We fished for several hours yesterday and caught one fish. We worked Freeman Creek, Canyon Creek, Indian Creek, Dicks Creek, and Elk Creek. Surface water temp was 54 degrees.
2017 Dworshak Reservoir Kokanee Fishing Report
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We fished for several hours yesterday and caught one fish. We worked Freeman Creek, Canyon Creek, Indian Creek, Dicks Creek, and Elk Creek. Surface water temp was 54 degrees.
jumperzee
Active member
Elkchaser - if you read previous years Dworshak reports Microfish has some good explanations of fish movement around the reservoir. In summary, when they "pull the plug" to draw the lake down, the fish have a corresponding movement upstream/uplake. Once the cork goes back in the dam and the lake starts to rise, the fish return to the lower areas that most people with normal gas and time budgets fish.
I'm hoping that's still true and they're on their way back down cause the fishing is definitely off right now. Went up last Wed and never even found one on the FF which is a little disconcerting for this time of year. Tried all the usual spots at Dick's, Indian, and Merrys and not a thing. Pretty big fluctuations in water levels this year with a big purge to accommodate the spring runoff. A lot of folks talk about the fish getting flushed thru the dam, but I can't believe enough got sucked out to make a difference in the fishing over the season. I'm being patient...there's a nice predictable rise to the lake now and the fishing "should" follow.
Thanks for the update from so many locations. We are hearing the same from a few other Kokanee gurus that have been striking out in April despite decades of success on the reservoir. Unfortunately work got in the way earlier this spring and we were unable to go before the reservoir level was drawn down. Everyone we talked to that fished prior to the reservoir level draw down was catching double-digit numbers every outing. Perhaps the difference now is that the draw down this year came later and had to be done faster than is typical due to some maintenance on one of the turbines at the dam. We were told by one of the folks working on that project that the Corps would have liked to have started drawing the reservoir down earlier and thus more slowly to prepare for the large snow pack this year, but the fish hatchery requested they wait as long as possible before starting the draw down this year which may have led to the repeat of the 2013 Kokanee effect.......? Reading the reports of two year classes of Kokanee floating past Peck recently would suggest a repeat of 2013, which led to some great dip netting below the dam but some slower fishing for the next couple years above it. Things picked up pretty good in 2015 (two age classes later) and were as good as most people could remember last year. Fingers crossed that we don't have to wait till 2020 to put as many in the cooler as last year.
Picking up?
Went out yesterday just to try out my little boat. I had read that the kokanee were not on the bite &, so, was not expecting much. After launching at Bruces Eddy around 10 am, I let out long lines & headed into Merry's Bay. My first hit was about 10 minutes after launching with quite a few more soon after. As usual, I lost about twice as many as I netted. I took home 3 and lost 6 in the 3 hours I fished. Fish are good in size and hit hard. I think it's on the upbeat. Time to bring out the big boat!
Went out yesterday just to try out my little boat. I had read that the kokanee were not on the bite &, so, was not expecting much. After launching at Bruces Eddy around 10 am, I let out long lines & headed into Merry's Bay. My first hit was about 10 minutes after launching with quite a few more soon after. As usual, I lost about twice as many as I netted. I took home 3 and lost 6 in the 3 hours I fished. Fish are good in size and hit hard. I think it's on the upbeat. Time to bring out the big boat!
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I was long lining using 3 oz at 50 feet. I was in my 12 ft boat using my electric trolling motor so I don't know how fast I was going. Plenty of fish in the lake to share when I have good luck. You just have to find them!
kenbarb
Well-known member
Thanks for the report stevec, we will give it a try next week glad you had some kokanee to take home. We were going to fish Dworshak this week, but the dismal reports changed our mind, will let you know how we do. KenBarb
jumperzee
Active member
Got a local report yesterday that things are picking up. Guy caught 17 in Merrys Bay. That's enough for me to give it a try this weekend. Didn't hear any specifics about what he was using though.
lee wolford
New member
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2017
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Fished hard for 2 days, 14 hrs a day and caught only one limit each day. It was tough, hard to find fish, marked very few. Deffinetly tough still, usually we get 2 limits a day very easy, sometimes before noon. A lot of small sticks in the water still, a real pain for jet boats, we sucked sticks whenever we moved locations. Gonna be awhile before we go back.
started biting
Hey Elk chaser, they finally are starting to hit! Had good luck early in the year, but things went cold. We could only catch about 10 or 12 a day mostly about 11 inches. Went out Wednesday and we both limited out at Indian Creek. We were about 40 feet down. water was kinda murky and roamed around 58 degrees. Day was partly cloudy and a little windy at times. We started at 6AM and had our limit by 2:30PM. There were 7 or 8 - 12 inchers, but most were 10 - 11 inches. Fish looked nice.
Good Luck!
Hey Elk chaser, they finally are starting to hit! Had good luck early in the year, but things went cold. We could only catch about 10 or 12 a day mostly about 11 inches. Went out Wednesday and we both limited out at Indian Creek. We were about 40 feet down. water was kinda murky and roamed around 58 degrees. Day was partly cloudy and a little windy at times. We started at 6AM and had our limit by 2:30PM. There were 7 or 8 - 12 inchers, but most were 10 - 11 inches. Fish looked nice.
Good Luck!
Anthony, I went out yesterday and fished about 6 hours between the two marinas and caught 10. I had 2 poles out and twice I had fish on both poles. I was fishing with corn on one and maggots on the other, didn't seem to make a difference. 3 oz. lead out about 60 ft. Went 2 hours at one point without a bite. Talked to some other folks who had not done as well. Not familiar with the reservoir all that much, where is Indian Cr? I would like to get enough to fill my smoker. Also, curious about what everyone uses for gear up there. My buddy that showed me how to troll last year for kokanee uses a 3 oz. hunk of lead to a gang of spinner blades and then a wedding ring spinner tipped with maggots. Anybody jig or have another method for catching these fish in Dworshak? Also, what is the ratio of lead to line length to reach a certain depth? I saw that graph somewhere and can't find it again. I don't have downriggers.
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ricks
Well-known member
That gear is pretty much how I started. I never run 3 oz weight on long lines any longer, lose too many fish with that kind of weight considering how soft a koke's mouth is. So I added a cheap clamp on downrigger. Ran that until I could afford a couple nicer downriggers. You can pick up used ones pretty reasonable, people switch around downrigger models quite a bit and they are often on Craigslist or ebay.
You can see all the creek names on the Dworshak maps.
I haven't fished yet this year. Got my boat ready yesterday though, so soon. Very soon.......
Rick
ricks
Well-known member
Should be open. Water level's at 1561.
I can't verify that it is true but I heard that the road into the Canyon Creek ramp is closed. ???
