Kokanee Rod - don't "need" a new one, but...

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Last year I made a jigging rod for Kokanee. I used a St. Croix SC 1V graphite 3 wt. 2 piece fly rod 6'6" (blank wt. was .7 oz) and put on minima guides and a skeleton spinning reel seat. Wt. of finished rod is 1.9 oz and I use an UL Pflueger reel (5 oz.) and use 1 lb braid. The rod is like a feather in your hand and is good for jigging but probably not DR. I also caught some large lake trout on that rod jigging for Kokanee that put up a great fight. 1/2 oz. Zzinger/buzz bombs are the heaviest jigs that I use.
 
I went to the Portland Sportsman's Show last weekend and you guessed it......came home with a new rod, imagine that! Bought one from Crystal Basin Tackle. Took it fishing today: great rod for sure. You can read my post on Hayden lake for today.
 
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Kokaholic said:
Go checkout the rods and reels that Velocity Fishing international will have at the Portland show. You will not be disappointed.
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I'm waiting for the Salt Lake show, I will talk to you there, but I have had my eye on that, Daiwa Accudepth Low Profile Linecounter reel and the Velocity 7'9" Elite Blue Glass Rod
 
liketrolling said:
I'm waiting for the Salt Lake show, I will talk to you there, but I have had my eye on that, Daiwa Accudepth Low Profile Linecounter reel and the Velocity 7'9" Elite Blue Glass Rod
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Try not to wet yourself when you get it in your hands, that's a great set up!!!
 
SuperD said:
Try not to wet yourself when you get it in your hands, that's a great set up!!!
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What line did you put on your Daiwa Accudepth Low Profile Linecounter reel.
I like P-Line Fluorocarbon are Floroclear.
I read where the linecounter was set up for 10lb test. Is the line counter hard to set up? I have tried to find somthing on You tube but can't find anything.
 
liketrolling said:
What line did you put on your Daiwa Accudepth Low Profile Linecounter reel.
I like P-Line Fluorocarbon are Floroclear.
I read where the linecounter was set up for 10lb test. Is the line counter hard to set up? I have tried to find somthing on You tube but can't find anything.
Click to expand...
I use Big Game 10 lbs test line on all my trout & Koke reels. I add fluorocarbon leaders if chasing line shy fish. The reel instructions read like it is a computer but I don't intend to do all that programming. It didn't seem hard to zero out which is the only thing that I think I'd use frequently.
 
I will have to second or third the thumbsup on the Tica rods. Use them for both long lining and down rigger fishing. The ultra-light tip and slow action seems to work and for $65, they are tough to beat.
 
I'm a kokanee rookie. I have caught a few but not many. I want to target them more seriously this year in Utah. I have plenty of spinning gear and trolling gear for everything else. But I don't have any light/ultra light gear for kokanee like most seem to prefer. So I am wondering about getting more gear. A guy can never have to much gear right? Said no wife ever. So I am going nuts trying to decide what to get. Trolling vs spinning setups, glass vs graphite, light vs ultra light, line counter vs baitcaster vs round reel type like Tica or Calcutta. I can't see spending over a 100 dollar bill for a rod or reel and I would like to stay away from China made products if possible. Where are the lamiglas, ticas, velocity and okuma stuff made? Any warranties on the nicer rods? Thanks for any help. Going to order my second downrigger soon and looking to order up some gear here shortly. Thanks for any and all opinions and insight.
 
It goes without saying that finding a sub-$100 rod and reel combo not made in China is impossible. Tica, low-end Lamaglass, etc. are all Chinese, staying sub-$300 is possible…

That said, you can search Ebay for an old Fenwick rod (blank (or FS 75)) and build a nice rod and pick up an Ambassador 5000 reel if you don’t want Chinese/Taiwan made.

I use Tica’s with Ambassador 5000’s and will be switching to their Kokanee special reels just to save the finish in my Abu’s.
 
Get a Diawa spinmatic, my guess is they are made in China, so if that upsets you then prepare to pay more for American made rod. The spinmatic is a great trolling down rigger rod for kokes and very reasonably priced. Look at a pawn shop for some older Abu reels. I lucked into a couple older models made in Sweden, so again not American, for like $40/each. Great little reels. With that setup you are under $80 for what I consider to be a fantastic koke trolling setup.
 
I don't know who started this thread, but it's sure cost me a LOT of money!!!tooexcited SuperD got me going on the Lamiglass rods, bought, for simplicity on not remembering the exact JJ type info, the red one and white one. I'm quite happy with them. My wife has the Okuma SST Kokanee rod and has had it for about 3 years now and it's a very nice rod for the money (around $59 - I actually just bought one of those rods a few weeks ago too, for our "guest rod")

Since I'm OUT OF CONTROL right now, I also just bought a new walleye rod this last week - broke it in yesterday on a banner day!!! (like the rod)
 
I pickedup the Cabelas IM6 pro Kokanee rod 7'-6" ($49) and the Cabelas depthmaster III 15 reel on sale ($39 reg. 59) 2 weeks ago and am very happy with it. Infact the wife liked it well enough she told me to go get a second. :)
 
I started with the Lamiglass Jared Johnson 7'6" (red) and I like it. I've looked at the 8" (white) rods in the same brand and like the little bit more backbone that it offers. I also have a 7'6" and 8' St. Croix Kokanee rods that has a similar slow tip but a little more backbone again. I find myself using the St Croix rods most of the time.
I always troll with downriggers and never pull flashers , only dodgers or fish flash.
 
Yeah, thanks guys, I too have been printing more greenbacks lately to outfit the new to me boat. I've picked up 3 new ($43 each) & traded (2) 12# DR weights) for a good used Lamiglas CG 7' rods that I paired with my Abu 5500' s & 5501's.

Although the Abu's feel way too heavy on these lightweight rods I'll probably look for lighter reels later on.
 
STLHDR said:
Yeah, thanks guys, I too have been printing more greenbacks lately to outfit the new to me boat. I've picked up 3 new ($43 each) & traded (2) 12# DR weights) for a good used Lamiglas CG 7' rods that I paired with my Abu 5500' s & 5501's.

Although the Abu's feel way too heavy on these lightweight rods I'll probably look for lighter reels later on.
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I am pretty happy with my Abu 5000’s.

I purchased two of the new Tica KT100 Kokanee reels and took one back. There are, in my mind, pro’s and con’s to these reels:

Pro’s

• Light weight
• Clicker
• Holds enough 10-12# for any Kok’s
• Good drag
• Star drag has positive detents

Con’s

• Stationary level wind when letting out line (narrow spool so it is not too much of an issue unless you count using the level wind mechanism)
• Quiet clicker (way too quiet)

For me, the con’s outweighed the pro’s.

Of late I have been using 60’s era Red Ambassador 5000B’s (B=Buzzer). I have taken them apart, cleaned and lubed them, and replaced the drags with carbon coated with Cal’s purple grease. I put a black bobber stop at 80’ and a red one at 100’ and don’t worry about counters that are never accurate anyway.
 
well I spent most of this morning changing out all the line from years past on the Abu's and putting on fresh 12 pound Izorline.
I think I'm ready for Summit lake this weekend.
Oh and forgot to mention that a clicker is worthless to me as I'm deaf in one ear and can't hear squat in the other..... Unless I can find some way to have the fish alarm on the rod holder text me on my dumb phone while it is set to vibrate.... yeah, that's the ticket!!!!!


Kokanee rods 2.jpg
 
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