Lucky Peak Kokes

[Blueback]

Regarding Hoolee 99's comment: LP in years past has been a lot more predictable as far as the depth you could find them at and the areas they could be found this time of year. In 2008, I fished the 1/3 of the reservoir near the dam and had about 5 spots I could regularly find kokes in day in and day out from early June to early July and rarely had to fish anywhere else. I think I had about 23 days in there at that time. This year, nothing seems consistant so far, but I haven't fished since last Sunday.
May have to go check out Deadwood - sounds pretty good. I have never fished Anderson Ranch either. I hear they are small but plentiful in Anderson. Anyone know the avg. size and what the limits are up there?
I also hear that a possible world record koke was taken out of Wallowa Lake in Oregon recently. Anyone hear about that one? Might give LP a shot tonight.

 

[kodiak1]

You are right about the world record. They are waiting for verification. Actually, record after record has been broken this spring. The state record has been broken several times. I, too, have considered a trip over there, realizing the big ones are a long shot. They say the world record is very likely to be broken at least one more time, since there is still lots of time to put on weight. Mike

 

[Kenprice]

Sunday, 20 June 2010 at Lucky Peak

Fishing today was bust. Wind was a royal pain at the dam, up around the bend by the buoy, and at Spring Shores. Didn't see many fish on the FF, not a single hit, bump, let alone an honest strike. Most people were reporting the same on the lake, one boat had hooked up several Rainbows, but no one admitted to any Kokanee. Think it's time for the Kokanee that comes with hops and barley, seasoned with yeast.

Working a boat in the wind with two DRpole setups was more work than it was worth! Wow, I'm pooped.

By the time I pulled in to Turner's Gulch around 2 pm, the waves were white capping in that area, and seemed like the wind was gaining steam. Glad I came home when I did, cause now it's raining and wind is blowing hard.

Live to fish another day...

Ken

 

[kodiak1]

Thanks for your detailed report, Ken. You made my mind up for me, reg. fishing tomorrow. Heading to Magic instead of L.P. Welcome to the site, and hope to hear much more from you---and hopefully about all the kokes you nailed!!! Mike

 

[AverysAdventure]

LP

Hey Guys - Trying to figure out what to do tomorrow? My buddy tells me the dam access has been closed during the week, is that true? Says fishing at Spring Shores has been slow. Said Arrowrock was better a couple days ago. Where should I go? (I'm leaning for CJ crappie but open to anything)

Oh, by the way "hello" all!!!

Thanks,
Rod

 

[kodiak1]

As you can see by my post above, I'm heading to Magic. But, if you check the site you frequently post on, the cousin to this one, Anderson Ranch did well for another poster. Might be worth a try. Mike

 

[AverysAdventure]

**** Heads

All plans cancelled. Some ****head slashed all my buddies tires at Arrowrock. Got word from a friend of a friend that my buddy was stranded and needed help. Drove up to AR and found him between boat ramps with all tires slashed. Yep, all 4 truck tires and both trailer tires. I had extra trailer tires so I got his boat home but his truck is sitting in the sand on rims. If we find the guy - no one else will. WTF is wrong with people? My last day of vaca will be helping my buddy get his truck home - you SOB!!! By the way he did really good on some 3 yr Koks! (they just cost him 3 yrs pay)

 

[Kenprice]

Who does stuff like that??!?!?!? Good Grief, if ya got a beef with someone, leave 'em a note. I'll be keeping my eyes open. I don't frequent AR much, but that doesn't mean the ****heads don't travel around.

Any facts that can be shared, such as suspicious persons, out of place vehicles? Hard to know I know when one is out on the lake. But then, there are a fair number of us here who are out there. Maybe a neighborhood watch of sorts for the lakes?

Ken

 

[sawtooth]

6/23 morning at LP

Was on the water and fishing by 8 am today. Fished near Spring Shores with only a single NPM to the boat. Wind started to pick up around 10, but went to the dam anyway. Wind was pretty intense by the dam. Had a single take down during the two and a half hours of wind busting and decided I would give the crappie and bass a try in one of the coves. Released two smallies, biggest was 13-14 inches. Wind finally let up so I decided to give the kokes one more try before heading home. As I was heading back towards the narrows from the dam, I marked some fish at 20 ft down in the middle of the lake. Dropped the downriggers and within minutes I hooked a fat 15 inch koke. This was at 2 pm in the afternoon with full sun. What those fish were doing at 20-25 feet is beyond me. I made several passes in the next 45 minutes and had five or six takedowns in that time. Unfortunately, my hookup to landing ratio was not real good. By 3 pm the boating traffic was starting to pick up and the action shut down. I picked up and landed one more fish at 35 feet, before calling it a day. I talked with three other boats earlier in the day and none of them had even had a hit. I sure I would have gone home empty handed as well if I hadn't stumbled into those fish on the way to the marina.

 

[BlueBack79]

those are the kind of sob's that make it worth going to jail for a day or two. im a firm believer in what goes around...really goes around. he'll get his one way or another.

 

[Kenprice]

Went to LP last evening (6/23/10), on the water by about 7pm and spent the next 2 hours churning water at the dam.

First time I've done this on a week day evening, and probably the last. Pleasure boating traffic was incredible and the fish were few and far between on the FF. Those that did show were in the 30 - 35 ft band. No takers at all.

This weekend - maybe Arrowrock, or a warm water trip to Brownlee...

 

[RickM]

LP Wind and Boaters

Fished LP several times .... mostly evening. With the wind and the water skiers it has been pretty tough. We fished 25-40 feet, did not see many fish on the fish finder. Perhaps Deadwood, Arrowrock, or Anderson will be better locations for our next trip.

 

[trKOKS]

Sunday 6/27

Just found the site and registered. It is nice to find such a good resource, and see that there are lots of others that enjoy KOK fishing as much as I do. We went up to LP yesterday for the morning bite...fished mostly over by spring shores, and into the narrows. Lots of fish on the finder between 17-25ft...threw multiple setups and depths at them with only a few takedowns. Can't believe LP has not gotten hot yet. We will keep trying though. Any day of fishing is a good day!

 

[kodiak1]

Welcome to the site, trKOKS, and thanks for the report. Yeah, it has to happen soon! Mike

 

[Metal_Detector]

Downrigger Help

I just bought a couple of downriggers and I am interested in fishing for kokes. Was wondering if anyone had some illustrations/directions or anything that would help me get set up. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.

 

[Riverrunner]

Just found this site. I have only fished for koks a few times but just got back from Wallowa Lake. Caught plenty of 10-13 inchers, one that was 19 and weighed over 3lbs. The biggest I caught was 23 inches and 4.5 lbs. Probably the fish of a lifetime for me but I'm hooked. Looking forward to spending some time learning to fish the local fish.

 

[kodiak1]

Metalhead,
I can give you two important bits of advise, one of which just could save your life!!! Don't ever tighten the clutch (drag) on the DR more that what it takes to prevent line from feeding out. People who crank it down and then foul the ball on the bottom can have the rear corner of their boat dropped to below water level. Especially important on smaller boats. Second, make sure you don't slam the ball onto the arm. Amazing how this will begin to take its toll on the cable. I lost two balls in the ocean years ago, not heeding that advice!! I now regularly inspect the cable on the terminal device. Do a google search on downrigger techniques, and you will get lots of good articles. Mike

 

[F-Bomb]

plus....

careful on your DR storage for transport...if you see or feel a kink in the cable reset your gear and eliminate that kink or you will be replacing expensive weights and releases...also a good idea to test your connections at the weight assembly regularly.

(not a bad idea to keep at least one spare replacement weight/release kit on board....we spend a lot of money getting to and fro for fishing plus time is generally limited so it's worth the coin to have a back up right with you...if you fish enough you will lose your DR gear at least once..much more for some of us!) Koks at LP not so much but start chasing bottom dwellers like kings and maks with DR's or fish at Anderson or Arrowrock and you'll hang up a lot.

Everyone has their favorite techniques that work. Here is one that's worn out three boats with semi productivity at LP since the 80's and still my personal favorite. It's clean, easy, and the funnest when you hook up.

Single hook triple teazer flour orange/white medium (if I could only have one lure that would be my pick..any painted pattern combo of that bunch has been consistant at LP...floure green, yellow, and hammer red/silver also work) drug back 30ft from the ball at 2.0-2.7mph. Find the fish on your sonar and run your DR at the bottom of the lowest concentration. At that speed with standard weights you are up a bit. Note..LP fish seem to like total depth of 120ish and we've seen/caught em consistantly at 50-60 feet which has been the 50* zone we suspect. In the spring they don't seem to school in shallower water, once again the thought is looking for a consistant mid 50's thermal where the "experts" say they hang out.

No fish on your sonar means the school is 20 ft minimum and you are dispersing them as you travel over plus you only see minute area and it would be a miracle to consistantly mark fish in that 2ft average swath. No marked fish in known areas, seeing others catching fish, and also remembering that there are millions of them in LP means they are up. Set DR to 10 feet, run your spoon back to 45ft minimum, and get after it. Get a bite or hook a fish and go right back over that spot until you shut them off, move the school out, or catch your limit. The little spoon likes a minimum of 2 mph some swim better and catch better then others. Get a veteran and observe it's pattern so you can mimic it with your other lures. Smells also work as will yellow or white corn on these. Corn sometimes affects the swim action too much and will slow your bite. We usually do half and half until we find the combo. Some days you do...some you don't! (fishing)

So there you have it...probably not the ultimate fishing tech for meat hauling at LP (flasher spinner corn probably is) but it's the funnest and easiest method for consistantly taking the little torpedos.

 

[BlueBack79]

riverrunner, saw your koke on the chicken...that was a brute.

 

[Sluggo]

Fishing Report

With Lucky Peak being "slow" right now, has anyone fished at Strike or Brownlee lately? We are thinking about going and would appreciate any recent reports on crappie fishing. Thanks guys!