Paulina

Friday 7/1
On the water trolling at 5:30 am and had one short of my limit by 6:30... all caught on apex's behind uv sling blade. Decided to slow things down and try some jigging off the shelf midway on the north shore. Very slow and not much showing on the finder. Went back to trolling and limited on the way back to the launch. 35-40' was the best depth and LOTS of fish showing in the middle over 240' of water. Kokanee special scented corn and koke special gel on the lures. Speed was between 1.2-1.6mph and most caught trolling in a north/south direction. Best colors... black and blue.

Way to put the hurt on them SB.

I fished on 7/2. I camped up there for several days and only really fished one day. It took 5 hours in the middle of the day but 4 of us we got our limits once we figured out what was working and where to fish. Fish were scattered all over the lake but bigger fish were found in front of the lodge. Paulina Peak tear drop shaped dodgers, both gold and nickle, and orange or red micro hoochies fished at 35 to 45 feet deep caught most of the fish. Best speed was 1.4 mph. One top rod long lined with a Paulina Peak big eye silver dodger with a pink/green beaded spinner also worked. Plain corn worked better than garlic. Sunday was slower. We fished for 1.5 hours late afternoon and only landed 5.

7/13
Limited in front of the red slide over 235' of water out towards middle of lake... lots of fish showing. 30-35' down the wire with uv sling blade and customized apex. Kokanee special scented corn/koke special gel on lure. Had more than usual take downs that resulted in nothing except missing corn. Like Fallriverguy mentioned garlic scent wasn't producing... had better luck with kokanee special.

Paulina Kokanee

I just got back from fishing Paulina 4 days: July 18-21. Easy limits every day in front of Little Crater Campground trolling silver/pink sling blade followed by red beads and garlic corn trolled 1.4 mph in 123 feet of water with downrigger set at 32 feet. Best bite was before sunrise and early evening. I mixed it up a little and caught some fish same technique in front of the Group Campground, I also caught fish jigging with a home made day glo orange buzz bomb shaped jig while trolling in front of the resort at the drop off. I guess you could call it horizontal jigging, but it produced the biggest kokanee at 18 inches. I got a little annoyed at the many speed boats buzzing around the lake. I was under the belief that Paulina is a 10mph lake. Oh well, not any more annoying than a noisy generator coming out of my neighbors $500K motorhome next to my camp. Paulina and East Lake all campsites darn near full. I will return to Paulina early to mid August for some prespawn big shouldered Kokanee. All good but for speed boats and noisy generators.

Sounds like a great trip. Weather should have been pretty good up there too. Any pics of the 18"er? Thats a really healthy koke for Paulina.

Paulina 8/16

Limited by 8:30am trolling apex lures with koke special scent at 50' down. Best speed was varied between 1.2-1.6mph. Lots of fish out in the middle in deep water. Fish are in good shape... some bright and some starting to lose their scales but all cut and tasted great. Size was 11-13.5" ... some getting fat. Beat the heat... got out of there before it got up the 70. thumbsup

Hot Paulina

I just got back from fishing Paulina Lake.Tuesday, Wednesday, and this morning. All nice sized fish, plump, and just beginning to show some signs of prespawn. I fished 196 feet of water with pink sling blade with tuna/garlic corn on a downrigger at 43 feet in front of the red slide trolling toward the high spot. Repeated the same technique Wednesday and limited in short order. On the water at 540am seems to be the wide open time. Fished in front of Little Crater this morning near the trail head to the hot springs. Fished 180 feet of water at 43 feet with Pink Sling Blade and tuna corn. Off the water by 710am with 5 nice plump Kokanee. Great trip. It looks like the water on the North east side is showing some high algae bloom. Campground full and close to full all week.

Thanks for the reports guys. I can't make it this year but Paulina is definitely in the calendar for next year. Only fished there once and really want to learn that lake.

Tues 8/30

Limited in 30 minutes... never seen so many fish consistently on the screen. 11-12" with one 13 1/2... most bright but losing scales... one start of hook jaw. Fish are deeper now... got them between 50-60'. Again... blue and black apex's behind uv sling blades. The solid black apex with uv tape got the most hits. All fish cut well and meat is dark red.

Black Screen

Thanks Silver Bullets.

I was fishing late August last year at the drop off near the resort and I had a black screen on my fish finder from a huge school of Kokanee that passed under my boat. It was like fishing in a barrel, limited in five drops jigging. Chinook are moving behind my house, I caught a nice 25lber yesterday. I wont make another Paulina trip this year, but Im already making plans for next year. Hopefully we can hook up and fish togehter. Thanks for the Paulina update.
Aloha.