Cushman 6/8-6/9

Kokanee Fishing Forums

Help Support Kokanee Fishing Forums:

AquaKing

AquaKing

Active member
Joined
May 11, 2013
Messages
37
Location
Port Orchard
Hit the water in the mornings around 6am to get my limit within a couple hours... hard to target as i didn't remember to bring my fish finder! Was most consistant around 20ft depth. Everything between 9-11in. Second to last fish of the day actually popped of my downrigger and at first i was like oh man a snag!(new to downriggers-working on adjustments) Then my pole went crazy! I've never had a koke pull out of the trigger... and still havent.... around a 16in chinook put up a hard fight as I pulled him next to the boat and was able to get the hook out with a bit of effort... really stuck! Not nearly as soft as a kokanee... this was also the first chinook i've ever caught... had those nice sharp looking teath and beautiful tail markings.... awesome fish... sent back to get bigger as the season is closed and that is defintely NOT what i was fishing for! Sorry no pictures as i forgot to take my camera and who hasn't seen a 9-11in kokanee? lol Will head back in a couple weeks and see how things are going... really hope i can land some bigger fish.
 
Great report, AquaKing! And congrats on the Chinook - bonus. Maybe I'll get a chance to play with it next time I get out there. LOL!! I was going to tell you, when I was loading my boat that last report, there were Skokomish loading their boat too. I asked them what the avg size Kokanee was in Cushman. One answered by holding his hands about 18 inches apart and said their sampling surveys were showing around 20 inches.........then he asked what sizes we caught that day - OUCH!!! LOL!! I did not ask about their sampling methods, like depth, time of year, where on the lake, time of day, etc. I have a feeling if this i true, we should be able to find some too. Cross your fingers! Having the down riggers should help is what I figure, because the bigger ones are probably deeper.
 
Thanks! I've yet to catch any kokes over 11in at this lake. I think it's due to how cold it gets and the lack of nourishment... but man are they tasty! Our neighbor that lives year round on the lake told me 60-70ft deep over the apple orchard by the old antler hotel is where the big ones are and he says around 16in average. He told me it is by Cushman falls which is just past the last house on the east side towards staircase? But doing research online and i see discussions on people talking about infront of the resort? Which i thought was just the old logging railroad bridge? I've been trying to find decent information and have yet to stop by the store to gather more information. Apparently it's a nice place to dive? Go figure lol
 
http://content.lib.washington.edu/c...DMTEXT=&DMTHUMB=0&REC=4&DMROTATE=0&x=620&y=57

Take a look at this picture.... Mt. Ellinor in the background. View is from the SW. I believe my neighbor is correct on the hotel location... now where is the orchard...... not those smaller trees to the left of the evergreens is it? Because that looks about where i caught that Chinook if i'm thinking right. I launch very close to here.
 
Last edited:
Interesting. I do not personally know much of the Chushman area's history, but my Sister-In-Law's family grew up just north of the lake. I will have to pick her mom's brains a bit using a map of the lake. I have no idea about an orchard....from what your neighbor says, sounds like it is submerged in front of the old hotel location.... I am not sure if I want to catch chinook or diver's though. Heh-Heh! Or submerged trees.....
 
Well from what i've heard the 30-40lb Chinook are infront of the dam/resort within some 300' of water. That is where the divers hang out as well... if you happen to see any! I've yet to see any flags but in the years past i've seen one sailboat in particular with a rod bent quite a bit more than average lifting a "trophy"? to the surface. Circling around the main area infront of the dam... you know they are targeting chinook then which is a no no this year(Haven't fished that side ever). The apple orchard is apparently prime kokanee territory and the tree tops are level from what i've heard and perfect for trolling. Let me know if you find anything out i'd love to try and pinpoint these bigger kokes. Sure is nice not having any competition on this lake! I am going up this next weekend i'm going to remember my fish finder and skoot around and see if i can target an.... apple orchard! haha... we have an adventure on our hands i believe....

This is the view right out to the area i believe it is... couple launches close by with day picnic areas if you need someone to be entertained while we fish... :p
 
Last edited:
An adventure indeed! And I agree, the lack of boats on this lake and the competition from them is a huge bonus - maybe we just keep the reports to ourselves and the entire lake a secret off the radar. HAHAHAHAHAHA!! Only thing one hase to worry about, from what I have been told, is the other boating traffic with skiers or the jet skis. I have obivously never been on the lake with such good weather to attract these people, so I do not know how far they venture up and down the lake. I look forward to the weekend report.
 
Well went back out... was a shorter trip than I would have liked... but the wifey and kiddos didn't like the rain. I'm amazed this trip at the life that has sprung into this lake. I'm not sure if it's from when they lowered the water to repair the dam. All I can say is WOW I’ve never seen much life in the shallows along this lake in the 5 years I’ve been coming here. Just this weekend while the kids were wading I saw at least 2 different types of schooling fish very small near the waters edge. Also some bottom feeder fish lying on the bottom? They were attacking my 3yr olds pink spoon which through me off. She is an excellent caster but no hooks yet. I started to investigate and pushed some logs aside that got swept onto the beach and BAM! Crawdads.... are you kidding me? I know I’ve searched for life in this lake many of times but this year is making me pretty excited. I headed out in the mornings and with more effort than usual I managed to get my limit of 9-10in kokes in 20-40ft. I do not have a temperature gauge so I was usually getting hits on the way down. Towards nightfall around 8pm we were hanging around on the beach and noticed a fish boil.... it looked like shad... but I do not think they are in this lake? Something was definitely chasing them because they were running into/on top of the logs for the wake barrier for the dock. Note: I had both my gas and electric motors giving me trouble and I was more than fed up with trying to fish and was enjoying family time. I decided to limp the dinghy back to the launch ramp and long-lined my new x11 kokanee rod and hooked one in about 50ft of water..... are rainbows aggressive? Because I think they might have been making the fish boil? I caught the most beautiful starving 14ft... jk! almost had ya... 14in rainbow. That now makes four fish I know are in this lake. Chinook,Sockeye,Rainbow and some bottom feeder... and one fish eater the crawdad lol. Tight lines! Attached are some photos of my position on the lake and readings on the fish finder... I saw one bigger fish jump by my boat while trolling but I didn't catch any of them... Until next time.
Check out this spellcheck!

The rainbow



WEST SIDE... BUNGALOW ROCK? LOL

SOUTHEAST VIEW LAUNCH

NORTHEAST VIEW END OF HOUSING/CUSHMAN FALLS
 
From the WDFW lake surveys they completed last year of Lake Cushman, cutthroat were WAY more common than rainbows. Cutties are aggressive fish eaters and there are some really big ones out there (the largest one caught be WDFW was around 24 inches!!). Lake Cushman also has a very healthy bull Trout population with the average size being around 18-20 inches. Shad were not found but there was some other native species that I can't remember that the larger trout were feeding off...whitefish?
Btw your pictures don't come up for me....:(
 
Spell checks are hilarious!!!! I think Ohop Joe is right, the cutts are quite aggressive and they are eaters. They will follow spawning salmon, purposely bump into the females to knock out eggs, and gorge on them. Maybe that is what the Skokomish tribal fellow was talking about when I asked him the avg size of the Kokanee in the lake, he said 24 in and that would make more sense from what Ohop Joe (OJ) says. And I agree that it was probably rainbows that were probably the ones boiling at that time of night, probably on surface bugs. Planters, they like to do that. Unless there is a healthy population of Crappie in the lake, then it could be them. I do not know much about bull trout, except that no one can keep them. Never caught one or talk to one who has to know how they hit or fight. There are also Lake Trout/Macs in there (from what I am told), probably very deep, but I guess when they hit you know it.

Were the bottom fish silver/white in color? Probably whitefish like OJ says. Look kinda like fresh water bonefish.

It could be that the small schooling fish were salmon fingerings.

The crawdads are cool! Are they any size to eat??? I wonder if the cutts are scarfing on them too. Great report!
 
Thanks for that information! I'm trying to find out as much as i can about this lake. Is there public access to the surveys they completed? I wonder if most of those bulls and cutts hang out on the northern end by staircase. I've never headed all the way up there due to the stumps but it may be a good area? The pictures are jpegs.... I can try and attach some other pictures?
 
Very interesting that cutts are so aggressive... that is cool! The school i saw jumping was a silver/chrome color most likely small salmon fry but they did look taller in the middle like a shad, my eyes may have deceived me. The bottom fish where brown and looked like baby cabezon? I was to much of a wuss to snatch one with my hand! haha. You don't have sonar on your boat do you NickelsWorth? I've been doing research on lake trout as i'm going to Flaming Gorge for the 4th and have been figuring out the best way to target them.
 
Then the baby cabezon were just really big sculpin if that was the coloring. Sculpin can get quite large, so it doesn't surprise me. And you don't want to just grab one with your hand, they have hellacious spines. I do have a depth finder. I switched out the one that was way old and came with the boat for one I already had and it works great. Usually, from reading various reports, like the Tacoma News Tribune (TNT) fishing report, or listening to Northwest Wild Country (NWWC), the Lake Trout/Macs are always at the bottom, whether the bottom be 100 feet or 250-300 feet like Chelan. If you see a big blip that deep just off the bottom, it is most likely a Lake Trout.......can be other things, but I always think positive! LOL!! The mystery fish are the ones surfacing in a school.........fingerlings of some species for sure, but which? One would have to net a couple to examine the markings.....

I am not sure if the surveys are available to the public or not. I will try to find out if so and let you know. I don't know why they wouldn't be, it's just a matter of finding them. But who knows.

The TNT (http://www.thenewstribune.com/adventure/fishing/#vmix_media_id=162287951) has had some good info on Lake Chelan Lake Trout in the last two or so reports. May be good info for your FG trip prep. You pretty much need the downriggers with enough line to use them all the way to the bottom. Have a great time over there! I have never been, but it is on the bucket list. Share some photos. Odd about the pics, as I see them just fine in the post....
 
Odd the pictures arn't comming up for me. I've yet to catch any decent size kokanee but they sure taste good out of this lake. I'm hoping the average will be better next year as i'm seeing alot more life along the shoreline this year. I just got back from the Buckboard at Flaming Gorge in WY. All I can say is.... i need to find bigger kokanee around here! haha Hope you enjoyed the trip outthere! it's a beautiful lake.
 
Retired to the area and always looking for someone to fish with me. Rigged and ready to go with 20' Jet Boat, Down Riggers, HDS 5 Sonar, I live 10 minutes from the Lake Cushman ramp. So if you wanna fish Lake Cushman email me [email protected], Lets go find some fish.
 
Hey Chief I saw your post! Its about that time I'll be hitting the lake every other weekend. Have you been scouting at all? I'm really anxious to see if Lakers really live in this lake. People tell me they do? I'm in division 4? The last turnoff before staircase. Got property there and usually NEVER a wait. We will have to hook up! I have a 17ft tried hull now as well. Hopefully we can work together to clinch this beautiful fishery
 

Similar threads

Bduck
Berry Bad 8-18-2022
Replies
5
Views
16K
Taildancer
Taildancer
Mike
Berry Slow 8/6-8/8
Replies
3
Views
6K
Bduck
Bduck
K
2020 Blue Mesa Kokanee Fishing Report
Replies
13
Views
39K
TroutScout
TroutScout
WYCOangler
Walker mini laker or other portable downriggers?
Replies
15
Views
31K
WYCOangler
WYCOangler
Mike
Skunked 6/30
Replies
11
Views
12K
Propnut69
Propnut69

Latest posts

Back
Top