2020 Dworshak Reservoir Kokanee Fishing Report

[ricks]

What's the largest kokanee cought in the dworshak? We caught a 16.5" koke yesterday.

That's bigger than I ever have seen or heard of out of Dworshak. One of the holdovers from last years breeders. No idea if anything bigger has been caught. I saw myself a 26 incher out of Cascade. Made me go back there a dozen times.... without any results worth mentioning.

Good catch! Musta been fun.

Rick

 

[eschmit04]

I've never seen on over 14" until yesterday. How do I post pictures?

 

[eschmit04]

 

[ricks]

Damn. Hope you didn't catch all of those!

 

[whatadeal]

how many

View attachment 9946View attachment 9947View attachment 9948

did you only catch one?

 

[eschmit04]

Only one that size. Many others not as big.

 

[crazcougg]

General area?

Only one that size. Many others not as big.

Man we only managed 4 on in a couple hours at freeman creek, didn’t have time to try anywhere else. All of them under 8” and none landed!

What general part of the lake did you find fish in?

 

[THouse]

No kokes but but the new boat floats

Went out Sunday and had a few hits, lost one at the boat. Trolled a couple hours near Dicks Cr. and Canyon Cr. Decided I needed to get some fish in the new (to me) boat so we went and caught some bass. Talked to three other boats that weren't having much luck either.

Travis

 

[THouse]

Sat, May 2nd

Went out Saturday. Launched at Freeman Cr. Fished Canyon area and picked up 10 in a couple hours. Headed up to Dent and picked up three (all close to 12") in about an hour. Not sure if we are figuring anything out...or just got a little luckier. Thinking about heading out again tomorrow...gotta take advantage of the social distancing while I can.

Good luck to all and look forward to seeing more reports on here. I'm in an 18 Red Lund with 75hp Yamaha tiller with a bow mount electric, if you see me feel free to say hi.


Travis

 

[crazcougg]

Went out Saturday. Launched at Freeman Cr. Fished Canyon area and picked up 10 in a couple hours. Headed up to Dent and picked up three (all close to 12") in about an hour. Not sure if we are figuring anything out...or just got a little luckier. Thinking about heading out again tomorrow...gotta take advantage of the social distancing while I can.

Good luck to all and look forward to seeing more reports on here. I'm in an 18 Red Lund with 75hp Yamaha tiller with a bow mount electric, if you see me feel free to say hi.


Travis

Great to hear, I think I’m going to try again Saturday, forecast looks awesome! 16’ Hewes with a newish Honda 50 on the back and blue pinstripping. See you on the water!

How deep were you finding them? Any color preference you noted? Last year pink or red and white is all I could get them on!

 

[THouse]

crazcougg

Great to hear, I think I’m going to try again Saturday, forecast looks awesome! 16’ Hewes with a newish Honda 50 on the back and blue pinstripping. See you on the water!

How deep were you finding them? Any color preference you noted? Last year pink or red and white is all I could get them on!

We were marking fish primarily 15-25 feet. Fishing traditional with 1 ounce at 70-90 feet and 2 ounce at 40-65 feet. Early gold gear with gold blade wedding ring was best. Later the slingblades with kokanuts outfished the trolling gear. Pinks and orange were the best lure colors, caught a few on a green/silver sling blade, we tipped with tuna and garlic corn.

Travis

 

[crazcougg]

We were marking fish primarily 15-25 feet. Fishing traditional with 1 ounce at 70-90 feet and 2 ounce at 40-65 feet. Early gold gear with gold blade wedding ring was best. Later the slingblades with kokanuts outfished the trolling gear. Pinks and orange were the best lure colors, caught a few on a green/silver sling blade, we tipped with tuna and garlic corn.

Travis

Thanks for the info! Just looked at the forecast, pretty sure we’ll be up Saturday!

 

[Big Mack]

Mother's Day

Due to some dead batteries, we only fished Merry's Bay and by the marina. No electronics, etc. Just kicker. Managed one 8" in 3 hours.
Sheriff's boat said up by Dent was the place to be.

 

[crazcougg]

Due to some dead batteries, we only fished Merry's Bay and by the marina. No electronics, etc. Just kicker. Managed one 8" in 3 hours.
Sheriff's boat said up by Dent was the place to be.

We fished elk river arm Saturday since it’s got some relatively flat shore for the kids right now, managed 4 out of 8 or 10 bites. Saw a report on Facebook from a guide that did much better upstream from the dent bridge. Hoping to try up there next weekend.

 

[THouse]

Sat, May 16th

My buddy and I went out Saturday. Launched at Freeman and fished near and in Canyon Creek . Started about 7:15am, two limits by 1:00pm. Slowed down the last hour and a half or so. Fish not real big, averaged about 9" with some 10" and a couple 11". Great day on the water.

Travis

 

[ricks]

My buddy and I went out Saturday. Launched at Freeman and fished near and in Canyon Creek . Started about 7:15am, two limits by 1:00pm. Slowed down the last hour and a half or so. Fish not real big, averaged about 9" with some 10" and a couple 11". Great day on the water.

Travis

That's hopeful for a good season. Being upstream of Dent Bridge is too early for that to be the majority of the fish.Correct me if I'm wrong, as the reservoir fills between now and July fourth when the target is full pool. the fish should be 'grazing' on plankton build up in the deep richer end of lake, especially as the surface tempts start going up blooming the food source. They shouldn't be heading up lake until later in their cycle. ACoE last month dumping a lot of water messed that all up.

 

[whatadeal]

Elk Creek

My buddy and I went out Saturday. Launched at Freeman and fished near and in Canyon Creek . Started about 7:15am, two limits by 1:00pm. Slowed down the last hour and a half or so. Fish not real big, averaged about 9" with some 10" and a couple 11". Great day on the water.

Travis

We fished last Friday; motored up to Elk Creek from Big Eddy; two of us got our limit Friday afternoon in approx. 4/41/2 hrs. all the fish were approx. 8 inches with a few approx 10 inches.
not marking any schools?

 

[THouse]

Reply

Ricks: I believe you are right. I expect to find them fairly well scattered out from here on out, but from my experience I don't expect them to fully commit to pushing up reservoir for spawning until late July or so. We were marking many large schools down in the Canyon Creek area, mostly in 90 to 150 feet of water, most fish were in the 13 to 25 feet depth range. But we were also picking up fish where we weren't marking any schools. Going to try to get back out on the water this coming weekend.

Travis

 

[Big Mack]

Fishing was pretty good Saturday below Canyon Creek, with 2 limits. No special spots, fish were fairly scattered. Almost didn't seem worth it to circle back after we would hook up. Standard pop gear with rings and maggots.

 

[whatadeal]

I fished on Sunday at Indian/Canyon creek and it was good fishing there until 1230 then the bite went off; two of us ended up with 37. like you say they were scattered but not bad fishing.