Gorge August 14/15

[Targa165]

Drove over on the 13th and set up camp at the forest service camp ground at Buckboard. Woke up at 4:30 am and the wind was howling so decided to wait and see if it calmed down any. We talked to the Game and Fish gal doing inspections and she said they were doing the best over at the pipeline so we decided to pull the boat over there and give it a try since the water was pretty rough out of buckboard. That was definately the wrong thing for us to do because we spent 3 and a half hours at the pipeline in pretty rough water and only caught one little shaker that came off the line at the boat. The next morning the wind was up some but not quite as bad as the day before so we pulled over to Holmes Crossing and launched. We had to throw alot of gear at them and ran stackers for a while with 4 different colors and depths. The one and only that worked for us was a RMT pink UV squid behind a Lure Jensen 5" dodger at 60 feet. We ended up with four really nice ones all off the same rod about an hour apart. We also landed 2 pup Macs and the wife lost a really nice rainbow at the boat. Since the W was not being nice to us the first day with zero results we were happy to get the only 4 Kokes that we landed to take home. Two of them were orange but the meat was firm and had alot of fat in it still. Made for 8 nice fillet's.

 

[gulfstream]

nice going...love the pics...101goodpost101

 

[Targa165]

Thanks Gulfstream, I forgot to mention 1.3 to 1.7 mph seemed to be the right speed. We finally gave up when I had run the electric trolling motor batteries down to the point it wouldn't go any faster than .8 mph. I don't have a kicker and the main motor goes to fast, about 2.3 to 2.5 is the slowest. The power must have been real low since it wouldn't read the GPS speed. It's an i-pilot system that gives the GPS speed on the hand held control. We also have GPS speed on the Lowrance fish finder.

 

[jacksonlaker]

Good report. I'm heading down there this weekend. I have never caught a red kokie. Looks like deeper the better, eh ??

 

[AlreadyGone]

Yes indeed-very nice!

I'm hoping to get back up there on the 27th.

MP

 

[cruiser73]

I am new to the Koke scene and have a question. I am headed to the gorge the end of the month. When the Kokes turn is it still pretty good eatin? I now the ones bwhite and I caught back in July were real good but just wondering?
Thanks
Frank

 

[cruiser73]

Whoops set the hook twice.tooexcited
Thanks
Frank
signfishin

 

[Targa165]

Good report. I'm heading down there this weekend. I have never caught a red kokie. Looks like deeper the better, eh ??

Like I reported, we got all of them at 60 feet off the same RMT pink UV squid and lure jensen 5" dodger running about 1.7 mph on the GPS. We were running stackers at 60' and 45' with the other downrigger at 70' and 55'. We had one hit on an orange uv squid and hyperplad dodger at 55 feet. We also hooked up a nice rainbow at 55'. My wife got it to the boat and we got a good look at it just as it spit the hook. We were marking schools with a wide spred on the depth but the hook ups were at 60. When we were there over the 4th of July we got most of them at 45 feet. Hope it helps and good luck this weekend. We have one more trip planned for Labor Day weekend and that will be it for the Kokes this year.

 

[Targa165]

I am new to the Koke scene and have a question. I am headed to the gorge the end of the month. When the Kokes turn is it still pretty good eatin? I now the ones bwhite and I caught back in July were real good but just wondering?
Thanks
Frank

These looked real good and the red ones had just as much fat marbled in the meat as the others. I'm not sure when they start getting mushy. The bright red one my wife caught is probably the biggest red one we've ever got and I told my wife we should have it mounted. She said no we should have it BBQ'ed.

 

[Targa165]

Yes indeed-very nice!

I'm hoping to get back up there on the 27th.

MP

Thanks AG, Best of Luck when you get back up there. I'll be looking forward to your report. We'll be back over the next weekend, Labor Day, for our last Koke trip of the year.