Lake Stevens how did it go sat.

[drsca]

Did you guys leave any Kokes for the rest of the summer?

 

[Kokanee-Toni]

Well I certainly did. The boat I was on got 0.

 

[rambler]

I got there at 5 AM and trolled everything in my tackle box. I used every rig combination, tried different depths with the downrigger and different speeds. I got zero fish. I finally packed it in at 12:30. I did see some people catching fish but not many and there was no size to them. I've had good luck catching Kokes in other lakes, so I don't know what the deal was. Also, I didn't catch a single trout, which is unusual. Seemed like a good turnout though! Beat sitting at home on the couch.

 

[Iceshark]

Great forum!
I am a Local on Stevens. Got there at 4am and riggers in by first light. Fished the East bank side. HOTTTTT for an hour. Multiples and so much action that we were like kids in a candy store. Went 7 for 11 in first hour. THEN DEAD! Someone turned off light switch. I have seen this before when lake busy. I dont know if its all the electronics on the water or motors. But fish still rollin, just bite turned off.

I do not know who is saying fish are small. These are amoung the biggest Kokes in WA. Most we caught and have caught this season are 14-16 inch and fat as heck. Might be some of reason they are not on bite as well this year. Full of natural bait in bellys.

Anyway, Fishing was not good for those who got there after 6am. Turned back on alittle right at check in time. Night bite was good again.

If your going to be succesful on this lake. Its not standard wedding rings that put out the most fish. Think out of the box. Think standard Sockeye type setups instead with size 6 hooks. Wink.

Great derby again for the kids. There were lots of no shows for a sold out event. I would say 70% of people buying tickets showed. Counted 100 or so boat at 8am, counted under 40 by noon. Last year was much more boat action.

Great forum! Thanks to those on gamefishin.com for refering me here.
Ice

Pic of my limit ready to put in brine for smoker.Yummy

 

[Smalma]

Welcome aboard Ice!!

You will be a nice addition to our discussions. For those don't kown Iceshark he is a frequent poster on a couple other sites and a Lake Stevens regular.

Clearly he has the Stevens kokanee dialed in. I too consider Stevens to be my home lake but can not come close to matching his ability to catch those nicer kokanee. I agree that the fish have been in great condition but I am struggling to catch those larger fish. In spite of fishing the lake 2 or 3 times a week and consistently catch limits for 4 weeks I have not caught a single 16 inch kokanee and only 3 over 15 inches and would say that the vast majority of my fish have been less than 14 inches long.

I really enjoy experimenting with different approaches to catching those kokanee; in fact on Wednesday I managed to catch a limit on 10 different lures (terminal tackle varied from baited bare hooks to apex lures) yet had only a single fish that was 14 inches long. More experimentation is in order to discovery Ice's sockeye approach.

BTW -
While Stevens consistently produce nice kokanee every year there are usually 2 or 3 lakes on the west side of the state the produce as large fish. And several on the east side that consistently produce much larger kokanee.

tight lines
Curt

 

[Kokonuts]

Lake Stevens Derby

I fished the Derby on Sat. with Kent Cannon and while we were having many "Adventures" catching Kokanee was not on the list!! laugh hyst

We had 1 on Fri. & 1 on Sat. But I wont say who caught them. whistlersmother ! ! Both were about 14" and fat.

Thats about it , Kokonuts 101chromefish101

 

[kokenut1]

I too was there on Sat. with grandson. he caught a nice 14" around 6:00 and that was it for the day. haven't dialed in the lake yet this year but I haven't given up either. Great derby, lots of fun

 

[KOK head]

I was there as well. On the lake by 5:00am with my 12yr old and 7yr old. We boated 6 fish total. Some were nice, chunky koks; all fish took a dodger/wedding ring set up, @ 10ft off the DR's, with 20 - 25 pulls back. Our speed was 1.3 - 1.5 mph. My 12yr old won 4th. My 7yr old won 7th... and I came in 30th! LOL! As always, great times on the water. This was our first derby so far and a great event. We are excited for next year and to make this a new tradition. We went to American today, 5/22/11 and my 12yr old and I brought our limit of koks home. Same gear as always; 20ft down off the DR's and 1.3 - 1.5 mph. All fish are 13 to 14 inches and thick. We lost about 8 before boating those, due to them jumping out of the water and spitting the hook...slippery little suckers. Yet, a good day on American!

 

[Kokonuts]

Kent & I were among the first on the water, around 4:00 in the dark! The first & only fish came at first light and we used most of the dodgers & lures from 2 very large tackle boxes!! laugh hyst
I would like a little more info on the gear that caught some fish just in case I make the trip up again!!

Thanks, Kokonuts worthy12

 

[GURU]

Welcome aboard Ice!!

You will be a nice addition to our discussions. For those don't kown Iceshark he is a frequent poster on a couple other sites and a Lake Stevens regular.

Clearly he has the Stevens kokanee dialed in. I too consider Stevens to be my home lake but can not come close to matching his ability to catch those nicer kokanee. I agree that the fish have been in great condition but I am struggling to catch those larger fish. In spite of fishing the lake 2 or 3 times a week and consistently catch limits for 4 weeks I have not caught a single 16 inch kokanee and only 3 over 15 inches and would say that the vast majority of my fish have been less than 14 inches long.

I really enjoy experimenting with different approaches to catching those kokanee; in fact on Wednesday I managed to catch a limit on 10 different lures (terminal tackle varied from baited bare hooks to apex lures) yet had only a single fish that was 14 inches long. More experimentation is in order to discovery Ice's sockeye approach.

BTW -
While Stevens consistently produce nice kokanee every year there are usually 2 or 3 lakes on the west side of the state the produce as large fish. And several on the east side that consistently produce much larger kokanee.

tight lines
Curt

I agree completely with this, Iceshark is a very stand up guy, and will have lot's of insight for this board thumbsup. It has been hard to get the big ones to bite, we ended up only getting one fish at first light that in the end put my buddy mike at 11th place @ 1.06# and i almost won the 500 for the biggest trout with a 1# fish, lol...

 

[Cannon]

Kokonuts and I had a great time although as he stated, we got our butt's handed to us. I have been excited about getting up and fishing this derby since I heard about it last year. You guys have a great group of people and everyone was friendly and courteous. This was my first trip to Washington this year and I am sure it won't be my last.
It was a pretty short bite, and being new to the lake, we had to hunt hard for the fish that we did get. I always say, next time...
Till then, come on down to Oregon and fish one or all of our derbies down here. The next one is at Green Peter near Sweet Home. The fish are large and plentiful although like everywhere else, it has been a late spring and things are just now getting rolling. By derby day it should be lights out fishing! There is info on my site if you are interested about all of the kokanee derbies that we put on.

 

[mdbobber]

Son and daughter-in-law out on Sat. She took the big prize. 19", 1.61 lbs. 15 fish to the boat. Bite from 5 till around 6:15 then you had to hunt. Out today Mon.5/23. Wedding rings on the rods. Done by 7 with 8 in the boat and 6 released or lost.

 

[Cannon]

Here is my buddy kokonuts with the catch of the day. Note the Vance's dodger and the pink hoochie. All I can say is fish on!

 

[MackPrince]

Here is my buddy kokonuts with the catch of the day. Note the Vance's dodger and the pink hoochie. All I can say is fish on!

Fresh salad to go with the fish101notworthy2101

 

[Kokonuts]

Wait.... Thats the wrong Picture!! laugh hyst Kent now you can show them the one with the fish, I double dare you to post it!!!! nananana

Kokonuts

 

[kokenut1]

It sounds like mdbobber has it down. Can you give us more info on how your doing it. Maybe a picture of your rigging?

 

[ondarvr]

First post here.

It was a good event, I enjoyed it.

We landed plenty of fish, but none were big enough to place well in either the single or 10 fish categories. The lake has been a little slower than normal this year with the occasional really good day thrown in.

It didn't seem to matter what the depth was or the offering, we hit fish flat lining and deep within minutes of each other, plus everything put in the water had hits.

 

[Cannon]

Wait.... Thats the wrong Picture!! laugh hyst Kent now you can show them the one with the fish, I double dare you to post it!!!! nananana
Kokonuts

What photo, as far as the fish, I ate it 101ok101

 

[Kokonuts]

Was it a "Crowd Pleaser" ?

Kokonuts

 

[drsca]

Thanks for all the great info.
Sounds like some of us got it some dont I dont I was there Wed. for one fish didnt get there till 7:30Am. I will try 4 am next time.
What boat ramp can I use that early.