Flaming Gorge Kokanee Report- 5/25/12

[Ryno]

The morning weather was blustery and we didn't get out until 730AM, but at least the kokes cooperated and they'll be in the smoker within a few hours of this post.

We boated our two limits of fish ranging from 14-17 inches in under 2-hours, missing a few others and taking a break for about 20-minutes to untangle a kokanee that brought in 3 lines. Gotta love 'em! We found kokanee mostly between 35-45 ft in open water areas of Jarvies Bay. We trolled at 1.5-2 mph using #1 and #2 Needlefish in "pearl bikini" and Rocky Mountain Tackle dodgers in "fusion" rigged with a Shasta Tackle Koke-a-Nut in "pink". We tried some other colors and lures with no luck.

Water temps were 57-59 F. Hope it helps, Ryno

 

[jacksonlaker]

Great report Ryan. I dont know if you have read the thread Gorge 5/8 but there is a great catch and release discussion. I know you may be tired of explaining it, but what is your take on releasing Kokes ?? You know a lot about the fisherie so your knowledge and opinion would be appreciated.

 

[Leeisfishing]

Thanks for the report Ryan. We were at the Gorge staying at Deer Run 05/26 - 06/01. We caught the majority of our Kokes by Jarvies.
We covered 258 miles of water in the boat. (94 miles of trolling) We ran up to the pipe bridge twice and also fished antelope flats. We caught many rainbows and kokes but only 3 lakers. We tried everything that works for lakers here in Colorado but that didn't seem to work on the gorge. This was my 6th trip to the Gorge and the lakers are always hard to come by. I can find them I just can't catch them.
Any tips you can share trolling for lakers on the Gorge?
Thanks

 

[Ryno]

Any tips you can share trolling for lakers on the Gorge?

I typically pick up some lake trout pups while trolling for kokanee using the same gear, dodger/squids, spoons, etc. Sometimes while I'm trolling for kokes I'll graph a large school of lake trout in the 70+ ft range, and just quickly drop my offering to pull a fish. Other times I'll set a waypoint on the school, and come back to troll through them later when I'm done with kokanee. Although a lot of the kokanee gear will catch lake trout, I actually prefer spoons more than anything. Some of my better spoons for lake trout are Northland Forage Minnows in rainbow trout or firetiger, Rocky Mountain Tackle Serpent spoons in Tequila sunrise, Needlefish (#2 or 3) in red/pearl, and Williams Wablers.

I also really like to jig for them when I find them, that way I can sit and watch them on my graph and see how they respond to my offering. I most commonly use a 3-inch Gulp minnow on a 3/8 oz jighead. If the fish are finicky, I will also use a jigging spoons like a Buckshot or Northland Buckshot or Fish-fry in rainbow trout, with a pretty aggressive jig, followed by a few jingles. I don't do it a lot, but the go-to jigging technique for many anglers is a tube jig (white or crayfish colors) tipped with a small chunk of sucker or chub meat.

Overall, the lake trout fishing has been pretty slow for me down in the canyon reach this spring. Lake trout are pretty moody though, when one bad day can be followed by a stellar day. If I find suspended fish, I usually can get into them. The fish laying on the bottom are sometimes the toughest for me to catch.

Hope that helps some and good luck out there! Ryno