2013 Anderson Ranch Fishing Thread

[Lunddude]

Thanks for the update Lunddude. I was afraid that over population was the culprit. Reminds me of Dworshak years ago. I agree that we need to keep our legal catches but problem is that it won't make a dent in the population unless the lake is over populated with fishermen (and fisherwomen). I'll keep going and catch as many as I can...small ones taste as good as the bigger ones. Tight lines.

I know we won't put a dent in the population by keeping those 9" spawners but every little bit will help. I was tossing them back thinking they had to be next years fish but I was wrong. If I do fish Anderson again this year it won't be until August & I will be keeping them.

[warrenh67]

IDFG has been stocking up to 250,000 fish a year in Lucky Peak. Now if those fish cost as little as a dime each, that's way more than the $20K to run the wier at Anderson. And the fishing experience at Anderson is far superior to the multiple wakes, and heavy water skiing, jet skiing at LP. And with the wier in place, Anderson has produced 15 inch plus fish consistently. I've been fishing it since 1969 and 25 fish limits of 15 inch fish are possible. We need to let IDFG know that Anderson has been and should be a viable fishery.
One alternative might be to declare a surplus fishery this year from the backwaters to just below the weir and let people snag up to 25 fish a day, 50 for a weekend. At least get some good from the stunted fish.

[Mojo]

IDFG has been stocking up to 250,000 fish a year in Lucky Peak. Now if those fish cost as little as a dime each, that's way more than the $20K to run the wier at Anderson. And the fishing experience at Anderson is far superior to the multiple wakes, and heavy water skiing, jet skiing at LP. And with the wier in place, Anderson has produced 15 inch plus fish consistently. I've been fishing it since 1969 and 25 fish limits of 15 inch fish are possible. We need to let IDFG know that Anderson has been and should be a viable fishery.
One alternative might be to declare a surplus fishery this year from the backwaters to just below the weir and let people snag up to 25 fish a day, 50 for a weekend. At least get some good from the stunted fish.

As soon as you legalize snagging in one area, it will become rampant. Heck it already is, and is is illegal.

I think a better plan is for the F&G to utilize volunteers to set up and operate the weir, and then train folks from this forum. I know there would be a ton of support from all of us, and who wouldn't want to spend a weekend camping up there and sorting fish to go to the hatchery and letting a few up the river to spawn. We could also separate out a bunch of fish and donate them to food banks, the prison, or whatever...

[Lunddude]

As soon as you legalize snagging in one area, it will become rampant. Heck it already is, and is is illegal.

I think a better plan is for the F&G to utilize volunteers to set up and operate the weir, and then train folks from this forum. I know there would be a ton of support from all of us, and who wouldn't want to spend a weekend camping up there and sorting fish to go to the hatchery and letting a few up the river to spawn. We could also separate out a bunch of fish and donate them to food banks, the prison, or whatever...

Sounds like a great idea to me.

[D_Luck]

As soon as you legalize snagging in one area, it will become rampant. Heck it already is, and is is illegal.

I think a better plan is for the F&G to utilize volunteers to set up and operate the weir, and then train folks from this forum. I know there would be a ton of support from all of us, and who wouldn't want to spend a weekend camping up there and sorting fish to go to the hatchery and letting a few up the river to spawn. We could also separate out a bunch of fish and donate them to food banks, the prison, or whatever...

I'm game! I love it out at anderson, and I'd be happy to help make it as good fishing as it is pretty

[Lunddude]

I'll be putting a call into Scott tomorrow to see what he thinks about putting together a volunteer program to help run the weir @ Anderson. I'll post he's views on this matter as soon as I know something. I've been working with Scott the last 6 years as a mentor for the youth waterfowl hunts IDF&G puts on @ the Hagerman WMA. Maybe a group of volunteers from this forum could work together to make Anderson a great kokanee fishery again. Let's hope so!

[Allyn S]

Keep us informed. I would be willing to donate some time for the cause. 1 weekend to put the wier in, and a month worth of weekend volunteers to release the F&G quota seems like something we should be able to coordinate.

On a side note about processing smaller fish. Has anyone used the special catfish pliers to try and skin small kokes like you would a catfish? 9" is to small to screw with fillets but if you could evicerate and skin then cube, might be a way to use them for canning. Figure the bones would just melt down on fish that small. Never tried it but think it might work.

If the volunteer thing ended up a go I might be over there. If that happened I would take some time to try and put a dent in that 4 mil. pop. and fill the pantry with canners. Save the good ones for BBQ and smoked.

[Lunddude]

Just got off the phone with Scott Stanton @ IDF&G & he was very interested in hearing that some of the guys from this forum would be willing to help out with the weir @ Anderson Ranch. Scott says the weir operation runs from mid August to mid October and needs to be managed 24/7.

Since IDF&G are not planning on running the weir @ Anderson until 2014 I'm pretty sure the volunteer program probably would not be taking place until that time unless we could convince IDF&G to start it back up this fall. My name is already on the list as a volunteer, anyone else interested in helping out with this program should contact Scott Stanton @ IDF&G (208) 324-4359.

If anyone would like to contact me direct to talk further about this program & any ideas you might have, please feel free to call me @ (208) 720-7250

[TonyP]

Does anyone have an updated report on Anderson, location, gear, size etc....may head up next week

[holtz]

Nothing going on at Anderson, My brother and I were there Sunday and nothing, we changed our gear multiple times and nothing. We put in at deer creek and trolled from there down to the dam and nothing. We then went into a little cove area and caught a couple of really small trout and decided to call it a day, it was very disappointing . I had much better luck at lucky peak on Saturday.

[Mojo]

Does anyone have an updated report on Anderson, location, gear, size etc....may head up next week

Lots of little kokes. 9" is the standard right now. fish across from Curlew with wedding rings, and make sure you run snubbers...

[spoons]

lots of little ones., I put in at curlew and fished just to the left Saturday night and Sunday morning. those little ones kept me busy the entire time. if a pole was not getting a bite it was because they already stole my corn and I missed it. definitely use small light gear if you want to get them in the boat

[cromedogg33]

I've never fished koke's at Anderson. Anyone have any tips on some of the better places? I'll be up there next weekend.

[warrenh67]

I see where IDFG planted 35,000 fall chinook at Anderson in May. That might help the size issue in a couple of years. If they grow like they did when they planted them before, it gives a whole new dimension to tackle choices.

[gdub]

I'd like to head to anderson next week, but I'm a little new to the lake, when people speak of curlew, are they talking the back side of anderson near Pine?

[Lunddude]

I'd like to head to anderson next week, but I'm a little new to the lake, when people speak of curlew, are they talking the back side of anderson near Pine?

Yes, Curlew is on the upper end of the lake on the east side.

[Lunddude]

I've never fished koke's at Anderson. Anyone have any tips on some of the better places? I'll be up there next weekend.

Might want to hold off until the end of July to give them little guys a chance to grow some.

[gdub]

Fished anderson this morning, caught 10 in about an hour, all were tiny 8 to 10 inches, had fun camping but, but the fishing part not so hot. Your right may need to wait a while for them to grow a bit.

[Cricket]

Fished anderson this morning, caught 10 in about an hour, all were tiny 8 to 10 inches, had fun camping but, but the fishing part not so hot. Your right may need to wait a while for them to grow a bit.

Not sure they are going to grow much bigger than they are now due to the population of the fish there.

[Allyn S]

Anyone been up here in awhile? If work allows I was gonna head up this week/weekend for 2-3 days and see if I can get a cooler full of these little ones for canning. If you have been up there recently or are familiar with the kokes in Anderson what would be a good starting depth for the DR this time of year? If I make it will report back what I find. Thanks in advance for any replies PM or on the board.

[gdub]

I was there the 4th of jul weekend, used pink kokabow on both rods fished one DR at 20 and the other at 25, they hit at both depths, have fun, in an hour we caught 15, we got a little tired of messing with the DRs for just little ones, but it was still fun. Good luck.

[Allyn S]

Thanks for the info gdub. Not sure yet if we are gonna make it yet, but will start at 25' and work down till we find them if we do.

[hogslayer]

Fished Saturday 7:30 to noon, caught nothing both 8 to 9 inchers. Fished at 35 to 40', surface temp as 74.

[Allyn S]

Went Fri. evening and Sat. morning. Was trying to fill the cooler with the dinks and test skinning them and then canning. Left about noon with 50 on Sat. due to boredom, heat, and the invasion of ski boats form Mtn. Home.

The skinning the dinks worked well. Tried a couple without gutting first but the pectoral fins would snag and it wouldn't want to peel. If you gutted them first it worked pretty good. The colder they were the better they skinned, if they got warm while you were cleaning them the meat would stick to the skin and want to tear. Looked like little sardines when done. The 50 fish all in a pile when cleaned equaled about as much meat as the limit we got from Lucky Peak on Sun.

The little SOB's were kinda picky, only got bites on spinners behind gold cowbells. Fished from the surface down to 20' and got bites at all those depths. Best was around 20'. The gang trolls hid their light bites so it got frustrating and there was 0 fight so that frustration turned to boredom.

Of the bites we got we hooked up on about 1/2, and of the hookups we boated about 1/2 so we were getting about 1/4 of the bites into the boat. They were so small they were hard to keep on no matter how careful you were. We were getting enough hits that I think we could have limited if we stayed and came back with 150 in possession (three person possesion limit) but it wasn't fun and I didn't want to stick around to see if we could. Had more fun on Lucky Peak Sun. were we limited in 3 1/2 hours for three folks and had as much meat in the fridge as we did from Anderson. Nothing ventured nothing gained, but we won't be going back.

That said if you are next to a lake full of stunted kokes and you don't know what to do with them because they are to small for traditional cleaning methods, try skinning, cubing, and canning. It worked pretty slick, I cleaned and skinned the 50 fish in about 40 min. solo. wouldn't take much time at all to do a bunch if you had a couple of hands helping.

Just to throw in, the biggest fish we caught was a skinny 11" (we got 2 that size), the average was 9" and the small was 7.5" (thank god not to many of them).