42 fish in 5 hrs is an "off bite". We would take that every day. Need to get up there soon. Is there any reason to fish down by the dam or should we put in by Dent?
2019 Dworshak Reservoir Kokanee Report
- Thread starter sawtooth
- Start date
Help Support Kokanee Fishing Forums:
ricks
Well-known member
That's an Elite 9Ti. I got it for several reasons - one, I wanted better sonar performance and had never used CHIRP. For those that don't know, CHIRP combines frequencies and rotates through them to make a display with more information. Well, learned my lesson fast, CHIRP doesn't give you any better information with Kokanee, so I always use the lowest freq which gives the widest (and shallowest) cone. Second, I next want to add a networked bow mounted trolling motor so I can set its path and work my lines. My Honda kicker is nice, but is both off center mounted and takes a lot of tending. A small wind change and I am out making circles. I got the Ti so I could connect all and run from an iPad in the stern. I bought the Lowrance as a factory refurb. Had to send it back since it had some misbehaviors. Other than coming back set to run in russian, it has amazed me with its sonar quality.
Sorry, more than you asked.
Rick
Last edited:
ricks
Well-known member
I measure bite by what happened to ME recently. I fished a few days ago and stayed busy the whole time reeling in fish. This trip was half as busy and I ran around looking for reasons why. I have very seldom had as good a fishery as this years Dworshak kokanee. This is wonderful. It is all relative. Many lakes with warmer waters the fishermen there would sneer at our 12-14 inch fish. For us, heaven. I am dazzled by the clouds of fish on the sonar!
I didn't even look around at the dam or Merrys Bay. I plopped the boat in and cruised up to Elk at around 35MPH. If I didn't have a boat that made the trip faster than trailering up to Dent, I would definitely trailer up and put in. From Dent, 10 minute cruise and in the fish. The boat I run is an old ski boat that I swapped out the 3.0L 4 banger for a 4.3L V6. I basically rebuilt the whole thing to go kokanee or bass fishing. Hardly enough room in it for three people who get along reasonably well..... but it does cruise well in smooth waters under 50 MPH.
Man that looks way better than what I get on my Lawrence Elite 5 HDI, I wonder if I’ve got my sensitivity turned down too far. What frequency are you using?
ricks
Well-known member
I've played with the different frequencies and never got better results than straight 83kHz. Here's a little better shot, I have sensitivity set to auto. I do play with that manually a lot, got the best results on auto that day. I set depth to 100 ft. I don't really care what is below a 100 foot when I am going for kokes. Still tells me where bottom is, in this case 109 ft. And the solid line at 26 foot is my downrigger ball. Kokanee give good arch returns since they have such a massive air bladder along their spine. That arch shows best at 83kHz as well. You will usually see less of an arch when using 200 kHz and no arch at all with down imaging, just a dot. I don't bother with down or side scan with kokanee.
Thanks for the info, I’ll have to take a look at my settings when I get home, I usually set my depth range to 60’. I’m real curious now what frequency I’ve been running. I think I still need to mess with me sensitivity settings some more.
I’ll be up there this weekend, 16’ hewescraft, aluminum with blue pinstriping, no top. Wave me down if your out and want to chat. I plan to fish the elk river and dent bridge areas.
ricks
Well-known member
On my way in the morning.
I have heard from other locals that Magnus Bay is the hot spot, however, I am going to scope out Elk creek and Dent before I trudge up there. I'll report back, good or bad, manana.
Rick
I have heard from other locals that Magnus Bay is the hot spot, however, I am going to scope out Elk creek and Dent before I trudge up there. I'll report back, good or bad, manana.
Rick
Magnus Bay
Went up to Magnus from Dent. Fishing from about 9 to 4. Between the 3 of us we boated 2 & lost about the same amount. Never did mark any big schools. We were fishing long lines with 3 oz. out 59 to 69. I started out with sling blades but they kept getting tangled so switched to pop gear. Guess I have to figure out why they keep getting tangled.
Went up to Magnus from Dent. Fishing from about 9 to 4. Between the 3 of us we boated 2 & lost about the same amount. Never did mark any big schools. We were fishing long lines with 3 oz. out 59 to 69. I started out with sling blades but they kept getting tangled so switched to pop gear. Guess I have to figure out why they keep getting tangled.
ricks
Well-known member
I stuck with the plan and stayed right around the point at the west side of Elk Creek. There were loads of fish on the finder, especially on each side of the ridges. We tried a little of everything, downriggers with ford fenders was best. Long lines with 2 oz and bright shiny trolls were OK. For the first time I was playing with a sidewinder side planer board. Pretty neat when it works, PITA when it screws up. Major PITA when it wanders and twists up in other lines. I'm still thinking it is a great way to run lines out 40 or 50 feet from the boat. I'm going to keep working one to see if I can master working it.
Most of the fish came on the fenders set at 26 ft. Also did well at 40-50 ft at times. Caught 26, almost all in the 14 inch range. Today was my son's 19th and he wanted to wakeboard. So we spent a couple hours at that. 26 in 4ish hours, did OK. Fish are still there. The cooler weather has em feeding and growing. This is about the most awesome fishery I have ever imagined. And they haven't stocked Dworshak with any kokanee in 30 years, all self sustaining.
Rick
Most of the fish came on the fenders set at 26 ft. Also did well at 40-50 ft at times. Caught 26, almost all in the 14 inch range. Today was my son's 19th and he wanted to wakeboard. So we spent a couple hours at that. 26 in 4ish hours, did OK. Fish are still there. The cooler weather has em feeding and growing. This is about the most awesome fishery I have ever imagined. And they haven't stocked Dworshak with any kokanee in 30 years, all self sustaining.
Rick
Had a great few days on Dworshak. Some days limits came fast, other days slower. Mostly around 12" with a few 13". S turns and speed changes especially when they were off the bite. Yesterday marked lots of fish at Elk Creek but bite didn't start til sun broke thru clouds. Fished traditional but had to experiment to find what consistently worked. Great year!
onemorecast
Member
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2013
- Messages
- 5
I just started using "new to me" downriggers too. My brother talked me into getting Chamberlain releases, they are $20 a piece, pretty spendy, but they popped every time we had a fish strike. They work much better than the conventional pinch and pad releases.
Dworshak Stocked
Just an fyi that Dworshak has been stocked w/ Kokes during years after large losses over the dam. At least some and perhaps all have come from Deadwood Res. Been there talking to the biologists when they were trapping for Dworshak. It was the only way to save/sustain kokes at Dworshak after massive losses. The Idaho Fish & Game has done a super job sustaining and enhancing a challenging fishery due to huge water fluctuations. Even at that if Dworshak was kept at full pool most of the year, as originally planned, the fish would be muck larger and that without supplemental fertilization.
Just an fyi that Dworshak has been stocked w/ Kokes during years after large losses over the dam. At least some and perhaps all have come from Deadwood Res. Been there talking to the biologists when they were trapping for Dworshak. It was the only way to save/sustain kokes at Dworshak after massive losses. The Idaho Fish & Game has done a super job sustaining and enhancing a challenging fishery due to huge water fluctuations. Even at that if Dworshak was kept at full pool most of the year, as originally planned, the fish would be muck larger and that without supplemental fertilization.
Last edited:
ricks
Well-known member
Yah. I talked to the Dworshak biologist yesterday. He said last time was late 90's, exactly as you stated. They started a new targeted fertilizer program. They've been studying which planktons they can target that improves kokanee. They have to be pretty careful, made a lot of mistakes over the years. I called him just to let them know how appreciative I was of their efforts and how awesome the fishery is this year.
Right on Ricks. thumbsup
kokaneecowboy
Member
Onemorecast...
Thanks for the tip. I will check out the Chamberlain releases.thumbsup
Thanks for the tip. I will check out the Chamberlain releases.thumbsup
Bait scent's
This is my first time posting here so be gentle. I discovered Super Dippin Sauce about 5 years ago. I dye my corn with cherry cool aid and put about a teaspoon of Super Dippin Sauce in it the night before. While I'm fishing I dump a little corn into an open container and let it dry a little. It's never failed me.
This is my first time posting here so be gentle. I discovered Super Dippin Sauce about 5 years ago. I dye my corn with cherry cool aid and put about a teaspoon of Super Dippin Sauce in it the night before. While I'm fishing I dump a little corn into an open container and let it dry a little. It's never failed me.
ricks
Well-known member
Believe it or not, never heard of Super Dippin Sauce. There's a lot of stuff out there. Just bought and tried some of Graybills Koke soak. Don't really know if it is great stuff or not, I didn't have that great of a fishing day yesterday. LOTS and LOTS of fish on the finder, just a lot harder work. Almost all my takes were off the downriggers at 60'.
I dropped into the water at Dent yesterday at 6AM. Never even fired up the main, just putted off the dock and dropped lines in the water. There are a lot of fish still down around Dent. Here's a screenshot of heading west off Dent ramp. I was running a 32 ft downrigger and a 63 footer.
Caught 22 fish in the AM between there and the bridge. I found the long lines catching smaller fish that we mostly were able to toss back.
That evening at 5 made a run to Reeds, dropped lines in the water and immediately got to work to where we couldn'ty seem to get the rest of the lines in the water. The fish were really clustered though, several hundred yards short of getting to Reeds and to the north side of the channel. Caught a handful and then nuthin. Worked it over and over for the next couple hours before heading back. Here's a screenshot of what we saw there in the main channel before Reeds Creek.
Kind of frustrating. Others on the water mentioned that the fishing was a bit slower. Lots of fun, and lots of fish on the finder, but I didn't do all that well. I found most of my big catches came at 60ish feet with sling blades bent to give more action and a small pink/white hoochie.
Rick
I dropped into the water at Dent yesterday at 6AM. Never even fired up the main, just putted off the dock and dropped lines in the water. There are a lot of fish still down around Dent. Here's a screenshot of heading west off Dent ramp. I was running a 32 ft downrigger and a 63 footer.
Caught 22 fish in the AM between there and the bridge. I found the long lines catching smaller fish that we mostly were able to toss back.
That evening at 5 made a run to Reeds, dropped lines in the water and immediately got to work to where we couldn'ty seem to get the rest of the lines in the water. The fish were really clustered though, several hundred yards short of getting to Reeds and to the north side of the channel. Caught a handful and then nuthin. Worked it over and over for the next couple hours before heading back. Here's a screenshot of what we saw there in the main channel before Reeds Creek.
Kind of frustrating. Others on the water mentioned that the fishing was a bit slower. Lots of fun, and lots of fish on the finder, but I didn't do all that well. I found most of my big catches came at 60ish feet with sling blades bent to give more action and a small pink/white hoochie.
Rick
Thx for the good info. I hear that Kokes like to live in water temps around 54F, then warmer temps to feed on plankton, then back to the lower 50's. If that's the case they ought to be around 50-60' at Dworshak now. Seems to square with your results, right?
