Hello!!

[xtrema44]

Hello Everyone, I am thinking of trying Kokanee fishing for my fishing buddy (6yr old daughter). We do the Columbia Sturgeon,salmon,steelhead,shad,catfish and walleye. We also like to hit the lakes and ponds for trout but just have never got into Kokanee. I am looking at buying a smoker craft lodge that's all set up but not sure which route to go for Kokanee? I have a 21' NW jet lightning with jet and kicker we use on the Columbia. The closet lake we have for kokanee is Wallowa Lake. I have always been afraid I would love it and become addicted!!101ok101 Any help would be great like I said I am new and need input on all parts. Gear wise I just picked up two White Lami tournament Kokanee rods and the daughter a PINK Okuma SST I have a few lami's for salmon and all the river fishing. I have a couple okuma cold water lc reels setting around but would like to know what you folks recommend? I will have downriggers not sure which ones yet. I am looking forward to any and all input..
Thank You

 

[carlz]

in terms of downriggers I have Canon's with electric power and love them. The best part is after the rod goes off, all you do is push the button and up they come and stop at the preset level. You can concentrate on the fish. One of the key items is the downrigger release, and there are a variety of options, but due to my lack of experience, I will let someone else chime in. Welcome to the board and tight lines.

Carl

 

[xtrema44]

Thank You Carl, the boat I am looking at picking up had power ones on it but he kept them. The dealer is willing to put Scotty's power ones back on for a price of course.. I am not sure which ones they were but I think they were asking 400 a pop for them. IDK if that's a good price or not?

 

[SuperDaveMT]

There is lots of information on this site on every aspect of kokanee fishing. You can use the search feature toward the top of the right hand side of the page for any subject you are wondering about. Here is a thread on downrigger releases. http://www.kokaneefishingforum.com/fishing-forums/showthread.php?121-Downrigger-Releases/page2 I'm a fan of the chamberlain releases - you can set them for every thing from 12" kokes to 40# kings and they release reliably. I picked up an electric cannon rigger for about $150 on EBay. It's always a crap shoot with used stuff, but I'm going on 4 years on mine.

 

[liketrolling]

You may need to buy some different releases to see what you like. I like the big Scotty release.
the kind of rods you use is a big dill.
look for a PM

 

[Lund troller]

I have Scotty downriggers and love them really easy to use. Welcome to the Kokanee world and have fun

 

[xtrema44]

Thank you guys, I also was wondering about electronics it has a new Lowrance Hook-5 on it how good are they? I have a Lowrance LMS-337C on my other boat and it has been a good one.

 

[Bduck]

101welcomw xtrema44, the fishing world is vast with a lot of exciting ideas. Its starts with your style of boat and how you equip it. Recommend you try the different electric downriggers on other boats to find which ones feel comfortable to your touch in operation. A good portion of us who fish for kokanee use ultralite rods/reels and there are plenty out there that will serve your purpose such as Vance's spiral wrap, Velocity from Rocky Mountain tackle as well as those on the shelf at the local sports stores, lengths vary from 7'-9.5'. Electronics is the world that changes daily with fishfinders/GPS units. This area requires a lot of homework to fit with budget and type of fishing. Some stores such as Cabelas have hands on with their electronic displays. There are many little things that will keep you busy building your ultimate fishing machine such as landing net and handle length, DR releases, learning to stack on a DR, and many other ideas that can be implemented.

 

[xtrema44]

Thank You.. I am kinda stuck with the downriggers because they came on the boat but they were new never used they are the Scotty's 1106's? I had them switch out the Hook5 for a Elite-7 CHIRP.