Now that koke season has closed on the gorge

[Propnut69]

What kind of a year did you have as for catching kokes on the gorge this year.Was it better the last year,or worse? what were contributing factors do you think was different ,this year compared to last year?

For me ,the numbers of fish caught was down this year,but the quality of fish caught were better. I think that with lake levels dropping everyday (currently the gorge is 24 ft below full pool) made some difference. For the first time ever,i actually seen the end of the ramp at squaw hollow this year.
Weather was a factor ,with a very dry summer,and record high temps,the fish were more scattered. I caught kokes this year in places,that I didn't think would hold any kokanee.Seems like the fish held on longer around buckboard,before moving down the lake,then in years past. I don't think that the amount of fishermen on the water was any different then last year.These are just different parts of the same puzzle. Over all I had a very good year for koke fishing ,was able to take a rookie under my arm,and he was a kokanee addict by the end of the season. So let's hear how you season was for koke fishing on the gorge.

 

[jekern1015]

Back in June my wife and I managed a limit of smaller kokes. We didn't get to make another trip until late July and aug. where we managed a big ol skunk for three different trips. This year will definably be a memorable one, unfortunately not pleasant memories. Overall I would say the fishing was tough and we could never get them figured out.

 

[Downrigger]

Saddest day of the year.

This was probably one of my best years ever in terms of numbers and quality. I made 12 or 15 trips up there this year and it never took me more than 5 hours to catch 4 limits of 4th year kokes.

One morning I had 4 limits by 7:30.

I fished in the exact same place from the end of April until the beginning of August with the exact same lures and dodgers. The depths were the only thing that changed.

Last year was pretty much the same, except there were more 4th years to catch but they seemed a little smaller. This year I finally got one over 5 lbs in August. Last August, we were lucky to break 4 pounds. I fished the exact same spot last year too.

I had to learn how to bass fish this year so I'd have something to do after I caught my salmon.

Jekern, if you want to hook up next year, I'd be happy to show you the ropes.

 

[Mike]

I'd say it was a good year I also noticed the fishing staying at buckboard at longer this year. In past years squid have been my big producers but this year really seemed to be the year of the spoon.

 

[Propnut69]

Mike i agree 100% that this was the year of the spoon,instead of squids.All of my biggest fish caught this year came from spoons. it was a interesting year ,that's for sure.

 

[jacksonlaker]

I only made it down 3 times and caught some nice fish. For those of us that don't get there that often, this website provides some great information. Some members are very helpful...Robb...willing to share spots and techniques. Flaming gorge is by far my favorite lake to fish, and I can't wait for next spring !!!

 

[BiteMe]

It amazes me at the different reports from the same lake. I only made it up 3 times this year. As far as numbers go, it was one of my best years, but as far as size, it was way down. I'm not saying I didn't catch some nice fish, but overall quantity was way up & size was way down. On 2 trips I was told, you should have been here last week, average was 3-4 pounds. Go figure.

 

[Propnut69]

Tom,you are so right about how helpful Rob is. He has been that way for as long as I have known him.

 

[Bduck]

This wasn't exactly a year I had in mind. All of my trips(5 total) were single day trips. The first trip wasn't to bad but trips afterward I could feel the slip on catching. Never got a skunk in any one trip but the numbers caught kept declining for me. Part of this cause is not getting to spend much time doing the Gorge in. Using the norm go to lures wasn't enough. Thank god I could use 2 rods to keep things changing up but still not enough time for me to explore more in depth. Now that this year is behind me, I shouldn't see any further obsticles hopefully keeping me away from the Gorge. Day trips are still in the plan but so is long outings. I do agree that the summer was critical and lower lake levels have played a part in the catch.

 

[Propnut69]

I know myself early in the season spoons north of Buckboard was the ticket. Seemed to slack off some after the fish started to move south, after that we did very well the remainder of the summer with R.M.T. Plankton squids in orange and pink, and smaller dodgers seemed to work better then the bigger R.M.T. dodgers? Tim and I only got to fish together once this season, but we did boat some nice fish, my biggest koke all season came from skunk cliffs 5.3 lbs. As tim stated water level was down, water temp was up, seemed to be alot of algea in the lake this year?

 

[AlreadyGone]

our experience was about the same-

This was probably one of my best years ever in terms of numbers and quality. I made 12 or 15 trips up there this year and it never took me more than 5 hours to catch 4 limits of 4th year kokes.

One morning I had 4 limits by 7:30.

I fished in the exact same place from the end of April until the beginning of August with the exact same lures and dodgers. The depths were the only thing that changed.

We made 9 or 10 trips up this year. We started in the last of April and were amazed at the size of kokes we were catching in June\July. There were many times we had our limits and more by 11am. We pretty much stayed with what had been working for us all year, and also switched to some spoons and a couple of Apex's that would work when things got slow. We did have to take the last 3 weeks of July off due to work and family stuff.

When we came back up in August, things had slowed down and we were hitting all the spots we had success in the past. Last year we were down to 80 feet+ with our riggers around the end of August, but the fish were higher up in the water column due to the reservoir being down. It certainly was a different feel for us to stay between 38-55 feet this August\Sept. It took us a day to get things dialed back in to the shallower depths-thanks to feedback at people we knew -Mike, Gulfstream, Colton, RMT, and talking with guys at the fish cleaning station. I got to meet more people from Utah, California, Wyoming, and Colorado this year and was able to share, and gain more knowledge of what was happening during the day. We never caught anything over 5lbs this year, but we did bring in some nice ones.

One thing I did notice is that we caught 6-7 this year that had torn up mouths that were split, or parts of the jaw was missing-I took some pictures of these to post sometime in the future. It shows me 2 things-one is how soft the mouth area is and making sure you have the right drag setting so the hook doesn't pull straight through. The second thing was that is shows these fish may be a little tougher than some give them credit for. They are a more delicate species than others, but still seem to survive if you get them released quickly and try not to handle them any more than possible.

Here is a picture of one we brought in on the Labor day weekend that was torn and healed-some of the others we caught were much worse-

-MP

 

[Downrigger]

One thing I did notice is that we caught 6-7 this year that had torn up mouths that were split, or parts of the jaw was missing-I took some pictures of these to post sometime in the future. It shows me 2 things-one is how soft the mouth area is and making sure you have the right drag setting so the hook doesn't pull straight through. The second thing was that is shows these fish may be a little tougher than some give them credit for. They are a more delicate species than others, but still seem to survive if you get them released quickly and try not to handle them any more than possible.
-MP

I found the same thing. I caught lots of fish with several old scars that were healed over, including a 2nd year that was missing an eye (I wasn't sure he'd make it so he became my lunch that day). Lots of fish with bite marks, Osprey talon marks, seagull beak marks, chunks of jaw missing, etc. I even found an old squid hook in the fin of one of the bigger ones.

While minimal handling and rubber nets with minimal handling are always the ideal, I think more of the fish that are caught and released make it than most people think.

A couple years ago (last year maybe?) Ryno asked for pictures of fish that had scars or if anyone had ever seen them. Very few here had and it devolved into an argument, as I recall. I think I took a couple pictures of the scars this year but I'd have to look.