2022 Lucky Peak Reservoir Kokanee Report

[sawtooth]

Best of luck to all this year.

[Pauli]

Anyone been up to Lucky Peak or Arrowrock Reservoirs? Is there ice on the water?

Pauli

[pollackoke]

Drove up to Arrowrock last Thursday; really wanted to try some early-year trolling. Road was really quite bad; portion near top of dam was a moonscape. I mean the truck was bucking like a rodeo bull even at very low speed. The road was icy enough that pulling a boat could be a challenge. There was lots of ice throughout reservoir. There was a decent pool of open water around the federal boat launch; no ice out to the far shore. You would probably have needed chains to launch and recover that day as the pavement to the launch was quite packed and icy. Drove road up to past mouth of South Fork; there was a decent area of open water there too; ice in between SF and federal launch though.

[Pauli]

Thanks for the reply....Probably should just keep the boat in the garage for a while.


Pauli

[pollackoke]

Drove up to Arrowrock again early last Sunday: road has continued to degrade (but mud was frozen). More ice everywhere. Spring Shores launch was iced over. There was somebody trolling the dam pool on Lucky Peak (Turner Gulch launch open). On Arrowrock, the BLM launch area was completely iced, no chance for launching there, and pool beyond the launch was frozen all the way across. Sad thing, I saw a couple guys coming back from Arrowrock pulling a boat. Looks like they went all the way up there not knowing conditions. I tipped my hat to them anyway, the stalwart buggers.

[Pauli]

Oh well....Winter is still here. Time to hit the Columbia for some Springer fishing.


Hoping that the Kokanee fishing rebounds this year. It's been 2 years of just so so Koke fishing.


Pauli

[dustyjohns]

Has anyone been able to launch at Turner yet? I’m assuming the water is still really low. I am just itching to get out and drag some balls.

[G3 longliner]

Best of luck to all this year.

is the ice gone at arrowrock? Heard still some Sat the 12th

[dustyjohns]

is the ice gone at arrowrock? Heard still some Sat the 12th

That road is probably horrible already. Fish are being caught out of LP though. So probably not much need to destroy a boat trailer.

[pollackoke]

That road is probably horrible already. Fish are being caught out of LP though. So probably not much need to destroy a boat trailer.

Road is in good condition. Drove up to Arrowrock Thursday. Road was graded recently. Ice is completely gone from Lucky Peak, and Turner gulch is launching boats. State park launch is open too. Ice on Arrowrock has retreated all the way up to within 1/2 mile of south fork. A few boats were plying the waters. One cool spot for kayaks: there is open water at that rough launch spot about across from the south fork mouth. The motor boats could not get to that open spot (blocked by the main ice). But this seclusion won't last long in our warm weather - there were risers in that secluded pool. Go get'em kids! tooexcited

[Pauli]

I fished lucky Peak yesterday (Wednesday). Disappointed not to have caught even one Koke...there were a few others out on the lake of those I talked to, not one Koke was caught. I did catch 2 nice trout...but one was just covered with parasites. He didn't make it to the dinner table. I fished from Lucky Peak dam area and made a run down to Spring Shores and to the Silver Pipe area......Nada. All of the folks I talked to said that they didn't mark many fish. I marked one small school and that was it. Water temp was 45 to 46 degrees.

Pauli

[MaGoo]

I fished lucky Peak yesterday (Wednesday). Disappointed not to have caught even one Koke...there were a few others out on the lake of those I talked to, not one Koke was caught. I did catch 2 nice trout...but one was just covered with parasites. He didn't make it to the dinner table. I fished from Lucky Peak dam area and made a run down to Spring Shores and to the Silver Pipe area......Nada. All of the folks I talked to said that they didn't mark many fish. I marked one small school and that was it. Water temp was 45 to 46 degrees.

Pauli

I had the same problem last year. Got very discouraged and quit fishing LP. Something has happened to all the Koks in Boise river drainage, F&G has not given a good answer. I would also like to know after F&G planted 90,000 koks in CJ Strike if one has been caught. It has been two years they should be of a good size now. I thought it was a waste of koks.

[pollackoke]

I have not caught any. But I have talked to 2 different guys on the water there who said they had caught one or two.

[Westwindsraider]

We've fished LP a half dozen times the last month or so and, as the water temps have risen, so has the catch numbers. On Friday, the 3rd of June the surface temps were near 60, 54 at 20' depth and fish were hitting consistently all the way from the surface to 20'. Flashers were steel/green/chartreuse with pink dots. Lures were mostly green and some pink. Caught a couple of dark blue/steel/pink dots during cloudy periods. Have caught mostly limits, sometimes an incredible number of rainbows have been on the bite at kokanee speeds, no less. For 2 days we experienced almost nothing but "bump and runs" from the kokes, and I mean dozens of hits with no takes. Those were real head-scratchers. We've been really happy with the size this year. It's been nice to be able to go somewhere close to home, catch a bunch and get home before the idiots took over the lake in the afternoons. Oh yes, weekdays were most pleasant. Nice to be retired.

[dustyjohns]

It's been nice to be able to go somewhere close to home, catch a bunch and get home before the idiots took over the lake in the afternoons. Oh yes, weekdays were most pleasant. Nice to be retired.

Some days I really miss retirement. Being 40 and retired though I fished by myself a lot. All my friends had jobs still hahahaha. Thank you for the great report. I have been wondering if the fishing was going to be good like last year.

[G3 longliner]

Best of luck to all this year.

any one been on the road to arrowrock in last couple days whats condition?

[River Rat]

Fished about 4 hours yesterday the 15th, late start. Was putting out a pink and silver dodger with pink and silver bug and tuna soaked corn, when I was hooking up the line to the down rigger, a 15 incher ripped the line out of my hand. We never got another bite after that, nothing, tried everything and different depths. Water was 59 in main channel, almost 62, in coves, marked fish mostly at around 15 feet at mouths of coves. But the weather was perfect, only a few boats out, had a great time

[trmaret]

Also fished lucky peak with 3 downriggers and 1 highline on June 15. Very slow day but perfect weather for fishing...spent 4 hours trolling from 0800-1200 catching only 1 14" rainbow. Marked very few fish...not sure where the koks have gone.

[msusprtn]

In at first light, out at 10:30. Marking mostly scattered fish 40-70', a few small schools. Double stacked at 15' with 25' behind releases. Ran bottom at 55'. Purple wedding rings were the ticket. 6 in the boat, 1 lost, 2 pull backs, 1 slime rocket. Largest was 18", smallest was 10". 60F@25'/53F@50'. watch out for the wake surfers... best to get there really early.

[dustyjohns]

Double stacked at 15' with 25' behind releases. best to get there really early.

Is that 15’ deep and 25’ set back? I’ve never ran that close so I’m intrigued. I usually go by the 100’ rule.

If the googans had any sliver of respect or courtesy, I’d fish LP more.

[G3 longliner]

Is that 15’ deep and 25’ set back? I’ve never ran that close so I’m intrigued. I usually go by the 100’ rule.

If the googans had any sliver of respect or courtesy, I’d fish LP more.



ya googins bad i even had the govt work boat about swamp me Talked to three govt enities and just got passed on so gave up complaining Sheriff has to take some control There are wake rules but none enforced I quit L P also as tired of yelling and waving people off all the time Some day some one is going to go postal and I dont want to get caught in the middle of it Instead of going around the parking lot checking for safety items maybe they should get on the water and issue a few tickets Just my opinion - Lets hear more

[msusprtn]

Is that 15’ deep and 25’ set back? I’ve never ran that close so I’m intrigued. I usually go by the 100’ rule.

If the googans had any sliver of respect or courtesy, I’d fish LP more.



15' between my lines with a 25' set back from my releases. (keep in mind I'm not an overly experienced kokanee fisherman) I use to follow the 100' rule, but I have disregarded it once I get to 40' or so after seeing way to many fish check out my rigging ball on my fish finder.

[msusprtn]

On the water at first light. Not as many boats out fishing as I would have thought. Stopped fishing at 11AM. 11 for 15 with 3 pullbacks. Largest was 19", smallest was 12". Kept 10. Bottom line at 50', top line at 35'. Purple wedding rings. Didn't mark as many fish as previous weekend... thinking they might be on the move.

[dustyjohns]

msusprtn Thank you. I was running shorter setback yesterday due to wind and was still catching fish. So my ideas are changing. We fished LP the 2nd and landed 2 12” fish. Running purple hoochies and flies 15’-25’ down.

[G3 longliner]

msusprtn Thank you. I was running shorter setback yesterday due to wind and was still catching fish. So my ideas are changing. We fished LP the 2nd and landed 2 12” fish. Running purple hoochies and flies 15’-25’ down.

fished LP yesterday all the fish where small Did not keep any and keep no trout But the worst was the googins Had three confortations One pretty bad I cant do that anymore Ill brave long trip to Anderson or bad road to Arrowrock Keep your head down up there and good luck

[msusprtn]

3 for 7 today + a bonus bow. had some operator errors today on a few. marked fish fairly consistently.... don't know why i couldn't get more to bite. had lots of follows. nothing huge today 13"-16". 40-50'.

[gillnetter]

Felt like we had no clue what we were doing. Fished from 0600 to 1300 today. Windy in the morning, only a handful of boats fishing, and water temp was 66-68. Had four strikes and nothing landed. Tried various color wedding rings, hoochies, and even cutplugs. Fished four rods at various depths from flatlining with 1-2oz and down riggers from 20ft to 70ft. Speed was from .9 to 1.6mph. Marked two schools, one at 20ft and another at 110. Only saw two fish landed. Any thoughts if the hum of wire strung down riggers has an effect or optimum distance from down rigger clips?

[msusprtn]

I fish steel cable on my downriggers... never had an issue with the hum as far as catching fish... only annoying to the ears.

I always trust my fish finder for what depth to be at. In my experience, I have the most success targeting the most shallow fish as far as depth.

If I'm marking fish and not catching them, I do exactly what you did... keep trying something different on color and dodgers. I've just about always been able to catch the most shallow fish.

[River Rat]

I agree, I also use steel line on my down riggers and have never had a problem, as for the hum, I am legally deaf, so what's the problem, ha ha. But I never run my line off the down rigger ball, always clip it above a ways depending on how far back I run my lures. I did notice that if I drag my weight through the middle of the school, they would scatter. I normally run my clip from 5 to 10 feet up and my dodger between 50 to 75 feet behind.

[G3 longliner]

I agree, I also use steel line on my down riggers and have never had a problem, as for the hum, I am legally deaf, so what's the problem, ha ha. But I never run my line off the down rigger ball, always clip it above a ways depending on how far back I run my lures. I did notice that if I drag my weight through the middle of the school, they would scatter. I normally run my clip from 5 to 10 feet up and my dodger between 50 to 75 feet behind.

think its over - went LP yesterday - caught a 17 in real blush one and a lot of dinks Time to quit boys and let the dinks grow for next year On to steelhead

[msusprtn]

in a first light, off at 10:30am

Kokes on LP are done for me this year. The big boys have turned and i'm not in it for dinks. See ya'll next year.

[Pauli]

Anyone been up to the reservoirs yet this year??? Wondering if the road is clear to Arrowrock, or if there is still ice on either Arrowrock or Lucky Peak.

Pauli

[MaGoo]

Anyone been up to the reservoirs yet this year??? Wondering if the road is clear to Arrowrock, or if there is still ice on either Arrowrock or Lucky Peak.

Pauli

I was at Lucky Peak spring shores a week ago. Ice is from Arrowrock dam to within 25 -50 yards of maim ramp at spring shores. I could see ice down in the narrows. No ice at Turners.

[Pauli]

I was at Lucky Peak spring shores a week ago. Ice is from Arrowrock dam to within 25 -50 yards of maim ramp at spring shores. I could see ice down in the narrows. No ice at Turners.

Thank you for the report. I will probably give it a few more weeks.

Pauli

[dustyjohns]

https://lakemonster.com/lake/ID/Lucky-Peak-Reservoir-173

I haven’t paid for the app yet so I don’t get to see the most up to date images. However, this site is a pretty useful tool for water temps and ice usually.