2013 Lucky Peak Fishing Thread

[kodiak1]

The mouth of the Columbia would be your best bet, possibly. Ilwaco usually produces good fishing. Depoe Bay can also be good, but it seems lately that the farther north the better.

 

[spoons]

Has anyone checked out the ice at LP this week?

 

[JTM]

Looked at it yesterday, still very, very little open water.

 

[bayhorse]

lucky Peak 3-2 2013

View attachment 5948

Obviously the ice is off near the dam. Was on the water fishing by 10:30 the wind was blowing and the pup fell out of the boat so I really didnt get started until 11:30. After we dried off on the bank we found a school on the screen,worked them with standard colors at various depths and speeds. tried until 5:00 to make it a limit. Fell a little short but all considered, a great first day out!

 

[kok-head]

nice going bayhorse, thanks for posting your info and for pioneering the first run of the year

 

[sawtooth]

What were the size of the fish you caught Bayhorse? I guess I better get this downrigger rod wrapped and finished for next weekend.signfishin

 

[bayhorse]

The biggest was 15" the other 4 were all 14". I attached photo, obviously it didn't open. I am still learning how to post pics from my wife's phone. I will try again.

 

[tonus26]

just learned about this sight. I went up on the 1st of March to LP still ice. but got the boat in had to break through the ice to get back in. there were two smaller boats that would have been stranded after the ice shifted. The ice should all be gone by now. We fished for about 4 hrs and boated two little kokes and one 14 in rainbow. at about 20 ft. We usually do better this early. but they were catching more from the shore then the boats. The other two boats did about the same. I'm going back up on the 12th. Oh We had about 6 on all on a green hoochie.

 

[kodiak1]

Welcome to the site, tonus!!! The fact that we all share combined with the fact that LP is always changing in terms of location and depth makes this a valuable site for all! Hope to hear many more reports from you, and hopefully we can all recipricate. Mike

 

[spoons]

Thanks for the report!

 

[riverrunner16]

Today's report...WINDY...water temp 39.....hooked a couple on green wedding ring with red shoepeg before I became tired of fighting the wind....anyone use a driftsock or trolling sock when it's windy ?

 

[jimbojump]

I usually don't go when its windy...boat control is difficult and I usually have a heck of a time maintaining the proper speed....no motor is too slow and kicker at idle is too fast...but I think a sock would give you trouble interfering with lines coming in...possibly a trolling plate on the kicker would help...good luck with that!

 

[kok-head]

thanks for the report riverrunner16

have any of you or anyone you know been fishing at or around spring shores at all? I know many of the kokanee will be down by lucky peak dam right now but I also know there are schools scattered throughout the lake and I prefer to avoid the unpredictable wind of the dam area, and in the early and late part of the boating season I try to be patient but when using the turner gulch ramp that center dock drives me crazy if others are at the ramp trying to load/launch

 

[kodiak1]

Turner also drives me crazy. Went up there two days ago just for a ride, and to see if all the ice had disappeared, and watched a guy putting in a ski-style boat. He backed it up all the way into the water, and then he and his wife began putting gear in. tying up bumpers, cleaning the windshield, and organizing the boat. Two fishermen were waiting to pull out, and it didn't bother him in the least. He spent 25 minutes in the dock area. Do they just not get it? Do they just not think about prepping the boat up the ramp a ways? Turner seems to be by far the worst. P.S.: talked to the two fishermen and one had two kokes, and the other didn't have a bite the entire day. Mike

 

[jimbojump]

Its so typical for LP I don't even fish there often...I prefer the semi seclusion of Arrowrock...Ive spent way too many hours dealing with the clowns on the ramps of LP...one guy last year was trying to put in a sailboat and he pounded the skeg into the ramp and ground it off to a screeching halt....another guy did it when forgetting his outdrive was down and got it wedged...then trying to free it ground it up and I watched shaking my head as the motor bounced hard as he backed it down more...mostly Ive been stuck waiting forever because of peoples boats broke down and they sit there right in the launch spot trying to work on it...another couple guys came in once and rammed the dock...and as one guy was climbing out fell backwards into the boat and was surrounded by empty beer cans...climbs out laughing and staggered to his truck...this crap is infuriating to say the least...

 

[1clnek]

Went to Luck Peak yesterday we were the first ones in the water. I have never fished for kokanee before and was using a new rod/reel along with 1st time taking my boat out. I do not have a downrigger so I was using 1/2oz-1oz weights with a line counting reel. I tried various depths ranging from 40'-100' on my linecounter, I hooked 1 kokanee estimated about 15" but it slipped away before i could boat it, that was using a 1oz weight 4/0 silver dodger and pink hoochie with shoepeg corn soaked in tuna oil. I probably would have done better but there was a learning curve using the new reel and I kept leaving the spool lock on. Excited to go again and slay some kokes to throw on the smoker.

 

[kok-head]

thanks for posting 1clnek,

the kokanee will be very shallow for quite some time, with 1oz sinkers and letting out up to 100' of line i'm sure there were times your lure was deeper than the kokanee on turns and low speeds, do you know what speed you were running? and if you have sonar how deep were you marking the fish?

you're using the right gear, what length of leader are you running between your dodger and squid? try experimenting with no weight and 1/4oz sinkers too, in sept and oct and in april and may i've hooked lots of kokanee long-lining with 50' of line out and no weight, i run between .5mph and 2.0mph and i slowly work my way up and down between those speeds until i find one that works, and some days the only way i can catch them is by always slowly accelerating or decelerating between those 2 speeds, also they may have just not wanted squids particularly at that moment so keep a variety of tackle on the boat and make changes when needed when fishing is slow

good luck and keep us posted

 

[1clnek]

thanks for posting 1clnek,

the kokanee will be very shallow for quite some time, with 1oz sinkers and letting out up to 100' of line i'm sure there were times your lure was deeper than the kokanee on turns and low speeds, do you know what speed you were running? and if you have sonar how deep were you marking the fish?

you're using the right gear, what length of leader are you running between your dodger and squid? try experimenting with no weight and 1/4oz sinkers too, in sept and oct and in april and may i've hooked lots of kokanee long-lining with 50' of line out and no weight, i run between .5mph and 2.0mph and i slowly work my way up and down between those speeds until i find one that works, and some days the only way i can catch them is by always slowly accelerating or decelerating between those 2 speeds, also they may have just not wanted squids particularly at that moment so keep a variety of tackle on the boat and make changes when needed when fishing is slow

good luck and keep us posted

I do not know what speed I was running, i was idling my outboard motor and then would put it in neutral to slow it down every 45 seconds or so (12ft aluminum w/15hp 2 stroke). I would assume around 1-1.5 at the most i was trolling next to other boats at times and was going about the same speed. I do not have have the funds for a fishfinder so I was just going off luck. My leader length was 2.5 times the dodger length so about 14". I need to pick up more tackle so I can have a bigger selection.

 

[SuperD]

14" is too long for squid in my opinion. Just not enough kick to provide good action to an actionless lure. I run them 8" - 10".

 

[kok-head]

I do not know what speed I was running, i was idling my outboard motor and then would put it in neutral to slow it down every 45 seconds or so (12ft aluminum w/15hp 2 stroke). I would assume around 1-1.5 at the most i was trolling next to other boats at times and was going about the same speed. I do not have have the funds for a fishfinder so I was just going off luck. My leader length was 2.5 times the dodger length so about 14". I need to pick up more tackle so I can have a bigger selection.

a few years ago when i started fishing for kokanee i always ran the "2.5x dodger length strategy" for my squid leaders but many times that formula is a bit long for kokanee, for my 4.25" shasta sling blade dodgers i have my best results when i run my 2.5" squids about 8 inches behind the dodger, by running the lure along side your boat you'll find that a squid of any size on a 14" leader behind say a luhr-jensen size No. 040 (which is under 4" long) will have very little action if your trolling under 1mph and above 1mph lure action won't be much more

on your motor you will be hitting fish catching speeds if you slowly work your way up to full speed idle on your motor and then back to almost no speed when you're motor is in neutral so keep experimenting with it, and there are rainbow and kokanee all over lucky peak and if you're seeing other fishing boats on the water nearby most of them will have finders and they will fish in areas where they are marking them

my first time ever kokanee fishing ended up with 0 kokanee hooked so nice job hooking 1 up