2020 Lucky Peak Reservoir Kokanee Report

[MasterCaster]

Short but successful morning....

Hey all!
Been watching the forums for a couple years, but spine issues kept me from using my new boat. Finally made it out to LP yesterday morning with my stepson. Man, it was blowing and pouring when I left at 6am, then up at Spring Shores it turned to snow (Hills got really white), then hail, then more rain.
Had two different color/flasher combo's, ultralight rods and no weight (the only way I've ever fished for Kokes). My stepson caught 2 nice rainbows on chartreuse, I caught 3 fatties on hot pink and mini-shrimp. I put gulp maggots on his and I used Procure shoepeg corn on mine. Seems that was what the Kokes wanted. We were the only boat there, but by the time we left at 9:30, there were 4 other boats fishing and one launching.... AND THE SUN WAS OUT!!!!
But for a quick trip, I can't complain and I finally got my boat fishing!
Was great to get out, if you see me up there say "Hello".

 

[MasterCaster]

Forgot to add, we fished the north side of the Dam area at 1.4-1.6 mph.

 

[MMDON]

Hey all!
Been watching the forums for a couple years, but spine issues kept me from using my new boat. Finally made it out to LP yesterday morning with my stepson. Man, it was blowing and pouring when I left at 6am, then up at Spring Shores it turned to snow (Hills got really white), then hail, then more rain.
Had two different color/flasher combo's, ultralight rods and no weight (the only way I've ever fished for Kokes). My stepson caught 2 nice rainbows on chartreuse, I caught 3 fatties on hot pink and mini-shrimp. I put gulp maggots on his and I used Procure shoepeg corn on mine. Seems that was what the Kokes wanted. We were the only boat there, but by the time we left at 9:30, there were 4 other boats fishing and one launching.... AND THE SUN WAS OUT!!!!
But for a quick trip, I can't complain and I finally got my boat fishing!
Was great to get out, if you see me up there say "Hello".

Good job considering what it was throwing at you early and welcome back to the water!

 

[foobarbaz]

Turner Gulch is open finally

Fully open today, hours are sunrise to sunset.

 

[Oldfishnfart]

thanks for the update!

 

[foobarbaz]

report - may 22, 0600

Launched from Turner Gulch at 0600 sharp, white caps, and 20mph wind blowing me into the dam, weather report said it would be calm lol. Caught 3 fish within 30 minutes, then nothing. One Kokanee 11", one Chinook 12", and one rainbow 10". I caught them between 10 and 20ft deep near the dam. One rod was all I could handle and keep myself out of the dam, good fun. Fished for 90minutes. According to a sign posted at the dock you are supposed to cut the lower fin off the chinook and mail it in for a study? I meant to take a picture of the sign but forgot, so I need to drive back up there to get the info. I caught an identical chinook off spring shores last week, but didn't know about the study, so I just ate him.

All the fish look very similar and are hard to tell apart, the chinook has big sharp teeth almost like an ocean fish, dark mouth and lips and a very pointy nose and forked tail, at least I think it's a Chinook? In the pic the suspected chinook is in the middle, koke on top. The meat on the chinook is almost identical in taste and color as a rainbow see the photo, the cooked koke has nice bright pink/orange flesh, the cooked chinook and trout have the same pale pink flesh. I remember seeing some posts where people said the flesh on the kokes was not the nice pink color, maybe it was one of these chinook?

Fished with a pink hoochie, about 10" behind a triple D dodger, no corn and no scent. I will mail the fin for this guy.

 

[mowrus]

Launched from Turner Gulch at 0600 sharp, white caps, and 20mph wind blowing me into the dam, weather report said it would be calm lol. Caught 3 fish within 30 minutes, then nothing. One Kokanee 11", one Chinook 12", and one rainbow 10". I caught them between 10 and 20ft deep near the dam. One rod was all I could handle and keep myself out of the dam, good fun. Fished for 90minutes. According to a sign posted at the dock you are supposed to cut the lower fin off the chinook and mail it in for a study? I meant to take a picture of the sign but forgot, so I need to drive back up there to get the info. I caught an identical chinook off spring shores last week, but didn't know about the study, so I just ate him.

All the fish look very similar and are hard to tell apart, the chinook has big sharp teeth almost like an ocean fish, dark mouth and lips and a very pointy nose and forked tail, at least I think it's a Chinook? In the pic the suspected chinook is in the middle, koke on top. The meat on the chinook is almost identical in taste and color as a rainbow see the photo, the cooked koke has nice bright pink/orange flesh, the cooked chinook and trout have the same pale pink flesh. I remember seeing some posts where people said the flesh on the kokes was not the nice pink color, maybe it was one of these chinook?

Fished with a pink hoochie, about 10" behind a triple D dodger, no corn and no scent. I will mail the fin for this guy.

Some of the kokanee could be the late spawners they brought in from the north to supplement the early spawners 2 years ago. I call them greenback's instead of blue backs.

 

[gillnetter]

5-24 report

Got the boat in the water at 0730 and the bite was on a 0745-1130ish. Caught three Kokanee, 18,15, and 13 inches; one King 13”; and eighteen trout between 12-20+ inches. Kokanee and king caught on purple/pink and orange hoochie’s while the trout hammed everything we had out.

 

[Spit the Hook]

Did you launch at Spring Shores or Turner Gulch?

 

[alhntr]

5-25

Got out a little late, at 930am. Fished for 3 hours from Spring Shores and down the canyon, tried close to shore and the middle. Tried 20,25 30 and 35 feet. Not one bite. Left the new/used fish finder in the truck. Oh time to start smoking my pork front shoulder roast. Waiting for a Anderson report.

 

[MaGoo]

Better day

Not bad compared to the last 50 hours on the lake. Was going to launch at Turners, wind was bad. Went to Spring Shores no wind just a nice day Fish were from 20 to 60 ft. Fished south shore across from Spring Shore. https://www.kokaneefishingforum.com...?attachmentid=9965&d=1590622327&thumb=1&stc=1

 

[pthept]

5/28/20

Fished from spring shore 3-7p with limited success. 2 trout and 1 koke marked kokes at 20 feet. Hooked up at point directly across from spring shores. Water temp 65 at surface and a lot of water sport enthusiast on the water even for a Thursday. imagine weekends will be overrun. Sign at spring shores states will be closed after 8 PM (Covid) so we left earlier than we wanted

 

[foobarbaz]

sporadic

Fished June 5, 6, 7 for quick trips in the afternoon around 3 to 5. Fished the area to the right of turner gulch and off spring shores each time. The bite for me is good for the first 30 minutes at each spot then nothing. I'd send the downriggers down to 30 feet and get bit within 5 minutes it seemed. Mostly trout, landed one chinook, and lost 3 11" kokes trying to heave them into the boat without a net. After the early action, they send off the alarm and refuse to bite. I used a new vances cannon ball troll, they love this thing. The suckers school up around it and follow it all over the lake, it doesn't result in anymore bites though they just like to follow it and bite occasionally.

 

[conservationist]

Lucky Peak today

Fished 8 AM to Noon. Hooked 5, landed 2. Two .. one lost, one caught were very nice fish. Others were smaller. Didn't seem to be any "schools". Caught them south across from marina and towards dam as wll as upstream from marina on the North side ... Pink hooche behind a herringbone dodger fished at 15 feet on downrigger was the best producer.

 

[Scottsquatch]

Report

Fished from 5-9 pm yesterday. Caught 4 kokanee, but they were all pretty small. Lost a few as well. Most seemed to hit from 15-20 ft.

 

[foobarbaz]

spring shores

Fished off spring shores sat and sunday as soon as they opened. Trolling at 20 and 40 feet. Most bites occurred at 20ft on a perch looking spinner i picked up at d and b. Caught a nice 18" that fought like a champ all the way to the boat made a number of drag screaming runs. Lost another that felt almost as big. Green wedding ring at 40 had a few bites but not nearly as productive. Both days, had about 10 hookups lost about half at the boat, threw a couple tiny 6" dinks back. Ended up landing 2 kokes saturday 14" and 18" and 4 on sunday all less than 12" and a few decent rainbows.

 

[Physion]

small kokanee

I know we would all like to catch bigger fish, but if there are no small ones there won't be any big ones. It is encouraging to hear that there are now small kokanee being caught in Lucky Peak. Could that be a sign of a future return of good times?

 

[Idahosmitty]

6-26-20

Fished from 7:30-11am and caught 3 kokanee all around 13". We caught 1 chinook at 14" and 1 Rainbow at 15". Orange was the trick. We started out at 20' and ended up at 45' near spring shores. Most caught were on an orange crystal basin dodger with a DIY orange wedding ring. The other side was an orange hootchie. 1.4-1.6mph.

 

[Good Outfit]

Finally some Kok

Fished Leaky Peak, 6/26/ , launched spring shores about 7:00, started trolling spring shores area at 25' got a hook up in 20 minutes, I got excited when I seen the silver flash at the net but ended up letting him go as he was about 10 or 11" , continued trolling down the narrows towards Goose neck bay and did not get hooked up again until Charcoal creek area about 11:00 am at 30' and again got giddy when I seen the silver flash of a Kok but again had to release due to its 10 or 11" size, and then again hooked up one more time at 30' just East of Sheep's creek and again had to let it go, all three fish were caught on an orange and copper vance dodger pulling a orange hoochie tipped with shoepeg corn soaked in Krill oil with a 10" leader between the two, I tried larger orange gear with different leader lengths, spinner blades on the nose of the hoochie, different bead set ups on the nose of the hoochie and did not get any hits on those, nor did I get any hits at deeper depths down to 45, marked fish at those deeper depths but they had lock jaw, anyway it was a beautiful day on the water until the wave makers showed up and it was nice to finally catch some Kok's as I have had my hind end handed to me this year at A.R. and Arrowrock,

 

[msusprtn]

July 3rd 2020 fishing report

New to the area and new to kokanee fishing. I really appreciate everyone on the forum. Very helpful on shortening the learning curve. First outing with my new boat. Caught 5 over 4 hours--> 11.5" to 14.5" plus 2 pull offs at the boat and a deep water pull off. Purple wedding rings behind silver dodgers with yellow fire corn. Marked fish consistently from 20-50'. The rods at 40' produced the best. Ran across a few small schools along the way. The skiers chased me off the lake at around lunch time.