Locating early season koks

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SilverBullets

SilverBullets

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Where I fish, early in the season I've had trouble seeing koks on the finder. I realize they're up higher in the water column at this time, and wonder if I'm not seeing alot on the fishfinder because they spread out due to the boat/motor. We don't have any trouble catching them, seeing them is a different story. Going to a wider cone angle (quadrabeam transducer) helped some. It always amazes me that early season the lake seems void of fish, but by mid season to the end, they're all over the screen. I know they school up later, but it seems like more would appear on the finder spread out early in the year. What's going on?
 
Not only are they shallow in many lakes early, but they are in shallow water as well. In Wickiup early in the year they are in 10 to 12 feet of water. It is hard to mark them to boot. However, at Lake Billy Chinook, you can find lots of kokanee schooled up, so it seems to be lake dependent.
 
we fisherman on the east coast catch them 2ft under the ice over 35 to 40 fow but once the ice goes out usually early to mid march they scatter all over the water colum following the plankton.
 
Since kokanee like certain temperatures, early in the season at this particular lake they could possibly be in the shallower water. There are a couple bays that they might prefer, in addition to being near the surface. We generally troll the middle, but will check out the bays this year. This lake is at an elevation of 6,330 feet, and is in the caldera of a volcanic area. The mountain rim still stands, overlooking the lake at an elevation of 7,998 feet.
 
I'm heading to Flaming Gorge the second week in Feb. Would you all suggest 'downrigging' for the shallow Koke's in the backs of bays? In reading some threads, I understand the line will need to be back 100 to 200feet behind the boat. Seems like just draggin a dodger and apex could be best accomplished without downrigging. Stacking for winter Koke's would seem problematic unless in open water. Maybe go a little deeper in hopes of a Laker, while leaving a long ling for the Koke's. Suggestions?
 
I'm heading to Flaming Gorge the second week in Feb. Would you all suggest 'downrigging' for the shallow Koke's in the backs of bays? . Suggestions?


You need to do some research on flaming gorge. Most of the lake is under ice this time of year.Makes downrigging real hard. We wont have any open water til about the end of march first of April.
 
Utah's DWR is 'currently' reflecting all Utah boat ramps are open (1-29). I guess you never know for sure though. I did read a fishing report where someone put in a boat at either at Mustand or Cedar Springs recently. The weather in Manila is supposed to be around 40, at least for the 10 day forecast.
 
There is Ice clear down as far as Sheep creek. The weather plays a major role. If you go down to cedar, You should be able to get on by then for sure. Possibly up as far as Lucerne depending on the weather. I would highly recomend watching this site and checking in before you go. One of us could find out for sure from friends in town (manila) and let you now if you can get a boat on the water. Personally, I would wait for a while and come up here around May to downrig kokes on the gorge.
 
Me and my dad have made a spring trip for the last five years on the last weekend of April. The kokanee fishing for us that early in the year has been tough and the weather changes rapidly but persistance has never let us down and we have always left with our limits of little spring kokes. We usually use downriggers and have caught them in over 150' of water to 15' of water and never a specific depth the fish seemed to be scattered but we do end up finding tight knit groups of fish and hammer a few fish out of it, then back to the search. I would plan on 2 or 3 days of fishing to match a single morning of good summer kokanne fishing. That has been my experience but there is always someone on the lake who will outfish ya. Try planer boards too .
 
on Blue Mesa after ice out I usally have a problem , but it is called mac fever :). If I get sick of mac fishing I will go after kokes for dinner, yup allot of time they are in that top 10' of water and allmost impossible to see on the locator, not enough cone angle and I think they spook from the boat when that shallow. It is funny because most people don't start koke fishing until June, I even had a creel survey gal tell me you cannot catch them early (while she was checking my 10 fish limit ). I do allot of looking around for macs and once in a while I find this, this is kokes right after ice out stacked up against an island.
P1010005.jpg
 
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That is a real interesting ff picture. Is that 39.6 degrees the surface temp? Kinda makes you wonder what the temp is at 40' and down at 80'. Since kokanee supposibly like a comfort zone much warmer, what would drive them that deep so early. Do the plankton blooms start right after ice-off? HiTechKoke's remark of security in numbers might be dead on, as staying safe from predator fish could also explain this.
In the summer I troll mostly towards the middle of the lake targeting suspended schools, but have noticed alot of koks like to hang along the edge of drop-offs. Where I fish, there is a cone out in 250' of water that comes up to 70' below the surface. Last season I passed over it and there must have been a thousand kokanee right on top of it....good place to stop and jig!
 
Phytoplankton growth should be temperature dependent and very slow at ice out. In some lakes Kokanee target aquatic insects early in the season. I have noticed that worms are much more effective early in the season. It is also possible that the shallow areas warms sooner and have somewhat higher phytoplankton levels. I have also noticed that Kokanee like to hang on the edges of a drop-off. I wondered if there are underwater eddies that cause phytoplankton to collected.
 
Silver Bullets said:
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In the summer I troll mostly towards the middle of the lake targeting suspended schools, but have noticed alot of koks like to hang along the edge of drop-offs. Where I fish, there is a cone out in 250' of water that comes up to 70' below the surface. Last season I passed over it and there must have been a thousand kokanee right on top of it....good place to stop and jig!
Click to expand...

Definitely if you are looking for Kokes and not finding them in open water you SHOULD be looking around structure, whether that is underwater islands / coves / underwater trees / right close to shore. A lot of the bigger fish I caught and that were caught in a lot derbies came off of structure areas. A lot of us Kalyfornia guys rely on those Lowrance / Navionics maps to locate lake structures to check out.

In addition to structure know the prevailing wind direction on the lake you fish and in particular within the last few days leading up to your fishing as the food chain of plankton etc is going to tend to get blown to the windward side at a lot of lakes so give that a shot too. Just more stuff to consider.

Kevin
 

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