If you kokanee fish...

[Combat Chuck]

...you should probably stop reading this and go fish now!

http://youtu.be/oz6gkHcdl1A

I will add more later, its mothers day and I gotta go! Great weekend!

 

[TTFishon]

Almost didn't see your dog in the second pic. lol Man, you've been slayin em. I plan on hittin it next weekend.

 

[troutdude]

Nice lookin' limit CC!

 

[C_Run]

Chuck,

Your fish look a lot bigger than the ones I got this past week. Any tips for a noob on targeting the bigguns? I'm all ears. I've read every thread about kokanee and Green Peter three times over plus magazine articles. Looks like you guys have it dialed in. Nice video.

C

 

[Combat Chuck]

Ok. the details... went on friday with a buddy and had a chaotic bite. We had trouble keeping rods in the water (see above video). The fish were shallow and were hitting any color of wedding ring or hoochie ... both with dodgers. We had a lot of trouble with hookups and only landed about 1 in 4. The dock picture was from that day. When I got home I just happen to see a new Anglers West episode. They were kokanee fishing and recommended a size 2 Gami drop shot hook. I tested it on sunday... and the results were great (see boat bow pic). The fish stick to these much better than the octopus' that I was using. Fishing with just the dog I got my limit in 3.5 hours and probably only lost 5. They were deep today and preferred hoochies, again any color. I will work on the video later in the week. Im not really sure mine are bigger, I think they were 11-12, maybe a couple 13". This is my sophomore season at GP so Im not sure I have any secrets that havent been already said. Just a good student I guess!

 

[C_Run]

Ok. the details... went on friday with a buddy and had a chaotic bite. We had trouble keeping rods in the water (see above video). The fish were shallow and were hitting any color of wedding ring or hoochie ... both with dodgers. We had a lot of trouble with hookups and only landed about 1 in 4. The dock picture was from that day. When I got home I just happen to see a new Anglers West episode. They were kokanee fishing and recommended a size 2 Gami drop shot hook. I tested it on sunday... and the results were great (see boat bow pic). The fish stick to these much better than the octopus' that I was using. Fishing with just the dog I got my limit in 3.5 hours and probably only lost 5. They were deep today and preferred hoochies, again any color. I will work on the video later in the week. Im not really sure mine are bigger, I think they were 11-12, maybe a couple 13". This is my sophomore season at GP so Im not sure I have any secrets that havent been already said. Just a good student I guess!

Thanks. I guess they just looked bigger in the picture. Ours were a bunch of 11 inch clones with a couple of 12". I'll try those hooks if I get back up there . I wish it was closer because that's a blast plus they are good eating. My key to better success on my second trip was to bring a long handled net. In a kayak, you have got to have that or it's a fiasco trying to get them on board.

 

[Combat Chuck]

New video is up...
http://youtu.be/fj59KF5HZqo

 

[Combat Chuck]

Im sure they do! If it wasn't mothers day I would have switched over and spent the day up there!

 

[Throbbit _Shane]

Combat Chuck did it once again today! We got some where around 40 into the cooler! I got mine soaking in some brine right now!

There was a kokanee derby held at green peter today as well, and im sure chuck would of have done well in it if he had entered!

 

[Combat Chuck]

Yee haw! http://youtu.be/rReIEVrmRzY

 

[C_Run]

That looked like fun. I would have expected to see a big crowd of boats in the background with the derby but it didn't look that way. I was trying to figure out how not to lose as many as I was when I went. I tried experimenting with setting the hook vs. not setting it. It seemed like when I set the hook all I got was a piece of fish lip. It looks like you do a hook set, though. There must be a way to do it just right that I haven't learned yet.

 

[troutdude]

I tried experimenting with setting the hook vs. not setting it. It seemed like when I set the hook all I got was a piece of fish lip. It looks like you do a hook set, though. There must be a way to do it just right that I haven't learned yet.

Are you using inline snubbers?

 

[Combat Chuck]

I think what you might be seeing is actually popping the downrigger out of the clip. I set my tension so that they will hold the fish 3/4 of the time. I do this to avoid the totally slack period when the fish releases itself and I havent made it to the rod yet. When I release the downrigger, the rod is in my hands and I can minimize the slack. So the set is actually just on the downrigger and the fish never feels it. We did lose a good chunk of fish yesterday too. I think its just gonna happen some days. We had a plan for the derby crowd and it actually worked. We showed up at 7 and the derby boats had already launched. We avoided the main lake where the crowds were at (the island). A while after all the boats disappeared we headed back to an empty boat ramp! The awards ceremony was going at Foster as we rolled in to use the cleaning station so it was empty too! We did have one run in with a derby boat but we kept cool and it stayed just a small incident. A guy cut behind our boat and snagged our longline with his downrigger then claimed it was "one of those big chinook" and not his boat. He then said we were snagged on the bottom (without lead in 170' of water). After pleading, he finally brought it up... along with my dodger.

 

[C_Run]

OK , I think I get it. Between my two koke trips I think I actually raised my landing rate from about 25% to maybe 75% by changing up a couple of things so I guess that's acceptable to be loosing a quarter of them. I did go out and buy an Okuma sst Kokanee rod just so I could do this and was also using a snubber the whole time.I was using both sling blades and small dodgers and both seemed to work fine. So, I guess I'm on the right track. I don't really want to put a downrigger on my kayak , though, so I guess I am confining my kokanee fishing to the early part of the season. Another question if you don't mind. How late into the year do you continue to fish for them? I know that eventually they turn red and spawn so I wouldn't want to harass them at that stage. What month(s) would that be?

Also, it's good to see Throbbit Shane back in action! Been missing all those steelhead reports this year.

 

[the_intimidator03]

the kokes start getting into spawn around mid-late september to mid oct

 

[Combat Chuck]

75% sounds about right. My trip last sunday may have been a fluke (landing 25, lost 2?). I caught good fish last year through september. I think as long as your not fishing up high in the creek/river channels, your not harassing their spawning. On my last trip of 2011 I had couple that had turned a little pink and had a hook nose. There were still chrome ones too, but all the fish came from about 75' deep. The fish on the last two trip have been about as deep as they were most of last summer. If your still catching fish now, I think you may have a couple more months non downrigger fishing. Ours were coming 20-55' deep.

 

[troutdude]

When they go deep; you can switch to jigs and sit right on top of 'em. No need for a downrigger.

 

[Combat Chuck]

Combat Chuck did it once again today! We got some where around 40 into the cooler! I got mine soaking in some brine right now!

There was a kokanee derby held at green peter today as well, and im sure chuck would of have done well in it if he had entered!

I still say we would have had 50 if you hadnt brought bananas on the boat!

 

[Throbbit _Shane]

I still say we would have had 50 if you hadnt brought bananas on the boat!

LOL. I think the chocolate chex mix off set the bananas!

My kokanee turned out really well! My step dad even enjoyed them and he doesn't eat salmon/trout.

 

[Combat Chuck]

LOL. I think the chocolate chex mix off set the bananas!

My kokanee turned out really well! My step dad even enjoyed them and he doesn't eat salmon/trout.

the chocolate chex killed em! i gotta stock up now!