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Probably have caught well over 30,000 Kokes from every body of water in Idaho, stopped fishing LP a few years ago because of the taste of the fish. Cascade fish have the same taste in the summer months. Maybe I will have to give LP another try!

HOLY COW!!!! 30k you are my new hero!!! I have caught Kokes from 4 bodies of Idaho water and enjoyed them all, However I bow to your expertiese.
 
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Fished 6/13 from first light until 11am, caught most of these before 8am and then things slowed way down, started out at 11' on the riggers and then dropped to 16', dodgers and hoochies
 
Probably have caught well over 30,000 Kokes from every body of water in Idaho, stopped fishing LP a few years ago because of the taste of the fish. Cascade fish have the same taste in the summer months. Maybe I will have to give LP another try!

I have caught Kokes in 3 bodies of water in Idaho. AR Anderson and LP....... Never had them taste muddy....... OH wait I smoke mine......... Tough to light if they are muddy.
tooexcited
worthy12
laugh hyst

Have fun fishing........
 
Yesterday had my limit by 9 but released anything under 14" so I did not leave until 11. Today I just fished a couple of hours and landed 3 but had a number of corn thieves. Still long lining and marking fish at 5-10' and 25-30' but not much in between and they seem to be moving around, its pointless marking them on the GPS they are not there when I com back around. Silver and orange are still the only colors that buys a bite for me......
 
I fished Yesterday 6.14 8 am to 1 pm landed 4 kept 2. Had the water covered form 8' to 30' and the only rod producing for me was my downrigger at 22' pink and white dodger and hot pink hoochie, and as callelk said had corn thieves on the lead core at 28' to 30' down silver troll lights with black & light pink wedding ring no hookups.
 
Had similar luck as JKToons this morning. Fished from about 7:30 to 11:30 am. Hooked about 8, got 6 to the boat and brought 3 home. The 3 at the boat were maybe 9 or 10 inches long. Thought they were little trout at first.

Got a real laugh from one hook-up. Soon as he hit, he headed for the surface and jumped about 25 feet behind the boat. I thought I lost him but he jumped again still dragging the gear but racing towards the boat. I was reeling in line as fast as I could. He comes back up now along side the boat and just keeps going without slowing down. I was laughing so hard I lost him after my wife made a valiant effort with the net. I fully expected him to do one of those dolphin things out front of the bow.

Fished anywhere from 10 to 30 feet .. concentrated on 15-20. Fished dodgers with spin n glo or wedding ring style spinners. Can't say we saw a preference in color.
 
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conservationist,

That ain't bad but the smallest one I caught Saturday was while pulling away from the dock I started to let out line and before I got 18-20' out had a 6-7" Kok slam it and started jumping all over the place. It was so small that there was no way it could have eaten the hook so it was just holding on to the corn until it finally wiggled it off!
 
chinook and kokanee

Fished Anderson last week for kokes and hammered 'em. Decided to head back this AM and concentrate on chinook, something I have been wanting to do. We started at Fall Creek and trolled towards the dam a ways, and then all the way back to the upper end. Stacked a cable with all kinds of tasty offerings I use in the salt, but a bit smaller. Size smaller flashers, etc. Just got it in the water and I had a good connection on the mini Brads packed with tuna. Darned if it wasn't a koke. And that was it. Kali put one pole out for kokes, and picked them up here and there, but once we got to the upper end, she started nailing them. I finally decided to join her, and we ended up with a cooler full of nice fish. The fish we caught at Fall Creek were definitely larger......don't know why. Doesn't seem to make sense, unless there is less competiton for food in that area. Every time it slowed down, we would drop down a bit and there they'd be. Best depth at 1 when we pulled out was 45'. Don't know what I was doing wrong in the chinook category. I'll try for them next year when they should be lunkers! Mike
 
I must be doing something wrong. I've been covering 10-40', using pop gear, dodgers, hoochies, wedding rings, firecorn, garlic eggs, anise corn. etc. I went out fri night for 4 hours, 2 fish. sat morn 5 hours, 2 fish. Sun morn, 1 fish. Seems like everyone has this figured out but me. What speed are you guys fishing at?
 
KokaneeKarver .... I varied my speed all morning. I have a 50 HP outboard and no kicker. I have a trolling plate to slow it down a bit as needed. HOWEVER, I got most of the fish by changing speeds all the time. This is all via GPS for speed, but I try to go at least 1.5 mph ... and up to 2.25 or so. I also turn tight every once in awhile ... you'll be surprised at how often this seems to draw a hit. I also sometimes troll without the plate down ... that gives me up to 2.5 mph at idle ... but I'll switch in and out of gear if I get going that fast. Sometimes if it's windy this works way better for me controlling the boat as quick maneuvers with the trolling plate down are impossible.

I"ve been told the "best" speed is between 1.75 and 2 mph.... but who really knows! All I can personally vouch for is that changing speeds often triggers a hit.

We forgot the corn so were using Gulp maggots instead of corn.

Best of luck.
 
Thanks for the heads up. I've been changing from 1.5-2.1 mph. I tried zig zagging as well to speed up the outside rigger and slow down the inside. Can't seem to buy a bite. I did however just buy a 19' boat this weekend to help keep the wakeboarders from capsizing my boat. So, no fish but new boat. Kind of a win.
 
I must be doing something wrong. I've been covering 10-40', using pop gear, dodgers, hoochies, wedding rings, firecorn, garlic eggs, anise corn. etc. I went out fri night for 4 hours, 2 fish. sat morn 5 hours, 2 fish. Sun morn, 1 fish. Seems like everyone has this figured out but me. What speed are you guys fishing at?

My GPS says 1.3-1.7 but my paddle wheel says .96-1.3. I don't believe either but its rather mid-speed really. I am long-lining, 120-140' back with silver Model "T" small pop gear and orange wedding ring with the blade changed to a #2 silver willow-leaf blade and dual #4 red hooks on a 50" leader. Purple Fire Corn works or my secret sauce orange corn on both hooks though corn thieves have been taking the rear corn....little punks!

FYI - The willow-leaf has to be trolled a little faster to spin even with wire clevises. Guess what I am saying is I am going fast enough to make the blade spin and that is where I lock the throttle.

As I said earlier, on LP they are all over and no where in particular so marking them on the GPS has been pointless (for me anyway).
 
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Prebaited at dock with slingblade. pink hoochie with white kokabow on top. Firecorn 20' on d/r then the fight began . Nailed 11 nice Kokes at 2 mph in the middle of lake by noon . If you smell bacon , WAVE. Green crestliner.
 
KokaneeKarver .... I varied my speed all morning. I have a 50 HP outboard and no kicker. I have a trolling plate to slow it down a bit as needed. HOWEVER, I got most of the fish by changing speeds all the time. This is all via GPS for speed, but I try to go at least 1.5 mph ... and up to 2.25 or so. I also turn tight every once in awhile ... you'll be surprised at how often this seems to draw a hit. I also sometimes troll without the plate down ... that gives me up to 2.5 mph at idle ... but I'll switch in and out of gear if I get going that fast. Sometimes if it's windy this works way better for me controlling the boat as quick maneuvers with the trolling plate down are impossible.

I"ve been told the "best" speed is between 1.75 and 2 mph.... but who really knows! All I can personally vouch for is that changing speeds often triggers a hit.

We forgot the corn so were using Gulp maggots instead of corn.

Best of luck.

You always forget your corn :) I don't know how fast I am even going 100% of the time. I will speed way up on my kicker and then bacxk down. turns. ZAGziggin. ZiggZaggin. I fish 3/4 oz leads at 55 feet behind boat before sunrise. the last few time we have nailed them. fish 1 oz leads at 55 feet behind and catch fish? I have no clue why but we Conservationist and I do pretty well. I take another friend and we do well also. :)
Speed no speed turns no turns? That is why they call it fishing.
 
Fished from 7 am to about 2 pm today. Very slow ... didn't see very many other boats. Finally in afternoon picked up a couple of Kokes quite a ways up the South Fork. Fished 20 feet with downriggers ... although we tried everything above and below those depths. Dodger with pink herring boan and green hoochie was the outfit to have. Nothing on dodger with pink/orange hoochies or wedding ring spinners. BUT ... a very nice day to be on the water. It's not always about catching a fish. Thanks to DRM for the advice on what to try and where to fish! Very much appreciated. My buddy had a good time and that what counts .. that and he did all the catching .. I did all the fishing!
 
Fished from 7 am to about 2 pm today. Very slow ... didn't see very many other boats. Finally in afternoon picked up a couple of Kokes quite a ways up the South Fork. Fished 20 feet with downriggers ... although we tried everything above and below those depths. Dodger with pink herring boan and green hoochie was the outfit to have. Nothing on dodger with pink/orange hoochies or wedding ring spinners. BUT ... a very nice day to be on the water. It's not always about catching a fish. Thanks to DRM for the advice on what to try and where to fish! Very much appreciated. My buddy had a good time and that what counts .. that and he did all the catching .. I did all the fishing!

Did you take Frank again :)
 
We finally found some fish between Freeman Creek and Dicks Creek. Almost every one of them was 8".

We met with the fish and game fishery people this morning and found them to be very informative. Bringing it down to simple terms (which is all I am capable of doing) this year's small fish situation is caused by overpopulation mostly the result of typical kokanee cyclical fluctuations. Last year, based on their surveys, the F&G estimated there were 100,000 two and three year olds which was a less than average population and they grew to 12" because they had lots to eat. At the same time, they also estimated that there were 2.5 MILLION! 1 year olds. Those 1 year olds are the fish we are catching this year. It is fair to guess that there was not lots of food for these fellers, hence the smaller growth rate.

It was also fascinating to hear that kokanee less than 7-1/2 inches are very difficult to catch while 8 inch and larger fish are much easier to catch. This might explain why our early trips were unsuccessful but seem to be improving as the fish hit the magical 8 inch size. With millions of these fish available, the fishing could be crazy the rest of this season, just don't expect many large fish.
 
I've never been up to Anderson but have wanted to go for some time. Can one pull a boat across the dam over to the elk creek launch? Is the Elk creek launch site the best site if coming up from Mountain home or is the better launch near pine? Thanks in advance.
 
The guys at Kokanee.com tackle shop stated that the orange gear was best this week. Can anyone confirm or deny?
 

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