The only thing constant in nature is change. These bigger kokanee in Hayden will be short lived and will be replaced by more abundant smaller fish as they fight for food supply in a smaller lake and then it just dies off as all the smaller fish are depleted of a food supply. Then fish and game moves to the next lake to stock after their food supply is depleted. The bite cycle has also changed. You could never catch kokanee in the early spring. it has always been an ice fishing (schooled), mid summer (trolling as the fish disperse when the water warms) fishery. When the weather was hottest was always the best kokanee fishing, not anymore. CDA is not the kokanee fishery it once was, nor is spirit lake, hayden will be next. Ponderay may be the next best hope if you want to go fight the wind and keep your boat pointed in the right direction along with keeping the proper trolling speed. Anyway, very frustrating for a fisherman who used to have no problem having a smoker full of kokanee every weekend in the summer.
we got to the fee ramp at 830 and got lucky to get the last parking spot , there were quite a few boats out but i was expecting more after reading the reports,,,nothing compares to springer fishing on the clearwater so to me was not crowded at all and relaxing fishing, we spoke to quite a few folks and everyone was very friendly and enjoying the weather, - we saw fish caught throughout the day - took us quite a while to figure depth and lure but for us seemed 50'+ and pink or orange hootchie, i put on a a red garlic marshmallow and had 2 fish on in minutes but lost both shortly after downrigger release, who knows if it was just time for them to bite or had anything to do with what it was,,, its interesting to see some boats barely moving and others do laps around you...(no idea why pictures turned themselves sideways) hope to be back for a couple days first week of april....
