dam fishfinder!!

[fishbiker]

So got at the lake around 6:00am put together the little rubber boat, forgot to put the drain plug in and took some water in, oh well, couldn,t find the dam plug that is normally attached to a string, well dragging the boat the little bit down the ramp it shredded the string. found the plug in the water, wet shoes now. then pull it to the dock and my reading glasses fall in and they are gone. so i get under way set the trollers out and alls well, then my 3 hp 2 cylinder starts running funny, won,t low idle and so on, so i flip it up take a towel and drain the flaot bowl thinking maybe water??? still no go, so i decide to see if shes running on 2, pull the plug wire off 1 and no change, ****. so i go to set the cap on the end of the plug , this will sometimes unfoul a plug. engines running and i get the **** shocked out of me and kick the tackle box over. i clean all this up, pull the plug, with pretty much no tools and a peice of carbon from the piston top is lodged in the cap. i clean it up, put it in and its running and idleing great. So for the next 5 hrs i troll, i fish bait, i throw lures on fish jumping and nothing, i saw more fish on my meter and could not get any thing to bite, so i am ready to throw the dam fish finder overboard because i would rather not know i couldn,t catch not one of those mass amounts of metered fish!!! I know moving from san diego fishing would be different but now i need some prozac as i am depressed lol i keep telling my wife we will have kokanee for dinner , she must think i am going to a strip bar or something as out of the 6 + times on the lake not even a bite, Gregs tackle gave me the proper lures,flashers and baits i am just going to go to the store and buy some frigging kokanee!!! Thanks for letting me vent.

 

[Mav186]

That's awesome fishb! You gave me a good laugh first thing in the morning....I can relate to everything you had go wrong, as I'm sure hundreds of others can as well. It's been a while since I had a day like that on the water, but have been around long enough to know it can happen anytime...now hopefully it's your turn to put some fish on the deck! Have Fun.laugh hyst

 

[fishbiker]

Thanks i hope, i know they are hard to catch, i don,t have downrigger but other membes have told me they get them flat lining. i guess i just have to put my time in on the water to please the kokanee gods and be acceoted into the club, lol have a great day

 

[lowe1648mt]

Fish Biker

As far as catching koks, it might be a small thing. I tried almost every thing yesterday. after about 3 hours, I put on pink gulp maggots. It was like magic. Fish were hitting the wedding ring before I could get the line out more than 20 feet or get the boat in motion.
Too bad the wind was hitting 20-25 mph and looked to go higher. Had to get off the lake.

 

[fishbiker]

thanks for the tip, i am going to go to gregs and buy every bait i can just short of a gill net!! lo

 

[Smalma]

The surface action (the top 10 feet of the water column) is about done for the year, With the warmer weather that surface layer has become warmer than the kokanee's preferred mid-50 degree temperatures.

As the summer progresses the kokanee will continue to move deeper. Without downriggers you have basically two choices if you want to troll. That is either to add lead (1/2 ounce to 1 1/2 ounces) to get down (a 1/2 ounce and letting out 100 feet of line should get you down 15 to 20 feet) or to change over to lead core lines. With the lead core probably want to be fishing about 3 colors but soon may want to go even deeper (more colors).

The third option is to still fish for the kokanee by feeding up an area (not very popular any more). Look for a 30 to 40 foot flat near deeper water; anchor the boat bow and stern, chum the area and fish bait near the bottom. Traditionally the bait of choice was caddis fly larvae (periwinkles) and a red egg but I'm sure that those glup maggots or pieces of raw prawn would work as well. This option will continue for another month or so and was always a early morning fishery (before any breeze came up).

Tight lines
Curt

 

[southside]

I would suggest that you check the regs for the water you are fishing to be sure that chumming is legal.

I have been using a willow leaf gang troll and a green wedding ring tipped with shoepeg corn and trolling at between .08 and 1.2 mph. and driving like a drunk. Many bites come on the change of direction.

Good luck!! and thanks for the great story!

Peace, Tom

 

[fishbiker]

Thanks for all the tips, i had to buy some fish at the store, bought some yellow fin tuna and seared it last night it was good, i hate to buy fish!! i couldn,t beleive the yellow fin ahi was half the price here than it is in san diego. My quest for a kokanee dinner and some smoked kokanee goes on. thanks for the help.

 

[Kokanee Katcher]

Not laughing at your experience, but at the things that go wrong for all of us at one time or another.

1. Preheated my thermos with hot water and in my rush, ended up with hot water and the coffee still at home in the pot.
2. I too have launched a boat with no plug.
3. When switching to another dodger and lure, toss it overboard without hooking it to my main line. (twice!)
4. Couldn't get my motor to troll down but it ran at high speed just fine. Got home and the oil was still sitting where I put it to take with me when I filled the fuel tank.

Sometimes when it rains, it pours and we just have to have a sense of humor!

 

[skookum9]

I agree with Southside, chumming is illegal in most places and for good reason too. There are two other options than were suggested if you still want to fish for koke's without a downrigger. The first is a diver. I recently bought a diver made by Davis that puts very little tension on the line but will troll down to as deep as 80ft without a problem. I have now tried it and am well pleased with it. It is not a common brand but it is out there. The other option is vertical jigging. I'm not too good at that myself because I've never been that interested in pursuing it but I've seen plenty of people really raking in the koke's that way. I've not only seen it outfish trolling by far and away, I've even seen it outfish surface jigging, under the right conditions. Buzz Bombs work great for this and you can either tip your hooks with bait or else leave them barren, it works great either way.

I hope you get into some koke's soon. Looks like this year passed me by for my koke fishing. Other than several little ones I caught on my flyrod, I haven't caught any kokanee this year. But then again, I guess that you have to get the chance to get out to the koke waters in order to catch them. Good luck to you.

 

[Smalma]

Please note that fishbiker is from Lake Stevens, has been reporting on his efforts on Stevens and I actually saw him the day of his adventures in this report on Lake Stevens. On Lake Stevens chumming is legal and there was a very long history of successful kokanee fishing on Stevens as described in my first post.

All of which is why I incuded still fishing (with chumming) in the potential options of his consideration.

Tight lines
Curt

 

[fishbiker]

Thanks, i did try some jigging, mosy likley didn,t have the right jigs. i will ahev greg set me up. lol smalma, i have done most all on your fishing day list, i watched my coffe float down the river, i have had a number of my teeth knocked out from pit fighting and racing when i was younger and have also watched my 2000.00 dollar partial plate float down the river. besides the mako shark that i caught in my little rubber boat heres the dummy of the year award. i am in alaska walking the rivers willow creek area but deep in the woods, i set down and pull out my fred meyer whole cooked chicken for a nice lunch, this is my first time in alaska and river fishing, next thing i know i am getting rushed by a bear, i am so scared i can,t get the bear maze out, i run, the bear gets me from behind as i am going in the river, the only thing that saved me is he wanted my frigging chicken more then he wanted me. i only have a few scars but a wealth of knowlage. so never never take a whole cooked checken fishing in alaska.

 

[skookum9]

Wow! That's a pretty awesome bear story. I've had many a mishap over the course of my life, some that absolutely should have killed me, but I don't think I've ever had one that compared to that one. And I'm quite glad about that too. I don't ever want to experience a story like that. I'll remember to make sure to never take a whole cooked chicken fishing in Alaska, or a cooked ham either for that matter. I'm glad that you survived it and are still a fisherman among us today.

 

[fishbiker]

pretty much i take wrapped snacks power bars and so on, thermos with like breakfast type drinks and i still climb a tree with my bear maze ready lol all my life i was a pit fighter, kinda like ufc today but no rules and i spent my life as a pro motorcycle racer and have had many a close call, the thought of finally being done in by a bear just pissed me off and i have never been so affraid, i had to buy new waders do to bear rips and i think i pooped them a little or a lot lol

 

[skookum9]

Fishbiker, I hope we meet some day. I'll bet that you have some stories to tell. And I've got a pretty good idea that if I were to be attacked by a bear, there's more than a good chance that I'd have some mighty strong stains in my shorts as well.

 

[Kokanee Katcher]

With your background of needing to be tough to survive your chosen activities, I'm not sure that I would tackle you if I were a bear. Great story.

 

[fishbiker]

im just a big sissy, i,m old and loving life, fish,fish,fish. I hope i never have to run into another bear like that, did run across a moose that was calving and it was coming at me but i was far enough away that i beet feet, i may go to skagit/cascade tomarroe, any tips??? have a good ady all. Skip

 

[SilverBullets]

fishbiker...
A good fishfinder (set to see arches) and a downrigger to get your presentation right on top of them is the most important part of the success equation imho. From what I've encountered most days the difference between getting fish or just being out for a boat ride is getting to the right depth. Once your there the only thing left is to experiment with your speed, color, lure type, attractor (dodger, in-line gangtrolls, ball trolls), set-back, scent, and trolling direction. Always troll in "S'" turns and vary your speed to change the action of the lure to entice strikes. First try lowering your set-up just above where you see them on the fishfinder screen and experiment from there until your get hit. With the downrigger your can get back quickly to that exact depth. As the day progresses and the sun gets higher you'll find that your depth will need to be adjusted as the kokes go deeper. The main thing is to not get stuck in a rut doing the same thing...if your not getting hits change something until you see what they want. Alot of times all it takes is a lure color change or depth adjustment. Good luck out there and if you have more questions don't hesitate to ask. 101cheers101