2013-2016 Idaho Kokanee Fishing Reports Quick Links

[sawtooth]

May your reports of Anderson Ranch in 2014 be filled with great times and great fish.

[sawtooth]

Good Luck on your Fishing trips this year at Dworshak Reservior.

[sawtooth]

Lets hope we get enough water this year to fill Arrowrock and keep that fishery going as well as it has the last few years. Good Luck this year and keep the reports coming.

[sawtooth]

With the New Year comes a new Lucky Peak Kokanee Fishing Report. May your trips to Lucky Peak be filled with great memories and great fish. Keep the Reports coming and I'll see you at the lake.

[autorick]

Heading there in April.

[sawtooth]

If you are lucky enough to take a trip to Ririe, make sure to post your success here.

[amxerhull]

I'll see your April and raise you a March.

[sawtooth]

Here are the links to the 2013 Idaho kokanee reports.
Lucky Peak http://www.kokaneefishingforum.com/fishing-forums/showthread.php?7536-2013-Lucky-Peak-Fishing-Thread
Arrowrock http://www.kokaneefishingforum.com/fishing-forums/showthread.php?7535-2013-Arrowrock-Fishing-Thread
Anderson Ranch http://www.kokaneefishingforum.com/fishing-forums/showthread.php?7538-2013-Anderson-Ranch-Fishing-Thread
Dworshak http://www.kokaneefishingforum.com/fishing-forums/showthread.php?7287-2013-Dworshak-Fishing-Thread
Ririe http://www.kokaneefishingforum.com/fishing-forums/showthread.php?7539-2013-Ririe-Res-Fishing-Thread

[BigggCountry]

Drove by turner the other day and the lake is open as far as I could see from the turn about. Won't be long til the reports start I hope

[Weekendwarrior]

Has anyone been up to look at arrowrock? The BOR site states the reservoir is at 84% full and rising about 1/2 ft. a day.

[bayhorse]

I drove up to look a week ago and it was near full I would say the report is accurate. The road was as bad as have seen it in many years. Go very slow and be careful. I hope to ease up there in the next few days if the weather stays sunny.

[kenbarb]

amxerhull I can hardly wait, March sounds good to me too, it will sure be interesting to see how the fishing will be this year, have heard from a couple of people that think they will be smaller, my guess is about the same as last year. Do you usually start fishing near the dam, Canyon Creek, Elk Creek, or the Freeman Creek area? It will sure be nice to get out there again.

[autorick]

I will be doing an exploratory trip in march in preparation for our April trip. I am looking forward to it.

[kenbarb]

autorick, sounds like a great plan, we will try to do the same. Have several new things to try, will be nice to get back on the water at Dworshak, we have been steelheading in Hell's Canyon where we live, but for some reason am pretty excited about the Kokanee fishing. We were using ultra light spinning gear the last couple of trips to Dworshak last year, will probably try it again in March, it's sure a lot of fun to catch them without all the pop gear attached.

[amxerhull]

Our annual March trip is a "cabin fever" outing. We usually get more snow in our ears than fish in the box but we have fun. We usually fish from the dam to Canyon Creek.

[autorick]

Kenbarb, i agree with the pop gear, to much weight and hassle for me. I am looking forward to the trip although many in my group may not be able to make it. Do you know of a good place to camp around the dam area? I am thinking right at Bruce's Eddy launch in a tent.

[downriggeral]

Hi Kenbarb - You were testing Chamberlain releases last year and did some modification related to mono line as I recall. Can you fill me in on what you found? I love the releases on braided but found the mono (17#) I used salmon fishing had some issues when "wound up" to put on the release.
Thanks - Alan

[kenbarb]

Alan, I have not used mono with the Chamberlain release, but the braid has worked without any problems. I use 30# for Salmon, and 10# for Kokanee. They really worked great with the Kokanee, releasing with every fish, what a difference not having to jerk the line out of the clip, same goes for the Salmon. With mono you should only need to twist the loop 4 or 5 times before attaching it to the clip, with the braid I twist it 8 times, try more, or less twists, if you still have a problem, email Chamberlain and he will work it out for you, he is a fisherman, and a nice guy. I replaced the wire on my Scotties with 150# Spectra and like it a lot, no more line hum, less blow back on the ball, no kinking, and no electrical charge going into the water. Ken

[kenbarb]

autorick, amxerhull, Sounds like we all have the "Kokanee Bug", with this warm weather, it even gets worse. At this point in time, I do not know of any camping spots that are open for camping, but I will find out what will be open and get back to you, too bad they don't open that huge parking area at Merrys Bay for camping.

[downriggeral]

Hi again Ken - I have been using the Chamberlain releases since last fall and I really like them. I fish trout at Roosevelt in the winter on my kokanee lite weight Lamaglass downrigger rod with 10# Power Pro. Nice clean release; no yanking on my tender rod. I also got a 3# 1oz 19" kokanee the last trip a couple of weeks ago. It hit an F13 Rapala at 2.6 mph of all things!

[kenbarb]

Alan, Have read your reports on Roosevelt, and enjoy them a lot. We fished Roosevelt quite a bit, usually at Spring Canyon, it was always very good fishing for a Variety of fish. Then 12 years ago we retired and moved to Hell's Canyon, the fishing is so good here we have not made the long trip to Roosevelt, looks like the Trout are much larger than they were when we fished there, would love to go back again, maybe even catch a large Kokanee like yours.

[downriggeral]

Glad you enjoy the reports Ken. The trout are really nice this year with most running around two pounds and up. I also enjoy reading your posts. I look forward to seeing how the kokanee are going at Dworshak this year.

Tight lines - Alan

[FirstTimer]

I made it out on 2/9. 50 degrees and sunny! The action was crazy once i figured out the fish were 4 feet deep! Ill be back out by the dam tomorrow if the weather gives me a break.

[kok-head]

I made it out on 2/9. 50 degrees and sunny! The action was crazy once i figured out the fish were 4 feet deep! Ill be back out by the dam tomorrow if the weather gives me a break.

that's awesome, and welcome to KFF FirstTimer

what size were the kokanee you were hooking? and did you catch many pikeminnows or rainbows?

[FirstTimer]

Boated 4, all 14", 1 rainbow, 0 squaw. I found the depth as my trolling motor was died. I was fishing 50-20 all day(WAY BELOW them). I got about 40 minutes in at the right depth as the motor went form 1.2-.6mph very quickly. Too slow for my blood...

[kenbarb]

Hi autorick, I talked to the Dworshak State Park Ranger today about the available camping, the only camping allowed at this time would be at the Freeman Creek Campground, or the boat in campsites located around the lake, since the lake level will be quite low when you come in March, the Freeman Creek Campground would be the best bet. The freeman Creek Campground is really nice, you would like it. The best news is that the Kokanee are on the bite, and are about the same size as last year, looks like it's going to be a great season. See you on the lake, Ken

[kok-head]

Boated 4, all 14", 1 rainbow, 0 squaw. I found the depth as my trolling motor was died. I was fishing 50-20 all day(WAY BELOW them). I got about 40 minutes in at the right depth as the motor went form 1.2-.6mph very quickly. Too slow for my blood...

Glad you found them and thanks for the info, I'm hoping winter is almost done

Do you troll with an electric motor?

[jumperzee]

Plan on getting out in March here too....getting the itch. Buddy got a new boat late last fall that we're dying to try out.

How are you early season folks getting fish around the dam? Kinda got things figured out later in the season last year up around Indian, Canyon and Dicks Creek areas...never did figure out the dam area.

[kenbarb]

jumperzee, The Park Ranger told me they were catching Kokanee from Canyon Creek to the dam, I have never fished near the dam, but would guess that the concentration of boats would tell you where the fish are schooled, maybe someone that has fished the Merrys Bay area will make a post.

[FirstTimer]

Glad you found them and thanks for the info, I'm hoping winter is almost done

Do you troll with an electric motor?

Yup, Boated 2 today.... Wind was BAD for my little 14' Had pretty consistent bites. If you know where the school is^^

[autorick]

Kenbarb, thank you for the information. My original plans were to camp at Freeman, looks like a great place on google earth, but we decided it was too far to boat to the dam everyday for fishing, assuming the fish are at the dam. My boat is thirsty so I try not to make many long trips in it. That is how I came up with Bruce's Eddy launch site for our campsite. I will probably be down there first of April checking it all out, then April 24th the whole group of us will be down for our four day trip. hopefully the weather is good and the fishing is great.

[fishslayer13]

Autorick,
I dont fish the dam part of the lake much But that said, I dont fish Dworshak early very often. I start to get the tingle about the last week in May. I kinda have gotten stuck in a rut with Dworshak being a fill the canner type lake. I get some eats and than start fishing other lakes for bigger fish. The times I have fished that way I fished the east side of the lake. When you launch at bruces eddie, go east about 600 or 700 yards from the launch and there will be 2 ridges that come down. They are very sharp pointed. You can see them on google earth. Use your fish finder to locate the school or do S curves about 50 yards off shore and work your way out deeper from there. Stay lined up with these 2 ridges. Sometimes they hang out by the log raft just dink around there and something will happen. That raft also holds some good trout if you put a worm harness close to or under it. Other than that troll up the lake on the east side , no telling were they are in there shallow or deep but work it out. When I get about even with Big eddy I turn and head back down to the dam. Sometime the kokes, early in Dworshak will get scary close to the bank.
People pick up some nice bass early from the bank at Bruces.

[kenbarb]

The park Ranger said fish were being caught from Canyon Creek to the dam, so I think it would probably be good fishing at Freeman Creek, and in front of the park. We fished that area in July last year, and it was great, most of the time we had the area all to our self, there were a lot of people launching, and heading toward Canyon Creek, and Elk Creek. The only time we used the big motor was to launch the boat, we would then start fishing a short distance from the launch. As soon as we get a good weather forecast for four or five days we will give it a go, and camp at Freeman which is a beautiful campground, may end up fishing closer to the dam, but that's fishing, no matter what it's going to be a lot of fun.

[kok-head]

Yup, Boated 2 today.... Wind was BAD for my little 14' Had pretty consistent bites. If you know where the school is^^

if fishing out of a boat under 16' or 18' it doesn't take much wind to make LP pretty rough, nice going for being the only KFF member boating kokanee right now

[salmonster]

Drove up to look yesterday. Pretty much full. Bayhorse is right about road- really bad. There was a couple of guys pulling a jet boat up there yesterday- hats off to them.

[salmonster]

I passed due to wind with my 22'. First Timer is a brave soul.

[tirby]

The park Ranger said fish were being caught from Canyon Creek to the dam, so I think it would probably be good fishing at Freeman Creek, and in front of the park. We fished that area in July last year, and it was great, most of the time we had the area all to our self, there were a lot of people launching, and heading toward Canyon Creek, and Elk Creek. The only time we used the big motor was to launch the boat, we would then start fishing a short distance from the launch. As soon as we get a good weather forecast for four or five days we will give it a go, and camp at Freeman which is a beautiful campground, may end up fishing closer to the dam, but that's fishing, no matter what it's going to be a lot of fun.

Are they catching them now? BURRR. My husband want to get out and get started but I thought it was to early... So did you get any info on if they were hit and miss or if they were catching a lot consistantly? Wonder if they are small again this year?

[kenbarb]

Hey tirby, According to what the Park Ranger said they are catching them now, he said people were not getting limits, but the catching is pretty consistent. We have never fished for them this early either, but like everyone else can hardly wait to get started, may do a one day trip next week, looks like the weather might be pretty good, but will still need a heater to make it comfortable.

[fishslayer13]

Had a friend go last week during the warm spell and didnt catch a single koke. Caught a few trout. Said it was darn slow.

[tirby]

Kenbarb, let us know how you do! Fishslayer, thanks for the info... I'll be sure the hubby knows... SLOW

[bayhorse]

Pulled the boat up sat am the road was still terrible. We were the first boat in and the last out. We finally landed 2 small 12" kokes at 4:30. My friend kept a limit of trout he caught with a long line rapala. We talked to one other boat who had landed 2 all day. The water temp was 37 degrees. Fish caught on red and silver dodger with silver wr at 18'.
Well we tried! But I believe I will wait for the road to be graded and the water temp to go up some before I venture up again.
Good luck!

[HCM23]

Fished yesterday 2/23 from about 8:30 to 12:00 in the pool out in front of the marina. Water was 38 degrees, picked up two Kokanee about 14".

[kok-head]

Pulled the boat up sat am the road was still terrible. We were the first boat in and the last out. We finally landed 2 small 12" kokes at 4:30. My friend kept a limit of trout he caught with a long line rapala. We talked to one other boat who had landed 2 all day. The water temp was 37 degrees. Fish caught on red and silver dodger with silver wr at 18'.
Well we tried! But I believe I will wait for the road to be graded and the water temp to go up some before I venture up again.
Good luck!

thanks for the report, do you know how much line you had out?

last year when i fished early and late in the year i had the best luck letting out at least 120' or so, i'm sure anywhere in the top 20' of water will be where the fish are but when the water is below 45 degrees i can usually only get fish in the top 10' of water to cooperate

[kodiak1]

Thanks for the report, HCM23. The dam area often outproduces Spring Shores this time of year. Mike

[HCM23]

yeah we cruised down there to give it a go but the wind was blowing harder at the dam and I didn't feel like fighting it in my sail of a boat when the wind is blowing.

[bayhorse]

The long lines were 55 pulls from the reel to the first eye.
Fish were caught on DR at 18'depth and 50' back.

[FirstTimer]

http://i60.tinypic.com/b843rd.jpg

I figured out how to post pics! This was 2-22 by the dam. Many others on and boated about 6 other small ones. Lots of trout too. I didn't catch anything until I slowed to .6-1.2 mph.

[pthept]

Hello all,
New to the group and just started trolling for kokanee last year with my son. We spent most of our time in arrowrock. It appears from the fish and game reports they put a lot of kokes in LP. Is one body of water better than the other this time of year?

[kok-head]

Hello all,
New to the group and just started trolling for kokanee last year with my son. We spent most of our time in arrowrock. It appears from the fish and game reports they put a lot of kokes in LP. Is one body of water better than the other this time of year?

welcome to KFF pthept,

both reservoirs will be raising and lowering drastically (link below), i tend to focus on the reservoir that is dropping unless its dropping more than 1ft/day then ill focus on the reservoir with the least amount of change/day, both bodies of water will be very cold until late march / early April, in years past in seems like AR starts to produce active kokanee earlier than LP, and AR should have slightly warmer water temps right now but i haven't had a water temp update for a while for AR

good luck this year


http://www.usbr.gov/pn/hydromet/ramps/arrowrock/arrowrock.html

[kok-head]

anyone know how Anderson might be this year for kokanee? the Idaho fish and game website show 3-6" chinook being stocked May 2013, anyone know how long it might take the chinook to get big enough to eat some of those runt kokanee? i couldn't find much on the web about landlocked chinook growth rates

[kodiak1]

I asked Fins and Feathers, the fishing store and guide service in Coeur d'Alene this past year, and he told me they would be munching on them this summer, and show fast growth. I look forward to fishing for them. The methods used at CdA should be a good starting point. Go to their web site, and click on "Chinook" for a good primer. Mike

[kok-head]

I asked Fins and Feathers, the fishing store and guide service in Coeur d'Alene this past year, and he told me they would be munching on them this summer, and show fast growth. I look forward to fishing for them. The methods used at CdA should be a good starting point. Go to their web site, and click on "Chinook" for a good primer. Mike

thanks for the info, i remember in another thread you stated you'd be getting Anderson dialed in once the chinook are big enough, this year and the next few yrs should be a great chance to possibly catch both species of salmon out of there in one day

[pthept]

Went out to LP today and caught three 12-14" across from the marina. Water temp 37.8 degrees. Also went to Cabellas for the kokabow 101 presentation and Alan from Kokabow put on a great presentation. I have had good results with his spinners.

[bayhorse]

Hi all,
My son and I are considering coming up on memorial week end. The opportunity to keep 25 per day is very enticing.
Would this be a good time ? Where would a newcomer stay and start?
We live in the boise valley and this would be a 3 day excursion. Any tips and advice would be appreciated.

[jumperzee]

Hi all,
My son and I are considering coming up on memorial week end. The opportunity to keep 25 per day is very enticing.
Would this be a good time ? Where would a newcomer stay and start?
We live in the boise valley and this would be a 3 day excursion. Any tips and advice would be appreciated.

Bayhorse,

Dent acres is a good campground if that is what you are looking for. It's about an hour-ish? from Orofino if you're pulling a boat. Maybe someone else knows the route better...I live in the area and don't really camp up there much.

http://www.reserveamerica.com/camping/Dent_Acres/r/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=NRSO&parkId=73168

From what my buddy and I learned last year (no experts here), there is good fishing to be had across from Dent at Canyon Cr. and just downlake a little from there at Indian Cr. and then uplake at Dicks Cr. All an easy distance from Dent. There are also boat-up campgrounds around the lake, but I haven't yet done that option. Some of them look really nice if the water level is up, which it should be that time of the year. We're looking forward to a multi boat/multi family outing this year in the boat-up campgrounds. As far as timing...I'll let other more experienced folks chime in, but we were doing well around that that date last year.

[bayhorse]

Thank you for the information . We have considered staying in a motel in Orofino,but it sounds like the drive time might not be fun. The camp ground pictures look awesome. We will be pulling up a 14' Starcraft and will tent camp if we can put this trip together. The boat up camp grounds sound interesting.
Have you heard anything about the size of fish this year? Hope they would be as good as last years.
The area is beautiful and would be a great camp trip, some fat kokes would be a nice bonus!

[fishingmom]

dworshak reservoir association, link below has links to maps of dworshak that show all the boat in mini campsites and how far they are from the dam and other useful info, water levels and surface temps...the bulletin boards at the campgrounds and ramps are usually stocked with the same maps which is useful to have out on the water if you arent familiar out there identifying the bays and where you are...

http://dworshak.org/

[bayhorse]

Great information site thanks!

[kenbarb]

Hi bayhorse, Thought I might add to the comments, Memorial Day means pretty full campgrounds. So, here's a couple of options:
1- Freeman Creek Campground is a wonderful camping area, very well kept, the personnel there is friendly, and helpful, there is ice for purchase for keeping your Kokanee cool on the way home. The level you will be camping at will not be too far above the water level, you will have pretty easy access to your boat. There are a couple of docks you can tie up to, or you can tie up along the shore near your camp, no need to pull your boat out at night. If you choose this option, then you should reserve a camping spot.

2- Boat in camping, cannot reserve, it first come, first serve, but you should not have any problem finding one that is open. This is a good option, and would be a lot of fun, each one has a toilet, table, and a flat area for your tent, pretty nice,

Dent Acres is a pretty good distance from Canyon Creek, as you can see on the map, but if you camp in the Freeman Creek area, then Canyon Creek is almost straight across the lake. Fishing will be good in the time frame you will be there, the Kokanee size should be about the same as last year. Fishing should be good right at Freeman Creek, and across the lake at Canyon & Indian Creek, we caught a lot of fish last year right in front of the park, didn't even crank up the big motor, just used the trolling motor.

Using either option you will have a lot of fun. Ken

[BigggCountry]

Fished out of Turner today from 9am til about 530. Turned out to be a good day after the morning wind slowed down. All together we landed 18 kokes, 7 trout, and 3 fish I'm not sure what they were. They had the head and body of a koke, the tail of a trout and had black spots along their backs. Any idea what we caught? The fish are shallow. Top 10' of the water column.

[bayhorse]

Thanks Ken for the options. I like the sounds of staying at Freeman Creek camp ground and tying up at camp. Looks as if it could be about an hr. Drive from Orofino ,is the road paved ?
I assume that reservations should be made early and do you have specific spots you could recommend.
The more we talk about this trip the more excited I become!
Thanks again for the help?

[kodiak1]

It has to be either a trout or a kokanee. There aren't any other salmonoids in there. There are many variations of trout, however. One good method to test whether it is a koke or trout is to stick your finger in the mouth. The teeth of a kokanee are pretty undeveloped compared to the trout. There is an obvious difference. By the way, good job on hammerin' both kokes and trout, today. Thanks for the report. Were they hitting one lure more than the next? Mike

[pthept]

For us the trout seemed to be hitting a white rooster tail trolled at the surface. Even had a koke hit a white rooster tail. I was pulling wedding ring with a glow hook tipped with shoe peg behind pop gear and got a few. Tried kokabows on the surface without pop gear and did not get any action.

[ricks]

My son and I stayed at Freeman Creek last october during the Great 2013 Federal Gov’t Shutdown. We were going to stay at Dent but it closed for the paid holiday and they dumped our reservation. From Freeman we had to travel up lake to and past Dent for the best fishing, but we caught 27 in an evening and the next morning. Lots of times that late in the year can be a hard catch, but we had some success working half brass and chrome cowbells and wedding rings with soaked corn down 40 feet.

Dent is elbow to elbow pull through sites with full facilities, included covered tables which is nice in Northern Idaho in spring! While Freeman has 3 different loops with varying facilities and prices. Dent and Freeman are both about an hour from Orofino on good paved roads. Both are reservable - pick your date, whatever fits your schedule, and get your reservations as early as you can.

The last part of the drive into Freeman is pretty steep winding road. The early part of Dent has some steep winding parts. They are both easy to get to following a printed online map from Google or any other mapping search tool. The signage from Orofino is pretty good.

The boat ramp is great at both locations and you can easily pull your boat out at night with generous parking - even right at your campsite. Docking is always more limited at Dent. On a holiday weekend getting a dock space at either campground is hit or miss.

I have not fished for Kokes memorial day at Dworshak to have a good opinion as to which is the better place or where the most likely areas are for fish. I tend to read here on Kokanee Forums and do just what you are doing, ask question on the best areas on the lake to start looking. I live close enough that I am not all that fearful of just driving over and trying a hunch - (going to do just that next saturday and start at the dam)

Have fun! Bring your bass stuff as well. They are a lot of fun when you want a workout.

Rick

[kenbarb]

Hi bayhorse, I think Rick answered most of your questions. This early in the year the Kokanee will start to school up in the lower part of the lake, closer to the dam, near the Freeman Campground later in the year, late Aug. & Sept. they will be migrating to their spawning areas uplake , at this time Dent Acres would be the best place to camp. Here is the website that shows the camping locations at Freeman Creek Campground, we take our motorhome when we go there, and stay in the first loop. You can pick any camp site near the lake, and it will be nice. http://idahostateparks.reserveamerica.com/camping/map_of_Dworshak_State_Park/r/campgroundMap.do?page=map&search=site&contractCode=ID&parkId=311022&topTabIndex=CampingSpot

In the event the above site does not come up for you just Google Dworshak State Park, then click on the site that says something about reservations. Ken

[bayhorse]

Thank you Ken and Rick for all of your help I have definitely decided to stay at Freeman campground.
I will call tomorrow and reserve a space.
Looking forward to trying some new areas and hope to run into you nice folks. Thanks again!

[duanetown]

Fished out of Turner today from 9am til about 530. Turned out to be a good day after the morning wind slowed down. All together we landed 18 kokes, 7 trout, and 3 fish I'm not sure what they were. They had the head and body of a koke, the tail of a trout and had black spots along their backs. Any idea what we caught? The fish are shallow. Top 10' of the water column.

More than likely the fish you caught are landlocked Chinook salmon. Black mouth and gums. Lots of sharp teeth. Coho's have also been stocked in LP at one time. That lake is a veritable smorgasbord of fish. Look at the historical fish stocking report from Idaho Fish and Games website. You would be surprised to find out all the fish that have been put into that fishery over the years.

[kok-head]

Fished out of Turner today from 9am til about 530. Turned out to be a good day after the morning wind slowed down. All together we landed 18 kokes, 7 trout, and 3 fish I'm not sure what they were. They had the head and body of a koke, the tail of a trout and had black spots along their backs. Any idea what we caught? The fish are shallow. Top 10' of the water column.

i'm thinking you hooked some variation of a kamloops or triploid rainbow (or one of the "unspecified rainbow" species that fish and game has stocked), i guess its possible that you hooked a chinook, but those haven't been stocked since the year 2000 and its doubtful that natural spawning has taken place, from what i found online the chinook live for 4 years and then die

[doublehaul]

New to the forum and new to kokanee fishing as of last year. Made it out last Sat myself with my son. Only managed two trout out from Turner. Lots of grabs and brief hookups but none to the boat. Wind was tough, but just as we were pulling out, wind began to die down, guess I should have stayed longer. Curious where people have been finding 'em in LP? PM me if preferred. Thanks for the info and those willing to share on the site. This site has got me excited and intrigued by koke fishing locally.

[kok-head]

New to the forum and new to kokanee fishing as of last year. Made it out last Sat myself with my son. Only managed two trout out from Turner. Lots of grabs and brief hookups but none to the boat. Wind was tough, but just as we were pulling out, wind began to die down, guess I should have stayed longer. Curious where people have been finding 'em in LP? PM me if preferred. Thanks for the info and those willing to share on the site. This site has got me excited and intrigued by koke fishing locally.

welcome to KFF doublehaul,

people are finding them at LP dam and at the marina currently from what i've heard (i haven't been out yet this yr), you will find small schools scattered all over the reservoir right now but will prolly find the bigger schools between the dam and the marina

the kokanee are a bit sluggish due to the cold water temps right now but they will bite if you give them the lure they hate (or love to hate) at the right depth and speed, fish 0-10' deep and if the kokanee are in the area you're fishing you should get a few cooperative fish

tell us about your boat and gear, do you fish with downriggers? what speeds were you fishing? do you have a fish finder? it isnt necessary to have the newest fish catching gadgets but they will help catch fish

[spoons]

Went up Saturday and got 3 koke in the boat plus 1 trout. Put on about 1:30. Did not fish in either of the main pools. Caught them in the narrows between the dam and spring shores. Had several hits and a couple hookups that got off because Eric didn't set the hook. Everything was from 20 feet up and still scattered all over the place...not schooled up at all, so it was helpful that we were dragging 7 lines. Used pop gear, dodgers and hoochies, etc.with corn. Nothing really worked better than anything else. Had a great afternoon and took a home a tasty meal.

[campdog]

I was trying to let the kids real in a fish. The more fun the kids have, the more often the wives will let us go fishing.

[doublehaul]

Kok-head….thanks for the info. Regarding your questions….as a new koke fisherman my gear is a mish mash of stuff. My background has primarily been in fly fishing and before I wanted to buy a bunch of new gear, I wanted to get my feet wet. So infact, strange as it sounds, I have been trolling with full sinking fly-line with typical kokanee gear (dodger and hootchie, wedding rings, assassins, wiggle hoochies, etc) and although I have not caught limits of fish like some, I have found a few, enough to keep me coming back. I have a 16' jet "sled", one down rigger, fish-finder. Speed unknown as my fish-finder doesn't measure speed, but I am looking for the speed wheel attachment. With the "fly gear" I have been trying to mimic what the canadian's do for salmon off the coast with mooching rods and a single action reel, just downsized to make the small kokes fun to catch. At any rate with that gear it has been difficult to determine my speed or depth unless I am on the down rigger. I have found as many fish on the plain sinking fly line as on the down rigger. I fully recognize that this is not ideal koke gear, but gets my stuff down a ways depending on my speed.

Sounds like this time of year, just need to cover some water and try to find some fish. Fish in the upper 10 feet of water are tough to pick up on my fish-finder due to surface scatter (I am new to fish finders also) so might as well be fishing blind when they are this high in the column??

Really appreciate the info!

Thanks

[kok-head]

Kok-head….thanks for the info. Regarding your questions….as a new koke fisherman my gear is a mish mash of stuff. My background has primarily been in fly fishing and before I wanted to buy a bunch of new gear, I wanted to get my feet wet. So infact, strange as it sounds, I have been trolling with full sinking fly-line with typical kokanee gear (dodger and hootchie, wedding rings, assassins, wiggle hoochies, etc) and although I have not caught limits of fish like some, I have found a few, enough to keep me coming back. I have a 16' jet "sled", one down rigger, fish-finder. Speed unknown as my fish-finder doesn't measure speed, but I am looking for the speed wheel attachment. With the "fly gear" I have been trying to mimic what the canadian's do for salmon off the coast with mooching rods and a single action reel, just downsized to make the small kokes fun to catch. At any rate with that gear it has been difficult to determine my speed or depth unless I am on the down rigger. I have found as many fish on the plain sinking fly line as on the down rigger. I fully recognize that this is not ideal koke gear, but gets my stuff down a ways depending on my speed.

Sounds like this time of year, just need to cover some water and try to find some fish. Fish in the upper 10 feet of water are tough to pick up on my fish-finder due to surface scatter (I am new to fish finders also) so might as well be fishing blind when they are this high in the column??

Really appreciate the info!

Thanks

glad that you're finding fish, speed is important and the right speed can be accomplished without a speedometer, what i used to do is run my motor at the lowest possible idle speed (while dragging drift socks or buckets off my bow cleats) for 5-10sec and then shift into neutral for 5-10sec, and if you troll with a smaller gas kicker or electric that makes it a lot easier and its nice to not have to let your main motor heat up so much and not work the transmission too hard

to locate fish ill cruise at higher speeds through an area and can usually pick up some fish on the finder even if they are pretty shallow and then ill motor past the school i marked and give them a few min to regroup and then slowly troll back through them

[doublehaul]

Well I should correct myself a little, not finding fish yet this year, but a few last year. Didn't start until May last year though when the fish may have been more aggressive. Thanks again for the tips, I'll keep after it.

[Sweetroll]

Kok-head….thanks for the info. Regarding your questions….as a new koke fisherman my gear is a mish mash of stuff. My background has primarily been in fly fishing and before I wanted to buy a bunch of new gear, I wanted to get my feet wet. So infact, strange as it sounds, I have been trolling with full sinking fly-line with typical kokanee gear (dodger and hootchie, wedding rings, assassins, wiggle hoochies, etc) and although I have not caught limits of fish like some, I have found a few, enough to keep me coming back. I have a 16' jet "sled", one down rigger, fish-finder. Speed unknown as my fish-finder doesn't measure speed, but I am looking for the speed wheel attachment. With the "fly gear" I have been trying to mimic what the canadian's do for salmon off the coast with mooching rods and a single action reel, just downsized to make the small kokes fun to catch. At any rate with that gear it has been difficult to determine my speed or depth unless I am on the down rigger. I have found as many fish on the plain sinking fly line as on the down rigger. I fully recognize that this is not ideal koke gear, but gets my stuff down a ways depending on my speed.

Sounds like this time of year, just need to cover some water and try to find some fish. Fish in the upper 10 feet of water are tough to pick up on my fish-finder due to surface scatter (I am new to fish finders also) so might as well be fishing blind when they are this high in the column??

Really appreciate the info!

Thanks

If you have a smartphone you should be able to find a free or cheap app that uses it's GPS to give you speed. I have one called Spyglass that works really good.

[ricks]

Dworshak Army Corp spring report out: (https://www.facebook.com/bigcountrynewsconnection/posts/661080527292219:0)



Paul Pence, natural resources manager at the dam, says with the weather beginning to warm up, kokanee fishing is starting to improve in reservoir areas near the dam and at Canton Creek. "Most are averaging about 10-inches long and pretty fat," he says. "It might be a little cold for swimming this time of year, but Dworshak still has a lot to offer outdoor-lovers -- camping, hiking, picnicking, visitor center activities, fishing and boating.” more….. (https://www.facebook.com/bigcountrynewsconnection/posts/661080527292219:0)

Rick

[doublehaul]

Funny you should mention that....just purchased an app last night...$1.99, pretty cool for the price, has waypoints and other useful stuff also. I'll give it a test this weekend. Seemed to be very accurate with my truck's speedometer this morning on the way to work. We'll see how it does with the slower speeds! Thanks for the tip!

[kenbarb]

My wife (Barb) and I had a lot of fun at Dworshak Wednesday. Arrived at Bruces Eddy at 8:15am, the #1 launch is usable, #2 launch is not. There were a couple of car with trailers in the parking area, not too many fisherman yet. There is some fog, but looks like it will burn off soon. We get the boat launched and head for Canyon Creek, when we get there there's four other boats in the area. We start with 3 rods out, one with no weight, and the other two with varying weights, the one without weight was long lined at about 150', terminal lure was different on all rods. first Kokanee was caught on the rod without weight, about a 10" fish, shortly after the rod with 1-1/2oz went down, and Barb pulled in one that was about 13", this was after about a hour of fishing.

We kept at it, and fished until 3:30pm, we landed 12 nice Kokanee that ranged from 10" to 12", most of them on the smaller side. We had one triple, and one double hookup, the fish are really spread out, and when we found a school it was a small one, but they sure attacked the lures when we could find the small schools. We fished Canyon Creek, and up to the entrance of Indian Creek, then trolled toward Freeman Creek where we found a small school of Kokanee. It was pretty slow fishing, but a lot of fun trying to figure out what to use, we think they will hit just about anything, the trick is finding them. Did not use the downriggers, might try them the next time.

From this point on the fishing should keep getting better, the fish will be schooling up more. The surface water tenp. was 39F, air temp. was around 50F, after the fog burned off we had bright sunshine, with a very light breeze, very nice. can hardly wait to get back up there.

[ricks]

My wife (Barb) and I had a lot of fun at Dworshak Wednesday.

Thanks for the report! Sounds like you had a perfect day. (one of these days we'll run across each other, look forward to that)

I've been planning to do pretty much the same routine this coming sunday. My son and I will start out with both long line and a couple downriggers fairly shallow. With the water that cold I wouldn't think the fish would be feeding very deep. I'll report back if I can figure out how to catch anything. (might be pretty quiet if I don't :^)

Rick

[ericsod1981]

Fished yesterday, started out at the dam but the wind was annoying me hooked one koke but lost it at the net. Then moved down to the marina landed two 14+ inch Kokes and lost 2 more. Pretty slow IMO but the day ended up being very nice with winds dying down around 11am.

[ericsod1981]

While fishing Lucky Peak yesterday saw a lot of traffic heading towards Arrow Rock. I was in there Saturday and to say the road is rough is an understatement, wonder if the road has been repaired yet? Fishing on Saturday was fair boated 12 trout and 3 kokes. No large kokes like last year though.

[Captainru]

Can anyone tell me any details (or who to contact) about the Robie Creek FD Kok derby proposed for June?
Thanks

[kenamatic]

I got to fish Lucky Peak finally on Thursday. Friend took me out and got a little late start and the wind was brutal early but mellowed later. Got 2 kokes and 5 'bows. Got them on apex, pink super micro hoochies and a white spinner. Had a few other hits that didn't stick. Long lining about 120 ft back. Did see some schools at 30 and 50. Most of the fish hooked were at 1.5 mph on gps. Had lots of fun.

[kenbarb]

Rick, Looks like Sunday will be a great day to be on the water, a little cloudy with maybe a sprinkle, I'm sure you are going to catch a lot of fish. We had the best luck using squids with smiley blades, tipped with shoepeg corn dyed pink, and marinated in shrimp oil, and a dab of anise. We plan on going again this Wednesday.

Think the N/R manager made a typo error on the Canton Creek area, he must have meant Canyon Creek, have you ever heard of Canton Creek?

[Kokapaw]

Was looking at Google Earth ,I'am a little confused is lucky Peak and Arrow Rock the same or two different lakes?

[spoons]

they're two separate reservoirs arrow rock drains into Lucky Peak

[kok-head]

Was looking at Google Earth ,I'am a little confused is lucky Peak and Arrow Rock the same or two different lakes?

welcome to KFF Kokapaw,

they are separate bodies of water, AR generally has the larger fish too so its worth a few trips a year at least if you are into kokanee, and LP is great due to the marina services and numerous boat ramps

[amxerhull]

Ken, Did you happen to notice if the boat ramp at Freeman Creek was useable?

John

[ricks]

Rick, Looks like Sunday will be a great day to be on the water, a little cloudy with maybe a sprinkle, I'm sure you are going to catch a lot of fish. We had the best luck using squids with smiley blades, tipped with shoepeg corn dyed pink, and marinated in shrimp oil, and a dab of anise. We plan on going again this Wednesday.

Think the N/R manager made a typo error on the Canton Creek area, he must have meant Canyon Creek, have you ever heard of Canton Creek?


I've got some corn soaking in this and that right now. I kind of like Pautzke's. But also some garlic and Mike's anise sauce.

I am going to try something new for me. I'm going to run the pop rig attached to a 10 foot leader directly to the downrigger weight. And then run the terminal lure as the only thing on the line a little up and to the rear of the poppers with a stacker release. Seems to me the boat and motor would scare em off. Met someone who swears the sun sets by it. Still, might end up having to run the pop further back on a longer leader. But I just gots to try it. Nothing but an 1/8 ounce lure or wedding ring on the line should make for a badass fight and less lost fish. Might also try a dodger on the terminal line even though I never had any luck with dodgers in Dworshak.


I think you're right, all sorts of words misspelled on that report.


Be back tomorrow night and let all ya'all know whether I'm a skunk or a fisherman.

Rick

[ricks]

Ken, Did you happen to notice if the boat ramp at Freeman Creek was useable?

John

John,

Water level is at 1535. Ramp should be 20 foot under at Freeman.

[kenbarb]

Rick the Freeman Creek Launch is open, and would be the easiest launch, if you get there early enough you can get a parking spot alongside the launch near the bottom. Late in the season last year we were attaching strings of pop gear, then stacking the terminal lure 3' above, and about 3' behind the pop gear. I put a bobber stop on the line to get the exact let out for the terminal lure, all you need to do then is attach the release at the bobber stop, and you have the desired let out. We used micro ultra light rods, and it was really a lot of fun catching them, they are really scrappers on light gear, it's amazing how far out of the water they can jump. We will give the 10' leader attached to the pop gear a try, might get more hits. By the way, the launch at Bruces Eddy is a crooked launch that you must negotiate when backing your boat down the ramp, you wouldn't have a problem, but some folks do. Good luck tomorrow.

[amxerhull]

Thanks, guys. We're thinking of launching at Freeman tomorrow if it isn't raining.

John

[doublehaul]

Thanks to those above for the tips…Managed to get back out today for about 4 hours with the kids. 6 kokes to the boat and lost several others. Fish were 13-14 inches. Some long lining, but more on the down rigger between 10-20 feet deep. Hope we see some larger ones like AR as the season progresses. What's the typical growth rate of the kokes in LP? iPhone GPS app for speed worked great for $1.99! I was just about to drop $75 for a speed wheel sensor for my fish finder too….

[pthept]

Growth rates in LP reported at the last presentation I attended stated the 1 year old fish are 8 to 12 inches and the 2 year old fish are 14 to 18 inches in LP. They do not report many if any three year olds in LP. AR tends to be 1 or 2 inches bigger when similar aged fish are compared.

[ericsod1981]

The road is freshly bladed had a great day up there today. Lots of bank fisherman and several boats.

[hoolee99]

Fished all day sat, caught 5 Kokes one rainbow. Not bad for early march. Caught some everywhere, by the dam, up about three miles there is a huge picnic spot and directly across from that spot to the northwest, Also first time ever got checked by fish and game up in a 18 foot sled

[MasterCaster]

Hey folks. Can those that use them tell me how long is the blade on the Kokabow spinner (size if you know)? I have a handful of Willow leaf blades from way back when I was guiding but not sure if they're too big or not.
Thanks, and keep up the good posts! Going to try to get out there, but due to spinal problems can't go alone. If you see a Blue/White Center Console Nautic Star boat (has "Fear The Spear" decal on front of console), wave Hi!

[MasterCaster]

Also first time ever got checked by fish and game up in a 18 foot sledtheres your hard earned tax $$ at work... I'd rather see them spend it on drunks and foolish jet skiers in the summer.
Good job and thanks for the report!

[ricks]

Cold foggy windy choppy morning on the lake. Launched at Bruce's and immediately started working our way up with both long lines and downriggers. Nothing happening, so we shot up to Canyon Creek where everyone else was circling. Caught one, got bored and moved up the lake again. Had some good results across from the Dent ramp. Caught a nice 13 incher there on the downrigger at 18 feet. Everything was consistent as hell, long periods of swapping gear around between hits. So went back to Freeman to work our way back down to Canyon Creek. At Freeman we dropped a downrigger in at 12 feet with a chrome dodger and a pink wriggle hoochie, just trying everything in the box. 20 seconds after it is out a lunker hammers it and we pull in a sluggish 18 inch rainbow. Water is pretty cold and the rainbow wasn't very energetic after the first few seconds. Like reeling in a cod.

Ended up going in circles with the crowd - 6 or 7 boats - and finished with a half dozen kokes for the day Talked with one of the others, they pulled in 12, mostly midday at the junction of Canyon while we were playing around further up lake. Our best results were also midday on brass colored poppers and a weird wedding ring I built that alternates brass beads and glow beads with a chrome hammered leaf blade. (everyone has one of those, right?)

Water temps were 40 at the dam, 38 further up. Still a lot of snow on the ridges around the lake. The wind died mid morning and the temps climbed up nicely into the 50's. And today, sunday, they started releasing more water to make room for snow melt.

Rick

[amxerhull]

We fished Canyon/Indian Creeks on Sunday. We had company of up to 15 boats during the day. We never saw a net come out. We ran two downriggers between 5 and 25 feet and two long lines with varying amount of weights and distance. Fishing was frustrating but it turned out to be a very pleasant day. We need lessons from Ken and Rick!

[fishslayer13]

Thats about the way Dworshak runs until about june. It can be good every now and then and not so good too. Very inconsistent this time of year. Did anyone run a silver hyper plaid agitator with a spinner 10 feet behind it. Yep thats what I said, 10 feet. Works a lot, earlier in the year. Some times very close in, like rock throwing distance to the bank. Also When in that close drag a night crawler on the bottom with a walleye rig. I have caught my biggest small mouths the end of this month doing just that. All that said, you can never go wrong with a day out on Dworshak.

[kenbarb]

Thanks for the reports Rick & John, It appears the fish are pretty much scattered at this point in time. When we were fishing Canyon Creek last week it was a single fish now and then, never hit a school until we trolled in the main part of the lake, and those were very small schools. I am wondering if all the boats in Canyon Creek are scattering the fish to some extent. I think we may try trolling the open water, away from other boats the next time out, then if we find a school mark it on the GPS so we can circle back over the spot. One thing about it, this is what makes fishing so much fun, weather permitting we plan on going this Wednesday.

[whiskeynkoke]

Pretty much new to the whole trolling approach. Been almost 30 years since trolling. Been a bit preoccupied with the whole fly fishing thing during that time but now with young children I figure this is a better way to get them out on the water and excited about fishing without all the frustrations associated with fly fishing. Spent last year figuring out, or trying to at least, the perch in Cascade for the same reason. Figured the local koke population and proximity to home just made too much sense not to work on. Not to mention the table fare.

First outing on 3/15.
Cold and windy in the morning...DUH. Fabulous weather followed.
Fished the dam pool area from 10:30 to 7:00
One strikes the first 5 hours - one pole on the surface (no weight) and one pole with a couple ounces weight, both longlining. Unweighted rod with a dodger, weighted with a small lake troll. Apex, Kokabow, and hoochies all tipped with white corn.
Started to pick up fish occasionally in the afternoon. Both lines unweighted, again one with dodger the other with troll. Both rods with kokabow, one tipped with corn, the other with maggots. Green dodger, pink kokabow with the maggots got virtually every hit and all the fish minus one rainbow. If I had found this somewhat succesful combo an hour or two earlier, I think I could have filled the cooler.
Ended the day with 3 14" kokes and a couple rainbows released.
Overall my impression was that a "good/decent" koke fisher probably eeked out a limit, but it took some time.
Marked lots of schools at 20-40' but seemed the players were all at the surface as expected.

Couple random observations or questions:
Whats up with the folks up there? I'm trolling along and catch this awful smell and immediately think "somebody's lost a motor and the smell does not bode well" smells like a motor running with no oil. I look around and see a speedboat with the hatch up and figure that's it. So I slowly start to troll his way. I watch no fewer than a half dozen "nice" boats go by and not one of them slows down or stops to offer these guys a hand. Just blow by in their jet, ski, or large fishing boat without a second thought. Now I don't mind giving someone a tow in when they need it, but seems a little silly on that lake that with so many people around that I need to tow in a speed boat with my 30 year old 16' boat and motor. I'll take the fishing karma, but it sure makes me wonder about the quality of folks I'm out there with.

Incident #2 - While searching for fish in all corners of the pool, another boat trolls past about 180 degrees and all is fine, but as soon as he goes past, he makes a sharp turn into me. I see this and go "oh #$%". The only option I had because of the shoreline was to try and turn the same direction he was and maybe this was a bad idea on my part. He ends up making more than a 180 degree turn and is going to pass about 50' behind me. He drops his downrigger balls and I grab the first rod and start reeling as fast as I can. Not fast enough. I spool the line and let him know that he's hooked me up. All goes slack and the ball comes up empty, I think he cut my line with his prop. I get a simple "sorry" and we go our seperate ways. I keep an eye on this boat and notice that he has a real regular and predictable route that he is repeating and I can't help but wonder if this turd was somehow trying to protect "his turf"? Maybe I did something wrong and the whole thing is a "my problem" issue but in my mind I know I wasn't trying to steal his track because I hadn't even noticed he had one until after the fact. Is there some sort of unwritten rule or trollers etiquette I'm not aware of? I can understand being a bit upset if others interfere with a route you have established, but I had barely crossed over the end of his route when the whole incident happened.

Final question. The fish that were caught seemed awfully lethargic when hooked. Is this just a water temp issue and will they get a little more spunky as the season progresses? Even with just a dodger, there really wasn't much of a fight involved in bringing them to the boat.

[kok-head]

Pretty much new to the whole trolling approach. Been almost 30 years since trolling. Been a bit preoccupied with the whole fly fishing thing during that time but now with young children I figure this is a better way to get them out on the water and excited about fishing without all the frustrations associated with fly fishing. Spent last year figuring out, or trying to at least, the perch in Cascade for the same reason. Figured the local koke population and proximity to home just made too much sense not to work on. Not to mention the table fare.

First outing on 3/15.
Cold and windy in the morning...DUH. Fabulous weather followed.
Fished the dam pool area from 10:30 to 7:00
One strikes the first 5 hours - one pole on the surface (no weight) and one pole with a couple ounces weight, both longlining. Unweighted rod with a dodger, weighted with a small lake troll. Apex, Kokabow, and hoochies all tipped with white corn.
Started to pick up fish occasionally in the afternoon. Both lines unweighted, again one with dodger the other with troll. Both rods with kokabow, one tipped with corn, the other with maggots. Green dodger, pink kokabow with the maggots got virtually every hit and all the fish minus one rainbow. If I had found this somewhat succesful combo an hour or two earlier, I think I could have filled the cooler.
Ended the day with 3 14" kokes and a couple rainbows released.
Overall my impression was that a "good/decent" koke fisher probably eeked out a limit, but it took some time.
Marked lots of schools at 20-40' but seemed the players were all at the surface as expected.

Couple random observations or questions:
Whats up with the folks up there? I'm trolling along and catch this awful smell and immediately think "somebody's lost a motor and the smell does not bode well" smells like a motor running with no oil. I look around and see a speedboat with the hatch up and figure that's it. So I slowly start to troll his way. I watch no fewer than a half dozen "nice" boats go by and not one of them slows down or stops to offer these guys a hand. Just blow by in their jet, ski, or large fishing boat without a second thought. Now I don't mind giving someone a tow in when they need it, but seems a little silly on that lake that with so many people around that I need to tow in a speed boat with my 30 year old 16' boat and motor. I'll take the fishing karma, but it sure makes me wonder about the quality of folks I'm out there with.

Incident #2 - While searching for fish in all corners of the pool, another boat trolls past about 180 degrees and all is fine, but as soon as he goes past, he makes a sharp turn into me. I see this and go "oh #$%". The only option I had because of the shoreline was to try and turn the same direction he was and maybe this was a bad idea on my part. He ends up making more than a 180 degree turn and is going to pass about 50' behind me. He drops his downrigger balls and I grab the first rod and start reeling as fast as I can. Not fast enough. I spool the line and let him know that he's hooked me up. All goes slack and the ball comes up empty, I think he cut my line with his prop. I get a simple "sorry" and we go our seperate ways. I keep an eye on this boat and notice that he has a real regular and predictable route that he is repeating and I can't help but wonder if this turd was somehow trying to protect "his turf"? Maybe I did something wrong and the whole thing is a "my problem" issue but in my mind I know I wasn't trying to steal his track because I hadn't even noticed he had one until after the fact. Is there some sort of unwritten rule or trollers etiquette I'm not aware of? I can understand being a bit upset if others interfere with a route you have established, but I had barely crossed over the end of his route when the whole incident happened.

Final question. The fish that were caught seemed awfully lethargic when hooked. Is this just a water temp issue and will they get a little more spunky as the season progresses? Even with just a dodger, there really wasn't much of a fight involved in bringing them to the boat.

welcome to KFF whiskeynkoke,

the fish are a bit sluggish this time of year, and yes they will get very energetic soon, when i'm at lucky peak i try and stay a good 50yrds or so from other boats, most of them aren't going to cut your lines but a few might accidentily, i wouldnt say you did anything wrong, probably just someone not thinking clearly

[whiskeynkoke]

Hey folks. Can those that use them tell me how long is the blade on the Kokabow spinner (size if you know)? I have a handful of Willow leaf blades from way back when I was guiding but not sure if they're too big or not.
Thanks, and keep up the good posts! Going to try to get out there, but due to spinal problems can't go alone. If you see a Blue/White Center Console Nautic Star boat (has "Fear The Spear" decal on front of console), wave Hi!

#3 I do believe.

[sawtooth]

Welcome to the forum whiskeynkoke. Looks like you got to see the "best" of the boating community on your trip. Self centeredness is rampant in our society and unfortunately some of these guys own boats. Good on you for helping out a fellow boater in need. As far as the other fisherman cutting off your line, he should have given you a wider berth if he is making a turn around you. On the other hand, it is not uncommon for koke fisherman to troll in a set pattern once they find the fish, and as I approach a boat I try to figure out if they have a set pattern so that I don't get in their way. Nothing is worse than having four of five boats all going in a common direction and pattern to then have someone join them going in the opposite direction and forcing them to veer off all over the place to keep from getting tangled up.

[kenbarb]

We made it out yesterday, and the fishing was very slow, got a double about thirty minutes after putting the lines out, then nothing but a few singles, and one dolly that was about 20" long, fished Canyon Creek for about thirty minutes, only saw one other boat. It looks like they had lowered the water level a couple of feet or more judging from the distance the dock had been moved at Bruces Eddy, maybe that has something to do with the slow fishing, not only that the moon phase was wrong. Did nothing other than long line, probably should have put the downriggers on, the fish we were seeing on the fishfinder were all pretty deep, mostly 60' or more. It will be better fishing next week, and it looks like the weather will be great.

[ricks]

Hey Ken,

Kokanee seem a hard catch right now. Make it all that more gratifying when we start catching them. Question, did you try along the dam? I worked both downriggers and long lines sunday with absolutely zero interest from anything along the dam. We beat feet up lake after only half an hour, barely getting from Bruce's to Big, the wind and whitecaps were up making steering something needing constant attention. Too darn much work.

I have to pull the outdrive this weekend and check everything out. It had water in the drive shaft area last year and I want to make sure I got it fixed. It’ll be a couple weeks before I'll get back on the water.

Rick

[kenbarb]

We put the lines in about half way to Canyon Creek, then fished between Canyon and Freeman creeks, progressed toward Dicks Creek, which was totally void of anything on the F/F, made a short loop in Canyon Creek, then trolled toward Bruces Eddy. Sorry to say we did not fish at the dam, after we pulled the boat out I was looking at the water, and was wishing we had made a pass. Hope you get the leak fixed and back on the water soon. What was the deepest depth you tried with your downriggers? at Chelan they are going down 60' to 90' to get the kokanee according to the reports, maybe we need to do that at Dworshak.

[ricks]

What was the deepest depth you tried with your downriggers? at Chelan they are going down 60' to 90' to get the kokanee according to the reports, maybe we need to do that at Dworshak.

I was seeing fish around 50-60 feet across from Dent ramp and put a downrigger down there. No result at all. I caught the one 14 incher at around 20 foot mark, if I remember right. I had the line snagged up on the popper rig that was attached to the downrigger weight and didn't even know I had a fish till I pulled up to head further up lake. (some fisherman I am) Felt like a rookie all day.

I'd like to try Chelan sometime. Some of the YouTube videos make it look very attractive. Something to be said about a 16 inch kokanee for an addict.

Rick

[salmonster]

Lucky Peak is a good example of a potentially great fishery that is just too close to town. That is about the only way I can make sense of it. Just moving up the road to Arrowrock makes a big difference. I seem to have a post every year about the guys loading and unloading, mostly near the dam. I bought a pass for spring shores this year. Although one advantage of fishing with DR is when you hit a pod of fish, it is easier to spin and stay in them, that does not sound like the case in your circumstance. Wait until it warms up a little and you have multiple fish hooked or catch a few in a short period of time. A slice of humanity will find itself within 50 feet of your boat in minutes.

[Kokatoon]

Headed to Arrowrock in the morning. I have always fished long line with a ford fender and red wedding ring. I went to Cabelas today and bought a couple of Kokabow lures. I'm assuming I just swap out the wr for the Kokabow. Along with a couple of kernels of shoepeg of course. If I'm missing anything let me know. Thanks.

[sawtooth]

Just set it up like any other spinner. If you have a micro hoochie (pink or green) and a sling blade you might want to give them a try as well.

[hoolee99]

Went up there today way cold in the morning, Lots of boats, caught some trout first thing then found the Kokanee mid morning all through mid afternoon. Ended up limiting out on kokes took a while but was good.

[riverrunner16]

Fished in the wind Saturday (3-22) for a few hours, 4 Kok's and a couple trout.....long lining pink hoochies and corn with plain chrome dodger seemed to be the thing, nothing on downriggers.

[Kokatoon]

Hit arrowrock today. Caught a couple of trout but no kokanee. Morning was nice but windy fom mid day on...

[pthept]

I was out Sunday as well. Water temp just below 40 degrees. Marked plenty of fish between the marina and Dam but only boated one 12" koke. Tried spinners with flashers, hoochie with dodger, Lead core, long line nothing seemed to interest the things today. Good luck.

[microfish]

Hi!

When the corps is letting out water from the dam early in the spring like this the kokanee move out in the middle of the lake and go fairly deep. Sometimes to 60'. When the water is shutoff and the lake is fillling they move back to the bays and edges. Currently the corps is dropping the lake about 2' a day. Flow from the dam today is 20,000cfs! After the 4th of July when they let water out they make their migration up tward spawning grounds. Until the corps slows the flow down it is going to be a bit tough catching. I fish that lake close to 200 days a year. Love that lake!

www.wefishhere.com

[whiskeynkoke]

Fished both 3/22 and 3/23.
3/22 - with a long day managed 9 kokes and a couple rainbows. Flashers or dodgers with spinners seemed to do best. Longlining with 1/2 oz. weight. Picked fish up sporadically throughout the day along the south shore near the dam.
3/23 - picked up 3 fish right out of the gate on the first trolling pass with a couple more that didn't make it to the boat. Thought it was going to be one of those days, but after the first hour it got really slow. Strugggled to pick up a couple of next years fish. Spent the afternoon exploring and called it a short day.

Couple things I seem to have noticed and wondering if its a pattern for this time of year or just happenstance. Seem to do much better fishing with water depths between 50-75'. Anything deeper and I dont seem to mark as many fish and they don't seem inclined to take my offerings. Am also noticing that I am picking up fish along the shorelines that are dirt/sand and not basalt ledges. Don't think I've hooked a fish yet this spring along any of the rock shorelines. Curious if others are experiencing the same or is it just sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy in that these are the areas I've convinced myself to spend most of my time at so that is where I'm catching the most fish.

Need to work on staying in the fish when I find em. Jealous of the downriggers and their tight spins. Watched a gentleman put a pretty good hurt on the fish just circling around the school.

Water was 40-41 degrees at the surface. Beautiful weather for late March.

[kodiak1]

Thanks for the report. Temperature could be a factor. Perhaps those gently sloping sandy areas are a bit warmer. Or, as you say, could be a self-fulfilling prophecy!! You are sure right about downriggers. I use a d/r even if I'm fishing 5k-10 feet deep. I do, however, drop it back to about 60' or more. Mike

[kenbarb]

Very interesting microfish, hope to get out this week and use the downriggers, will look for fish in the main channel, thanks for the heads up.

[ricks]

Interesting learning experience fishing the lake right now. Lots of outflow and very cold water. Still snow on the peaks right around the lake. I'd bet the water temp at 60 feet is well below freezing. Not going to be very active fish down deep with those kind of conditions. Ken, best of luck! Microfish, thanks for posting. I'm right with you on Dworshak being special.

It'll be a couple weeks before I'm back up and running. Waiting on a bellows kit that is in transit. Need to reseal my outdrive. Had a lot of water in the bellows just from this last one day trip. Not a surprise, when I pulled the leg last fall the contents were runny lubricant, obviously wet. Bought this 25 year old boat last year, so I had to test it after a clean up. No luck with that though, so new bellows it is.

We'll see ya all out there! (and the fish are gonna be bitin by then :^)

Rick

[BigggCountry]

You might want to check out the "kokanee events link Anthony.

[kok-head]

is there a dock in the water at AR right now?

got a buddy with a BIG off shore boat that might come to town and wants to fish AR but prefers to use a dock so we might try LP instead if the dock is out of the water or has been removed, thanks in advance

[jumperzee]

We fished last Sunday. I was one of the boats circling around Indian and Canyon. No luck that day. Fish finder took a dump, so we were fishing blind. Went back on Monday afternoon on my way home from Lewiston and got 7 in Merry's bay...lost at least as many. Water was glass smooth and we got over a school near the houseboats. Everything was shallow, just under the surface down to 5-8 feet or so. Nothing specific color-wise, everything seemed to produce all on wedding rings. Not bad for a few hours of fishing! Wish this rain would go away...itching to get back up there.

[kodiak1]

They pulled the only dock out several years ago, and haven't replaced it for some reason. Go figure. Mike

[kok-head]

They pulled the only dock out several years ago, and haven't replaced it for some reason. Go figure. Mike

Thanks for the info, I remember seeing one last yr but it was beached due to the low lake level and I couldn't remember if it was pulled out or still sitting below the full pool mark

[kokekrazy]

Thanks for the info, I remember seeing one last yr but it was beached due to the low lake level and I couldn't remember if it was pulled out or still sitting below the full pool mark

I went up Monday to look at the road and the boat launch. There was no dock there and the slope is very gradual making it hard to get close to shore. Your hull will be on the rocks if you try to keep your feet dry getting in and out. The road was still in pretty good shape.

[reelnmn]

Anyone been up to Anderson? I drove by a few weeks ago and the main lake up through Curlew still had ice. Ice started about 8' from shore. I'm looking to take my boat up soon, just want to make sure the ice has melted off.

[kenbarb]

Thanks for the report jumperzee, I was going to fish Merrys Bay on our last trip, but opted for other spots and failed to do so, like you we can hardly wait to get out again.

[Kokatoon]

Decided to head up to today around noon. Caught 2 Kokes. Fished across from the marina.

[Physion]

My wife and I fished from about 1:00 to 6:00 today from Spring Shores to Birch Creek. We boated 9 kokanee and 1 rainbow. Not a bad outing this early in the year.

[Kokatoon]

After work trip tonight fished from 5 to 9. Didn't do as we'll as Physion. Caught 3 boated 1. Still a great night, no wind. Fished long line with a fender and wedding ring. I'll head back Saturday morning and give it another shot.

[jumperzee]

Buddy and I took the day off yesterday to take advantage of the nice day. Got on the water at 10 am after dropping kids off at school. Fished a half dozen laps around Merrys Bay, no fish, then zipped up to Indian Cr. Took a while but we finally got over a school and got 7 between 12-1pm. Most fish on 1/4 oz at 70 feet or so, red wedding ring and maggots. Lost the school (no fish finder still) and picked up one more after a while, lost another, then closed out the day back at Merrys Bay and picked up another. We were pleased for the effort and it was a gorgeous day on the water again.

Thanks Microfish for your input...good stuff! You are kind of the resident expert!

[bsukoker]

Fished for about 3 hrs yesterday, 3 to 6 pm. One of only 4 boats on the water. Caught 1 nice kok and 2 dinky trout. Great day on the water, like glass. Fished top ten feet of water column with one pole and 20 ft diver on 2nd pole. Pink hoochie on a dodger caught the fish. H20 temp on my fish finder read 43 halfway up the res and about 45 across from the ramp. Not marking many fish up in the top 40 feet yet. Road ok, but already wash boarding up in the usual spots for this early.

[Kokatoon]

Well, went up this morning. Trolled across from the marina pulling a fender and wr. Swithed out the wr for a pink hoochie. And nothing... Saw a couple of other boats cathching a couple. Good thing there's no such thing as a bad day fishing :)

[microfish]

I am a long way from being the expert....

Psst..... might want to try in front of the spillway.. just sayin...

[jtkknelson]

Fished Saturday (4/5) 11-4 close to the dam, in the middle close to the two houseboats that are near the log pile, it was very slow most of the day (about two an hour). I ended the day with thirteen and all less than 12. I don’t have downriggers and wasn’t fishing very deep. I only saw one other boat fishing for kokanee in that area

[Kokatoon]

Caught 3 this afternoon. traded out the wr for a Kokabow blue Herron. Every boat I saw was catching fish.

[Captainru]

Took the grandkids this afternoon about 1:30. Late start. 4 koks in the boat, 6 lost. Blame the kids!!
Pink & green Little Devil's and green Apexs.

[Sweetroll]

Spent about five hours on the water yesterday. Boated 4 koks and 1 trout, all pretty good size over 12in, which was surprising. Didn't see a lot of big groupings and most were shallow - 15ft. Caught everything on the green System 3 from Fishing With Gary and it's matching lures. Friend of mine introduced me to Gary's stuff and I'm a believer now.
7088

[amxerhull]

We fished the dam area two afternoons last week. We caught a few but it was pretty spotty and we had wind both days.

[conservationist]

Fished across from marina downstream maybe a mile and back today .... from about 11 to 4 pm. Boated two Kokes, one 12 and another 13 inches. Oh, and one that might of gone 8 inches. Lost a couple of decent ones. Also boated two 12"+ rainbows. Fishing around 10 feet with down riggers ... 8 inch dodger with primarily red wedding ring. Caught one on a "green" rig but didn't get it to boat. Beautiful day on the lake. Folks were catching one now and then. Can't say it was red hot ... but any day fishing beats a day working.

[jhmh2ofowl]

Hi all. I am new to this forum. I went out for the second time this year on 4/05. My wife talked me into it. I did not believe there was any fish in Lucky Peak based on my last two years of trying. I must say, you all know what you're doing. After taking all the advice on the forum we landed 4 Kokes 14"-15" and lost 4 more! Those are the first ever for us! We did catch 2 small ones that are back in the lake growing.
We fished from Birch Creek (what we always called the narrows) to the Marina and back most of the afternoon. Picked fish up in all areas. We were using the old Ford Fenders with pink or red wedding rings tipped with corn. I tried smaller flashers but did not have the same success. Hopefully we'll be back on the water this Saturday.
Thanks to all. Looking forward to sharing fishing stories. Hopefully even meet some of you at the lake. We are the teal 20' Weldcraft jet.

[kodiak1]

First, welcome to the site. Secondly, thanks for a complete report! Third, congrats on a successful outing, especially for this time of year. Ford Fenders certainly work well, Lord knows I have enough of them, but I have found that a very similar brand of pop gear seems to have far less drag, and that's the Jack Lloyd 2 blade flashers. I buy mine at Turner's on State Street in Boise. For years I wondered why everybody called pop gear "jacklloyds" until John at Turners told me it was a brand, and how great they work. With kokes, less drag equals more fish aboard. He was right! Again, congrats, and I'll keep an eye out for you in the narrows! Mike

[hoolee99]

Fished this afternoon got there around 1 met a guy on the ramp had not boated a fish all day, of course we thought that can't happen to us much to our surprise it did. Not a trout, a Kokanee nothing. Windy, water temp around 53. Road was good lots of people heading up though

[Captainru]

Hi all. I am new to this forum. I went out for the second time this year on 4/05. My wife talked me into it. I did not believe there was any fish in Lucky Peak based on my last two years of trying. I must say, you all know what you're doing. After taking all the advice on the forum we landed 4 Kokes 14"-15" and lost 4 more! Those are the first ever for us! We did catch 2 small ones that are back in the lake growing.
We fished from Birch Creek (what we always called the narrows) to the Marina and back most of the afternoon. Picked fish up in all areas. We were using the old Ford Fenders with pink or red wedding rings tipped with corn. I tried smaller flashers but did not have the same success. Hopefully we'll be back on the water this Saturday.
Thanks to all. Looking forward to sharing fishing stories. Hopefully even meet some of you at the lake. We are the teal 20' Weldcraft jet.

Welcome to kokanee fishing!
Good on you for throwing back the next year fish!

[centurion]

Hi All.

I fished wednesday at Arrow Rock in the morning, water was 53, caught 2 trout, and was blown off the spot we wanted to fish.

Moved down to LP where the weather was much nicer, water was 47 and we caught 2 trout and 5 Kokes.

I took some friends to LP this morning to try to catch some trout from the bank, and what do you know, my friend Chelsey pulled a FAT Koke on half of a nightcrawler at dawn. It was quite the surprise, and it got me thinking, do any of yall fish from the bank for Kokanee? Or do any of yall drift from a boat with bait?

[kok-head]

Hi All.

I fished wednesday at Arrow Rock in the morning, water was 53, caught 2 trout, and was blown off the spot we wanted to fish.

Moved down to LP where the weather was much nicer, water was 47 and we caught 2 trout and 5 Kokes.

I took some friends to LP this morning to try to catch some trout from the bank, and what do you know, my friend Chelsey pulled a FAT Koke on half of a nightcrawler at dawn. It was quite the surprise, and it got me thinking, do any of yall fish from the bank for Kokanee? Or do any of yall drift from a boat with bait?

I've talked to some folks that bank fish for kokanee, when the kokanee start getting ready to spawn I've seen people catch quite a few bank fish, not sure how good eating the red spawners are but they are catchable

[Lunddude]

I asked Fins and Feathers, the fishing store and guide service in Coeur d'Alene this past year, and he told me they would be munching on them this summer, and show fast growth. I look forward to fishing for them. The methods used at CdA should be a good starting point. Go to their web site, and click on "Chinook" for a good primer. Mike

When do they figure these planters will be of catchable size Mike?

Looking back in years past I see the last stocking of Chinook into Anderson took place in 1989 when F&G planted 10,000 fingerling (3"-6"). The first time we fished Anderson for Chinook was the early 90's and the few fish we caught were in the 4-6 pound range trolling orange Rapala's on the surface in the early spring.

I'll be looking forward to catching some of these 35,316 fingerling Chinook they planted in 2013 in the years to come!

[kodiak1]

I'm not sure. Tried to find something on the internet, but no luck. I'm guessing maybe 20" by this summer, just don't know. One thing....as soon as they start munching on those tasty little stunted kokes, there's gotta be a major growth spurt. I will probably get serious about it next summer. P.S.: the Sekiu reports just keep getting more positive. Biggest run since the 50's predicted. Won't be the same without you. Mike

[Lunddude]

I looked up the stocking reports for Anderson and see on 04/29/2010 they stocked 150,183 fingerling (3"-6") early spawner kokanee and on 05/05/2011 they stocked 183,200 fry (0-3") early spawner kokanee fry.

Why is F&G stocking all these kokanee when the reservoir is already over populated. This makes no sense at all. The fish this year will be even smaller then last year according to fish biologist Scott Stanton.

I can only hope they continue to plant Chinook in Anderson so that maybe someday we have a fishery worthy of spending the $$$ for fuel to go fish it.

[Lunddude]

P.S.: the Sekiu reports just keep getting more positive. Biggest run since the 50's predicted. Won't be the same without you. Mike

Plenty of time between now and August & if I could find a partner that didn't flake out on me I just might show up.

[jtkknelson]

Fished Saturday (4/12), the fishing was excellent from 6:30 – 11:00 (no wind). After that it took me over two hours to land my last fish. Fished close to the dam in the middle.7103

[jhmh2ofowl]

The family and I went out to Lucky Peak this morning. Very windy and choppy.
I've heard that the rough water sometimes effects the fishing. Is this true?
I can tell you we didn't boat anything this trip, but still a great day!

[Captainru]

The family and I went out to Lucky Peak this morning. Very windy and choppy.
I've heard that the rough water sometimes effects the fishing. Is this true?
I can tell you we didn't boat anything this trip, but still a great day!

A little bit of wind seems to help but yesterday made me stay home. My boat (a jet) doesn't have a lot of keel so even with the TR1 G it won't hold a course and I think that much wind gives the fish lock jaw anyhow. But that's

[Captainru]

The family and I went out to Lucky Peak this morning. Very windy and choppy.
I've heard that the rough water sometimes effects the fishing. Is this true?
I can tell you we didn't boat anything this trip, but still a great day!

A little bit of wind seems to help but yesterday made me stay home. My boat (a jet) doesn't have a lot of keel so even with the TR1 G it won't hold a course and I think that much wind gives the fish lock jaw anyhow. But that's just my opinion.

[jumperzee]

Did well yesterday despite the wind which abused me and my little boat...Finally calmed down about 1ish. Wound up with 19, lost half a dozen or so. Caught most at 30 feet on the DR in Merry's Bay. Tried the chartreuse gulp maggots for the first time yesterday too...not sure if that helped but just about all the fish were caught on those. New fishfinder arriving today, so look out!

[autorick]

Is the Freeman creek campground a pay facility?

[jumperzee]

Yes, here's some info:

http://parksandrecreation.idaho.gov/parks/dworshak

[Fishing Fool]

I'm new to the site but thought some would like to get any reports this time of year as fishing is just starting to heat up. Two of us launched about 930am and fished the area behind the dam with trolls and two ounces of lead. We picked up 25 by about 130 and the fish stopped hitting. They are still dropping the lake and the fish are spread out and only found a few small schools of fish. The fish were in the nine inch plus or minus a little for the most part. Should be nice fish later this summer. When they stop dropping the level the fish should school up more and a limit of 25 should be easy to get. 7104

[DowntownBrowns]

Fished from 10am to 3pm on Friday, nothing.

[ricks]

Looks like they dropped the water level below Bruces #1 ramp. Too bad, have to travel up to Big Eddy or Dent now.

[jumperzee]

Looks like they dropped the water level below Bruces #1 ramp. Too bad, have to travel up to Big Eddy or Dent now.

Was there yesterday and it was still useable and there were quite a few folks using the ramp. Looks like the water is dropping fast though. Big Eddy probably the best bet.

Wound up with 14 in a few hours. Lost a lot :mad: right at the boat. Pretty consistent locations and lots of scattered fish.

[jtkknelson]

Fished Friday (4/18) - the fishing was fantastic from about 7 – 10 (little-no wind). After that windy but every boat I saw had their net out. I tried in the middle, close to the two houseboats but it was not very consistent, spent most of the time in Merry’s Bay. Saw fish at varying depths on fish finder and caught them anywhere from 20 – 70 feet.

[amxerhull]

Fished Friday (4/18) - the fishing was fantastic from about 7 – 10 (little-no wind). After that windy but every boat I saw had their net out. I tried in the middle, close to the two houseboats but it was not very consistent, spent most of the time in Merry’s Bay. Saw fish at varying depths on fish finder and caught them anywhere from 20 – 70 feet.

We fished the same area with the same results. Every boat had nets out. Most fish seemed about 20 feet down. We put about 30 in the cooler. Great fun.

They began filling the lake today. Will the fishing get better????????????

[hoolee99]

Fished today launched from spring shores way cold in the morning 46 water temp, hard fishing till around 10 lots of wind tons of boats looked like a parking lot. Started with a small trout then finally started finding kokes ended up catching a limit for me And my buddy. Nothing real big 14", fairly thick. We lost as many as we boated for sure. Once the wind died the temp got warm when we left water temp got up to 53 degrees.

[tuff7474]

4/19 dusk hours...not a bite.

[conservationist]

Thanks for the report Hoolee99. The wind has kept me from heading to LP......that and the thought of 30-40 boats all trying to keep a straight track while being blown sideways. Glad you caught some fish, last trip out we only boated two Kokes and two trout. Will have to head up soon.

[nepetbutler]

Trolled wth slingblades & kokabows @ 20- 50' = nothing. Try n spring shores. If you smell bacon .wave

[B run steely]

Fished Easter noon till 4.30 and the wind blew us off. 9 in the cooler and lost several. 13-14 inches and in good shape. Got there at 8.30 - went to launch and had forgotten the boat key at home.. another round trip to meridian lol. Sling blades with pink hootchies 15 ft down

[ricks]

Went out this weekend. My kid wanted to go up lake - wrong choice! We finally made it back down to the dam in the afternoon with not much on board. As we got to the spillway we got plenty busy tending poles. From there all the way into Merry's Bay we stayed hot and heavy.

What a beautiful day! Water temps up 9 degrees from 2 weeks ago. And yes, looks like they turned off the spigot. Should get better and better the next few weeks.

Thanks for all the tips and thoughts everyone. If I followed them I'd a had a lot more fish in the tank. I just have to try out other places though. Always been a bit of a weirdo that way.

Rick

[kodiak1]

Welcome aboard, B run! Gotta love that combo of a SB and pink hootchie.. Mike

[sawtooth]

Welcome to the forum B run. That combo has been working well for me the last couple of weeks as well. Looking forward to your future posts.

[B run steely]

Thanks for the welcomes. I know lots of guys that are on this board. Fun guys, great fishermen.

[kenbarb]

Thanks for the report Rick. Is the #1 launch at Bruces Eddy open now? Not a bad idea to check out other locations, pays off sometimes, what kind of gear were you using, downriggers, long line? Have been chasing wild turkeys, still have one tag to fill, bagged one nice Tom, 21#, with 8" beard, and 3/4" spurs, but can hardly wait to get back to the Kokanee fishing, looks like it's going to be a good year.

Ken

[ricks]

Thanks for the report Rick. Is the #1 launch at Bruces Eddy open now? Not a bad idea to check out other locations, pays off sometimes, what kind of gear were you using, downriggers, long line? Have been chasing wild turkeys, still have one tag to fill, bagged one nice Tom, 21#, with 8" beard, and 3/4" spurs, but can hardly wait to get back to the Kokanee fishing, looks like it's going to be a good year.

Ken

Bruce’s was right at the don’t use mark. I drove up to it, but couldn’t tell if the ramp ended before you got deep enough… it is close. Add a couple feet of water and it’ll be good to go.

I had 4 poles out - a 50-60 foot DR, a 30 foot DR, a 2 ounce long line and a weight free long line. When I hit by the dam and into Merry's I had everything hitting, all of em. So I left a DR at 30 and put everything else on weight free long lines as more efficient.

I talked a little to another boat with 4 people on it. He ended mid afternoon with 50 on board out of Merry’s Bay. I didn’t ask him his rigging.

What a beautiful day it was! Hope to see you out there soon. Good luck on the last turkey. My place in Grangeville is running over with them.

Rick

[metalheadgene]

I know some folks were doing well earlier ie March. Any thoughts to why there are not more positive reports. Or are folks just being more careful with what they are posting. From afar it seems this lake is tougher fishign this year?

[Hambone517]

Trolled 6 hrs. last Saturday and never got a bit. Very few fish in the screen. Very slow right now.

[ricks]

1490 foot water level today puts Bruce’s #1 officially in the ‘open’ category. Added 4 feet of water this week.

Rick

[sturgeon8r]

I'm BACK!!!!!!!!! Hope to fish wednesday?

[conservationist]

Fished from about 11 am to 2:30 pm. Pretty much got skunked on Koke. Caught a few rainbow, one hook up with a nice size Koke. That's all folks! Beautiful day to be on the water though! Fished across from Spring Shores marina. Dodgers, Flashers, wedding rings, etc. ...... from 10 to 25 feet with down riggers and one "long line" pole.

[jumperzee]

Thanks for the report Ricks. Looking forward to getting up there this weekend when I get home from MT. Bruce's is a much better option.

We've been doing good at 30' on the DR's. Seems to be the most consistent depth. Fish all over though.

Nice job on the yard-bird Ken!!! Sounds like a good-un!!

[jtkknelson]

Fished Friday (5/2) - from 9-1:00 started at Merry’s Bay but the fishing wasn’t very consistent but fish were being caught. Spent 2 hours checking a few other locations but didn’t have any luck. I returned to Merry’s Bay and it picked up around 12:15 but I had to leave at around 1:00. It was a perfect day to be on the water but wished I had fished the afternoon.

[JTM]

I was there today fishing was good, boating not so much. I had countless things happen, Koke wrapped around motor got off, Koke wrapped around down rigger cable got off, just plain got off right at boat. I managed to boat 3 and 2 rainbows they both went back all in all 8 Kokes and 2 rainbows. Fished from 1:00 to 6:00

[bsukoker]

Wife and i fished yesterday from 3:30 to 7:30. Boated 9 kokes, lost 4 more at the net. 10 and 20 ft divers, fairly long lines. Silver dodgers with variations of pink hoochies. 10 ft divers early then 20 footers caught fire about 6:30 and we should have limited. Variable speeds seemed to really help.

[FishSlayer]

They are starting to pick up. Went up Thursday and Friday this week. Came close to limiting out both times. Ford Fender with silver and red wedding ring at 20 feet and above. Forgot to bring corn so I tipped the wedding ring with Berkley power bait maggots. Seemed to work pretty good. 12 to 16 inch fish.

[Wickid Kokanee]

Hello everyone had a good day on the lake we caught 49 in about 4 hrs on May first. We were long lining they averaged about 10 inches did however get one that was 14" they sure were good eating. Also be prepared the water is is low around 100 to 150 below the full mark water temp was around 60 degrees hope this helps sorry for late post but have been busy. p.s fish cleaning station is open ya!!!!!!

[Idahomauledriver]

I noticed an earlier comment re camping opportunities near the dam. There is a little used campsite group on the turnoff to the visitors center heading up toward the Big Eddy ramp called the Dam View campground. It is primitive but if you are fully self contained it is close to the ramp and the Merry's Bay area, Perfect for early season.

[pthept]

Fished Sunday with my son and boated only one small 10 inch Koke. Fished 1-4PM. Water temp is 56 at the surface so they may be diving a bit but they were marking at 20-30 mostly on the finder. Not very interested in biting early afternoon.

[Lunddude]

I noticed an earlier comment re camping opportunities near the dam. There is a little used campsite group on the turnoff to the visitors center heading up toward the Big Eddy ramp called the Dam View campground. It is primitive but if you are fully self contained it is close to the ramp and the Merry's Bay area, Perfect for early season.


Are the camping spaces large enough for a 28' 5th wheel?

[Idahomauledriver]

Are the camping spaces large enough for a 28' 5th wheel?

It is basically just a old parking lot that has been upgraded with a few picnic tables and a fresh water source so as long as there is room any size would work.

Info about it can be obtained at the following:

Map http://www.nww.usace.army.mil/Portals/28/docs/recreation/DWORecreationMap.pdf

Basic campground info http://www.nww.usace.army.mil/Missions/Recreation/DworshakDamandReservoir.aspx

A real human to talk to at the visitors center tel:208-476-1255

Good Fishing

[amxerhull]

Hello everyone had a good day on the lake we caught 49 in about 4 hrs on May first. We were long lining they averaged about 10 inches did however get one that was 14" they sure were good eating. Also be prepared the water is is low around 100 to 150 below the full mark water temp was around 60 degrees hope this helps sorry for late post but have been busy. p.s fish cleaning station is open ya!!!!!!

Were you fishing Merrys Bay?

Anyone know if the Freeman Creek ramp is useable?

Thanks,
John

[jumperzee]

Slow for us last Sat. Merrys wasn't producing anything so we went up and got 7 between Indian and Canyon, then the storm came in and we called it a day.

[ricks]

Anyone know if the Freeman Creek ramp is useable?

Thanks,
John

Water level is at ~1505 today 5/8/14

Freeman ramp needs 1515 or higher.

Looks like 10 feet to go before Freeman will be open.

Rick

[Stripes]

We were on 5.5 Mon around the same time, trolled the marina/confluence area for about an hour, only marked a hand full all between 15-30. Didn't get a nibble, we were short on time so we didn't toss that many colors at them, only orange and red.

[nepetbutler]

Trolled spring shores Thursday long line wth double sling blades using kokabows,hoochies= many trout 0 kokes

[HCM23]

Scratched out a couple limits today, weather was touch and go but we got it done.

[sawtooth]

Great job HCM23. Were the fish schooled up or did you have to cover a lot of water to get your limits?

[HCM23]

We stayed in the same general area but we were long lining with an ounce and a half so I couldn't turn very sharp. We had doubles on a couple of times but it was a fish here and a fish there kind of day.

[amxerhull]

As the lake starts to fill, it seems like the areas around the dam have slowed down. Has anyone ventured to Elk Creek or Dent recently?

John

[sturgeon8r]

come up to fish Salmon and Kokes this next week. Where and what are you guys catching the kokes? I have DR's. Any info would be nice

[BabyHuey]

Caught one hooked four from 5 to 7 last night. Three colors or leaded line no hits on the dr @ 22'.

[kok-head]

My buddy spoke with F&G and supposedly lots of kokanee died in arrowrock over the winter, have any of you heard anything about the current population being much lower this year vs. what it was at this time last year?

[Physion]

I got 5 on Monday and 2 on Tuesday. A fish here and a fish there. No strong pattern on place or depth.

[sturgeon8r]

Fished from 915 am to 1 pm Caught 7 trout. hooked 14 fish total. 1 lost close to boat was the only koke we saw. 25 boats or so on lake. fished 12 to 25 feet. 3 different colors. fished from above marina to nursery both sides. Wind finally laid down around 11ish. F&G were checking people and said fishing was really good ?
Also said Arrowrock was good also?

[jumperzee]

Wow, got totally skunked today...couldn't find many fish. Parking lot was full when we got there and pretty empty when we took off at 2:30....don't think anyone else was doing all that good either. We tried Merry's and then Indian...lost 3 and that was it. Shifted ove to bass and pretty much the same story....kinda depressing!

[sturgeon8r]

Kok head. I fished LP today. Fun and Games told me fishing was really good at Arrowrock? I have heard same that you had heard they had a fish kill. I don't like taking my boat across the dirt road. I want to try it but LP is way closer and easier on the rigs

[kok-head]

Kok head. I fished LP today. Fun and Games told me fishing was really good at Arrowrock? I have heard same that you had heard they had a fish kill. I don't like taking my boat across the dirt road. I want to try it but LP is way closer and easier on the rigs

I generally fish LP over AR also, and yeah I've heard mixed info about both bodies of water being better and worse than last yr, and your "fun and games" reference is funny, haven't heard that one before, sometimes I talk with the "forest circus" about the condition of the roads to deadwood reservoir. ;)

[amxerhull]

Wow, got totally skunked today...couldn't find many fish. Parking lot was full when we got there and pretty empty when we took off at 2:30....don't think anyone else was doing all that good either. We tried Merry's and then Indian...lost 3 and that was it. Shifted ove to bass and pretty much the same story....kinda depressing!

Whoa, Jumper, not the report I wanted! We landed a few at Merry's (Wednesday) and saw some landed in Canyon (WAY in). Nothing at Indian. I wish we could get a Dent/Elk report. Maybe that's my job.

[Kokatoon]

Fished a couple of hours last night. Long line with a fender and Blue Herron kokabow, 2 oz weight and out ~80ft. Fished just where the narrows opens up headed from the marina back towards LP dam. Marked quite a few fish at 18-22'. They wearn't interested in what I was offering... Caught 2 trout, no kokes.

[ricks]

Wow, got totally skunked today...couldn't find many fish. Parking lot was full when we got there and pretty empty when we took off at 2:30....don't think anyone else was doing all that good either. We tried Merry's and then Indian...lost 3 and that was it. Shifted ove to bass and pretty much the same story....kinda depressing!

Don't feel too bad. Wife, kid and I went on mothers day last weekend. Went up about half way to canyon creek and tried for a while, figuring the fish couldn't instantly transport from the dam area to dent. Caught about one per hour at 60 ft on DR. My releases were a little tight and I found fish only by pulling up to check the poles. Long lines didn't do anything. 4 fish on the day.

When I put in the water I almost had a wreck. Have a piece of keel guard with 6 inches peeling loose from the hull right as the bow starts to straighten out into bottom. That little piece slid right under the last roller at the back of the trailer and like to drag my boat out of the water as I pulled the trailer out. This was after I watched the boat float off the trailer. Close call. Been too easy to bounce the boat off the ramp. I musta looked like the rookie as my kid is hollerin and me not able to react fast enough. (he gave me a piece of his mind as well. he was right, dang kid)

[luvda outdoors]

I'm new to the forum but think it's a wonderful tool for people not really sure of where the action is or where to go on the Dworshak.
Fished early morning at Canyon. 1 fish. Moved up by Dick creek, put on 4 oz. weights went 55 feet. On DR went down 40 and 50. Caught 24 from 11:00 to 1:00 then had to go home.

[ricks]

I'm new to the forum but think it's a wonderful tool for people not really sure of where the action is or where to go on the Dworshak.
Fished early morning at Canyon. 1 fish. Moved up by Dick creek, put on 4 oz. weights went 55 feet. On DR went down 40 and 50. Caught 24 from 11:00 to 1:00 then had to go home.


That's a pretty good day! Nice.

Rick

[JTM]

I was at LP today. Tried fishing the marina at Spring Shores it sucked, spent an hour with nothing. Moved to one of my secret spots and limited in 2 hours...

http://i717.photobucket.com/albums/ww179/JTM_62/DSCF0983.jpg
tooexcited

[MackayGuy]

I was there on Thursday. I parked my trailer in my secret parking space.

nananana

I caught a couple of trout with F&G tags, one had 2 tags. I thought they were parasite worms at first glance. I released em since I don't like trout. Please don't tell me they're worth $500 each at the F&G office.

[amxerhull]

Thank you very much, luvda, I'll be heading that way tomorrow.

John

[MackayGuy]

Found the answer to my tagged fish question.

https://fishandgame.idaho.gov/public/fish/tagged.pdf

[sawtooth]

I think the two tag fish is worth $1000 and the other is worth $500. laugh hyst. They did the same thing last year before Memorial Day weekend. I also caught a couple and released them, but a buddy kept two and one was worth $50.

[kok-head]

[QUOTE=MackayGuy;51323]I was there on Thursday. I parked my trailer in my secret parking space.



hahaha! thats funny MackayGuy, the "secret spot" stuff cracks me up too

[nepetbutler]

Sooo many bites in front marina this am.landed 15" koke,9trout. Corn, double slingblades, put a pink squid on a pink kokabow,shrimp jelly

[JTM]

Glad the humor was not lost here, The Marina comment was true and so was the limiting out after I moved.


I was there on Thursday. I parked my trailer in my secret parking space.

nananana

I caught a couple of trout with F&G tags, one had 2 tags. I thought they were parasite worms at first glance. I released em since I don't like trout. Please don't tell me they're worth $500 each at the F&G office.

[MackayGuy]

Glad the humor was not lost here, The Marina comment was true and so was the limiting out after I moved.

My secret parking space is true as well.

[sturgeon8r]

My daughter and I were on LP this afternoon. Our spot was HOT!!!!!!!!! 4 trout and 12 kokes in less then 3 hrs. fish are starting to school. came through a school of fish maybe 1/8 of a mile long. 12 to 25 feet. had to go through 2 times and then it turned on. They were really close to the bank? Ran double blades on our DR balls and had blades 7-10 feet behind the balls. Wedding rings with my homemade red corn and scent. Trolled pretty fast and tried staying in 60 foot or less of water.

[amxerhull]

Saturday was a good day. Fished Canyon Creek, Dicks Creek, and several places between the two. The fish cooperated at almost every spot we tried. Downriggers at 50 feet. Saw lots of nets and smiley faces. Weather was great.

John

[tz4964]

First time I have every fished Ririe was yesterday 5-17 beautiful day but the fishing was slow. Never fished for kokanee before but it was fun caught 2 kokes and a couple of trout so not a bad day. I fished closer to blacktail in one of the coves is it better towards the other end not looking for honey holes just trying to get my bearings. Thanks

Travis

[jumperzee]

Nice John, thanks for the report. We did OK today at Dicks...Slow, but consistent. Long drive up for my little boat but we got 14 in 3 hours before we decided to make a run towards home ahead of the incoming weather. Tucked into a little cove just up from Big Eddy for lunch and got a few bass and a dandy 17" trout which was a nice surpise! All kokes were at 45-50' on the DR's.

Looks like the upper ramp will probably be in action at Big Eddy by next weekend...big sign in the parking lot that said: "water levels rising rapidly, please don't park below this point." Ramp was kind of a clusterF this AM....folks gearing up/rigging/unstrapping, dead batteries, etc, etc on the ramp and clogging up the dock.....major faux pas, IMO. All that can be done/checked/made ready in the upper lot before launching, especially if there are other folks waiting. Sorry for the rant.....

[kok-head]

My secret parking space is true as well.

Hahaha! So funny

[fishslayer13]

Nice John, thanks for the report. We did OK today at Dicks...Slow, but consistent. Long drive up for my little boat but we got 14 in 3 hours before we decided to make a run towards home ahead of the incoming weather. Tucked into a little cove just up from Big Eddy for lunch and got a few bass and a dandy 17" trout which was a nice surpise! All kokes were at 45-50' on the DR's.

Looks like the upper ramp will probably be in action at Big Eddy by next weekend...big sign in the parking lot that said: "water levels rising rapidly, please don't park below this point." Ramp was kind of a clusterF this AM....folks gearing up/rigging/unstrapping, dead batteries, etc, etc on the ramp and clogging up the dock.....major faux pas, IMO. All that can be done/checked/made ready in the upper lot before launching, especially if there are other folks waiting. Sorry for the rant.....



One of my pet peeves ! People getting ready on the ramp instead of the parking lot. If a guy isnt that experienced at putting his boat in or out of the water no big deal ! Ill even offer to help.
But loading and unloading things in and out of your boat , standing around and talking unacceptable ! Had a gal last year wading around in front of the ramp with 2 dogs in the water while he sat in the rig with the boat all loaded up and ready to go up the ramp. Another guy went up and had a little discussion with her and she moved but flipped him the bird on the way !! LOL!

Looks like you had a some fun, cool on trout.
Remember the best fishing is still yet to come !

[ricks]

Nice John, thanks for the report. We did OK today at Dicks...Slow, but consistent. Long drive up for my little boat but we got 14 in 3 hours before we decided to make a run towards home ahead of the incoming weather. Tucked into a little cove just up from Big Eddy for lunch and got a few bass and a dandy 17" trout which was a nice surpise! All kokes were at 45-50' on the DR's.

Looks like the upper ramp will probably be in action at Big Eddy by next weekend...big sign in the parking lot that said: "water levels rising rapidly, please don't park below this point." Ramp was kind of a clusterF this AM....folks gearing up/rigging/unstrapping, dead batteries, etc, etc on the ramp and clogging up the dock.....major faux pas, IMO. All that can be done/checked/made ready in the upper lot before launching, especially if there are other folks waiting. Sorry for the rant.....

Oh man, wish I could be out there today, and tomorrow and.... Nice report. Fun typical Idaho weather.

On mothers day we stopped off to the side at the top of Bruce's to get everything ready. No one else on the ramp at all. Was just about done, hanging left side bumpers and in roars a big ol rig, pops a turn and backs down the ramp and stops. Takes his time, after all, no one but me around. No biggee, I just swap the bumpers around and use the other side. But just amazed at how 'special' he felt. Wonder if his name is Bruce and he really owned the place?.......... nah. Just bad manners and a feeling of entitlement.

[stevec]

Was it a guy in a 3/4 ton with big jet boat, because I had the same experience on the 16th? Anyway, my little 12' was no match for that guy. Got a lot of hits on 3 oz. out 65' but only landed 3 for the day. Disappointing but any day fishing, you know!

[sturgeon8r]

Fished my secret spot today. OH wait there were boats there. Someone was parked in my secret truck and trailer spot also.
But we did land 14 trout. But only 2 Kokes. fished from around 9 am to noon. WIND came up........ fished below Arrowrock and caught trout. 1 trout was NICE 17 inches.
Fished every color in the tackle box. Wedding rings worked best.
All fish were in 15 feet or less. Water temp was 58

[ricks]

Was it a guy in a 3/4 ton with big jet boat, because I had the same experience on the 16th? Anyway, my little 12' was no match for that guy. Got a lot of hits on 3 oz. out 65' but only landed 3 for the day. Disappointing but any day fishing, you know!

Big dark colored Dodge pickup, lifted with big tires, nice jet boat with a cabin.

He is very manly, you can tell by how much noise his truck makes.

[Goldknight]

Nice info here, Happy to have found it. I just purchased a home over looking the Dworshak and cant wait to get my boat on the water and start fishing.

Hoping to add some good reports to the forum in a month or so.

[ricks]

Nice info here, Happy to have found it. I just purchased a home over looking the Dworshak and cant wait to get my boat on the water and start fishing.

Hoping to add some good reports to the forum in a month or so.

Hey, welcome! Hope to see you both here and there. The real kokanee season is just getting going. I am somewhat envious of you getting to live right there. Some of the best fishing anywhere, and you living right on top of it. Some people just know how to make good decisions.

Rick

[JTM]

LOL!!! Now thats funny, Is there such thing as a secret spot at Lucky?

[nepetbutler]

Hahaha! So funny

Can't land Kokes . Where do you put snubber . I am do n long line wth sinker slingblades snubber
and kokabow

[MackayGuy]

Can't land Kokes . Where do you put snubber . I am do n long line wth sinker slingblades snubber
and kokabow

I know other folks will weigh in on this as well, but to get you thinking here's a couple of things. I used to use snubbers.....pole side of all your attractors and lures at the fish end of things. Lot's of folks, including myself have gone away from using snubbers to dampen the shock in favor of light weight, limber rods which absorb that shock. Not sure what kind of line you're using, but some stretchy mono helps as well. This time of year the koke's mouths are soft and you'll lose 'em every time trying to horse em in. Set your drag loose and let the fish wear itself out a little. Keep the line tight enough to keep the slack out of it...otherwise those buggers will roll, jump, thrash and anything else they can do to get that hook out. I sometimes use a double hook, the top hook not snelled, but spaced away from the bottom hook by a thin piece of tubing. The top hook is more free to sink in somewhere when they start throwing thier head. Double hooked gets em to the boat better.

[Physion]

I fished from about 10 to 3 yesterday (Monday) out of Spring Shores. I didn't get much until after noon. Finally got a limit. I had enough other hits to have gotten a limit much sooner, but they weren't wanting to stay on and play. I long lined with a weight, 3 bladed troll, a snubber and a fly with corn added. I make the troll, snubber, and fly.

[gonefishing]

Welcome to the Forum Travis

The water has 4-5 ft of visability right now and this will contribute to fewer bites this time of the year. The closer to the dam, the clearer the water. Give it 2-3 weeks and conditions will change. The fill on the reservoir is slowing considerably and the water will start clearing up. There are colors of dodgers that do relfect better in the curent water conditions, so changing up colors till you get one that helps draw the fish is a big help. If you have copper colored dodgers, try using them if you really want to get out and fish this time of the year. There are several areas that always have a better concentrations of kokanee on Ririe. Just look for the grouping of boats and watch their trolling patterns. A fish finder is a big plus to help you out with finding the fish. Trout can be found everywhere!

Tips up and have fun.

Gonefishing

[tz4964]

Thanks for the reply I might give it a run again on Thursday had a good time the other day nice being on the water

[nepetbutler]

Will try less muscle & work the drag. Thanks . If u smell bacon wave. Got bbq that slides in the oarlock

[MackayGuy]

Will try less muscle & work the drag. Thanks . If u smell bacon wave. Got bbq that slides in the oarlock

If I smell bacon and see a BBQ in the oar lock I'm coming aboard.

[brewsr]

I have been using the same line for ever on my trolling polls and am going to change out this year and use metered stuff. What test should my main line be? Thanks.

[ricks]

I use 8 pound on downrigger line and 10 pound on long line.

There will be lots of answers. None of them wrong if they catch fish :^)

Rick

[Goldknight]

Hey, welcome! Hope to see you both here and there. The real kokanee season is just getting going. I am somewhat envious of you getting to live right there. Some of the best fishing anywhere, and you living right on top of it. Some people just know how to make good decisions.

Rick

Thanks for the welcome Rick.

[brewsr]

I use 8 pound on downrigger line and 10 pound on long line.

There will be lots of answers. None of them wrong if they catch fish :^)

Rick

I was thinking about that same thing, but just thought I would throw it out there. Thanks.

[conservationist]

Fished from 9 AM to noon today in front of Spring Shores. Hooked and landed 3 Kokes all about 14 inches. Sort of slow. Wind came up so we left. Two hooked on green (celluloid) flashers with a Kokabow look alike lure in green. First fish caught with 6 inch dodger silver and pick with a pink hoochie. Fished with down riggers at about 15-20 feet down. Got the hits all when turning! Trolling between 1.3 mph and 2.0.

7200

[kodiak1]

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