Merwin 2014 Post it here!
- Thread starter Mudinchev
- Start date
Help Support Kokanee Fishing Forums:
Kokanee-Toni
Well-known member
If one were to try Merwin how deep would they go to find fish?
Mudinchev
Well-known member
Haven't been up there since new years day so I really don't know. Water temp was in the mid 40's but my top lines picked up 0 fish everything was still coming at 15-30 feet. That is where we will start again on our next trip.
old guy jess
Member
Looking forward to my first trip of 2014 to Merwin next week.
Has any one been up there recently? I'm wondering about debris on the water specifically and of course any tips/comments about fishing conditions, where, what's working (or not working) would be appreciated.
I'll let ya know what I find/catch on a future post.
Has any one been up there recently? I'm wondering about debris on the water specifically and of course any tips/comments about fishing conditions, where, what's working (or not working) would be appreciated.
I'll let ya know what I find/catch on a future post.
Try and start trolling a depths between 20 and 30 ft. Fish are not schooled up for the most point (few small schools) so watch fish finder and then adjust. Troll around 1.2 mph (GPS) and try your favorite luers. As you probably know pink always produces 
. I will be out there Saturday! Good luck!
. I will be out there Saturday! Good luck!
old guy jess
Member
Good luck on Saturday.
Let me know about the amount of debris you see and what works for you.
I attended a kokanee seminar last night put on by a local guide and he's advocating:
70 to 120 feet behind the boat and no weight at all for this early in the year. The fish are on top, so you probably won't see anything on the chart except pike minnow (squaw fish). Sling blade and hootchie of your choice, with corn of course. Fish the upper part of the reservoir. Move down toward the dam as the water warms up later in the season. Start using the down riggers then.
It'll be interesting to see if he knows what he's talking about.
Let me know about the amount of debris you see and what works for you.
I attended a kokanee seminar last night put on by a local guide and he's advocating:
70 to 120 feet behind the boat and no weight at all for this early in the year. The fish are on top, so you probably won't see anything on the chart except pike minnow (squaw fish). Sling blade and hootchie of your choice, with corn of course. Fish the upper part of the reservoir. Move down toward the dam as the water warms up later in the season. Start using the down riggers then.
It'll be interesting to see if he knows what he's talking about.
Mudinchev
Well-known member
101ok101 If its Cameron Black you listened to.....then YES....He knows what he is doing on Merwin. I have seen him have 120 fish days. In my opinion his advice is spot on for the most part, with the water temps cool/cold like they are I would expect it to be EXACTLY like he says (Fish the top 10 feet of water) how ever this fall (and I dont know why) water temps were in the mid 40's from the surface all the way down past 80 feet, the only biters I could find were in the 20-30 foot range, I would expect them to be closer to the surface. What I am getting at is if you have been dragging everything you have in your tackle box around on the surface for a hours with little to no success don't be afraid to try deeper.
Here is a video he did this last November, and he took my son Shawn along with him (lucky little bugger I had to work 101blah101 ). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIIVFWoZiQY
rainORsnow1
Well-known member
Cameron black most definitely knows what he's talking about. He's a hell of a salmon/steel guide as well.
I've seen both his Mersin episodes from angler west and the guy is a talented koke fisherman IMO.
Mudinchev, I saw that episode with your son. That is one lucky kid!
I've seen both his Mersin episodes from angler west and the guy is a talented koke fisherman IMO.
Mudinchev, I saw that episode with your son. That is one lucky kid!
old guy jess
Member
Yeah, it was Cameron.
Now I'm really looking forward to bustin' my 2014 cherry.
He did say to start on top and add a half ounce (or more) to get down a little deeper if necessary. Didn't think D/R's would be necessary til later in the year.
Going to go out there and follow his advice!
BTW: Great vid - he is a lucky kid!
Now I'm really looking forward to bustin' my 2014 cherry.
He did say to start on top and add a half ounce (or more) to get down a little deeper if necessary. Didn't think D/R's would be necessary til later in the year.
Going to go out there and follow his advice!
BTW: Great vid - he is a lucky kid!
Mudinchev
Well-known member
D/R's are definitely not necessary but since I have them I use them, it give me a lot more control to keep my gear spread out, also sling blade dodgers will tend to plane out on the surface depending on what you have behind them if you have no weight. I will sometimes run them with the line clip just under the surface to prevent that. (Word of caution make sure you are deep enough to CLEAR YOU KICKER in a turn). The biggest draw back to using down riggers for me this time of year is not getting to see that rod slamming TAKE DOWN that I love so much. Good luck out there and make sure to follow Shawn's advice in the video about leader length, that is the single BIGGEST mistake people make with hoochies, they leave the leader too long. IMO too short is better than too long a 4" leader will still probably catch fish, a 14" leader on a hoochie good luck.
Sat. 2/22
I swung into the parking lot to take a look see at Merwin on my way to Yale Saturday and the parking lot was 3/4's of the way full. Hmmm nobody's talking nananana
At yale one boat was taking out when I pulled in and no one else there. I made my usual circle with one rod each at 10, 15, 20 and 30 feet down on the wire and never saw a wiggle where I'd expect to have 7-9 fish in the boat in the same circle made. So bagged it and headed back in.
I swung into the parking lot to take a look see at Merwin on my way to Yale Saturday and the parking lot was 3/4's of the way full. Hmmm nobody's talking nananana
At yale one boat was taking out when I pulled in and no one else there. I made my usual circle with one rod each at 10, 15, 20 and 30 feet down on the wire and never saw a wiggle where I'd expect to have 7-9 fish in the boat in the same circle made. So bagged it and headed back in.
old guy jess
Member
Hit Merwin about 7:30 yesterday morning. There were 4 or 5 others there before us. The wind kicked up almost immediately. 12" to 18" chop at times. Pretty rough for Merwin. We went straight out from Speelyai, about 300 yards from the south shore and headed downstream.
Earlier, I commented that I had attended on of Cameron Black's seminars... thumbsup one of the things he mentioned (something I hadn't heard before) was that sometimes it makes a difference what direction you are trolling.
The thing that Cameron mentioned about the direction of the troll was surely confirmed in my mind. We only caught fish trolling with the current and with the wind. It didn't seem to make a difference as to what particular setup I had in the water. When we went back through the same water against the current and wind, right back through where I caught fish earlier, I got zip, nada, zilch.
I caught only 3, got 2 in the boat. The first one took a look at the net and said "hell no"! We where long lining (about 100 feet back) with a half ounce weight, a sling blade, a hootchie and corn scented with "carp spit".
We gave it up about 1:30 as too windy. A beautiful day, but just too much wind!
BTW: WDFW was there checking boats and catches.
Earlier, I commented that I had attended on of Cameron Black's seminars... thumbsup one of the things he mentioned (something I hadn't heard before) was that sometimes it makes a difference what direction you are trolling.
The thing that Cameron mentioned about the direction of the troll was surely confirmed in my mind. We only caught fish trolling with the current and with the wind. It didn't seem to make a difference as to what particular setup I had in the water. When we went back through the same water against the current and wind, right back through where I caught fish earlier, I got zip, nada, zilch.
I caught only 3, got 2 in the boat. The first one took a look at the net and said "hell no"! We where long lining (about 100 feet back) with a half ounce weight, a sling blade, a hootchie and corn scented with "carp spit".
We gave it up about 1:30 as too windy. A beautiful day, but just too much wind!
BTW: WDFW was there checking boats and catches.
Had a great day at Merwin with my good buddy Fife. We put 11 nice Kokes in the box and let one lil one go ( not to mention lost a bunch!) Best action was between noon and two, long lines and on riggers. Depth on rigger was 10' and long lines were no weight and 100' back. They seem to like green over pink, however did get on both colors.
steelheadslayer
Member
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2011
- Messages
- 12
Launched at 7:00 and got our first bite after ten. They hit pink hoochies behind pink splatter dodgers, green, pink and red wedding rings behind gang trolls. Kokanee killer scented corn was favorable. Longlined at 30-100' back, no downriggers. Put our 30 in the boat but it wasn't soon enough to not get soaking wet. I need new raingear........
Mudinchev
Well-known member
Weird Day but GOOD day
The day didn't go at all as I expected. We started fishing just after 8, worked the upper end of the lake for a while and then decided to start checking out other areas, Woodland Park was just as dead so we figured we might as well do a little beach combing in a place I call the stump farm seeing as how the fish were not cooperating and the lake is WAY Down. We found some interesting things, lots of old rotten gear a few newer things, a few things that make you scratch your head like a dodger with a 6oz weight clipped to one end (Kind of kills the action lol 101duh101). A custom dodger and lure that I recognized, a Richard aka Kokanuts special (sent him a picture and confirmed it) A stump that claims many props and out drives every year, these are just a few of the blades we found laying around it, the white one is buried into the wood. After all that fun we worked our way even farther toward the dam where there was at least a dozen other boats working an area and what do you know....FISH ON!! And not just one or two, it was on fire, Our first loop threw we had doubles, tipples and even a quadruple (we even landed all of them tooexcited). We had our 20 fish in a little over 2 hours after first fish! Orange and gold sling blades pink hoochies tipped with corn was the best producer. Definitely didn't need the down riggers but it helps keep everything separated at 5-10 feet deep.
The day didn't go at all as I expected. We started fishing just after 8, worked the upper end of the lake for a while and then decided to start checking out other areas, Woodland Park was just as dead so we figured we might as well do a little beach combing in a place I call the stump farm seeing as how the fish were not cooperating and the lake is WAY Down. We found some interesting things, lots of old rotten gear a few newer things, a few things that make you scratch your head like a dodger with a 6oz weight clipped to one end (Kind of kills the action lol 101duh101). A custom dodger and lure that I recognized, a Richard aka Kokanuts special (sent him a picture and confirmed it) A stump that claims many props and out drives every year, these are just a few of the blades we found laying around it, the white one is buried into the wood. After all that fun we worked our way even farther toward the dam where there was at least a dozen other boats working an area and what do you know....FISH ON!! And not just one or two, it was on fire, Our first loop threw we had doubles, tipples and even a quadruple (we even landed all of them tooexcited). We had our 20 fish in a little over 2 hours after first fish! Orange and gold sling blades pink hoochies tipped with corn was the best producer. Definitely didn't need the down riggers but it helps keep everything separated at 5-10 feet deep.
Attachments
Strike Zone
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2012
- Messages
- 76
Mudinchev:
Awesome pictures. Never realized the lake was that low. Sounds like the lake came alive finally for you. Great.
Denny
GET THE NET
Awesome pictures. Never realized the lake was that low. Sounds like the lake came alive finally for you. Great.
Denny
GET THE NET
downriggeral
Well-known member
Looks like that stump needs a warning float! Great job on the kokes. Things are just warming up in Eastern WA; caught a limit of nice fat rainbowes Friday at Roosevelt. Alan
Mudinchev
Well-known member
Ok last trip until they put a little bit of water back into the mud puddle. We got in the water ok but getting out was a little tricky it took a few runs to get out. They must be expecting a lot of water in the near future to drain it down this far. Just for reference this is approximately 14-15' below full pool, picture was taken when we launched and when we loaded I had to have the tires off the slab to get the same amount of trailer in the water. Here is another picture to give everyone an idea of just how far the "stump farm" goes out into the lake this is from the west looking east, I agree they need to have a couple of shallow water buoys out there. Luckily the fish were where we left them yesterday and they were still willing to play. We got a couple of solid 14"ers today as well, I can see some 16" plus fish being caught this summer! thumbsup
Here is a link to the water levels for all 3 reservoirs : http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/total_forecast/getprod.php?wfo=pqr&sid=PQR&pil=RVM
Here is a link to the water levels for all 3 reservoirs : http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/total_forecast/getprod.php?wfo=pqr&sid=PQR&pil=RVM
Attachments
Last edited:
