2019 Dworshak Reservoir Kokanee Report

[sawtooth]

Good Luck to all those fishing Dworshak this year.

[Elkchaser]

I've been hearing a few, small fish are being picked up on Dworshak. Anyone on here been up yet?
Heard the fish are shallow around Merrys.

[bigjim1992]

Heard a rumor of a guy catching 30 in canyon creek a few weeks ago. Pretty reliable source. Wish it would quit snowing so I could get my boat out.

[Elkchaser]

With a few nice days last week, did anybody get out on Dworshak and catch any kokes?

[bigjim1992]

We went out Saturday the 16th great day of fishing. Got our limits in about 5 hours.

[Elkchaser]

Hey Big Jim
Where did you fish and what depth are you going?
Thanks for the intel

[bigjim1992]

Next bay below canyon creek where the dock is. Was running one with one ounce and one with two going out 30 to 40 feet. Going out again tomorrow I’ll let you know how we do.

[Elkchaser]

Sounds good, thanks.

[amxerhull]

Next bay below canyon creek where the dock is. Was running one with one ounce and one with two going out 30 to 40 feet. Going out again tomorrow I’ll let you know how we do.

Thanks for the report, Jim.

[bigjim1992]

Fished canyon creek most of the day today, pretty slow, probably should have moved around a bit more. We got 20 so not bad but not great.

[Elkchaser]

Not a bad day at all BigJim. Are they decent size?

[bigjim1992]

They are right around 9 inches for the most part

[Elkchaser]

Anybody get out this weekend?

[ricks]

Headed up Thursday. See whether I remember how it's done.

Rick

[Elkchaser]

We got out yesterday. Fished 5 hrs, 3 rods, close to Boat launch, caught 34. Tried no lead, 1 , 2 , and 4 oz . Made no difference. We had 30 minute stretches with no fish and then 3 on at once. 11 inches was the biggest but all nice and fat.

[ricks]

We got out yesterday. Fished 5 hrs, 3 rods, close to Boat launch, caught 34. Tried no lead, 1 , 2 , and 4 oz . Made no difference. We had 30 minute stretches with no fish and then 3 on at once. 11 inches was the biggest but all nice and fat.

Thanks for the report. Sounds like fun and I can't wait.

Rick

[amxerhull]

We got out yesterday. Fished 5 hrs, 3 rods, close to Boat launch, caught 34. Tried no lead, 1 , 2 , and 4 oz . Made no difference. We had 30 minute stretches with no fish and then 3 on at once. 11 inches was the biggest but all nice and fat.

We went yesterday. Took most of the day to find them but when we did we had two good hours. Put 9 in the cooler and lost more than that. Biggest were 11 inches, others were 9-10.

We were down 15-20 feet on the downriggers and out 50-75 feet with 1 ounce of lead on the long lines.

[JasonMarquitte]

Fished last Sunday at canyon creek and it was slow for us so we moved to merry cove. We started catching fish around 10AM with 30-50 foot setbacks at various depth from 15-35 feet. Hooked and shook off a bunch and kept three for lunch. All were under 11". Most fish came on paulina peak lemonade and purple haze. I will be out Saturday the 6th in my big red design concepts with "moe" on the side. Say hello

[ricks]

Fished last Sunday at canyon creek and it was slow for us so we moved to merry cove. We started catching fish around 10AM with 30-50 foot setbacks at various depth from 15-35 feet. Hooked and shook off a bunch and kept three for lunch. All were under 11". Most fish came on paulina peak lemonade and purple haze. I will be out Saturday the 6th in my big red design concepts with "moe" on the side. Say hello

Thanks for the report. I didn't do any good at all around the dam or up at Indian Creek yesterday. Just a couple. Nice fat fish, but I didn't see much more action around us. I must of forgotten how to fish...

[Elkchaser]

Fished all day today near the dam and didn't have a bump. WTH? Talked to at least 6 other boats that had the same results. I've never had a day like this. We tried every trick in the book. Two weeks ago we caught nearly 40 doing the exact same thing. Just been blueback fishing a couple a years, somebody tell me what's going on. Are they moving up already? Flushed over?

[bigjim1992]

Heard that it was good fishing up around elk creek and dent roughly a week ago. Let’s hope that they already moved up a bit.

[onemorecast]

My wife and I went up on Monday the 15th. The weather was nice and I was anticipating a good day of fishing. We launched at Big Eddy, and headed for Canyon Creek. I should have known something was amiss when I was the only boat trolling in Canyon Creek. I had 2 poles with jet divers and dodgers, and 2 poles with lead and homemade trolls. I had 4 different scents of corn to try. We got one fish on a #20 jet diver/dodger/superbait rig. I tried 1 ounce, 2 and 3 with the other rods and never had a bump. We also hit Indian Creek, nothing, and Mary's Bay, nothing. Better luck next time I guess.

[amxerhull]

We had similar results, two weeks ago we had a good day and Thursday we caught two. Water temperatures were the same both trips. On April 15 they began releasing 10,000 CFS (not a tremendous amount) through the dam which may have them off the bite. I used to think that water releases would not affect the fishing but I am starting to have second thoughts.

[Elkchaser]

I agree on the water release killing the bite. Anybody had any better luck the last few days? Still can't believe how they just shut off like they did last week.

[Fog]

Hi folks, new guy here.

Tried dworshak for kokanee for the first time yesterday and got zero. Only had about four hours to spend on the water so we didn't make it very far up from Bruce's Eddy where we launched.

Tried several lures and five different scents of shoepeg corn. Depths between 5-30'

I know they are up there and I'll be trying again before too long.

[ricks]

Hi folks, new guy here.

Tried dworshak for kokanee for the first time yesterday and got zero. Only had about four hours to spend on the water so we didn't make it very far up from Bruce's Eddy where we launched.

Tried several lures and five different scents of shoepeg corn. Depths between 5-30'

I know they are up there and I'll be trying again before too long.

Welcome to the addiction.

Fish are in there. And what I have always been taught, but not often successful at, is that the fish can be caught in almost any conditions, just have to know where they are and how to approach them. This board is invaluable since all it takes is one successful member describing a different, and successful, method, for all of us to learn a new trick. Last year when this happened it was shallow water where the fish seemed to be. We'll see what happens this year. Best of luck to all!

Rick

[Fog]

Welcome to the addiction.

Fish are in there. And what I have always been taught, but not often successful at, is that the fish can be caught in almost any conditions, just have to know where they are and how to approach them. This board is invaluable since all it takes is one successful member describing a different, and successful, method, for all of us to learn a new trick. Last year when this happened it was shallow water where the fish seemed to be. We'll see what happens this year. Best of luck to all!

Rick


Thanks, I'll be up there again, probably later this week.

[Elkchaser]

Hope someone unlocks the secret to successful catching again. I'm reluctant to go back up until they start biting again. Never seen a fishery dry up like it did last week.
Let us know how you did Fog.

[Elkchaser]

Anybody on the lake recently? Thinking about making a few circles this week if it warms up a tad.

[Big Mack]

Fished 4/28 from 8-12 without a bite. Merry's Bay to the marina. Surface to 50 feet down. Surface water was 54 degrees. 4 other boats seen gave it an hour before they all ran up lake. I'd give it some time unless you want to try searching up lake.

[Elkchaser]

Thanks Big Mack. Saved me a trip. I dont have a lot of horsepower so not getting too far from the put ins.

[Lou Mc]

Fished canyon creek, & Mary's bay on april 18, & 25. one fish each time april 25 also went up to
Dicks creek, nothing.

[sawtooth]

Fished canyon creek, & Mary's bay on april 18, & 25. one fish each time april 25 also went up to
Dicks creek, nothing.
Lou Mc,
Welcome to the forum. Sorry the fish weren't biting, but we appreciate the report. Better luck on future trips.

[icelander]

Welcome to the addiction.

Fish are in there. And what I have always been taught, but not often successful at, is that the fish can be caught in almost any conditions, just have to know where they are and how to approach them. This board is invaluable since all it takes is one successful member describing a different, and successful, method, for all of us to learn a new trick. Last year when this happened it was shallow water where the fish seemed to be. We'll see what happens this year. Best of luck to all!

Rick

Thanks and right on! We've fished Dworshak since 81 and used to get frustrated when the catch in all the hot spots suddenly died. In snooping the previous years posts, and other research we finally learned why. This forum can be a wealth of helpful information. Thanks to all who are willing to share!

[lilolvintner]

Thanks and right on! We've fished Dworshak since 81 and used to get frustrated when the catch in all the hot spots suddenly died. In snooping the previous years posts, and other research we finally learned why. This forum can be a wealth of helpful information. Thanks to all who are willing to share!

I’m pretty curious what you learned!

[Fog]

Thanks and right on! We've fished Dworshak since 81 and used to get frustrated when the catch in all the hot spots suddenly died. In snooping the previous years posts, and other research we finally learned why. This forum can be a wealth of helpful information. Thanks to all who are willing to share!


Would love to hear your observations about catching them when the bite stops.

I know I'll unlock the secret eventually, but always grateful for a few pointers from people with more experience.

[Elkchaser]

Will this warm up help the bite? What's everyone's thoughts on this. See a lot of boats headed to the pool, maybe something is changing. Buddy of mine is catching some nice kokes in Hayden. He says they're scattered but big and fat.

[icelander]

Would love to hear your observations about catching them when the bite stops.

I know I'll unlock the secret eventually, but always grateful for a few pointers from people with more experience.

In searching previous years posts some say the Springtime higher dam flows will move the fish 20+ miles upstream. Have you noticed sometimes the bite is best trolling upstream closer to shore? There is current especially when outflows are high, and current definitely changes Kokanee behavior. Study river flow, time of year, and compare to angler success and where. Take opportunities to question fisheries biologists, especially the ones actively researching Dworshak kokes. Outfitters and guides sometimes share info when asked. The outdoors is where they pay their bills so you can bet they've done their home work. Seems like I've read some of their posts, or referrals to their web sites and articles on this forum. Good stuff, and appreciated!

There were an estimated 60,000 adult kokes last year, 250,000 this year! Hope to be on the water there in a couple weeks.

[Fog]

In searching previous years posts some say the Springtime higher dam flows will move the fish 20+ miles upstream. Have you noticed sometimes the bite is best trolling upstream closer to shore? There is current especially when outflows are high, and current definitely changes Kokanee behavior. Study river flow, time of year, and compare to angler success and where. Take opportunities to question fisheries biologists, especially the ones actively researching Dworshak kokes. Outfitters and guides sometimes share info when asked. The outdoors is where they pay their bills so you can bet they've done their home work. Seems like I've read some of their posts, or referrals to their web sites and articles on this forum. Good stuff, and appreciated!

There were an estimated 60,000 adult kokes last year, 250,000 this year! Hope to be on the water there in a couple weeks.


Thanks, I'll pay more attention to flow rates. I'm friends with a few guides that fish up there so I'll ask them about it next time I see them, they've always been really helpful in the past with information.

[Freeheeler]

I've been trolling this forum as a guest for the past year or so and finally registered. I appreciate the info that has been shared. Only been fishing Dworshak for 4 years and feel like there is a lot left to learn. In the past years May, June, and July have been very productive. Similar to other posts I spent the weekend of April 27th camping at Freeman and fishing the lake/reservoir. Two days of trolling and one bite, fished canyon, indian, merrys, and toward the marina. No downriggers but tried everything from 1 oz to 6 oz sinkers, dodgers, squids, wedding rings, superbait cut plugs, and macks flash lites to no avail. Also had 4 flavors of corn and three different colors. We got checked by fish and game and they said the fishing had gone cold as soon as they started filling the reservoir. I've heard rumor that during fill the fish push towards the shore any truth to that? Did fish one day on Hayden earlier in April and similar to a earlier response fish were scattered but are chunky guys biggest was 13.5.

[icelander]

I've been trolling this forum as a guest for the past year or so and finally registered. I appreciate the info that has been shared. Only been fishing Dworshak for 4 years and feel like there is a lot left to learn. In the past years May, June, and July have been very productive. Similar to other posts I spent the weekend of April 27th camping at Freeman and fishing the lake/reservoir. Two days of trolling and one bite, fished canyon, indian, merrys, and toward the marina. No downriggers but tried everything from 1 oz to 6 oz sinkers, dodgers, squids, wedding rings, superbait cut plugs, and macks flash lites to no avail. Also had 4 flavors of corn and three different colors. We got checked by fish and game and they said the fishing had gone cold as soon as they started filling the reservoir. I've heard rumor that during fill the fish push towards the shore any truth to that? Did fish one day on Hayden earlier in April and similar to a earlier response fish were scattered but are chunky guys biggest was 13.5.

Welcome Freeheeler! The reservoir has not been filling. Outflows have been 9.8 kcfs til today when it dropped to 4.4. If this remains the reservoir will start filling and fishing should improve. http://www.nwd-wc.usace.army.mil/dd/nwdp/project_hourly/webexec/rep?r=dwr&date=5/9/2019
Does anyone know if F&G has fertilized yet?

[Freeheeler]

Thanks for the welcome Icelander. I will have to disagree with you on the fact that Dworshak is filling. While I was fishing on the weekend of April 27 it was filling at about 6" a day and for the month of April it filled over 30 feet. Here's the link for April
www.nwd-wc.usace.army.mil/dd/nwdp/project_daily/webexec/rep?r=dwr&ago=1 (see average forebay elevation). I don't think the hyperlink worked haha "greenhorn". Looking forward to hearing some reports of fish getting caught again.

[kgb2232]

I've been cruising this forum for a few weeks to keep up on when to go back up after the last 2 trips of nothing so I figured I needed to contribute. We trolled for 5 hours yesterday and out of the 12 or so boats around us, we saw one boat catch one fish. That made it real awkward when everyone kept staring at us while we killed it. We fished 3 different set-ups and all did great. We fished pier to pier at Dent bridge and a couple hundred yards up river to the bridge as the afternoon warmed up. About 12:30 hundreds of small salmon started jumping all over and slowly moved up river and most of the boats just followed but we stayed the same path we had all day. We fished one rig with small pink and silver bells with 1oz at 50' behind the boat. My other rig was a set of large cow bells with 2oz at 65'. Both tipped with garlic corn and maggots. My 4 year old was fishing a dodger with 2oz at 50' with a green wedding ring and Fire corn. He caught 5 fish very quick and for most of the day was ahead of me. We boated 28 fish between 8-12" but I lost 3 at the boat (I don't use a net, just the sling them in method) and had over 30 strikes that just didn't produce. I was marking huge schools all day and when the small ones were jumping on the surface, we would get 3-4 strikes each pass 100' downriver behind those groups.

[Freeheeler]

That sounds awesome scales in the boat. From your previous trips did you do anything different or was the bit just "on" for you guys. Can't wait to get back down and try again, thanks for the report.

[amxerhull]

Thank you for the excellent report, we are very happy to see that you had a good day. Water flow through the dam was dropped on May 9. Coincidence?

[Freeheeler]

Last September I got the chance to jig for kokanee. Their timing for spawn seems quite a bit later than Dworshak kokanee but the tactic of jigging was pretty dang effective. I grew up jigging for bluebacks through the ice so have always been curious about dworshak and jigging. Has anybody had success jigging for kokanee in dworshak? seems you would need one of the terrova gps electric "digital anchors" to be able to set up over 100-400 ft deep water. Pandoras box????

[icelander]

Thank you for the excellent report, we are very happy to see that you had a good day. Water flow through the dam was dropped on May 9. Coincidence?

About 7 fish an hour around and above Dent Bridge. Fishing traditional, 4oz 30'; 2oz 60'. Smaller than last year at an average of 10". Liked a little faster troll. Watch for debris; pulled a bunch of mono out of a wad of branches from the lower unit, no damage thankfully.

[icelander]

I've been cruising this forum for a few weeks to keep up on when to go back up after the last 2 trips of nothing so I figured I needed to contribute. We trolled for 5 hours yesterday and out of the 12 or so boats around us, we saw one boat catch one fish. That made it real awkward when everyone kept staring at us while we killed it. We fished 3 different set-ups and all did great. We fished pier to pier at Dent bridge and a couple hundred yards up river to the bridge as the afternoon warmed up. About 12:30 hundreds of small salmon started jumping all over and slowly moved up river and most of the boats just followed but we stayed the same path we had all day. We fished one rig with small pink and silver bells with 1oz at 50' behind the boat. My other rig was a set of large cow bells with 2oz at 65'. Both tipped with garlic corn and maggots. My 4 year old was fishing a dodger with 2oz at 50' with a green wedding ring and Fire corn. He caught 5 fish very quick and for most of the day was ahead of me. We boated 28 fish between 8-12" but I lost 3 at the boat (I don't use a net, just the sling them in method) and had over 30 strikes that just didn't produce. I was marking huge schools all day and when the small ones were jumping on the surface, we would get 3-4 strikes each pass 100' downriver behind those groups.

I forgot to THANK YOU! for the heads up about your success. The wife & I had a great day on the water after reading your post!

[stevec]

Will be going out after the holiday once I get my boat out of hock at Miller Marine in Orofino. Would appreciate any updates anyone has on the lake this weekend. I plan on using sling blades & dodgers for the first time ever!
Thanks

[icelander]

Will be going out after the holiday once I get my boat out of hock at Miller Marine in Orofino. Would appreciate any updates anyone has on the lake this weekend. I plan on using sling blades & dodgers for the first time ever!
Thanks

Well, it appears either everybody's busy fishing, nobody's fishing, or everyone is tight lipped lol! I hope to fish Tuesday and will post results.

[amxerhull]

We fished Sunday with good success. Everyone on the lake had nets out. Since 12000 CFS is being released from the dam, I guess we can bury the theory that the bite stops while they are dumping water.

[pollackoke]

I've been cruising this forum for a few weeks to keep up on when to go back up after the last 2 trips of nothing so I figured I needed to contribute. We trolled for 5 hours yesterday and out of the 12 or so boats around us, we saw one boat catch one fish. That made it real awkward when everyone kept staring at us while we killed it. We fished 3 different set-ups and all did great. We fished pier to pier at Dent bridge and a couple hundred yards up river to the bridge as the afternoon warmed up. About 12:30 hundreds of small salmon started jumping all over and slowly moved up river and most of the boats just followed but we stayed the same path we had all day. We fished one rig with small pink and silver bells with 1oz at 50' behind the boat. My other rig was a set of large cow bells with 2oz at 65'. Both tipped with garlic corn and maggots. My 4 year old was fishing a dodger with 2oz at 50' with a green wedding ring and Fire corn. He caught 5 fish very quick and for most of the day was ahead of me. We boated 28 fish between 8-12" but I lost 3 at the boat (I don't use a net, just the sling them in method) and had over 30 strikes that just didn't produce. I was marking huge schools all day and when the small ones were jumping on the surface, we would get 3-4 strikes each pass 100' downriver behind those groups.


Hey Ice,

Do you think those small Koke jumping out of the water are maybe being pursued by predators? I mean, do you have big salmon up there like Chinook? THANKS

[Getnlucky]

Started at 12:45 today by the dam. Trolled in front of dam and went towards Bruce’s eddy. Found a bunch of schools at about 15-30 feet down. Caught two in an hour on silver Kokanee stringers and a pink spinner with a pink maggot and garlic egg tip. Only fished for an hour.

[Elkchaser]

Well, it appears either everybody's busy fishing, nobody's fishing, or everyone is tight lipped lol! I hope to fish Tuesday and will post results.

Hope to get out in the morning. Anyone having success and where are the best areas?

[Getnlucky]

Hope to get out in the morning. Anyone having success and where are the best areas?

My luck was at Bruce’s Eddy about 60 feet from shore (140 feet depth) and one ounce weight out 50 feet. Near the boat launch. Some experienced (old) guys told me between 7 and 10 they killed it.

[Elkchaser]

My luck was at Bruce’s Eddy about 60 feet from shore (140 feet depth) and one ounce weight out 50 feet. Near the boat launch. Some experienced (old) guys told me between 7 and 10 they killed it.
Thanks, we'll stay in close and see what happens. I'll let you know how we did.

[kokaneecowboy]

We went out Memorial Day and even though we got a late start caught 7 Kokes and two trout. We Put in at Freeman Creek and motored about 9:30 am over to the mouth of Canyon creek. We had been told by a friend they were about 28 feet down and that was about where we stayed all day. We fished two rods with cowbells and a 1/2 oz weight and one chartreuse wedding ring spinner and the other orangeish pink. Both having two hooks on each spinner baited with regular shoe-peg corn on the front hook. We would make a large oval around the floating bathroom and back out to the mouth of Canyon creek. There were about 5 other boats making this circle with us in one fashion or another. I saw a few of them land fish as well. Since this was our first real outing of the year we had to fine tune our reeling in speed and netting technique because we lost 4 or 5 next to the boat. We switched over to the orangeish pink spinner on both after they showed a preference for that color. We quit Koke fishing at 1:45 pm and fished small mouth after that. It was a good day overall. Now we will work on catching more fish.

[Elkchaser]

We went out Memorial Day and even though we got a late start caught 7 Kokes and two trout. We Put in at Freeman Creek and motored about 9:30 am over to the mouth of Canyon creek. We had been told by a friend they were about 28 feet down and that was about where we stayed all day. We fished two rods with cowbells and a 1/2 oz weight and one chartreuse wedding ring spinner and the other orangeish pink. Both having two hooks on each spinner baited with regular shoe-peg corn on the front hook. We would make a large oval around the floating bathroom and back out to the mouth of Canyon creek. There were about 5 other boats making this circle with us in one fashion or another. I saw a few of them land fish as well. Since this was our first real outing of the year we had to fine tune our reeling in speed and netting technique because we lost 4 or 5 next to the boat. We switched over to the orangeish pink spinner on both after they showed a preference for that color. We quit Koke fishing at 1:45 pm and fished small mouth after that. It was a good day overall. Now we will work on catching more fish.
Got on the water about 9am at Mary's Bay. Had a hit and a loss within 5 minutes . Another hit and a loss 5 minutes later and then we put one in the cooler soon after. Played around with weight and color of spinners and finally settled in on 2 oz and 40 feet out with an orange spinner blade and shoepeg corn. 2 of us in the boat brought home 28 and lost probably 15. Longest fish was 13" and many around 12". Not a bad day. They slowed way down around 2pm and we bunched it.

[Freeheeler]

Like Kokaneecowboy we fished canyon creek on memorial day as well. Kokaneecowboy you would have noticed us two bouncing kids in a tracker not being too quiet. We caught 17, lost 8-10 at the boat and at least 17 or as many short strikes where the rod shook for at least 2 head shakes. We ran laps around the floating toilet and either sides of the canyon creek arm. 2 rods with 2 ounces at 100 ft, macks flashlites (silver and chartreuse), red/green wedding rings nickel blades, with pautkzes fire cure pink corn, maggots, and kokanee smelly jelly worked best, 2 other rods 4 ounces at 40 feet same colored flashlites and wedding rings. Marked several schools consistently 20-30 ft down, did see several fish rolling on the surface as well. Reservoir was very calm and not too many boats or debris drifting around. We got started around 8 and fished til 130, best bite seemed to be 9-11, sunny til 12 then clouded up a bit. Clouds may've affected the bite on our primarily red baits. briefly tried tuna and brads kokanee cut plugs but the wedding rings proved to be the winning combo for Monday anyways. Looking to get back out on Saturday. Love seeing the reservoir so close to full pool looks like a like.

[kokaneecowboy]

We were in the Green Hewescraft and my boys were none to quiet either.

[stevec]

Will be going out after the holiday once I get my boat out of hock at Miller Marine in Orofino. Would appreciate any updates anyone has on the lake this weekend. I plan on using sling blades & dodgers for the first time ever!
Thanks
Finally got boat wet Tuesday! Launched around 10 & played around testing boat for awhile and then headed up to Canyon Creek. I used a UV sling blade & super fly trolling fly (Sandpoint made) with 1 oz out 100'. The kokes just hammered it! The other pool had flashlight & green & red beaded wedding ring with 2 oz out 80'. Both outfits caught fish! Didn't keep any as I know I wasn't going to be on the water long. Next time!

[Freeheeler]

Fished Indian creek area on Saturday. Ended up with 30 fish between 3 people. Most productive were a wedding ring (white blade, red green body) behind chartreuse flash lites pautkzes fire corn, maggots, and mikes glo scent kokanee. Fished it with 2 oz at 100 ft back. Other was a sling blade with pink squid using same bait and scent. Used 2 oz at 30 feet and it did very well also. Third rod did okay with silver flashlites and red wedding ring catching 6 fish or so. Marked a lot of fish in the 15-30 foot range and later in the day saw a few groups around the 40 ft mark. Initially started a couple hundred yards from shoreline and progressively got closer to shore as the day went. First wave runners and wake boarders were observed for the season. Beautiful day hope to get out again next weekend.

[icelander]

Sounds like the kokes are broadly scattered which is cool. Caught some fish everywhere we hunted but dialed in at No Tellem' shoreline and 3 of us put near limits on ice. Only saw one other boat. Fished traditional, added way more rubber stretchers and broke out the net as they seem softer mouthed this year....or is it me? Kicking the motor out of gear to land put more in the net too. Probably averaged 11" or so. Beautiful day on the water and sweet to have the res nearly full already.

[stevec]

Thinking about going to a boat in campground soon. Anyone else doing this yet? Used to camping the old fashioned way in improved campgrounds in tents. We don't have a RV. Any advise on the wildlife I might encounter? I would appreciate helpful input.

[icelander]

Thinking about going to a boat in campground soon. Anyone else doing this yet? Used to camping the old fashioned way in improved campgrounds in tents. We don't have a RV. Any advise on the wildlife I might encounter? I would appreciate helpful input.

The mini camps can be great when the pool is full. Friends had bear trouble once and abandoned camp due to aggressive behavior of the bear. They were at a mini camp near the mouth of Elk Creek. They didn't have a gun. Personally I fear the mosquitoes and skunks most of all! Hopefully the ticks are winding down.

[icelander]

Thinking about going to a boat in campground soon. Anyone else doing this yet? Used to camping the old fashioned way in improved campgrounds in tents. We don't have a RV. Any advise on the wildlife I might encounter? I would appreciate helpful input.

I'd have an adequate firearm and mosquito repellent. There's a better chance of sinking your truck at the boat launch than encountering an aggressive predator, but the firearm adds confidence (and better sleep:) especially when you're skilled at using it safely. Critters can get into your food, so cache it securely when away and at night. And have fun having a pristine camp on the water all to yourself!

[Elkchaser]

Does anyone think the fish are moving up the lake? We fished around Merry Bay and caught 16 really nice fish but bites weren't real frequent.

[Elkchaser]

Fished Merry Bay and worked the shore line up into Indian creek this week. Long time in between bites. Ended up with 18 between 2 rods. Nothing as good as last June, when I knew even less than I do the summer.
Anyone have better luckout there?

[icelander]

Fished Merry Bay and worked the shore line up into Indian creek this week. Long time in between bites. Ended up with 18 between 2 rods. Nothing as good as last June, when I knew even less than I do the summer.
Anyone have better luckout there?

Haven't been fishing for 3 weeks, but it would probably be worth trying further up. What's to lose? How were others doing? Hoping to go next week.

[amxerhull]

We are still having good success in the Canyon Creek area. Downriggers at 25 feet, long lines with 1 oz at 70 to 100 feet.

[Elkchaser]

Thanks for the update. My boat is a little underpowered to be running up the lake. I can put in around Canyon and try that. Anybody used that road lately? I had heard it had some washouts.

[stevec]

Thanks for the update. My boat is a little underpowered to be running up the lake. I can put in around Canyon and try that. Anybody used that road lately? I had heard it had some washouts.

Ran up there yesterday with my 19' I/O from Big Eddy. I would guess the road is ok as there were campers and boats tied to dock. I have a little 12' I like to take down that road. Several years ago I got hicentered on big boulder, but I hear they cleared that out. Good luck & tight lines!

[crazcougg]

Fished Merry Bay and worked the shore line up into Indian creek this week. Long time in between bites. Ended up with 18 between 2 rods. Nothing as good as last June, when I knew even less than I do the summer.
Anyone have better luckout there?

I’ve fished from the dam to the elk river arm over the last few weeks and caught fish everywhere I’ve fished in good numbers. If your finding the fishing slow your probably fishing too deep. We’ve been catching all our fish 10-12’ down.

[Elkchaser]

Your right crazcougg. We've been probably close to 20' deep. I'll try 10' next time out, probably next week. Hopefully they will stay at that depth for a while. Thanks for the advice.

[crazcougg]

Your right crazcougg. We've been probably close to 20' deep. I'll try 10' next time out, probably next week. Hopefully they will stay at that depth for a while. Thanks for the advice.

No problem, they’ve been so shallow I haven’t even been using the downriggers. Forgot to mention I’ve been marking fish from 10-15’ deep on the sonar too.

[Elkchaser]

No problem, they’ve been so shallow I haven’t even been using the downriggers. Forgot to mention I’ve been marking fish from 10-15’ deep on the sonar too.
So according to my chart, an ounce at 40' is about 10' of depth. Does that sound right? I dont have downriggers.
That's at about 1.5 mph.
I'm new to this, so I ask a lot of dumb questions.

[crazcougg]

So according to my chart, an ounce at 40' is about 10' of depth. Does that sound right? I dont have downriggers.
That's at about 1.5 mph.
I'm new to this, so I ask a lot of dumb questions.

Well I count pulls, usually starting at 25 and working up to 40. On a typical steelhead rod I’d say that’s 50’ to 80’ of line out. I’ve been using 3/4 oz. and 1 oz. weights. Also been using ford fenders and flex lights. They’ve been out fishing dodgers at least 6-1 for me this year, typically there like 50/50, nonidea whynits been different this year. The fish I have caught on downriggers have been when it’s set at 10-13’. Also been having pretty much equal luck with run and shrimp scented corn. Haven’t died any pink this year but that usually helps me. Best rigs for me have been pink blades wedding rings and red/white stripe wedding rings, both my own creations.

[crazcougg]

So according to my chart, an ounce at 40' is about 10' of depth. Does that sound right? I dont have downriggers.
That's at about 1.5 mph.
I'm new to this, so I ask a lot of dumb questions.

I’ve been fishing 1.0 to 1.7 mph, I try to keep it changing all the time.

[Elkchaser]

I’ve been fishing 1.0 to 1.7 mph, I try to keep it changing all the time.

Hate to keep bugging you but what is a flex light? I use the Ford fenders and wedding rings and tuna oil in the corn. Do you use a shrimp scent like we use for steelhead?
Thanks for all your advice.

[crazcougg]

Hate to keep bugging you but what is a flex light? I use the Ford fenders and wedding rings and tuna oil in the corn. Do you use a shrimp scent like we use for steelhead?
Thanks for all your advice.

Flex lights are like ford fenders but plastic wings, usually find them in the same area at the tackle store, they produce a little less drag. I like mikes UV shrimp scent, same stuff I use for steelhead.

[Elkchaser]

Flex lights are like ford fenders but plastic wings, usually find them in the same area at the tackle store, they produce a little less drag. I like mikes UV shrimp scent, same stuff I use for steelhead.

Thanks cougg. I'll put this info to good use next time out.

[crazcougg]

Thanks cougg. I'll put this info to good use next time out.

Let me know how you do!

[ricks]

Flex lights are like ford fenders but plastic wings, usually find them in the same area at the tackle store, they produce a little less drag. I like mikes UV shrimp scent, same stuff I use for steelhead.

Ones I use are called Flash Lite from Macks. Like These (https://www.cabelas.com/product/Macks-Lure-Flash-Lite-Trolls-Blade-Series/704941.uts). They also make a version that is just a pair of rotating flashers about 4-6" apart. There are times when less is more, depending on how skittish the fish are.

[crazcougg]

Ones I use are called Flash Lite from Macks. Like These (https://www.cabelas.com/product/Macks-Lure-Flash-Lite-Trolls-Blade-Series/704941.uts). They also make a version that is just a pair of rotating flashers about 4-6" apart. There are times when less is more, depending on how skittish the fish are.

Yeah that’s the ones I was thinking of, haven’t bought them in a long time, should have confirmed the name!

[ricks]

Yeah that’s the ones I was thinking of, haven’t bought them in a long time, should have confirmed the name!

No biggee. What having a bunch of others sharing the forum is all about. If it didn't take as much gear as to outfit a japanese fishing trawler to fish for kokanee it would be a lot simpler to remember everything.

[Elkchaser]

Let me know how you do!
Me and a buddy went out yesterday and fished 3 rods for 6 hrs. We picked up 17 nice fat kokes. Tried my new flex light and an orange blade wedding ring. My buddy fished a regular brass blade ford with a pink hoochie and out fished everything 2 to 1.
Bite was best early but still quite a bit slower for us than last year at this time. We fished from Mary's Bay to Indian Creek and everywhere in between. Tried different depths and weights and nothing seemed any better than the other. Tried shrimp scent on the corn. I'm going up to Dent the next time out.

[ricks]

Three of us hit the water at 6 AM at Bruces. Shot up to the mouth of Elk and went to fishing. Marking a lot of fish. As we got closer to shore on the south west entrance, went by a guy fishing by himself. Asked what we were doing, showed us he was working his butt off keeping up with two poles. He was running purple lures and 4 ounces and obviously (to us) running short lines. I'm pretty sure he outfished us for the next couple hours and left with his limit.

We were 50 to 200 yards offshore and I cannot believe how many fish we were catching and how the sonar was marking them. Amazing. Maybe not as fast as that loner, he was the real deal. I was using 1/2 ounce and 75 feet back minimum on our three long lines. Marking fish at 15-30 feet for the most part. I ran one downrigger, mostly at 27-28 feet. 4 lines only and still spent way too much time untangling the damn flash lite I had on the downrigger. It snagged long lines seemingly everytime I caught a fish with it.

I have never ever marked fish like this. Seemingly everywhere - I wish I had taken a couple screen shots of the arches. I bought an Elite 9 Ti Lowrance last year. Had to send it back for some glitches, but it is kicking tail now. And there are a lot of big Kokes out there!

Being me, I don't really want to 'fight' kokes with 4 ounces on the line plus pop gear. So I stuck with 1/2 ounce. My son was running a fairly large pop with dark red on chrome, numerous bright red/pink/chrome spinners. It worked the best all day. I was running a chrome and bright pink dual ford fender that was fairly small, but also worked up till we quit at noon. Third long line ran various stuff, brighter as the day went on until it was running chrome and white and working well. Downrigger worked entire time with either a silver and pink flash lite or later an all silver one. Usually we would hit three or four lines at once after or right before passing over a ridge.

End of morning we kept trolling around the western point headed back to Bruces and still hitting fish all along the shoreline, 50-200 yards offshore in 40-80 ft of water. Fish EVERYWHERE. That lasted at least 1/2 mile west of elks where we pulled up and left.

Ended up with 44. Felt like more as we were plenty busy on my small boat. Big fat 12-13 inch fish, too.

Smoking and canning day tomorrow. All ya all have a great day fishing.

Rick

[ricks]

One other thing.. speeds were higher than I would normally be used to. 1.6 to 1.8 at times would light up the poles. Slower, my normal being 1.2ish, didn't work. 1.4 was minimum for any action. I ran several different mixes, best was probably crawfish and anise mixed with bloody tuna. But the other mixes seemed to work fine as well.

[crazcougg]

One other thing.. speeds were higher than I would normally be used to. 1.6 to 1.8 at times would light up the poles. Slower, my normal being 1.2ish, didn't work. 1.4 was minimum for any action. I ran several different mixes, best was probably crawfish and anise mixed with bloody tuna. But the other mixes seemed to work fine as well.

I’ve notice more bites with fast speeds this year too!

[Elkchaser]

Hey Ricks
What are the "pops" your are describing? I'm new to kokanee fishing and not familiar with the gear. Also what was the purple lure the guy you talked to using?
Are you using shoepeg corn with the scents?
Sorry about the barrage of questions, but we fish our butts off and have yet to catch a limit.

[ricks]

Hey Ricks
What are the "pops" your are describing? I'm new to kokanee fishing and not familiar with the gear. Also what was the purple lure the guy you talked to using?
Are you using shoepeg corn with the scents?
Sorry about the barrage of questions, but we fish our butts off and have yet to catch a limit.

Pop gear is the trolling flashers. They can be all shapes sizes and colors. Some days, bigger or more aggressive 'bite' can sometimes mean a big difference. Ford fenders thrash the water harder than willow blades, believe me when I say that is both good and terrible at times. If the fish are nervous, pop gear that makes a lot of noise is likely to keep them away. Sometimes the fish are especially aggressive and you find that works best. Other times, I use small handmade trolls with 2, 4, 5 or even 6 small spinners on it.If the fish are being tentative, I will always toss one on a line to test the theory.

Sometimes I'll even use bigger pop gear and attach them directly to the downrigger ball. Then I use a release attached about 3-6 feet above the pop gear and hang just a lure by itself 6 feet behind the pop gear and 3 feet above it Since I have a gas powered trolling motor this usually only works when the fishing is 40 or more feet down. Works great on big trout near the bottom of a lake!

Unfortunately, the only way to get good at this is to own a lot of gear and try a lot of it out whenever the fishing is slow. For me, I wish I could say with a straight face that I always catch a lot of kokanee. NOT!. I have met some who seem able to catch em in any conditions, but I ain't one of em. I will work my way through my gear boxes trying different things until I wear out my welcome. I have always said a well outfitted kokanee boat has as much gear as a japanese fishing trawler. Gotta have lots of colors, several different levels of aggressiveness, and as good electronics as you can afford.

Last tip is never leave fish to find fish. Once you find a spot and start hitting kokes, hammer em. I'm guilty of being more curious about another fishing spot, which means I don't always catch the obvious fish.

And yeah, I use shoepeg corn soaked overnight in various concoctions. I also will use berkely fake maggots. And sometimes just plain ol worm on my spinner. I often try the different ProTroll 'kokanee killer' lures (https://www.protroll.com/kokanee-killers), but I seldom have much success no matter how good they look to my eyes.

Edit, I never saw whatever the loner was using as his purple lure. I don't think it would matter much. The color is probably more important than the type. I only had one purple handmade spinner in the boat, we tried it fort a while but it was less reliable for us than chrome and red or pinks.

97059706

[Elkchaser]

Thank you for the fishing advice. I have a little old cheap Hummingbird that I use on my driftboat because it has a little suction cup transducer that sticks on the side. Very seldom does it beep on shallow fish even when we're in them and catching. Shows fish just off the bottom hundreds of feet deep. So I cant rely on much of what it shows.
I have been getting a little more gear as time goes by but I've only been at it for 2 seasons now. Usually focus on springers but see the need to learn more about kokanee as our runs are going through a bad slump.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

[ricks]

ElkChaser, Don't feel too far off the norm, here's where we started:

9707

I have a decent deal for you as well. I replaced a 788CI HD Humminbird (https://www.fishfinderreviews.net/humminbird-788ci-hd-di-combo-fishfinder-review/) with charting with the new Lowrance. The Humminbird is just settin here in a bag turning into old electronics. Yours if you make it through Grangeville one day or we figure a way to hand it off. Complete unit with everything.

[kokaneecowboy]

We (3 boys and myself)made it out Saturday and did OK. We launched about 7:30am in a line of boats at Freeman crk. We headed up to the mouth of Elk Creek and started there. This was my first time out with new-to-me down riggers, so it took me a bit to get everything out. We stayed in the 20-30 ft depth range with two down riggers and two long lines. We started off with a couple small ones then more larger fish over the next couple hours. We fished up until about 2pm and started Bass fishing for about two hours until I got tired of fighting the waves from all the boat traffic. We caught fish on the everything. I had pop gear on the long lines with 1oz of weight and sling blades with one pink hoochie and one wedding ring spinner on the down riggers. The long lines did the best but we soon discovered that the releases on the down riggers were to heavy and would not release when a kokanee took the bait. We would reel in the down rigger rods to check them and find a tired looking fish on the end. Not sure how long we had been dragging them. We ended up with 12 for the morning. When we were close to leaving we headed south along the west side of the reservoir and continued to catch fish including several around 14 inches that were our biggest fish of the day. Our dominate colors were pink and florescent orange. We were just using plain shoepeg corn on the front hook of our double hooks.

We noticed the faster trolling speeds as well since we tended to get more strikes when we were going faster.

[ricks]

We (3 boys and myself)made it out Saturday and did OK. We launched about 7:30am in a line of boats at Freeman crk. We headed up to the mouth of Elk Creek and started there. This was my first time out with new-to-me down riggers, so it took me a bit to get everything out. We stayed in the 20-30 ft depth range with two down riggers and two long lines. We started off with a couple small ones then more larger fish over the next couple hours. We fished up until about 2pm and started Bass fishing for about two hours until I got tired of fighting the waves from all the boat traffic. We caught fish on the everything. I had pop gear on the long lines with 1oz of weight and sling blades with one pink hoochie and one wedding ring spinner on the down riggers. The long lines did the best but we soon discovered that the releases on the down riggers were to heavy and would not release when a kokanee took the bait. We would reel in the down rigger rods to check them and find a tired looking fish on the end. Not sure how long we had been dragging them. We ended up with 12 for the morning. When we were close to leaving we headed south along the west side of the reservoir and continued to catch fish including several around 14 inches that were our biggest fish of the day. Our dominate colors were pink and florescent orange. We were just using plain shoepeg corn on the front hook of our double hooks.

We noticed the faster trolling speeds as well since we tended to get more strikes when we were going faster.

That's awesome!

I'm going to head up in the morning again tomorrow (the 2nd). Go out of Bruce's. @Elkchaser - let me know if you can get up there too. I PM'd you about that Humminbird.

Rick

[crazcougg]

Thank you for the fishing advice. I have a little old cheap Hummingbird that I use on my driftboat because it has a little suction cup transducer that sticks on the side. Very seldom does it beep on shallow fish even when we're in them and catching. Shows fish just off the bottom hundreds of feet deep. So I cant rely on much of what it shows.
I have been getting a little more gear as time goes by but I've only been at it for 2 seasons now. Usually focus on springers but see the need to learn more about kokanee as our runs are going through a bad slump.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

Fish were so shallow yesterday I ever marked a single one. I was running the downriggers at 10’ and got a few fish but the long lines were still way outfishing the downriggers, I believe due to the longer set backs. We did really well right in the middle of the bay in front of the freeman creek launch and caught a few more just around the corner from the Bruce’s Eddy launch. Ford Fender is still the #1 producer for me with 1/2 oz. weight.

[Elkchaser]

That's awesome!

I'm going to head up in the morning again tomorrow (the 2nd). Go out of Bruce's. @Elkchaser - let me know if you can get up there too. I PM'd you about that Humminbird.

RickThanks Ricks. I answered your pm

[icelander]

Fish were so shallow yesterday I ever marked a single one. I was running the downriggers at 10’ and got a few fish but the long lines were still way outfishing the downriggers, I believe due to the longer set backs. We did really well right in the middle of the bay in front of the freeman creek launch and caught a few more just around the corner from the Bruce’s Eddy launch. Ford Fender is still the #1 producer for me with 1/2 oz. weight.

Got to Elk Creek around 7:30 after launching at Bruces. Granddaughter limit at noon, lunch, then finished the other two limits in about 30 minutes.
Gorgeous day on the water. We fished 15-20' deep traditional.

[ricks]

Dropped lines in the water nearer Dicks and headed towards Elk. Immediately got hits and fish, but then couldn't repeat. Kept moving up towards Elks, same thing, hit an area, get a few, then nothing. To give you an idea what we were seeing on the sonar, here's what we saw 200 yards offshore right off.

9715

While I like to say, don't leave fish to find fish, I don't always follow that myself :^) So headed up across from Dent ramp. Immediately caught a few, then drudgery. So trolled up to the bridge catching the odd fish while my bored kid fell asleep. Caught a few at the bridge, made a last pass around the south side pier and here's a screenshot of that piece of water:

9716

The two of us got 42 after 5 plus hours of dragging lines. Nice fish, but I think the weather change had em off their normal bit. Was a thunderstormy night the night before and windy broken clouds all day yesterday.

Rick

[kokaneecowboy]

What kind of depth finder are you using? I can see the Lowrance and Elite on your screen shot but can't tell what model it is from there.

Thanks

[Elkchaser]

Dropped lines in the water nearer Dicks and headed towards Elk. Immediately got hits and fish, but then couldn't repeat. Kept moving up towards Elks, same thing, hit an area, get a few, then nothing. To give you an idea what we were seeing on the sonar, here's what we saw 200 yards offshore right off.

9715

While I like to say, don't leave fish to find fish, I don't always follow that myself :^) So headed up across from Dent ramp. Immediately caught a few, then drudgery. So trolled up to the bridge catching the odd fish while my bored kid fell asleep. Caught a few at the bridge, made a last pass around the south side pier and here's a screenshot of that piece of water:

9716

The two of us got 42 after 5 plus hours of dragging lines. Nice fish, but I think the weather change had em off their normal bit. Was a thunderstormy night the night before and windy broken clouds all day yesterday.

Rick42 fish in 5 hrs is an "off bite". We would take that every day. Need to get up there soon. Is there any reason to fish down by the dam or should we put in by Dent?

[ricks]

What kind of depth finder are you using? I can see the Lowrance and Elite on your screen shot but can't tell what model it is from there.

Thanks

That's an Elite 9Ti. I got it for several reasons - one, I wanted better sonar performance and had never used CHIRP. For those that don't know, CHIRP combines frequencies and rotates through them to make a display with more information. Well, learned my lesson fast, CHIRP doesn't give you any better information with Kokanee, so I always use the lowest freq which gives the widest (and shallowest) cone. Second, I next want to add a networked bow mounted trolling motor so I can set its path and work my lines. My Honda kicker is nice, but is both off center mounted and takes a lot of tending. A small wind change and I am out making circles. I got the Ti so I could connect all and run from an iPad in the stern. I bought the Lowrance as a factory refurb. Had to send it back since it had some misbehaviors. Other than coming back set to run in russian, it has amazed me with its sonar quality.

Sorry, more than you asked.

Rick

[ricks]

42 fish in 5 hrs is an "off bite". We would take that every day. Need to get up there soon. Is there any reason to fish down by the dam or should we put in by Dent?

I measure bite by what happened to ME recently. I fished a few days ago and stayed busy the whole time reeling in fish. This trip was half as busy and I ran around looking for reasons why. I have very seldom had as good a fishery as this years Dworshak kokanee. This is wonderful. It is all relative. Many lakes with warmer waters the fishermen there would sneer at our 12-14 inch fish. For us, heaven. I am dazzled by the clouds of fish on the sonar!

I didn't even look around at the dam or Merrys Bay. I plopped the boat in and cruised up to Elk at around 35MPH. If I didn't have a boat that made the trip faster than trailering up to Dent, I would definitely trailer up and put in. From Dent, 10 minute cruise and in the fish. The boat I run is an old ski boat that I swapped out the 3.0L 4 banger for a 4.3L V6. I basically rebuilt the whole thing to go kokanee or bass fishing. Hardly enough room in it for three people who get along reasonably well..... but it does cruise well in smooth waters under 50 MPH.

[crazcougg]

That's an Elite 9Ti. I got it for several reasons - one, I wanted better sonar performance and had never used CHIRP. For those that don't know, CHIRP combines frequencies and rotates through them to make a display with more information. Well, learned my lesson fast, CHIRP doesn't give you any better information with Kokanee, so I always use the lowest freq which gives the widest (and shallowest) cone. Second, I next want to add a networked bow mounted trolling motor so I can set its path and work my lines. My Honda kicker is nice, but is both off center mounted and takes a lot of tending. A small wind change and I am out making circles. I got the Ti so I could connect all and run from an iPad in the stern. I bought the Lowrance as a factory refurb. Had to send it back since it had some misbehaviors. Other than coming back set to run in russian, it has amazed me with its sonar quality.

Sorry, more than you asked.

Rick

Man that looks way better than what I get on my Lawrence Elite 5 HDI, I wonder if I’ve got my sensitivity turned down too far. What frequency are you using?

[ricks]

Man that looks way better than what I get on my Lawrence Elite 5 HDI, I wonder if I’ve got my sensitivity turned down too far. What frequency are you using?

I've played with the different frequencies and never got better results than straight 83kHz. Here's a little better shot, I have sensitivity set to auto. I do play with that manually a lot, got the best results on auto that day. I set depth to 100 ft. I don't really care what is below a 100 foot when I am going for kokes. Still tells me where bottom is, in this case 109 ft. And the solid line at 26 foot is my downrigger ball. Kokanee give good arch returns since they have such a massive air bladder along their spine. That arch shows best at 83kHz as well. You will usually see less of an arch when using 200 kHz and no arch at all with down imaging, just a dot. I don't bother with down or side scan with kokanee.

9717

[crazcougg]

I've played with the different frequencies and never got better results than straight 83kHz. Here's a little better shot, I have sensitivity set to auto. I do play with that manually a lot, got the best results on auto that day. I set depth to 100 ft. I don't really care what is below a 100 foot when I am going for kokes. Still tells me where bottom is, in this case 109 ft. And the solid line at 26 foot is my downrigger ball. Kokanee give good arch returns since they have such a massive air bladder along their spine. That arch shows best at 83kHz as well. You will usually see less of an arch when using 200 kHz and no arch at all with down imaging, just a dot. I don't bother with down or side scan with kokanee.

9717

Thanks for the info, I’ll have to take a look at my settings when I get home, I usually set my depth range to 60’. I’m real curious now what frequency I’ve been running. I think I still need to mess with me sensitivity settings some more.

[crazcougg]

Thanks cougg. I'll put this info to good use next time out.

I’ll be up there this weekend, 16’ hewescraft, aluminum with blue pinstriping, no top. Wave me down if your out and want to chat. I plan to fish the elk river and dent bridge areas.

[ricks]

I have heard from other locals that Magnus Bay is the hot spot, however, I am going to scope out Elk creek and Dent before I trudge up there. I'll report back, good or bad, manana.

Rick

[stevec]

Went up to Magnus from Dent. Fishing from about 9 to 4. Between the 3 of us we boated 2 & lost about the same amount. Never did mark any big schools. We were fishing long lines with 3 oz. out 59 to 69. I started out with sling blades but they kept getting tangled so switched to pop gear. Guess I have to figure out why they keep getting tangled.

[ricks]

I stuck with the plan and stayed right around the point at the west side of Elk Creek. There were loads of fish on the finder, especially on each side of the ridges. We tried a little of everything, downriggers with ford fenders was best. Long lines with 2 oz and bright shiny trolls were OK. For the first time I was playing with a sidewinder side planer board. Pretty neat when it works, PITA when it screws up. Major PITA when it wanders and twists up in other lines. I'm still thinking it is a great way to run lines out 40 or 50 feet from the boat. I'm going to keep working one to see if I can master working it.

Most of the fish came on the fenders set at 26 ft. Also did well at 40-50 ft at times. Caught 26, almost all in the 14 inch range. Today was my son's 19th and he wanted to wakeboard. So we spent a couple hours at that. 26 in 4ish hours, did OK. Fish are still there. The cooler weather has em feeding and growing. This is about the most awesome fishery I have ever imagined. And they haven't stocked Dworshak with any kokanee in 30 years, all self sustaining.

Rick

[icelander]

Had a great few days on Dworshak. Some days limits came fast, other days slower. Mostly around 12" with a few 13". S turns and speed changes especially when they were off the bite. Yesterday marked lots of fish at Elk Creek but bite didn't start til sun broke thru clouds. Fished traditional but had to experiment to find what consistently worked. Great year!

[onemorecast]

We (3 boys and myself)made it out Saturday and did OK. We launched about 7:30am in a line of boats at Freeman crk. We headed up to the mouth of Elk Creek and started there. This was my first time out with new-to-me down riggers, so it took me a bit to get everything out. We stayed in the 20-30 ft depth range with two down riggers and two long lines. We started off with a couple small ones then more larger fish over the next couple hours. We fished up until about 2pm and started Bass fishing for about two hours until I got tired of fighting the waves from all the boat traffic. We caught fish on the everything. I had pop gear on the long lines with 1oz of weight and sling blades with one pink hoochie and one wedding ring spinner on the down riggers. The long lines did the best but we soon discovered that the releases on the down riggers were to heavy and would not release when a kokanee took the bait. We would reel in the down rigger rods to check them and find a tired looking fish on the end. Not sure how long we had been dragging them. We ended up with 12 for the morning. When we were close to leaving we headed south along the west side of the reservoir and continued to catch fish including several around 14 inches that were our biggest fish of the day. Our dominate colors were pink and florescent orange. We were just using plain shoepeg corn on the front hook of our double hooks.

We noticed the faster trolling speeds as well since we tended to get more strikes when we were going faster.

I just started using "new to me" downriggers too. My brother talked me into getting Chamberlain releases, they are $20 a piece, pretty spendy, but they popped every time we had a fish strike. They work much better than the conventional pinch and pad releases.

[icelander]

I stuck with the plan and stayed right around the point at the west side of Elk Creek. There were loads of fish on the finder, especially on each side of the ridges. We tried a little of everything, downriggers with ford fenders was best. Long lines with 2 oz and bright shiny trolls were OK. For the first time I was playing with a sidewinder side planer board. Pretty neat when it works, PITA when it screws up. Major PITA when it wanders and twists up in other lines. I'm still thinking it is a great way to run lines out 40 or 50 feet from the boat. I'm going to keep working one to see if I can master working it.

Most of the fish came on the fenders set at 26 ft. Also did well at 40-50 ft at times. Caught 26, almost all in the 14 inch range. Today was my son's 19th and he wanted to wakeboard. So we spent a couple hours at that. 26 in 4ish hours, did OK. Fish are still there. The cooler weather has em feeding and growing. This is about the most awesome fishery I have ever imagined. And they haven't stocked Dworshak with any kokanee in 30 years, all self sustaining.

Rick

Just an fyi that Dworshak has been stocked w/ Kokes during years after large losses over the dam. At least some and perhaps all have come from Deadwood Res. Been there talking to the biologists when they were trapping for Dworshak. It was the only way to save/sustain kokes at Dworshak after massive losses. The Idaho Fish & Game has done a super job sustaining and enhancing a challenging fishery due to huge water fluctuations. Even at that if Dworshak was kept at full pool most of the year, as originally planned, the fish would be muck larger and that without supplemental fertilization.

[ricks]

Just an fyi that Dworshak has been stocked w/ Kokes during years after large losses over the dam. At least some and perhaps all have come from Deadwood Res. Been there talking to the biologists when they were trapping for Dworshak. It was the only way to save/sustain kokes at Dworshak after massive losses. The Idaho Fish & Game has done a super job sustaining and enhancing a challenging fishery due to huge water fluctuations. Even at that if Dworshak was kept at full pool most of the year, as originally planned, the fish would be muck larger and that without supplemental fertilization.

Yah. I talked to the Dworshak biologist yesterday. He said last time was late 90's, exactly as you stated. They started a new targeted fertilizer program. They've been studying which planktons they can target that improves kokanee. They have to be pretty careful, made a lot of mistakes over the years. I called him just to let them know how appreciative I was of their efforts and how awesome the fishery is this year.

[icelander]

Yah. I talked to the Dworshak biologist yesterday. He said last time was late 90's, exactly as you stated. They started a new targeted fertilizer program. They've been studying which planktons they can target that improves kokanee. They have to be pretty careful, made a lot of mistakes over the years. I called him just to let them know how appreciative I was of their efforts and how awesome the fishery is this year.

Right on Ricks. thumbsup

[icelander]

Bout that time for the pre spawn migration up the reservoir. Anyone care to divulge their luck the last couple days or how far up you gotta go to get into good numbers now?

[kokaneecowboy]

Thanks for the tip. I will check out the Chamberlain releases.thumbsup

[pinenut]

This is my first time posting here so be gentle. I discovered Super Dippin Sauce about 5 years ago. I dye my corn with cherry cool aid and put about a teaspoon of Super Dippin Sauce in it the night before. While I'm fishing I dump a little corn into an open container and let it dry a little. It's never failed me.

[ricks]

Believe it or not, never heard of Super Dippin Sauce. There's a lot of stuff out there. Just bought and tried some of Graybills Koke soak. Don't really know if it is great stuff or not, I didn't have that great of a fishing day yesterday. LOTS and LOTS of fish on the finder, just a lot harder work. Almost all my takes were off the downriggers at 60'.

I dropped into the water at Dent yesterday at 6AM. Never even fired up the main, just putted off the dock and dropped lines in the water. There are a lot of fish still down around Dent. Here's a screenshot of heading west off Dent ramp. I was running a 32 ft downrigger and a 63 footer.

9751

Caught 22 fish in the AM between there and the bridge. I found the long lines catching smaller fish that we mostly were able to toss back.

That evening at 5 made a run to Reeds, dropped lines in the water and immediately got to work to where we couldn'ty seem to get the rest of the lines in the water. The fish were really clustered though, several hundred yards short of getting to Reeds and to the north side of the channel. Caught a handful and then nuthin. Worked it over and over for the next couple hours before heading back. Here's a screenshot of what we saw there in the main channel before Reeds Creek.

9752

Kind of frustrating. Others on the water mentioned that the fishing was a bit slower. Lots of fun, and lots of fish on the finder, but I didn't do all that well. I found most of my big catches came at 60ish feet with sling blades bent to give more action and a small pink/white hoochie.

Rick

[icelander]

Believe it or not, never heard of Super Dippin Sauce. There's a lot of stuff out there. Just bought and tried some of Graybills Koke soak. Don't really know if it is great stuff or not, I didn't have that great of a fishing day yesterday. LOTS and LOTS of fish on the finder, just a lot harder work. Almost all my takes were off the downriggers at 60'.

I dropped into the water at Dent yesterday at 6AM. Never even fired up the main, just putted off the dock and dropped lines in the water. There are a lot of fish still down around Dent. Here's a screenshot of heading west off Dent ramp. I was running a 32 ft downrigger and a 63 footer.

9751

Caught 22 fish in the AM between there and the bridge. I found the long lines catching smaller fish that we mostly were able to toss back.

That evening at 5 made a run to Reeds, dropped lines in the water and immediately got to work to where we couldn'ty seem to get the rest of the lines in the water. The fish were really clustered though, several hundred yards short of getting to Reeds and to the north side of the channel. Caught a handful and then nuthin. Worked it over and over for the next couple hours before heading back. Here's a screenshot of what we saw there in the main channel before Reeds Creek.

9752

Kind of frustrating. Others on the water mentioned that the fishing was a bit slower. Lots of fun, and lots of fish on the finder, but I didn't do all that well. I found most of my big catches came at 60ish feet with sling blades bent to give more action and a small pink/white hoochie.

Rick

Thx for the good info. I hear that Kokes like to live in water temps around 54F, then warmer temps to feed on plankton, then back to the lower 50's. If that's the case they ought to be around 50-60' at Dworshak now. Seems to square with your results, right?

[ricks]

Thx for the good info. I hear that Kokes like to live in water temps around 54F, then warmer temps to feed on plankton, then back to the lower 50's. If that's the case they ought to be around 50-60' at Dworshak now. Seems to square with your results, right?

I've always heard that as the water warms the kokes head deeper. I did not know the water temp they like.... I might have to get a thermometer to read temps down deeper, maybe like this.https://fishingandhuntingheaven.com/fishing/products/accessories/scales-aerators/compac-thermometer-and-depth-gauge. I'm glad you mentioned the temp you heard they like. Have to do some reading.......


Rick

[icelander]

I've always heard that as the water warms the kokes head deeper. I did not know the water temp they like.... I might have to get a thermometer to read temps down deeper, maybe like this.https://fishingandhuntingheaven.com/fishing/products/accessories/scales-aerators/compac-thermometer-and-depth-gauge. I'm glad you mentioned the temp you heard they like. Have to do some reading.......


Rick

This might save a few shekels http://www.nwd-wc.usace.army.mil/ftppub/water_quality/tempstrings/DWR_S1_2019_07.html but I don't know how accurate it would hold farther up

[ricks]

This might save a few shekels http://www.nwd-wc.usace.army.mil/ftppub/water_quality/tempstrings/DWR_S1_2019_07.html but I don't know how accurate it would hold farther up

Probably good enough along with the sonar to get a good idea where to drop a line. I'm going to head up sunday and see what I can do in Magnus. I figure most of the activity will be down around your afore mentioned 54ƒ zone. I had a couple fish in last weeks catch that were starting to blush their skin. Not long now before we lose the 4 year old fishery to the spawn.

[onemorecast]

Fishing in general and Kokanee in particular are about being in the right place at the right time. Dworshak has been the right place this year I just can't seem to be there on a hot fishing day. We were up 2 weeks ago and spent the entire day in Elk Creek, and only managed to get 10 in the boat. I talked to a fellow fisherman at the cleaning station at Big Eddy and the day before he had caught a limit, that day he only got 8, and several were small. This is the first year I have ever had downriggers, they have been outfishing the long lines and lead. Brad's pink magic kokanee cut plug tipped with scented corn has been my most productive lure. We're planning on being up on Sunday. I'm going to try stacking lines for the 1st time. I hope it doesn't turn into a big birds nest. This may be the last Koke run for us if they don't cooperate. I really don't want to make the journey to Granddad, even though I know that's where they are headed. I've learned a lot this year and am looking forward to next year.

[onemorecast]

https://idfg.idaho.gov/blog/2019/08/still-time-catch-kokanee-dworshak-reservoir

[ricks]

Fishing in general and Kokanee in particular are about being in the right place at the right time. Dworshak has been the right place this year I just can't seem to be there on a hot fishing day. We were up 2 weeks ago and spent the entire day in Elk Creek, and only managed to get 10 in the boat. I talked to a fellow fisherman at the cleaning station at Big Eddy and the day before he had caught a limit, that day he only got 8, and several were small. This is the first year I have ever had downriggers, they have been outfishing the long lines and lead. Brad's pink magic kokanee cut plug tipped with scented corn has been my most productive lure. We're planning on being up on Sunday. I'm going to try stacking lines for the 1st time. I hope it doesn't turn into a big birds nest. This may be the last Koke run for us if they don't cooperate. I really don't want to make the journey to Granddad, even though I know that's where they are headed. I've learned a lot this year and am looking forward to next year.

Tomorrow (sunday) I get one more trip up before harvest starts. I've been blessed this year with getting to go up about once a week or every other week since May. Been a great year, and like you said, a lot of that is the luck of guessing right most days and getting at least a few fish (other than one time). Plus I am not afraid to spend an entire morning mixing speeds, colors, presentations, scents, how noisy or subtle the gear is and depths. A lot of the success for me this year has been persistence and better electronics.

I wish you best on trying the stacking... I never had much luck going there, seemed I spent more time getting gear in and out of the water than I did fishing. Of course, that may be just because I'm fumbling around and don't know what I'm doing. Look forward to hearing how it works out for you.

I wasn't planning on going up past Magnus tomorrow (sunday), but after reading Sean's article, I think it best to shoot on up. So I am filling another gas can and prepping to cruise up further. Thanks for the post. Sean is who I called and expressed appreciation for the great fishery last week. Good guy.

Hope to see you on the water.

9772

Rick

[ricks]

Dropped in at Bruces today at 6 AM. Cruised on up to Grandad. Wasn't planning to go that far, but the fishery biologist report kind of forced that hand. I enjoyed the trip. Always seems a lot longer getting there than getting back.

Dropped lines at Benton creek, a quarter mile past the Grandad ramp. Soon as I slowed the 83KHz marked fish everywhere. We fished up from there through the morning and circled around spots where we hit fish. Then fished back down to Grandad ramp until 2 PM. It really matched the report, 10 minutes of hits, then 20 minutes or more of nothing. Even circling and hitting the same pod of fish would never reproduce the initial 2 or 3 line hit. Very fickle today but expected since the fish are not feeding and spending their energy changing.

There were probably only 4 or 5 other boats up there. Pretty sparse for a sunday. Very quiet all day. A gazzillion fish though, all stacked up. Mouths of creeks were always best locations.

Ended up with 30 fish, all same 12-13 inch size. This was a typical 83KHz screen when going through the mouth of one of the creeks. Note, with sonar settings in chirp or 200 KHz, I would see almost no fish at all. Kind of learning the ropes with this Lowrance - 83 KHz is definitely the boss.

9773

[Lou Mc]

Thanks Ricks for the report on grandad, I've been out several times, usually just behind where the fish were. I'm going up for the last time 13th & 14th, planned to go short to magnus bay or just above, but thanks to your report, I'll go all the way to the grandad bridge area. How deep were you successful at? I'll be using my downrigger. Your report was really helpful to convince me.

[ricks]

Thanks Ricks for the report on grandad, I've been out several times, usually just behind where the fish were. I'm going up for the last time 13th & 14th, planned to go short to magnus bay or just above, but thanks to your report, I'll go all the way to the grandad bridge area. How deep were you successful at? I'll be using my downrigger. Your report was really helpful to convince me.

We stuck the downriggers just above wherever we saw fish on the sonar, between 40 and 75 feet for the most part. Ran Randys or Slingblades with different hoochies. Constantly looking for the right colors combos swapping all the time. Seemed everything was hit or miss.

Long lines did just as good with 1 ounce at 100-120 feet back. Used everything from cowbells to Fords and brass through brightest flashiest UV chromes. Never knew what was going to hit, but the best spots were almost always mouths of creeks.

Best of luck. Let us know how it goes. Bring back a bunch!

[Lou Mc]

Well Ricks, I made it to grandad on Tue. Like you, I saw thousands of fish on the finder, mostly 100 to 150 feet. some 50 ft. and some just scattered. I was too lazy to go down deep, so I set the downrigger at 50 ft. and trolled in the mouth of Little Northfork starting at 7:15. ( I started from Freeman Creek) In two hours, I caught 2 fish, I trolled right through them and they didn't care. Then I trolled downstream past grandad bridge for a mile or 2, and caught 5 more. slow, slow, slow. At 1:00 I went down to Magnus Bay. Not nearly as many fish, but caught 3 in the first hour. tired, went back to camp.

Wed. went back to Magnus bay, swamp creek nothing. trolled upstream from there and caught a few. Lots of blank spots between fish, and never caught any when my finder said I was in the middle of them. The Kokes are starting to change color, don't seem interested in biting.

But I had a wonderful time on my last fishing trip on Dworshak for this year. I drove 100 miles up and down the lake, and my wife said my fish to miles was pretty low.

Thanks for the forum, I enjoyed everyones stories.

[ricks]

Lou Mc, It can be a tough time. Can be a lot of fun too. There are so many that it will have no effect on the fishery hatch next year to do our best to catch some.

Thanks for the report. I'm going to do one more trip next month and see if I can catch some of those year 1 10 inchers.

[ricks]

Hey guys, busy week, my son got married in our barn, which meant we spent a couple months cleaning that puppy and putting plenty of lipstick on the pig. After the wedding, took a couple friends who came out from California out on Dworshak to catch a few fish. Nice perfect day on the water, mostly no wind and temps from 36 to 42ƒ.

We weren't in a hurry, nor needing to work butts off, so dropped in at around 7 at Bruces and cruised up to Dent Bridge. Sonar trolled Canyon Crk on the way, marked plenty of fish, so that would have been a fine place to stop but I was acting as a fishing and tour guide so we headed up to the bridge.

Started with long lines and didn't get the second line out before we had a fish on the first one. I spent the day rigging terminal gear and teaching how to operate multiple downriggers and long lines without getting tangled up - successfully all but once.We fished a few hours, had a constant easy stream of bites until noon, when it all stopped happening and I realized I'd have to go through my box again finding some other combination that would initiate bites under the higher sun and brighter less cloudy skies. Pulled out and cruised back sightseeing along the way.

We caught 21 between 8 and 11 inches. Lost a bunch as well, so there's still a few in the lake for everyone else :^) Stopped for lunch at China Cafe in Kooskia and gave Ben and Grace enough for their dinner. Here's what I had for cooking our dinner that evening.

Rick

9843

[MMDON]

Congratulations on the wedding and thanks for the report! I like the idea of a Barn Wedding. Romantic!

[Lou Mc]

Hey guys, busy week, my son got married in our barn, which meant we spent a couple months cleaning that puppy and putting plenty of lipstick on the pig. After the wedding, took a couple friends who came out from California out on Dworshak to catch a few fish. Nice perfect day on the water, mostly no wind and temps from 36 to 42ƒ.

We weren't in a hurry, nor needing to work butts off, so dropped in at around 7 at Bruces and cruised up to Dent Bridge. Sonar trolled Canyon Crk on the way, marked plenty of fish, so that would have been a fine place to stop but I was acting as a fishing and tour guide so we headed up to the bridge.

Started with long lines and didn't get the second line out before we had a fish on the first one. I spent the day rigging terminal gear and teaching how to operate multiple downriggers and long lines without getting tangled up - successfully all but once.We fished a few hours, had a constant easy stream of bites until noon, when it all stopped happening and I realized I'd have to go through my box again finding some other combination that would initiate bites under the higher sun and brighter less cloudy skies. Pulled out and cruised back sightseeing along the way.

We caught 21 between 8 and 11 inches. Lost a bunch as well, so there's still a few in the lake for everyone else :^) Stopped for lunch at China Cafe in Kooskia and gave Ben and Grace enough for their dinner. Here's what I had for cooking our dinner that evening.

Rick

9843

Thanks Rick, made my day hearing about your newest trip to Dworshak. The fish were a good eating size. Maybe I do have one more trip in me this year..

Lou

[ricks]

Congratulations on the wedding and thanks for the report! I like the idea of a Barn Wedding. Romantic!

Thanks! It was a lot of fun. Makes this old man feel really old when his 19 year old son gets married. They were a beautiful couple.

9844

This is a kid that just seems yesterday was fishing Dworshak with me on a soap bubble

9845

[MMDON]

Beautiful pic of the wedding. Somethings are worth getting old for and you just posted the best! Saweeeeeet!