First Wallowa Lake trip commin' up

[leach laker]

I havn't been up to Wallowa Lake since high school....takin' the fam last week of june. Any recommendations for areas of the lake or rigging.
I will have spining rods and a fly rod, probably rent a boat for one....maybe two 5 hour excursions...not experienced with trolling or kokes as I don't own my own boat...will fish from shore if feasible....would like to aim for some kokes.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

 

[joesnuffy]

If you'd like to target Kokes but don't know how to do it, you might think about highering a guide for a day.

 

[beaverfan]

Looks like someone saw the news report of the record fish that was just caught! Good luck out there, I've heard it's real tough lake to fish unless you really know the water. I've also been hearing that fishing has been pretty slow the last couple years. Nowhere near as many fish as there used to be but the ones that are there are bigger, much bigger!

 

[18406ej]

I don't target Kokes, but have always had good luck there fishing for trout near the dam area. Don't forget an early morning stop to Kinney Lake, which is swarming with trout looking for flies. Have fun,

 

[leach laker]

Thanks for the replies...If not the lake any suggestions for nearby streams/ponds? Like I said, I'll have fly and spinning rods.

 

[Hawk]

Thanks for the replies...If not the lake any suggestions for nearby streams/ponds? Like I said, I'll have fly and spinning rods.

Perhaps Brownlee Res or the Snake River. Folks catch Channel catfish, etc, bass, crappie.

 

[strawberry shortcake]

A little background about the lake bottom. It is the basin of a melted glacier filled with large granite boulders brought down from the Wallowa Mountains that settled out as the glacier came to a grinding halt and melted. Under those circumstances it took a while to develop a lake bed that would support a food source. Most of the silt rushed into the valley and created very nice farming land, though a bit swampy for quite some time.

On a clear calm day in September you can see the boulders towards the shore. Massive. Near the south and north ends you have sloping terrain that supports food sources. In the middle of this long lake you have very deep water, locals say there is no bottom. Snags are not much of a problem except at the south end. Finding fish is a problem. When I am up there, which isn't very often, most of the boats are at the south end where the river dumps into the lake. That's probably where salmon are. The dam end is likely where the trout are. The top 6 inches warms but the rest stays colder than a witch's hoohah. That's my uneducated guess as I have never fished the lake.