Merwin "2015 "

[chief]

Went out today with my uncle and boy was it slow for us. On the water about 7:15 and off the water around 1:30

 

[westy661]

Went out today with my uncle and boy was it slow for us. On the water about 7:15 and off the water around 1:30

Yup, slow for me too.... didn't see much of anything .... maybe the bite was off due to filling the pool?

 

[kokanee_slayer]

Well you guys have definitley been tearing them up at Merwin. Well Done!!!!! The lakes in this part of the state are REAL slow. At American, as far as I know, the last Kok was caught on 31 Dec. I'm thinking a road trip to Merwin is in order.

 

[steelheadslayer]

2-15, 3 of us got 25 before the wind made it no fun to troll with or against. 2-17, 2 of us got 20 but had a real hard time keeping em hooked. Lost a lot of bottom hooks on our leaders during the fight and bye bye fish. I didn't keep track of the triples but there a lot of em. Only a few times did we get all 3. Talked to one gent on the water and he said he lost 4 and had 1, worst fishing he's ever seen.
What I'm seeing is a lot of guys trolling too fast or too deep. I think the slower periods for us today were when the wind was pushing us along faster than we wanted to go. We had two downriggers set at 10 feet and two rods flatlined at 100-120 ft back. The downrigger rods were the same distance back, maybe just a hair shorter. 3 arrow flash dodgers and one luhr jensen 4" dodger followed by hoochies of varying colors, pink, pink/silver, orange and pink/purple. All tipped with kokanee special, kokanee killer or anise plus scent. I think I got one on tuna but didn't use it much or I'm sure a few more would have gotten bit on it. I think right now, presentation is the biggest part of it over colors or scents. We were crawling compared to most, slow down if you can and the bite might definitely be in your favor.

 

[redosprey]

3-5 I think someone turned off the Merwin fish faucet!!!! Three of us fished for more than 5 hours on Thursday and didn't even get a lousy bite. And it didn't look like we were alone. There were more than 20 rigs in the parking lot and at least 10 boats in sight all the time and we didn't see a net out all day!!! A real bummer for someone used to catching a limit every time. Seems like maybe the lake was being lowered or raised, because there was a LOT of debris from the launch to the dam. The water also seemed "murky". Tried everything in my "bag of tricks" and nothing worked. LOTS of fish on the finder, but someone must have sewn their mouths shut! Not a good way to start the season, but I know Merwin well enough to know that it was just a BAD DAY! Hope things pick back up soon. On the bright side, I was impressed to see a number of improvements in the launch area, including a new toilet near the launch..........new pavement and what I think will result in a better arrangement for trailer parking versus car parking. Also, saw a small herd (10) of elk about 2 blocks from the ramp, right off the road. They just stood there and looked at us! Great day, even without any Kokanee!





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[flashover52]

Launched a bit later than hoping.....had to jump start a boat on the ramp at LMCH. Headed over by the rope swing and had 3 on ice before 9:00 after losing a few to a first time kokanee fisher girl. Then my 9 yo son and 8 yo daughter of a neighbor needed to find shore and some trees after too much hot chocolate.

We found a few more biters after that using silver and blue colored terminal behind a variety of Dodgers. With the bite being slow, I tried some new stuff including a spin-n-glow my 7yo daughter built up (or picked the items out). Speed seemed to be the factor today versus colors.....had to get the right action. Didn't see any schools on the fish finder but they were out there.

Also did our best to get away from the crowds. First time I've seen two 'guide' boats on the water...especially on a Sunday. I also liked the kayak flotilla between LMCH and Speelyai ramp as we motored out towards the dam.

 

[chief]

went out today with yimmie today got 3 for 3 took my son with with us had an epic time beutiful day to be on the water.

 

[flashover52]

Went out yesterday morning for a few hours by myself. Lots of strikes and I finally learned to be patient and make sure a hook connects first. Lost many at the boat while trying to hold rod and get the net in water but overall I met my quota. Found they liked the Arrow dodgers and a Crystal Basin mini hoochie along with a new this year Kokanee Special hoochie from RMT. Colors varied as both rods were getting equal action irregardless of the color differences. Fish were found between 6-18' with the majority around 10' just off LMCH.

 

[STLHDR]

Flash if you need some ballast and a netter let me know, I am boatless at this time....... Just sayin.....

Jim Sr.

 

[flashover52]

I usually have my 10 y/o son (and other kids from the teams I coach) but he did the right thing by going to church. I have been limited on time to go so I took advantage of my chance. PM me your contact information and if/when I get an opening I'll get a hold of you.

I have about 12 kids/dads that I rotate on a list but sometimes none of them are available.

 

[plugs]

I was up on Easter Sunday. Only about a dozen of us on the water. Got 10 and lost 7 at the boat trying to long arm net with 1 arm. Nice fat fish this year.

 

[STLHDR]

Nice going!!!! I may have a boat Saturday!!! Then will search for DR's!!! I'm so excited, can't cha tell???

 

[MackPrince]

Good work everyone. I'm hoping to get out starting in May.

 

[kokaguy1]

Fishing was great today and the catching wasn't bad either. My buddy and I put 20 in the boat in about 5 hours. We were 20 for 21, the loss rate went way down this trip and I think it was do to the new way I rigged the weight. Since I don't have down riggers I have always used banana weights, 1 to 3 ounces depending on the conditions. That said I decided to go with a cannon ball slider system this trip and it worked great, catch rate was better than I have ever experienced so I'm going to stay with it. Today we used hoochies pink or orange seemed to work the best, red eye sling blade or the nickel with gold herring bone were the best today, 3 ounces out 50 feet put them in the zone it seemed. Marked most fish around 35 to 50 feet but saw no huge schools, they still seem to be a bit scattered. All our fish were clones 13 inches and fat!

 

[flashover52]

Went out on Sunday, on the water by 7:00 am. Water temp by Cresap was about 55 and dropped to 52/53 down by the dam. Brought a boy from our soccer team out for his first time fishing along with his dad. Found a few on the surface right away. Dropped a few lines on the DR's down from 5-15' as the sun started coming up. Had action on the top lines all day on each end of the lake but went a bit deeper with the DR's as we hit late morning and early afternoon. Those Arrow dodgers in nearly any color worked best at a slightly fast pace than last month.

We stayed out of the main flotilla as my 10 y/o son and I were trying to teach our guests how to get lines reset. After a couple of crossed lines and birdnests (no lost gear!) I pulled in a couple rods. Figured fish were all over so I seeked areas with no crowds so I didn't have to worry so much about the other boats too.

Finished up by 1:30 or so and bumped into another familiar/knowledgable pair as they were closing in on their limit. Crazy number of boats out there and I bet the folks in their Moombas showing up in the early afternoon must have been wondering where to boat....

 

[carlz]

I am obviously doing something wrong, I was on the same water same day, same time, did half as well. Still learning the trade..................

 

[flashover52]

I'm a relative newbie too having had a boat for less than a year. What I have learned is that the action is one of the most important elements, close behind putting your presentation a bit higher in depth above the fish. Speed is a key to the action as some flashers/dodgers have 'prime' action at certain speeds. If you can put a presentation in the fish zone without getting any hits, try a slighty faste or slower presentation; somewhat correlated to water temp.

In Jan/Feb, a good speed was 1.2-1.4. The last couple months, speeds have been slightly faster and while getting pushed downwind before I could slow the kicker, we were still getting strikes at 1.7-1.9. I used Poulson Arrow dodgers and the Yakima Fast Limit which I feel can be run through a wider range of speeds. Shasta Sling Blades or the Rocky Mtn equivalents tend to need a slight bend or less of a bend depending on speed to get a good action.

I seemed to believe the color matching of dodgers/lures or using a color at a certain depth as described in some books/videos. I had the fortune this January to fish with some others who offered a differing opinion. I have had equal success with a wide variety of colors at the same depth across multiple rods as all had similar action. Before letting your line play out, take a look at what its doing next to the boat. Watch some of the under water kokanee strikes on YouTube (Search for SpiltMilk) to see the action on his tackle.

Sunday I had a blue spin and glow in front of a white hoochie, orange hoochie with silver blade, pink hoochie, charteuse spin and glow behind various colored dodgers. All leaders were 8". As the sun came up, 2 rods were long lined, and 3 on DR's at 5, 10, 15. It helps having licenses allowing me to put out six rods! As the bite moved to the deeper lines with the sun coming up, we watched the speed and depths. When we lost the bite at one depth, I went deeper while watching the electronics. We were still catching some big ones on the surface but that tended to be when we turned and went downwind from the dam (faster...).

Bait was nothing more than corn in tuna oil, plain corn and no additional scent.

I'm hoping others will provide their thoughts as I have much to learn. I'm expecting someone may offer something contrary to my experiences and depending upon the lake, it sounds like tactics can vary. I am by no means an expert so remeber this advice is free!

 

[kokaguy1]

I have been a kokanee fisherman for the last 20 plus years and I have a comment here that I know will not be well received by the manufactures of bait scents and for that I apologize to you all, I mean no disrespect and my intent here is not to rain on all the research and hard work these folks have put into building their product lines because I know it can't be easy but from my stand point I have found that I just don't catch any more kokanee using these scents in a bottle than I do from simple tuna oil from the grocery store. I can't speak to whether or not it increases to bite for spring or fall chinook but I would be hard pressed to use anything but good ol tuna oil out of the can to help catch kokanee. I would appreciate hearing other comments in this regard.

I should also mention I am a walleye fisherman and there again a plain ol night crawler works just great without scent. I'm really struggling with this because I know that the scent market has really grown over the years so it must work..... right?? But personally I have not found that to be a fact. Has any one else had these results? Like any fisherman I'm always looking for an advantage to catch more fish perhaps it's the way I apply these scents that is the issue????

 

[bob r]

I have been a kokanee fisherman for the last 20 plus years and I have a comment here that I know will not be well received by the manufactures of bait scents and for that I apologize to you all, I mean no disrespect and my intent here is not to rain on all the research and hard work these folks have put into building their product lines because I know it can't be easy but from my stand point I have found that I just don't catch any more kokanee using these scents in a bottle than I do from simple tuna oil from the grocery store. I can't speak to whether or not it increases to bite for spring or fall chinook but I would be hard pressed to use anything but good ol tuna oil out of the can to help catch kokanee. I would appreciate hearing other comments in this regard.

I should also mention I am a walleye fisherman and there again a plain ol night crawler works just great without scent. I'm really struggling with this because I know that the scent market has really grown over the years so it must work..... right?? But personally I have not found that to be a fact. Has any one else had these results? Like any fisherman I'm always looking for an advantage to catch more fish perhaps it's the way I apply these scents that is the issue????

My observation is that when fish are in a good feed they much don't care about scent so long as you do not have 'bad" smells on your hands(i.e.:gas, greasy food oils, etc.), but when fishing is slow or bites are light then it can matter. As far as diff. scents you are prob. right as a lot of the scents have tuna oil in them. They can make a diff. in numbers caught as well. I use scents on hard lures when bites are thin (smelly jelly, mike's scent,) but do not scent nightcrawlers. Bob R

 

[downriggeral]

I have experimented with scented shoepeg corn while night fishing for kokanee on Loon lake. I have found a huge difference using Pro-Cure Korn magic in the pink/purple color over plain unscented corn. Then I furthered the experiment by adding Pro-Cure Annis/krill oil. I have had people parked next to me not doing so well until I tossed them some of my cured shoepeg corn. In this application it works fantastic! PS Maggots were on there too.

Tuna oil is great, Chicken of the Sea packed in oil seems to be the oiliest. We use it extensively to catch King salmon with Brad's Super Baits.