2019 Anderson Ranch Reservoir Kokanee Fishing Report

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sawtooth

IDAHO Kokanee Forum Moderator
Joined
Sep 11, 2009
Messages
506
Location
Boise. Idaho
Hoping for another good year at the lake. Dust off the rods as the fish and weather will be heating up soon.
 
Soon as the conditions are good to launch, I'm in. I can't wait, I'm hoping we get a full tank again this year. Seems like the water level is way off from last year, and this dry weather is not helping much either.
 
Water level

I think Anderson will be late this year due to run off and murky water conditions early. There is a bunch of snow down low and and there will be high water early this year. I think the best fishing will be in the fall creek area early if it is not muddy
 
Soon as the conditions are good to launch, I'm in. I can't wait, I'm hoping we get a full tank again this year. Seems like the water level is way off from last year, and this dry weather is not helping much either.

You are correct regarding the amount of water in the reservoir last year vs. now - check it out: https://www.usbr.gov/pn/hydromet/wygraph.html?list=and af&daily=and af

And there is a lot of snow in the high country now. Most of the Boise Basin is well above 100% of normal (except Trinity Mtn. notably) https://wcc.sc.egov.usda.gov/report...rt=Idaho&format=SNOTEL+Snowpack+Update+Report

Plus a lot of precip. is predicted for the end of Feb., beginning of Mar. http://wxmaps.org/outlooks.php Select precip. as the "parameter" in that little drop down menue.
 
Looks like I spoke too soon on the weather, pollackoke that is some serious data. Looks like we are going to get the water, I just dont like it muddy. I'm ready to see how big those chinook got over the winter.
 
Chinook

I fished for chinook until the first part of January at anderson--I would normally catch 6+ per trip--From early October on I caught over 50 I think--Almost all the fish were 6 to 15" I caught one 8.5 and a few around 3-4 pounds--I will start fishing for them again in March--It seems the 6 to 15" fish are very easy to catch and anything over 2 lbs is very few and hard to catch
I fished 50 to 100 ft deep mostly in the Dam area and around Fall creek---Most of the fish were in good shape and fat--I didn't keep any other than the 8.5 pounder
 
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Dang you hammered them! I never targeted them, I would only pick them up fishing for kokanee. I only caught around 8 (all about 14-16inch), all around the power lines next to Fall cr. Not sure how to target them specifically, but I quit fishing at end of Aug when the spawn really hit and the bite stopped and to get my hunt on. Sounds like that was prime time.
 
I live in Mtn Home so it is real easy for me to fish by the dam. I just can't seem to catch the chinook in the 3+ range for some reason. I know there are several in there but I can't get them to bite---I encountered the same thing at Deadwood this last year
 
I live in Mtn Home so it is real easy for me to fish by the dam. I just can't seem to catch the chinook in the 3+ range for some reason. I know there are several in there but I can't get them to bite---I encountered the same thing at Deadwood this last year


Me too, but Im a newbie at targeting the big ones up there LOL.
 
Big ones

I live in Mtn Home so it is real easy for me to fish by the dam. I just can't seem to catch the chinook in the 3+ range for some reason. I know there are several in there but I can't get them to bite---I encountered the same thing at Deadwood this last year

I have yet to land one of the big ones in Anderson in 3 attempts targeting them exclusively. I don’t think they are there in truly fishable numbers because I didn’t see that many on the finder. Few and far between to say the least. When I was banging the big ones at deadwood they were stocking 5k+ per year and and all the fish were congregated in one relatively small area of the lake. The anglers that I spoke to were throwing the 3-5 lbs fish back.

The most they ever stocked in Anderson was about 35k and they haven’t come close to that in recent years. Add in the fact that the lake is relatively huge and people are keeping the babies and it’s no wonder you can’t buy a big one. I’m not trying to shame anyone for keeping a 22” fish or even a 16” fish for that matter. That is what they are there for, but if anyone is keeping them, there will never be enough left over to catch the 10 lbs fish.

I have never seen more than maybe 20 marks of 10 lbs fish on Anderson in a day and I couldn’t get them to bite. Consider the fact that I used to see a few hundred marks of 10 lbs fish on deadwood to maybe catch 4-5 on a good day. Seeing 20 big fish is never going to cut it.

On a side note, while trying for chinook in Anderson, I have never caught so many huge squaw fish in my life. 5-7 lbs squaw fish put up a good fight. Released them rapidly off of the swim deck. :)
 
Chinook

I have made 20+ trips last spring and fall targeting chinook at anderson and I have only caught 1/2 dozen over 3 lbs and only one 8.5 pounder there is never a problem catching fish 6 to 15 inches but the larger ones is a different story. There should be some 2nd and 3rd year fish somewhere in the pond. I have caught them from Deer creek to the dam on a variety of lures and bait. I primarily fish with Herring as it is always the best bait for results for me---I have been fishing for them for 3 years with only one bigger fish--There are some very large Rainbows in anderson and I plan to work on them this year along with the chinook
 
Rem40

When I fished a local lake, we target land lock Chinook. The go to bait was herring we called them firecrackers. The small 16/20 inches also were hooked on fire crackers that 4/5 inches herring color coded yellows my largest was 10# at the time a state record but Oregon didn't recognize the species. Did use a stinger threbble also If the water you fish is very clear loose your flasher. Acted like a Repellent. Productive went way up
We did land a few from 8/10# range. Believe or not I caught 16 inch trout on herring. Just food for thought hope it helps, they were deep on DR.
 
Herring

I use yellow and green coded herring. I also use a pro troll lighted flasher if I fish below 50 ft. I don't have any problem catching fish but they are mostly all small 6-15 inches. It seems like the fish don't bite after they reach 15 inches plus--I have been catching the same size fish for the last 3 years. I can just about get a fish for every bait I take sometimes 2 on the same bait
 
Chinook

The fish stocked were are Spring Chinook very aggressive fish green label 6/7 inch bait awful big. We used Yellow label 3 1/2 To 4 1/2 inches hard to fine then Orange label 4 1/2 / 5 1/2 then reds 5/6 inches green 6/7 inches blues 7/8 inches purples 8/9 inches blacks 9/10 . Didn't plug cut them trolled whole. I don't know much about your lake but the larger fish are there good luck.
 
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Anderson

I also caught a 5lb rainbow on Herring along with several large Bull trout--And a few monster squaw fish--I fished with the Yellow and Green size herring and both worked very well---I will try it without a flasher and slow my speed down to 1 mph
 
curlew was iced up when I drove by Wednesday and looked like it was gonna be that way for awhile yet. Between 4 and 5 feet of snow in spots after the rain. Roads were good though.
 
Elk Cr. boat launch 06Mar19

Fished the SFB yesterday, and made a quick stop on the way out, thought you guys you like to see what the dock looks like. looks like its going to be a while before we can launch. There is a good 2-4ft of snow in the way, and the ramp is still way out of the water.
 

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Anderson

That answers my question about chinook fishing--It is going to be a while before I can launch--The river is going to run very high this year and make the fishing later--I thinking mid june before the kookanee fishing is real good--It is going to be very murky early around the curlew area
Maybe middle of june before you can go to Deadwood
 

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