of the fish from 7until 10, slowing until noon or so with almost nothing after that.

[AlumaChris]

galaxy51 - how deep and what kind of lures/flashers/etc? I threw everything I had at them today at various depths and got zip. Just curious what I am doing wrong. thanks!

[galaxy51]

We stacked with lower rig at 60' and the upper at 50' until close to noon and then tried varoius depths afer that.
Most hookups were at 60'.
4"dodgers or Sling Blades were used about 16" ahead of little hot pink or off white rubber squids with double hooks baited with shoe peg dosed with homemade Anise oil. The shoe peg soaks in Anise oil to get a good saturation of scent.
Chris, maybe you didn't do anything wrong, we may have just been lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time.
I have read that all colors are gone at about 40', so maybe color isn't that important when fishing deep.
Good luck Chris.