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JoAnn and I made our annual trip down to Merwin to target the kokanee this weekend. We fished from Saturday to Monday morning. The weather started out rainy on Saturday , improved on Sunday, and was beautiful on Monday. Regardless of rain or sun, Merwin is a beautiful place to visit and fish.

Saturday we had lines in by 8am after driving from Redmond at 4am. We started across from the boat launch and it was a slow first two hours, hitting a couple pike minnows. We were fishing four rods, running the starboard side with mealworms and the port side with small pieces of shrimp. Initially we ran hoochies and wedding rings and simple sling blades or dodgers. On the outside rods we ran Luhr Jensen Double D dodgers, the smaller ones.

After having little success we ran up to the dam and started fishing this area, working back down lake. We started hitting fish on a consistent pace at the dam. For the next couple hours we worked the dam area and had eight nice fish. The fish this year come in two classes, 10-11” and 13-14”. Running four rods allowed us to cover prime water column spots. Most fish I saw were 25-60 feet deep. Our best success were with the Double D’s at 25-35 feet and a pink mini hoochie at 40 feet. Also, I rigged up a bit more bling on my inside deep rods, running a sling blade slightly bent for extra action, then two feet to a small hammered thin blade salmon lure, then 8-10” to a hoochie. I notice a lot of guys use cow bells on this lake. I am loath to use cow bells. I know they catch fish, but I enjoy having some sport and will sacrifice numbers for enjoyment. That said, on our second day I compared our catch to someone running cow bells, and we compared much better, the other person had a bunch of 9-10” fish and we had a 60/40 ratio of 13-14” to 10-11”. Anyway, day one we called it a day around 4pm, and had 13 nice bright kokanee in the boat, mostly the bigger 13-14” fish.

Sunday dawned less rainy and I ran us right up the dam at 6am, lines down and gear fishing. To my dismay, my kicker motor started running rough, which improved when I opened the choke, but still the motor just kept dying until – it was gone. Great, now I have only one option, to troll with my main motor, which I hate doing for salmon and already know I will really hate for kokanee. Getting a 120hp motor to troll down to 1.2 mph is impossible. I threw out a sea anchor and managed to get us to 1.5-1.9. I don’t know but maybe the kokanee liked the faster troll, at least, they certainly didn’t mind. We started hitting fish very consistently at 7am and had a super bite that lasted an hour and a half, boating nine fish. The golden depth was the 40 foot deep rod running my homemade micro pink hoochie/spinner. That rod had steady action. The rod I ran at 50-55 feet, even though there were fish marking, got just one fish. The Double D rods I switched to a small thin blade lure I got at the Portland show, a “Baby Simon”. I ran these with one piece of corn and both rods produced well. The Baby Simons were pink, and the second was a yellow/ornage. The pink was the better of the two lures.

One thing I want to mention - we got a lot of fish this trip on the retrieve. When it was time to check/change bait I would release the line and let the gear slowly drift up. I would say we got at least ten fish this way. I am so sold on NEVER reeling in a kokanee rig, let it drift up. You’ll be pleased with the results!

Day two ended again around 4pm, this time we caught 16 fish. Again, probably 60/40 big fish versus small guys. At this point we are up to 29 fish over our first two days, well within sight of a possession limit of forty fish for two anglers (WDFW allow you to have a two days’ worth of limits in your possession). We retired to our RV spot, watch a movie in our cuddy and asleep by ten. Monday morning here we come!

OK, 11 fish to go. Back up to the dam and I figure if we have another bite like yesterday we’ll be done and on the road by noon. Funny how fishing can humble us all. The fishing today was slower and started a bit later, but by 8am we started (slowly) hitting fish. A fish here, a fish there, and I’m watching my fuel gauge as it hits under a quarter tank. Dang, gotta start working back to the launch! We catch 6 fish in the dam area, 5-6 are the bigger fish, with the biggest running 15 ½ inches. I should mention, by today I have stopped using shrimp. The mealworms are flat out producing, as is the plain corn. Keep it simple!

I decide to run us down and fish close to the boat launch as my eyes nervously check the fuel gauge. We arrive at our final spot and the gauge shows a 1/16 of a tank, plenty of fuel, right? Wrong! The motor dies and JoAnn says to me “don’t you have spare fuel”? Well, yes, but it’s for the kicker and has oil mixed in. So I figure I’m going to have to wave someone down. I decide to try the kicker motor, figuring it’s futile, thinking something like the fuel pump died, otherwise why would it run so rough and then stop and not turn over the other day? Open the choke, pull, pull, pull, the motor turns over, this is hopeful… pull, pull… it fires up. I open the throttle and decide best to just head in. The motor is running fine, smooth as silk in fact. Weird. Bad gas? Water in the line? What do you think?

Anyway, our trip ended up with 35 shinny kokanee soon to be processed for smoking and dinners. I have lot’s of relatives willing to trade homemade beer and Montana beef for kokanee and salmon. Life is good. If you get a chance do be sure to fish Merwin. The limit is ten a day and the lake is fishing very good right now.

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JoAnn and I made our annual trip down to Merwin to target the kokanee this weekend. We fished from Saturday to Monday morning. The weather started out rainy on Saturday , improved on Sunday, and was beautiful on Monday. Regardless of rain or sun, Merwin is a beautiful place to visit and fish.

Saturday we had lines in by 8am after driving from Redmond at 4am. We started across from the boat launch and it was a slow first two hours, hitting a couple pike minnows. We were fishing four rods, running the starboard side with mealworms and the port side with small pieces of shrimp. Initially we ran hoochies and wedding rings and simple sling blades or dodgers. On the outside rods we ran Luhr Jensen Double D dodgers, the smaller ones.

After having little success we ran up to the dam and started fishing this area, working back down lake. We started hitting fish on a consistent pace at the dam. For the next couple hours we worked the dam area and had eight nice fish. The fish this year come in two classes, 10-11” and 13-14”. Running four rods allowed us to cover prime water column spots. Most fish I saw were 25-60 feet deep. Our best success were with the Double D’s at 25-35 feet and a pink mini hoochie at 40 feet. Also, I rigged up a bit more bling on my inside deep rods, running a sling blade slightly bent for extra action, then two feet to a small hammered thin blade salmon lure, then 8-10” to a hoochie. I notice a lot of guys use cow bells on this lake. I am loath to use cow bells. I know they catch fish, but I enjoy having some sport and will sacrifice numbers for enjoyment. That said, on our second day I compared our catch to someone running cow bells, and we compared much better, the other person had a bunch of 9-10” fish and we had a 60/40 ratio of 13-14” to 10-11”. Anyway, day one we called it a day around 4pm, and had 13 nice bright kokanee in the boat, mostly the bigger 13-14” fish.

Sunday dawned less rainy and I ran us right up the dam at 6am, lines down and gear fishing. To my dismay, my kicker motor started running rough, which improved when I opened the choke, but still the motor just kept dying until – it was gone. Great, now I have only one option, to troll with my main motor, which I hate doing for salmon and already know I will really hate for kokanee. Getting a 120hp motor to troll down to 1.2 mph is impossible. I threw out a sea anchor and managed to get us to 1.5-1.9. I don’t know but maybe the kokanee liked the faster troll, at least, they certainly didn’t mind. We started hitting fish very consistently at 7am and had a super bite that lasted an hour and a half, boating nine fish. The golden depth was the 40 foot deep rod running my homemade micro pink hoochie/spinner. That rod had steady action. The rod I ran at 50-55 feet, even though there were fish marking, got just one fish. The Double D rods I switched to a small thin blade lure I got at the Portland show, a “Baby Simon”. I ran these with one piece of corn and both rods produced well. The Baby Simons were pink, and the second was a yellow/ornage. The pink was the better of the two lures.

One thing I want to mention - we got a lot of fish this trip on the retrieve. When it was time to check/change bait I would release the line and let the gear slowly drift up. I would say we got at least ten fish this way. I am so sold on NEVER reeling in a kokanee rig, let it drift up. You’ll be pleased with the results!

Day two ended again around 4pm, this time we caught 16 fish. Again, probably 60/40 big fish versus small guys. At this point we are up to 29 fish over our first two days, well within sight of a possession limit of forty fish for two anglers (WDFW allow you to have a two days’ worth of limits in your possession). We retired to our RV spot, watch a movie in our cuddy and asleep by ten. Monday morning here we come!

OK, 11 fish to go. Back up to the dam and I figure if we have another bite like yesterday we’ll be done and on the road by noon. Funny how fishing can humble us all. The fishing today was slower and started a bit later, but by 8am we started (slowly) hitting fish. A fish here, a fish there, and I’m watching my fuel gauge as it hits under a quarter tank. Dang, gotta start working back to the launch! We catch 6 fish in the dam area, 5-6 are the bigger fish, with the biggest running 15 ½ inches. I should mention, by today I have stopped using shrimp. The mealworms are flat out producing, as is the plain corn. Keep it simple!

I decide to run us down and fish close to the boat launch as my eyes nervously check the fuel gauge. We arrive at our final spot and the gauge shows a 1/16 of a tank, plenty of fuel, right? Wrong! The motor dies and JoAnn says to me “don’t you have spare fuel”? Well, yes, but it’s for the kicker and has oil mixed in. So I figure I’m going to have to wave someone down. I decide to try the kicker motor, figuring it’s futile, thinking something like the fuel pump died, otherwise why would it run so rough and then stop and not turn over the other day? Open the choke, pull, pull, pull, the motor turns over, this is hopeful… pull, pull… it fires up. I open the throttle and decide best to just head in. The motor is running fine, smooth as silk in fact. Weird. Bad gas? Water in the line? What do you think?

Anyway, our trip ended up with 35 shinny kokanee soon to be processed for smoking and dinners. I have lot’s of relatives willing to trade homemade beer and Montana beef for kokanee and salmon. Life is good. If you get a chance do be sure to fish Merwin. The limit is ten a day and the lake is fishing very good right now.

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I was telling my brother that I thought I saw the Washington Lakes guy and JoAnn out there. Saw your motor smoking, but it looked like you were fine and having a hunky dory time and figured it an older two stroke. Maybe it was flooded??

Cowbells and Crazy Carl's is what I attach to the downrigger ball and the release to those. We ran either Arrow and Simon dodgers with hoochies. Gold was the ticket Saturday and Sunday. Baby Simon gold plated slayed em with bumblebee tuna oil soaked shoepeg. Tried to mimic more gold with brass lures lol. Went to Fisherman's Saturday night, found a gold Clancy and converted into dodger. Gold did good Sunday. All footballs. One squawfish, which we gave a watery grave.

Highly recommend Gold Arrow Flash Dodgers, gold Slingblades. Asked Hawken fishing to come out with a gold Simon dodger since baby did so good. Or you can take a gold Clancy or Brad's Wobbler and convert it into a dodger. Merwin should be Midas lake ;-)
 
Maybe so, it was weird that it would flood while running. Anyway, I need to get out next week and run it again before going up to Baker lake for sockeye, assuming the run numbers perk up. I know I saw a red boat out there, must have been you. I need to go buy some gold gear! BTW, JoAnn had such a nice weekend she wants to come back in August. We fished Merwin late August of 2012 and there was no one around. It was like a Ghost Town and the fishing was great.

You run the cowbells off DR and then releases - how far back to you set? I run my gear back 30 pulls which would seem too far away from DR releases.
 
How old was your mix? Could have been bad fuel.

I believe they call running the crazy carls or cow bells off the rigger weight, ball trolling. I'm still learning all the lingo. Your not fighting the pop gear this way. I have a 18" release hanging from the back of the pop gear. I only do about 12 to 15 pulls behind release. In theory the pop gear is mimicking a school of bait fish or kokanee and the dodger is thumping around like a kokanee or predator fish and then your little guy at the end is the tasty morsel any fish in the area is taking advantage of. In theory.....but I am no theorist. It just works for me....lol Some say pop gear only attracts big predator fish, (which if its big doesn't bother me ;-)) but we caught 14" footballs all day with them.

I am a tackle hoarder so if you want to save money and not buy 2 of each dodger out there, I recommmend a couple of these:

https://kokaneekidfishing.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&path=65_67&product_id=371
https://kokaneekidfishing.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&path=65_67&product_id=234

In a pinch you can do like I did Saturday night (cause I forgot my Arrows) and buy a Clancy, Simon, Alvin wobbler and convert to a dodger. I know Clancy and Simon for sure make a gold plated dodger. I think I've seen Alvin's gold plated, but I could be wrong. They don't advertise well, but you'll find some on the rack at Bob's in Longview, or Fisherman's in Portland. There is also the Brad's knockoffs. Mini-Extreme and Extreme come in gold plate.

You'll find gold plated Baby Simons at those places too. Yakima Bait 00 F.S.T. 50/50 or all brass are ok too. Dick Nite's and Wild Weasels.....working on Cascade Poulsen to get a gold plated Wild Weasels.

Good luck with that kicker. If you are in the market, Suzuki makes an nice 9.9 power thrust power tilt 4 stroke.
 
Gold it is! Kicker will go in the shop for some maintenance. It's been two years and I run it hard so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

BTW, JoAnn enjoyed herself so much we'll be going back, August 23-25. If you're fishing Merwin swing by and say "hi". But don't do like a guy in a hardtop Northriver did - came I swear 10 yards from us on full plane while we were trolling along, grinning at us. Wearing an orange shirt. Don't know what his deal was. Maybe he thought we were someone else and decided to buzz us. Weird...
 
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Hi Folks, the wife and I were up at Merwin on Sunday as well went straight to the dam, started a little slow but just kept changing gear, speeds etc until we finally started getting into them, ended the day with 16, 11 of which were all 13 to 14 inchers. All beautiful fish even the little guy's were fatties. We were using sling blades and hoochies black and green was hot for awhile then it was back to pink then over the orange pink and white. They were liken the orange spinner s as well for awhile. Tuna and tuna/garlic corn both worked well....pink not so much. We were floating around in a white Alumaweld super vee no engine problems and plenty of fuel...hahaha Going to hit it again Thursday hope this hot weather doesn't turn the bite totally off!???
 
you know that makes me soooo madd when folks do that, it's a big lake there's no reason to get that close to other fishermen...I think it's very disrespectful
 
Love too, but that is prime time Buoy 10 Fall Chinook and I will be partaking in the projected 1.6 million return.

You are a celebrity on Youtube, maybe they wanted to get a quick shot of ya. I recognized the hat.

Your wife has good taste, incredible reservoir and Cresap a nice place to put the feet up. Now that I know there is a E-free gas station down in Chelatchie, won't have a low fuel situation again. Turns out my float was just sticking. Still a 1/4 tank in there. grrrrr Better safe than sorry. Tight lines.
 
Hey, does anyone know if the little marina just down from the dam sells gas? I remember the white alumaweld kokaguy1. Sunday morning that bite was one of the better I've been in on.
 
No I don't know. Its my understanding its a private marina used by the adjacent property owners.
 
I putzed in there, saw no fuel dock.

Chelatchie Praire General Store
42411 NE Yale Bridge Rd
Amboy, WA 98601

Its south of Cresap on 503.
 
We were down by the dam. With the water levels being adjusted the fish were pretty scattered on the sonar.

Looking forward to getting out again soon though.
 
Some day I will have everything figured out. Arrived to Cresap gate at 0430 hrs on Saturday anticipating it to be opened at 0500 hrs. Gate guy drove up and informed me Cresap doesn't open till 0630 so camper's can sleep. So had the joy trying to back up and haul butt to Speelyai.

After forgetting all my pre-tied lures at home (brainfarted) I managed to assemble some hoochies from my stash of lure making goodies on boat. Did very well on white glow Yama$hita micro hoochies with Moonglow Arrow Flash dodger and Pink UV Yama$hita micro hoochies with Gold Arrow Flash dodger. Bumblebee Tuna Korn and Smelly Jelly Kokanee feast were the flavors of the day. Caught a few $qawfish, which met a watery demise. Worked two poles and riggers and the boat by myself today, so more work than pleasure...lol. Caught Kokes roughly 50'. Caught quite a few footballs and lost three hawgs trying to muscle them over the stern instead of using the net. Where a deck hand would have been fantastic! Ended up with 6 footballs and 3 snack fillets by 0900 hrs.

Then it got slow for me. Threw out a baby Simon cause I had it. Ran to other pole, fought and lost a Koke then other rod went bam! and that poor Okuma Tormenta started screamin. I thought I snagged a stump. Nope, fish on! This bad boy jumped out of the water like a salmon. Fighting it with ultra light gear was so awesome. Fish went around my boat, had to raise rod over hard top. Fish managed to wrap itself around the other downrigger cable and I managed to get my rod in the water and undo the line. Managed to one hand net the monster. I think a lot of bystander boats got a funny show out of it lol. 4.5# Rainbow...wow is what I thought. It inhaled that Simon! Turns out a lot of boats landed these bad boys. Oh well, I normally don't keep bonus trout, but this ones going on the grill!

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So couldn't rember regs for Merwin except the 10 Koke limit, & my phone doesn't get doodoo for reception out there so hollered at another boat, showed Gigantor to them and then asked about the limits. All good, fished for last Koke which took its time inhaling pink UV hoochie. Then the joy of loading up at Speelyai. Drove home to Lacey to get my stuff and then back to Woodland to my Motel. Will be back tomorrow. See you folks on the water!

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Sunday fun, but expensive day on the lake for me. Managed to be first out of Speelyai at 0500 hrs. Chatted with a feller and two boys as they came in soon after. They were launched and ready to go before I could out as I was a one man show again.

Raced mach o' Jesus to the dam, and threw out white glow Yama$hita hoochie with Arrow Flash Moonglow Dodger and a experimented with a UV pink Yama$hita hoochie with a Rooster Tail 1/4 oz silver blade in front of it. Gold Arrow Flash dodger in front of that. Went with Bumblebee Tuna Korn for the morning bite. Caught three footballs right off the bat. Watched the boat I launched next too get a hold of one of those monster trout. Unfortunately they lost it at the boat. Pretty sure they hooked into 3 or 4 of those beasties, but not sure if one was landed.

To the life of me, I hooked a fish and my reel bird nested something fierce and I still don't know how it happened. Pulled line in to salvage MoonGlow Flasher and a friggin $quawfish was at the end of it.

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Pulled it in and the other rod went off, another football. Got my working rod back going and I started cutting line on the disabled rod. Luckily I had a spool of Maxima 8# stashed on the boat. Trying to spool a reel while fish biting and trying to steer was a joy. Caught 9 Kokes by 1000 hrs. majority with my Rooster Tail butchered Hoochie. Herzog may have been right about those 1/4 oz size silver blades.

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Caught another monster trout, luckily both riggers were up this time and she didn't go around the boat, up the river to Grandmother's house. Fighting a 3.5# trout on UL gear is so awesome....netting one, one handed, not so much....lol.

Saw quite a few people hooking these monster trout, and losing them. A lot of them at the boat. So I felt pretty good I one handed netted that beast...lol My net isn't a one hander...lol I was horsing all my Kokes over the stern.

#10 wasn't biting anytime soon and the wind picked up and made for sloppy trolling. Around 1400 hrs I snagged what I think was either a giant rock or an upright tree with my downrigger ball, tried everything to unstuck it. Contemplated diving in 57 feet to unstuck it, but thought better of it since I was by myself. Had to cut cable. Need to get those pipe style weights I hear. Anyone know who readily stocks those? Without $45 s&h lol

So down to one downrigger and water still sloppy, talk about dedication for 1 more Kokanee. Decided to start trolling towards Speelyai and around 1530 the wind settled down a bit and bam, another football. Packed up, hauled butt to Speelyai, then wind picked up there making docking and loading a treat. Backed Ginger in and let wind parallel me to the dock. Looked like I've done this before...lol. Got big red, then loaded Ginger up. 10 Kokanee and 1 monster trout. Repeated Saturday.

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Going down 503 by the yard with the two scarecrows in lawn chairs is a gnarly dip in the road. The force from hitting it cracked the windshield on my boat. So if you see two scarecrows in lawn chairs to your right headed towards Woodland, SLOW DOWN!!

BigEars nice to chat with you as well Saturday. Recognized MudinChev's boat. I like that logo. I was gonna try to troll your way and chat, but you disappeared on me...lol I apologize if I didn't recognize anyone elses rig. I am the Ginger in the red boat named Ginger...lol

Great weekend haul!
 
August 2014 at Merwin

Fished Merwin 9 times between 8/5 and 8/15 with great success. All fish caught between 55 and 65 feet on downriggers. Used sling blade style dodgers with short (12") leaders to a mini-squid (anything in the pink range seemed to work best. Trolling speed between 1.25 and 1.50 mph. White corn, marinated in Smelly Jelly crawfish anise Sticky liquid and dipped in Smelly Jelly Crawfish Anise Glow paste. Averaged more than 15 fish per day with nothing smaller than 13 inches (most 14 to 16 inches and an occasional 17 inch fish). Had several "doubles" which is always a "Chinese fire drill" (see photo) Scales are already beginning to imbed and a few were changing color. We only averaged about 4 hour on the lake, beginning between 8 or 9 and finishing up by noon or 1pm, in an effort to avoid the "crazies". Merwin continues to be a "hot" kokanee lake and is far andthumbsup away our favorite. http://www.kokaneefishingforum.com/...CONFIG]7634._xfImport[/ATTACH]mbup_smilie.gif
 
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Merwin Kokes

BonkinKokes ........... DSCN0395.jpgI've never taken a photo of a fish beside a tape measure, but as I recall the fish on the left in this photo is 17". Seems like most Merwin Kokes grow bigger around than longer, but occasionally we catch one in that 17 inch range. I've heard stories of 20" plus Kokes in Merwin, but we've never come close to that! Someday, I hope!
 

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