We're just back from 5 days at the Gorge. We fished out of Anvil Draw form July 3rd-7th. We caught Kokanee every day, but had to work for them 4 out of 5 days. There were fish around Anvil Draw, but did not find any good concentrations nearby. Most fish were scattered. On day one we had a decent catch of 4 large kokes (and some smaller throw backs) fishing just north of Middle Marsh. Fish came from 32 to 52ft.
Day two was slow with only 3 keeper kokes coming in. We fished up at the Skunk Cliffs. Lots of boats, lots of marks and very few fish being caught.
Day 3 fished Skunk Cliffs and reached the rest of our limit (5 Kokes) in just over an hour with a few losses and throw backs.
Day 4: Couldn't buy a bite!!!! Boats and fish were all scattered. Couldn't find a concentration of fish anywhere. Some decent marks around skunk cliffs but fished for 90 minutes and caught and released one small koke. Searched and fished for two more hours then gave up and went back to camp to drink...
Day 5: Fished point south of Ranch House first 45 minutes and had one bite. Moved north to Skunk Cliffs and found heavy schools of fish at both ends. Only saw two other boats all morning. Kokanee seemed to have lock jaw. Threw everything and the kitchen sink at them. Caught 7 (3 throw backs) in 3 hrs. No consistency on preferred lures. Caught fish on a 4" E-chip (silver) and billed orange squid (caught 2), e-chip and spoon (caught two), classic dodger and pink squid, E-chip and pink speckled assassin, e-chip and rocky mtn flasher with bladed orange translucent squid. Ran about 10 other combos....
The good news is the average size is big. Nothing under 3 lbs was kept. Most fish were 3.5-4lbs. We landed 4 that were 4 pounds plus. We lost one 20 ft behind the boat after a 7 minute battle that would have been 6-7 lbs.... (damn)... The bigger fish were hard to get to hit but when they did, the hits were violent and hard ripping lines out of the stiff set clips.
Other news: Rainbows were easy. Run spinners and body baits 10 ft down around the shallow bays in 20 - 30 ft of water. Lake trout, lots of them. Fish points and humps along the deep channel in 70 - 90 ft of water.
~Freshie