2013-2016 Idaho Kokanee Fishing Reports Quick Links

[bayhorse]

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

 

[HCM23]

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

 

[kok-head]

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

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

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

 

[kodiak1]

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

 

[HCM23]

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

 

[bayhorse]

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

 

[FirstTimer]

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

 

[pthept]

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

 

[kok-head]

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

welcome to KFF pthept,

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

good luck this year


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

 

[kok-head]

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

 

[kodiak1]

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

 

[kok-head]

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

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

 

[pthept]

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

 

[bayhorse]

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

 

[jumperzee]

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

Bayhorse,

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

http://www.reserveamerica.com/campi...oundDetails.do?contractCode=NRSO&parkId=73168

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

 

[bayhorse]

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

 

[fishingmom]

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

http://dworshak.org/

 

[bayhorse]

Great information site thanks!

 

[kenbarb]

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

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

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

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

 

[BigggCountry]

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