2018 Anderson Ranch Reservior Kokanee Fishing Report

[Tripleteaser]

Good Day fishing

Yesterday we put in at the dam and started fishing at Fall creek at 7:00 AM. Saw lots of fish on the finder 25 to 70' down but could not buy a hit. Traveled up to Wood creek next, no hits so went to the narrows before Lime and was reeling in a tangled mess caused from too many tight turns and circles when I caught the first nice Kokanee. We got straightened out and it was still slow. We talked to other boats who had one fish as well so I changed out the pink Hoochie I was using on all four poles to green and orange. We started catching fish. 35 to 50" down 30" back with orange hoochie and orange Mack's smile blade. White corn covered in Mikes blue herring oil (thanks F Bomb!) We took home 9 nice Kokanee between 9:30 and 11:30. Had to get my fishing buddy home to get ready for work to defend our country at Mountain Home Air Force Base. After 11:00 the bite slowed way down. Had some fillets fried crispy and laid on a salad last night they were great!!! Good Luck!!!!!

 

[fish4kok]

fish4koke,

Those look really yummy.

Yes and those smoke kok. didn't last very long. Last Saturday we had friends (3 married couple)came over for Kokanee BBQ. We gave them 2 fish per couple when they went home, that's way we can go out and fish some more.

 

[G3 longliner]

Yes and those smoke kok. didn't last very long. Last Saturday we had friends (3 married couple)came over for Kokanee BBQ. We gave them 2 fish per couple when they went home, that's way we can go out and fish some more.

was a tough day yesterday on the water by 6:30 fished Curlew and Lime creek had a few hits but no takers I watched a lot of boats downriggers and loge liners i saw very few caught talked to a couple boats , maybe had 1 to 3 Moved back to the narrows and started getting more hits Lost a couple big ones One broke the swivel Lots of ghost fish ( big hit steal the corn and bye bye ) by 1pm got way to hot for this old man tried by the dam before getting out but nada Maybe find em next time

 

[kokaneekevin]

Anderson Report

Took my buddy up to Anderson yesterday (Tues 8/24). Kind of a slow day compared to previous trips, even though we were marking plenty of fish. And it was a hot one too, with the temp hitting 100 by noon. Fished from 8:15am until 2pm. Landed 17 Kokes between the 2 of us, releasing 6 of those as they were under 12". Keepers were between 14" and just a nose over 16". Included landing 2 doubles which is always fun! Used the usual gear: ford fenders, dodgers, hoochies, and spinners. White spinners and chartreuse spinners proved to be the most popular. For one pole, used my downrigger to fish between 40' and 60'. Used long-lining with 6oz weights on the other 2 poles. Ended up getting most of the hits on the long-line poles which were down in the low to mid 40-foot range. We initially got a few hits right away (one 16" keeper) just off the Curlew ramp. Then nothing for the next couple of hours. Went down to Lime Cr and even further south with no hits. Saw plenty of boats doing the same thing. Almost none ever going for their nets. We then went back to the Curlew area and just south of it and the bite finally turned on a bit, but still slow. All-in-all, only saw 2 fish netted the whole day (other than those netted in my boat ). Talked to one guy who caught 5 on Mon and only 1 on this day. So it seemed like it was pretty slow for everyone. We did work hard for the ones we got, especially in the heat. Good thing for my canopy! Still a great time, as it always is fishing for Kokanees. And from the pic, you can see they are turning pretty fast, changing color, with the males changing shape and getting a kype.


KokaneeKevin

 

[Mirrocraft]

7-21-18

Hi guys I'm new to the board. Fished Anderson for the first time on July 21. Fished from 7am-8pm with my father. We were fishing 45' and 30' using green Dodgers and orange spinners with pink corn. Both of our first kokanee ever and we took home 11 ranging from 14"-17". Mostly trolled left of curlew ramp at 1.2mph. I had my leaders at about 20" I think 10" might of been better and maybe troll at a faster speed 1.4-1.6 might have been better.

 

[terek]

So we went up to Anderson for my birthday yesterday. We managed to bag 15 fish by 2 p.m. it was actually really slow bite. It took us a long time to find them and we only found fish in one 50 foot circle and would either double or triple up every time we passed over it. Talk to a couple other people one group didn't catch any and the other boat only got two. They are really starting to show. Most of them had blotchy pink on them and three of them were pretty much entirely pink about to go completely red. That was probably my last trip cuz I don't see very much longer until they start going up the Stream. I was stacking to downriggers each one with a pole at 60 ft and 50 ft and we are catching them on all four. Orange wedding ring and orange hoochie where the hot tickets. DePaul that did the best tattoo in Orange hoochie and a rainbow colored Dodger

 

[centurion]

Does anyone know if the fish have turned red yet and started running up stream? Im bent on getting a red one on the fly.

Also, does anyone have any flies they have had success with in the past? Im going to start with egg patterns, egg sucking leaches and purple/ red streamers.

 

[Flux130]

Anderson Kok Killer

We fished AR yesterday by the mid lake area and got into several schools of 2 yr fish. We landed about 15 with several Kings and Trout mixed in. All fish taken 35-60' on Dodgers and Pink Hoochie or Orange Wedding Rings.

 

[Oldfishnfart]

That is great news, thanks for the report with tackle and depth. This is very helpful to us that have not been able to get up much this year!

 

[Flux130]

Anderson Kok Killer

Also fished the Dam and caught small 1 yr fish before the kings and trout moved in.

 

[galaxy51]

Chinook

How old are the Chinook at Anderson Ranch? I can't remember when they were first stocked but maybe 2 or 3 years ago?

Has anyone caught any that weigh 10# or better?

 

[Oldfishnfart]

They have been stocking Chinook in Anderson yearly fron 2013. If you go to historical stocking reports at Idaho fish and game you can check out numbers and dates if you are curious. A friend in my boat caught a 7 lb a couple years back on Kokanee gear that was a lot of fun! By the way my friend kept the fish he caught to eat and was not impressed. I could only guess at the growth rate , although there have been talk of big fish being caught. Good luck!

 

[kodiak1]

Chinook

We caught a chinook several years ago that was exactly 10 #. I was using the same gear I fish for kings with on the coast. There was a gap in plantings, and I am thinking next year should produce some good fishing for them. I haven't heard anything about the current size of them. By the way, the chinook we caught was every bit as good as our ocean-caught fish, if not better. Mike

 

[galaxy51]

Big Chinook

The Chinook caught at Anderson are as good eating as those caught on the Oregon coast?

WOW!

Is the flesh colored a deep orange, almost red, like the coastal fish?

The ones I caught at Anderson have all been juveniles and light colored flesh.

I may have to change fishing tactics and catch some adult fish.

I just returned from the Oregon coast where I caught a 30 and a 36 inch King/Chinook.

They are super good table fare and smoke really well too.

 

[kodiak1]

I don't think color has anything to do with flavor. One of the most prized chinook is the white king or chinook. True, it is hard to beat the ocean-caught king, but if salt water had a lot to do with flavor, we wouldn't all be spending as much time as we do fishing for kokanee. Certainly as least as good, if not more so, than their ocean brothers, the sockeye.

 

[F-Bomb]

Caught a few big red spawner kokes last Sunday and they ate absolutely deliciously as straight BBQ fare. Fishing was pretty slow for us but we did get some action. Caught several 14" Chinook. We heard a wild rumor about a crazy catch count of third year fish deep so we tried but I couldn't get a bite below 81ft. We marked vast numbers of fish at 80ft and also along the bottom 109ft to 179ft at the deepest I found but I'm not going to lose my equipment so we didn't drag bottom as was reported to be the way to get em. All of our koke action was again right at 50ft to 56ft even though we marked way more fish deeper. I haven't spent any time close to the damn so maybe it's deeper there and that was where these guys were fishing. (?) Or it was a fishing story.......

 

[snowman]

Chinook

I have salmon fished in Oregon and Washington for years and love eating salmon. That's what got me started kokanee fishing. Early this year i finally caught a couple of chinook at Anderson Ranch and was excited to get them cooked. I was really disappointed in the flavor, very bland. Since then I have been releasing any chinook I caught. I guess I will have to try keeping another one to see if I change my mind about the flavor.

 

[kodiak1]

Maybe the flavor of them changes when they get to the size where they begin feeding primarily on larger kokes? Just a thought. Mike

 

[Trailbob]

My experience is similar to Snowman's. I used to live near the coast, and always looked forward to catching and eating ocean fresh chinook salmon. A couple of years ago my wife caught a 23" (approx) chinook at Anderson Ranch. When we filleted it we noticed that the meat was white, not pink. We barbecued it like a normal chinook, and found that it tasted (at least to us) more like a trout than a salmon. We also caught and kept a couple of 14" chinooks earlier this year. When we ate them, they again reminded us more of trout than salmon. Not bad, but definitely not as good to us as a kokanee or ocean chinook.

 

[kodiak1]

Interesting. My large chinook was just as pink as the kings I catch at Sekiu every year. Now I'm even more confused!! Mike