2019 Anderson Ranch Reservoir Kokanee Fishing Report

[JagerR]

Attk, You're right, I defiantly need to put some verity in my fishing. Interesting about the speed, I've always tried to stay a 1-1.2. That will be something I will play with for sure. I appreciate you passing on some knowledge.

 

[UncleLucas]

1.3-1.5 mph works best for me. When the wind picks up don't throw in the towel. Go up wind and fish back with the wind pushing you using a drift sock or 5 gallon bucket whatever. The heavy gusts and sudden speed change can bring on a savage bite after most people called it a day. It's almost comical to me to watch everyone leave when the fish are still biting good.

 

[mowrus]

Attk, You're right, I defiantly need to put some verity in my fishing. Interesting about the speed, I've always tried to stay a 1-1.2. That will be something I will play with for sure. I appreciate you passing on some knowledge.

For me s turns do trigger strikes. I have my go too set ups and when fish aren't willing to play i throw everything at them and I always go back too my setups that have always produced. Have faith, it will work...

 

[DFowler]

Long Day Fishing on Saturday

A little late but we caught 18 kokanee and 1 trout on Saturday with 6 rods. We were not able to get up there and fish till 9:30 am and didn't get off the water till 10:00 pm. We fished flashers with squids and pop gear with squids and spinners. Tried long lining it with dodgers but my dodgers must not be heavy enough by themselves since they kept coming to the surface.
I do have a you tube channel (Hunt Fish Live Outdoors) that I'm trying to get started that I post to on occasion I showed one way I like to cook Kokanee. If you have time check it out https://youtu.be/L80RjRkDhWs

 

[Battleship Oakes]

Speed

For me s turns do trigger strikes. I have my go too set ups and when fish aren't willing to play i throw everything at them and I always go back too my setups that have always produced. Have faith, it will work...

Isecond the notion of the go to setups. I have my favorites for all the places I fish. Don’t ever use a green/black WR on arrowrock at first light though... ;-)

My go to speed is 1.3 with s turns to start every day. Try to keep track of what the boat was doing when one of my outsid poles gets hit. If I get two on the outside of the turn then I speed up and vice versa on multiple hits on the inside of the turn. Once that happens I bump the speed a quarter mph and resume. You can dial in the preferred speed pretty quick in my opinion. When I get desperate I will start to stop the boat and lurch forward or just to speed bursts to try to get a bite. I have a buddy who swears by 2mph...I can’t bring myself to hot rod my boat like that...lol!

As for the one guy catching more than everybody else...I used to always feel I was boating more than the other boats. Maybe it was beginners luck though. I would fish lures right behind the downrigger ball and slam the fish. After several years of slaying the fish I upgraded the pump on my boat and went on a few years long dry spell where I was average at best. Finally started catching fish again with 40’+ of leader behind the downrigger as well as 200’ of line out on my long line poles. I got so desperate that I thought I would try some of that gypsy magic they call the black box. Tested my boat and I was putting off 1.5-2 volts out on my downrigger cables with the boat not even running.... First trip out with the thing I outfished the other boats on deadwood about 4:1 with two little kids reeling in the fish and we were all fishing the same schools. You don’t need to buy a black box because a volt meter will test the boat. Easy test and saves money on the black box if you don’t need it. If you put out 0.6 volts or less, it’s not the boat...LOL!

Getting back out on the water again soon after some more upgrades. Can’t wait to test the new downriggers, lowrance, and tr-1!

 

[JagerR]

Black Box

Oakes, its funny you mention the black box, I have been researching this for a while. Its been pretty hard because nobody talks about it any more, I was afraid nobody used them anymore. I run a 14' aluminum boat and mainly use my electric trolling motor, its just much quieter and easier then my old 25hp. I will installing the box this week and we will see how it goes.

 

[G3 longliner]

Oakes, its funny you mention the black box, I have been researching this for a while. Its been pretty hard because nobody talks about it any more, I was afraid nobody used them anymore. I run a 14' aluminum boat and mainly use my electric trolling motor, its just much quieter and easier then my old 25hp. I will installing the box this week and we will see how it goes.

Black box - voodoo - I commercial salmon trolled in Alaska for 7 years - know all about the black box - Originated in Canada - theory is a very small amount of voltage put into your lines will attract salmon - problem is that you have to have the whole boat isolated with zero volt leakage from motor, boat itself, and isolated down riggers as your boat alone sends out a voltage field that will interfer with the line voltage. If this is what your talking about it was never proven to work consistantly - your electric troll motor will make it unusable as that pust a mass of voltage in the field - good luck

 

[salmonster]

TR-1

Isecond the notion of the go to setups. I have my favorites for all the places I fish. Don’t ever use a green/black WR on arrowrock at first light though... ;-)

My go to speed is 1.3 with s turns to start every day. Try to keep track of what the boat was doing when one of my outsid poles gets hit. If I get two on the outside of the turn then I speed up and vice versa on multiple hits on the inside of the turn. Once that happens I bump the speed a quarter mph and resume. You can dial in the preferred speed pretty quick in my opinion. When I get desperate I will start to stop the boat and lurch forward or just to speed bursts to try to get a bite. I have a buddy who swears by 2mph...I can’t bring myself to hot rod my boat like that...lol!

As for the one guy catching more than everybody else...I used to always feel I was boating more than the other boats. Maybe it was beginners luck though. I would fish lures right behind the downrigger ball and slam the fish. After several years of slaying the fish I upgraded the pump on my boat and went on a few years long dry spell where I was average at best. Finally started catching fish again with 40’+ of leader behind the downrigger as well as 200’ of line out on my long line poles. I got so desperate that I thought I would try some of that gypsy magic they call the black box. Tested my boat and I was putting off 1.5-2 volts out on my downrigger cables with the boat not even running.... First trip out with the thing I outfished the other boats on deadwood about 4:1 with two little kids reeling in the fish and we were all fishing the same schools. You don’t need to buy a black box because a volt meter will test the boat. Easy test and saves money on the black box if you don’t need it. If you put out 0.6 volts or less, it’s not the boat...LOL!

Getting back out on the water again soon after some more upgrades. Can’t wait to test the new downriggers, lowrance, and tr-1!

TR-1= Best money ever spent for me. Really allows me to enjoy the fishing and maximize the interaction with guests on my boat while preventing things like boat spinning when multiple hookups. Even more valuable when trying to keep 4 downriggers fishing when the catching is good.

 

[Attk64]

TR-1 would be nice but prob not in my future! I agree with a lot of the bite producing tips but would suggest for fisherman curteousy don’t be the boat yanking s turns when there’s 50 boats in the bay! I vary speeds, if I get a ghost strike I will click it in neutral than speed back up and about 50% of the time I will get a follow on bite. Color changes if I go more than 30 minutes without a hit, or drink another . Always scented bait, synthetic maggots or died corn. I don’t do s turns unless I’m the only boat around or if I mark fish that aren’t biting and I keep the turns very short but sharp just to vary the gear depths and speeds. Looks like the weather will play ball on Saturday, tight lines. Last comment, everybody loves a good youtube tutorial but I’ve seen many great fisheries ruined by hunting and fishing articles or special attention being brought to them so please post away but recognize that there can be negative consequences.

 

[Bog Jumper]

TR1

Garmin no longer makes the TR1. They have switched to a new auto pilot that runs on electric motors rather than hydraulics and interfaces with the chartplotter rather than a compass. I've got a TR1 - love it. Worth every penny.

Also, went to braid for the downriggers so the voltage thing is moot. Can't believe how much nicer the braid is over the cable. Quiet, no splicing, no kinks, no wire slivers in my fingers, and much smoother.

 

[Battleship Oakes]

Oakes, its funny you mention the black box, I have been researching this for a while. Its been pretty hard because nobody talks about it any more, I was afraid nobody used them anymore. I run a 14' aluminum boat and mainly use my electric trolling motor, its just much quieter and easier then my old 25hp. I will installing the box this week and we will see how it goes.

Go test the boat with a $20 volt meter before installing. You may not need the black box. If you are catching fish on par with everyone else, you are probably ok. It’s not going to make you catch fish but it could limit the problem of scaring fish away from the boat before they see your gear. I changed up the boat and then I couldn’t catch a cold!!!

You can always go away from stainless steel cable and negate the issue with the downrigger cables. If the boat is a problem without the downriggers in the water, then you are stuck with needing the box if you want to fix it. Whatever you do, you will need to test it, in all conditions. Adding a kicker motor/trolling motor in the water could change the voltage. Downriggers in the water vs out of the water changes things too.

The current is not in the fishing line. It is either at the downrigger cables or at the boat. That’s what you are tying to fix. If I had a completely neutral boat I would be happy as a clam. I wouldn’t get too hung up on trying to get 0.56 volts in the cables...

 

[Battleship Oakes]

Go test the boat with a $20 volt meter before installing. You may not need the black box. If you are catching fish on par with everyone else, you are probably ok. It’s not going to make you catch fish but it could limit the problem of scaring fish away from the boat before they see your gear. I changed up the boat and then I couldn’t catch a cold!!!

You can always go away from stainless steel cable and negate the issue with the downrigger cables. If the boat is a problem without the downriggers in the water, then you are stuck with needing the box if you want to fix it. Whatever you do, you will need to test it, in all conditions. Adding a kicker motor/trolling motor in the water could change the voltage. Downriggers in the water vs out of the water changes things too.

The current is not in the fishing line. It is either at the downrigger cables or at the boat. That’s what you are tying to fix. If I had a completely neutral boat I would be happy as a clam. I wouldn’t get too hung up on trying to get 0.56 volts in the cables...

****

Almost forgot...don’t get hung up on trying to isolate the downriggers from the boat or “leaking” voltage from a short in the boat. Nothing is isolated because the boat is in the water and the downriggers are in the same water. Nothing is isolated. Even if your boat isn’t leaking voltage, the current will come from galvanic corrosion. I’ll spare you the science, but in short, aluminum, stainless steel, and zinc anode protection on boat motors/pumps create current between themselves through a process known as galvanic corrosion. That is most likely where the voltage is going to come from.

 

[Pauli]

****

Almost forgot...don’t get hung up on trying to isolate the downriggers from the boat or “leaking” voltage from a short in the boat. Nothing is isolated because the boat is in the water and the downriggers are in the same water. Nothing is isolated. Even if your boat isn’t leaking voltage, the current will come from galvanic corrosion. I’ll spare you the science, but in short, aluminum, stainless steel, and zinc anode protection on boat motors/pumps create current between themselves through a process known as galvanic corrosion. That is most likely where the voltage is going to come from.

Very true.... And it doesn't matter if you have a aluminum or glass hull. You can switch from Stainless cable to synthetic braid....It will stop that current issue. Some guys swear that that little bit of voltage actually helps getting fish some way. You can check the current with a DC Volt meter.... One lead to the ground on the boat (or negative battery terminal) and the other to the stainless cable. Just send the ball down to 10 feet or so for the test..... .5 to .7 volts is about what you should read. If you read much more voltage than that you probably have a leak. If you are in salt water, the voltage may be higher since salt water will conduct the electricity a bit better. When you use your down rigger you are essentially making a large battery.

Pauli

 

[JagerR]

This is some great info everyone, I haven't installed it yet. Before I do install I will run the volt meter on my next run and see what kind of reading I get. My wiring is pretty good and downrigger is not electric, so I'm thinking I'm not going to have an issue there. So it may be about a week before I can hit the water with this weather, I hope it blows over sooner.

 

[Pauli]

It will be interesting to see what you find. Just remember there are several paths for a leak to occur. After you do the initial test, retest with your electric trolling motor down in the water (both with the trolling motor on and off). Also check with your main motor in and out of the water (with it off and running). And finally, if you have an isolation switch on the electrical system (a master on/off switch), check for voltage with the switch both on and off. Lots of different paths to create an electric field around your boat while in the water. Let us know what you find.

Pauli

 

[UncleLucas]

Friday 17 and Saturday 18th

We fished Friday from 430 to 9 and got 10 despite the howling wind and waves. I'm sure we would've got more but the conditions were not great. Saturday we fished from 630am the 730 pm. Curlew down to the fall creek. The majority of the fish were caught between lime creek and the powerlines. All fish were between the surface and 15ft. Pink was the color all day and orange was hot in the afternoon. We ended up with 39 for the day and probably lost a dozen or more. Most fish were in the 14-15" range with three fattys at 17". Very few boats on the water and an absolutely beautiful day!

 

[Battleship Oakes]

Crappy weather

Fished from about 9-3 today trying out all the new toys. Windy and raining cats and dogs. Spent about an hour at fall creek first thing with no luck and ridiculous wind. Jumped up and spent the rest of the day between curlew and lime. 10 kokes and one chinook in the boat. Probably lost half again more. Pink Houche and sling blade was the hot ticket for the day. Had a couple hits on other things, but one rod caught almost everything. Didn’t have a matching set so I got as close as I could and then the other pole started producing.

 

[Trailbob]

My wife and I, along with another couple, fished Anderson on the mornings of 5/23 and 5/24. We spent most of our time off of the Pine launch area. We caught 24 kokes on 5/23, and 11 kokes and 1 trout on 5/24. We fished between 5 and 15 feet deep, with most caught around 10' (2 colors lead core). Pink hoochies, and pink and silver bead spinners, with dodgers or flashers, worked well along with plain shoepeg corn. The kokes were really nice fish, and up to about 17". Water temp 53 deg.

 

[UncleLucas]

Nice shot trailbob! Thanks for the update.

 

[jacksdad]

It's been awhile since my last trip, been trying to get the boys on some pan fish witih little luck so I decided it was time to hit the kokes again. Fished today 5/25 from 12-4. Launched out of curlew. Took 18 home, released 4 I think and lost another 6 or so. Largest fish was 18'' with the average 15.5''. All nice fish. They were aggressive and hit the rods hard. Lots of acrobats today. Most fish were hooked bad and I had a hard time removing the hooks. Pink seemed to be the color of choice, although idk if it would've mattered. The fishing was so good even the birds were catching kokanee. I actually thought we would have a bird of prey on the line for a second. As my sons fish surfaced 30' out the bird began to try and catch it. The fish popped off and didn't make it far before being snatched up. The boys were pretty excited. All fish were caught 15' and less. I did mark a bunch of fish in that 65-80 range, but didn't even bother. It rained pretty good a few times, but we managed to stay mostly dry under the bimini. All in all, it was a good trip.