FirstTimer
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- Feb 14, 2014
- Messages
- 13
Has anyone tried to go in? The turn off at cape horn still had some snow on the ground 6-11 when i drove by. I was planning on heading in next weekend.
Deadwood Road Conditions
- Thread starter FirstTimer
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KokaneeJoe
Well-known member
I wish I knew... I too am interested in conditions for Deadwood. Road and fishing. If you find out anything let me know.
Road is open at Cape Horn--The road is rough with potholes and washboards -I just got back today 3 different sizes of Kookanee--6"--13"--16-17"
KokaneeJoe
Well-known member
Thanks rem40xb1. Never went that way before. How long did it take from Cape Horn?
It took 2 hrs+
Deadwood report?
I am heading up to deadwood this weekend to fish for Kokanee, I have not fished them up there before, does anyone have any advice or tips for catching the kokanee at Deadwood? And report on the road condition from warm lake to Deadwood?
Thanks
I am heading up to deadwood this weekend to fish for Kokanee, I have not fished them up there before, does anyone have any advice or tips for catching the kokanee at Deadwood? And report on the road condition from warm lake to Deadwood?
Thanks
riverrunner16
Member
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2012
- Messages
- 22
The usual tactics work for me up there, If ya live in the Treasure Valley I would go see the folks at Kokanee Tackle.
I always go thru Bear Valley so have not heard about the Warm Lake route.
I will be up there, Green Ford w/ truck camper and blue and silver Lund....look me up, ya can buy a cool one. LOL
hooknhunter
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- Joined
- Mar 15, 2016
- Messages
- 114
101chromefish101
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KokaneeJoe
Well-known member
Road
According to Deadwood Outfitters The only road open is Fir Creek. Still need 4 wheel drive to get through.
According to Deadwood Outfitters The only road open is Fir Creek. Still need 4 wheel drive to get through.
hooknhunter
Well-known member
- Joined
- Mar 15, 2016
- Messages
- 114
Loose lips sink ships. Fishing must be awesome.
KokaneeJoe
Well-known member
I hope so. I am planning on going up next Monday for a few days.
Deadwood access
Hope this helps. Good Luck!
I went into Deadwood June 23-24. Only access then was through the road near Cape Horne/ Dagger Falls off highway 21. I kept 18 kokes (between 16-20") and 2 decent sized trout (18-20"). I found out that road was open by calling the Lowman Ranger Station and talking to the receptionist.
Hope this helps. Good Luck!
kokaneekevin
Active member
Deadwood Road & Fishing Update
My wife and I just spent the last 5 days at Deadwood (Howers Campground). Got home yesterday evening (7/9). First the road updated. Came in through Cascade/Warm Lake/Landmark. From Landmark, the first 10+ miles weren't bad - actually they were pretty good. But the last 10+ miles (at least to Howers) were pretty bad. There are some major ruts in the road as you get closer to the reservoir. Looks like some big rig came through when the ground was still soft. You have to be careful to keep your tires out of them. If not, you may feel your rig being forced in a direction you might not be ready for. You can just feel the rut taking over. Happened to me twice. Hope they grade those ruts out soon. As for the fishing update, the bite is definitely on. And there was hardly anyone else on the water, even over the weekend. Maybe saw 3 other boats at any given time but mostly it felt like we were out there by ourselves. Very nice! Except for the lady a couple campsites away who liked to talk very loud (even at night I could hear her conversation) and had a crying puppy that they did almost nothing about, What do people think??? Anyway, back to fishing. Fished 5 straight days. Probably fished 2 to 4 hours each day. Caught as many as we could handle. Even went out one evening to catch a few Kokanees for a fresh fish dinner - which we did. Had 4 in the boat in less than a half hour. Even our dog had fresh BBQ'd Kokanee that night. As for the details, I did not bring my downrigger, just using weights and long-lining. Since I'm still relatively new at using a downrigger and with all the ups and downs in the reservoir, I didn't want to take a chance on losing a ball/line. Plus I still like long-lining a lot (what I learned on). We mostly fished the open water in front of Howers on down to the dam (probably at least several hundred yards (or more) off shore. We used 1oz, 2oz, and 3oz weights fishing near the surface and at 25' to 30'. I have counters on my reels and have calibrated each to know click count vs number of feet out, then use a table to determine depth. Caught plenty with each weight/depth. I used a rainbow dodger/pink hoochie on one pole, then ford fenders with pink or orange hoochies or spinners on the other two. All were successful but the dodger/hoochie (with 3oz weight) seemed to be the most consistent in bites. We caught fish at all times of the day (between 9am and 7pm). Speed didn't seem to be a big factor. I usually throw out a water sock or two to slow me down to the speed I want. But I didn't use them at all this trip since I started catching fish before I even got to throw them out. We trolled anywhere between 1mph and 2+mph (2+ due to the wind) with success. The afternoon wind came up each day (maybe 2pm to 4pm), but then settled back down around 5pm. On one afternoon, the wind was blowing so hard, we had to head back in. It was just too windy to keep the boat going in a straight line and keep the fishing lines separated. As for size of the Kokanee that we caught, it was all over the place - except none over 15 1/2". We averaged 15+ Kokes a day. Caught quite a few just over 15" but most were in the 13" to 14" range. We also caught quite a few in the 10" to 12" range, releasing those to fight another day (had to keep a few of those smaller ones as they would not have survived being released - hooked in the eye, double-hooked, jaw torn, etc). So I'm not sure if the larger Kokes (16"-20") were deeper than the depth we were fishing at or if there is a different area at Deadwood where they run bigger. And as it turns out, we caught 0 of any other type of fish. Only hooked Kokes. Also, several of the 15"+ Kokes were just starting to turn pink. Definitely filled the freezer on this trip so I'll have plenty to smoke through the winter months. In fact,starting to brine some fresh ones now for smoking later in the week.
On a related note (one I think has been touched on here in the past on this forum), it was amazing how many Kokes we lost. And I'm not talking about losing them at the boat. In fact, we lost only a few at the boat. My wife is an amazing netter! She got one that threw the hook as it was jumping out of the water near the motor. Fish in the air and caught - nothing but net! worthy12 Even just lifted many in the boat without a net, especially on doubles (landing quite a few of those). However, we lost a ton that would just randomly throw the hook as they were 20'-30' (or more) behind the boat. You could actually see them! Now I get it. I'm not new to Kokanee fishing (18+ years). Mostly that's just Kokanee fishing. It's just frustrating that you may catch 5 or 10 in a row, no problem, then have 5 or 10 in a row throw the hook. Or have 4 out of the next 6 hookups throw the hook. And then land the next 6. Crazy! I do use double hooks (just singles, not trebles) on all my lures. Tried treble hooks in the past but I've had better luck using the one hook with trailing hook method. And it did seem to be happening far more often on this trip to Deadwood than my other trips to LP and Anderson this season. And I would say almost all the fish we hooked up were major fighters - tugging and pulling the whole way in. So maybe that's it. Just bigger fighters. Even the 12-inchers fought so hard you would swear it was a bigger fish coming in - until you saw it and wondered how that little guy could be doing all that tugging? Anyway, lots of fun no matter what. Just wondering what others do in this same situation. Maybe nothing except re-corn the hooks and take another long sip on your favorite beverage of choice.
My wife and I just spent the last 5 days at Deadwood (Howers Campground). Got home yesterday evening (7/9). First the road updated. Came in through Cascade/Warm Lake/Landmark. From Landmark, the first 10+ miles weren't bad - actually they were pretty good. But the last 10+ miles (at least to Howers) were pretty bad. There are some major ruts in the road as you get closer to the reservoir. Looks like some big rig came through when the ground was still soft. You have to be careful to keep your tires out of them. If not, you may feel your rig being forced in a direction you might not be ready for. You can just feel the rut taking over. Happened to me twice. Hope they grade those ruts out soon. As for the fishing update, the bite is definitely on. And there was hardly anyone else on the water, even over the weekend. Maybe saw 3 other boats at any given time but mostly it felt like we were out there by ourselves. Very nice! Except for the lady a couple campsites away who liked to talk very loud (even at night I could hear her conversation) and had a crying puppy that they did almost nothing about, What do people think??? Anyway, back to fishing. Fished 5 straight days. Probably fished 2 to 4 hours each day. Caught as many as we could handle. Even went out one evening to catch a few Kokanees for a fresh fish dinner - which we did. Had 4 in the boat in less than a half hour. Even our dog had fresh BBQ'd Kokanee that night. As for the details, I did not bring my downrigger, just using weights and long-lining. Since I'm still relatively new at using a downrigger and with all the ups and downs in the reservoir, I didn't want to take a chance on losing a ball/line. Plus I still like long-lining a lot (what I learned on). We mostly fished the open water in front of Howers on down to the dam (probably at least several hundred yards (or more) off shore. We used 1oz, 2oz, and 3oz weights fishing near the surface and at 25' to 30'. I have counters on my reels and have calibrated each to know click count vs number of feet out, then use a table to determine depth. Caught plenty with each weight/depth. I used a rainbow dodger/pink hoochie on one pole, then ford fenders with pink or orange hoochies or spinners on the other two. All were successful but the dodger/hoochie (with 3oz weight) seemed to be the most consistent in bites. We caught fish at all times of the day (between 9am and 7pm). Speed didn't seem to be a big factor. I usually throw out a water sock or two to slow me down to the speed I want. But I didn't use them at all this trip since I started catching fish before I even got to throw them out. We trolled anywhere between 1mph and 2+mph (2+ due to the wind) with success. The afternoon wind came up each day (maybe 2pm to 4pm), but then settled back down around 5pm. On one afternoon, the wind was blowing so hard, we had to head back in. It was just too windy to keep the boat going in a straight line and keep the fishing lines separated. As for size of the Kokanee that we caught, it was all over the place - except none over 15 1/2". We averaged 15+ Kokes a day. Caught quite a few just over 15" but most were in the 13" to 14" range. We also caught quite a few in the 10" to 12" range, releasing those to fight another day (had to keep a few of those smaller ones as they would not have survived being released - hooked in the eye, double-hooked, jaw torn, etc). So I'm not sure if the larger Kokes (16"-20") were deeper than the depth we were fishing at or if there is a different area at Deadwood where they run bigger. And as it turns out, we caught 0 of any other type of fish. Only hooked Kokes. Also, several of the 15"+ Kokes were just starting to turn pink. Definitely filled the freezer on this trip so I'll have plenty to smoke through the winter months. In fact,starting to brine some fresh ones now for smoking later in the week.
On a related note (one I think has been touched on here in the past on this forum), it was amazing how many Kokes we lost. And I'm not talking about losing them at the boat. In fact, we lost only a few at the boat. My wife is an amazing netter! She got one that threw the hook as it was jumping out of the water near the motor. Fish in the air and caught - nothing but net! worthy12 Even just lifted many in the boat without a net, especially on doubles (landing quite a few of those). However, we lost a ton that would just randomly throw the hook as they were 20'-30' (or more) behind the boat. You could actually see them! Now I get it. I'm not new to Kokanee fishing (18+ years). Mostly that's just Kokanee fishing. It's just frustrating that you may catch 5 or 10 in a row, no problem, then have 5 or 10 in a row throw the hook. Or have 4 out of the next 6 hookups throw the hook. And then land the next 6. Crazy! I do use double hooks (just singles, not trebles) on all my lures. Tried treble hooks in the past but I've had better luck using the one hook with trailing hook method. And it did seem to be happening far more often on this trip to Deadwood than my other trips to LP and Anderson this season. And I would say almost all the fish we hooked up were major fighters - tugging and pulling the whole way in. So maybe that's it. Just bigger fighters. Even the 12-inchers fought so hard you would swear it was a bigger fish coming in - until you saw it and wondered how that little guy could be doing all that tugging? Anyway, lots of fun no matter what. Just wondering what others do in this same situation. Maybe nothing except re-corn the hooks and take another long sip on your favorite beverage of choice.
Thank you
Thank you for the info. You are right about the road. There was a boat and trailer on the side of the road when we came out and they hadn't reached the worst of it.
We did well yesterday. Not a limit but enough fish to be worth the trip. We caught three that had lost their scales and were pretty red. We won't be able to make another trip very soon so I think we will let them do their thing and we can catch their progeny another year.
There were lots of people camping but not many boats on the water. We caught most of ours about 20 feet down. Pink was the magic color. I am learning to use a downrigger but prefer to longline because I can feel when the fish start playing with the lure. We used a three blade flasher, a hoochie, and 2 ounces of weight.
Thanks for your info. It was spot on.
Physion
Thank you for the info. You are right about the road. There was a boat and trailer on the side of the road when we came out and they hadn't reached the worst of it.
We did well yesterday. Not a limit but enough fish to be worth the trip. We caught three that had lost their scales and were pretty red. We won't be able to make another trip very soon so I think we will let them do their thing and we can catch their progeny another year.
There were lots of people camping but not many boats on the water. We caught most of ours about 20 feet down. Pink was the magic color. I am learning to use a downrigger but prefer to longline because I can feel when the fish start playing with the lure. We used a three blade flasher, a hoochie, and 2 ounces of weight.
Thanks for your info. It was spot on.
Physion
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