Where are Kokes at Merwin in August?

[rkridgefield]

Last week some larger Kokes were starting to hooknose and start to pink. Will they stage at various places in the lake? I have not run to the dam yet, is that the place, or outside one of the creeks? Have had motor trouble with my 99 700# hour 4hp Johnson so probably will not get out again till next week. Should I release the pre-spawn Kokes as the flesh will be getting soft?

 

[Mudinchev]

I haven't been up there for over a week but we still had good luck down by the dam. Washington law says that you cannot release fish when fishing with bait so.....best to keep what you catch, if you do release them they need to count toward your limit.The survival rate is pretty low with released Kokanee. (however it is better than if they are in the cooler)

 

[rlb]

Fished Merwin for the first time on 8/23. Started the morning off with lines in the water by 0630 near the dam...nothing for hours except squawfish. Had the lines down 45-55' over 100' to 140' of water, which produced nothing but one dinky kokanee. We did however have lots of good feedback on the fish finder.

At about 1100, we moved up the lake and fished across from Speelyah Bay with lots of action...again with lines down 45-55' over 100' of water. Had one up to the boat that must of been 16-18". Talked with a few other folks that were fishing 90' of water with spotty success. Caught 4 lossed 6....pink, pink, pink! In my opinion, i expected a lot easier fishing...i def had it handed to me.

 

[redosprey]

My wife and I fished Merwin the week of 8/11/12 thru 8/17/12 with terrific success. Most fish were in the 14 to 16 inch range and running from 45 to 65 feet deep. Used sling blades on down riggers with scented corn. School locations varied from day to day with best success about 2 miles west of Speelyia bay on the south side of the lake. Time of day did not seem to make much difference with the Kokes going off the bite from time-to-time. One day the best fishing was near the dam on the South side and the last 2 days the best fishing of the trip was around the first point up from Speelyai on the North side along the rock wall in about 115 feet of water. Limited out regularly but didn't realize that the limit had been raised from 5 to 10 on August 8. Still limited with the 20 fish when we realized it. Only one fish had started to turn "pink", but a number were experiencing scale imbedding. By now, I'm sure many more will be starting to turn color. Should still be great for smoking however.

 

[washingtonlakes]

I haven't been up there for over a week but we still had good luck down by the dam. Washington law says that you cannot release fish when fishing with bait so.....best to keep what you catch, if you do release them they need to count toward your limit.The survival rate is pretty low with released Kokanee. (however it is better than if they are in the cooler)

The reg is any fish caught with bait, even if released, counts toward your limit. You are not required to keep bait caught fish. We fished Sunday and Monday and caught 24. Lots of 14-16" fish, many changing color, still good meat. Very distinct AM bite.