2013-2016 Idaho Kokanee Fishing Reports Quick Links

[hooked]

That's awesome. I'll have to keep that in mind. Had thought about freezing the "cleaning mess" to reduce garbage can stink, but that's a more entertaining idea. Plus it's probably good for the lake... the nutrients from the scrap should help feed the plankton the kokes eat.

I'd prefer to just fillet the fish while out in the boat and dump the carcasses back in the lake if it were legal. It's pretty standard up in Alaska to fillet fish at cleaning stations that are in the rivers, and just chuck the carcass back in to feed other river creatures. Rather like using a mulching lawnmower vs dumping cut grass in a landfill and wasting all those nutrients.

[armyducker]

SuperD,
End of the day they only have fish guts! LOL. Idaho Fishing Regulation states:
Head and Tail Removal:
It is illegal to have in the field
or in transit any trout, char, coho, kokanee, grayling, tiger
muskie, or bass from which the head or tail has been
removed. For steelhead see page 43. For anadromous salmon
see annual published special rules.

So according to the way this reads, I can't fillet fish at the cleaning stations at a lake, so I'm out all day, catch a few keeper small mouth, can't clean those at the lake? If I'm wrong, I know a lot of other folks who are as well.

[fish4kok]

So according to the way this reads, I can't fillet fish at the cleaning stations at a lake, so I'm out all day, catch a few keeper small mouth, can't clean those at the lake? If I'm wrong, I know a lot of other folks who are as well.

Hi armyducker,
I cleaned my fish at the lake but I didn't cut off the head or tail or fillet. Few years back when I was camping at Deadwood reservoir, I heard sound of the pressure cooker sizzling inside a motor home. People canned the fish at campground. :)
Head and tail removal is on page 53 of 2013-2015 Fishing Seasons and Rules
http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/public/...asonsRules.pdf

[AverysAdventure]

Hi armyducker,
I cleaned my fish at the lake but I didn't cut off the head or tail or fillet. Few years back when I was camping at Deadwood reservoir, I heard sound of the pressure cooker sizzling inside a motor home. People canned the fish at campground. :)
Head and tail removal is on page 53 of 2013-2015 Fishing Seasons and Rules
http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/public/...asonsRules.pdf

I heard this issue will be dealt with in the new reg book coming out for '16. Canning your fish at Deadwood is common practice and once the fish is processed it is no longer considered in possession. The old reg books made that clear but the current one does not. Hope they get it cleared up.

[callelk]

Went out today, ended up snapping my downrigger line, lost my ball and clip, but thats ok, attached some weight ended up catching a couple nice trout on the long line. No kokes tho.

That stinks, check your drag and adjust: http://www.kokaneefishingforum.com/f...our-downrigger

Went out yesterday for a couple of hours and tried to avoid trout and pikeminnows. Caught 1 17+ Koke and unfortunately 1 pikeminnow 2 seconds after I put in....that said, the seagulls are happier than they were....

I will run my Temp/Depth gauge next week and see what depth their food is which I suspect is in warmer water than the schools I have graphed.

[SuperD]

SuperD,
End of the day they only have fish guts! LOL. Idaho Fishing Regulation states:
Head and Tail Removal:
It is illegal to have in the field
or in transit any trout, char, coho, kokanee, grayling, tiger
muskie, or bass from which the head or tail has been
removed. For steelhead see page 43. For anadromous salmon
see annual published special rules.

I simply meant to throw the heads you show up with at the end of the day.

[DeltaDude]

That stinks, check your drag and adjust: http://www.kokaneefishingforum.com/f...our-downrigger

Went out yesterday for a couple of hours and tried to avoid trout and pikeminnows. Caught 1 17+ Koke and unfortunately 1 pikeminnow 2 seconds after I put in....that said, the seagulls are happier than they were....

I will run my Temp/Depth gauge next week and see what depth their food is which I suspect is in warmer water than the schools I have graphed.

Yesterday I was marking the surface at around 70 degrees and that was before 10am. BUT, I did see plenty of fish jumping and surfacing. Including kokes.

I marked an absolute TON of fish, but I am going to guess that they were bass.

[fish4kok]

I simply meant to throw the heads you show up with at the end of the day.

Sorry for the previous message misinterpretation.

[GrimReaper]

Taking an out of town friend fishing LP this evening, but I have not fished there yet this season, would appreciate any information anyone is willing to share from recent outings on possible locations/depths to start with.

[jimbojump]

Those aren't fish bro...that's clutter and air bubbles being confused with fish...if you wanna see actual fish...turn off the fish id. Fish will show up as arches of various sizes...fish Id always exaggerates small bubbles and stuff and shows them as fish.

[jimbojump]

Deltadude...also..your speed at the time was a tad slow as well...idk if you were trolling at the time...but kokes prefer speeds of .9 to 1.8 mph...usually more on the faster side of that scale.

[DowntownBrowns]

Yesterday I was marking the surface at around 70 degrees and that was before 10am. BUT, I did see plenty of fish jumping and surfacing. Including kokes.

I marked an absolute TON of fish, but I am going to guess that they were bass.

They look more like Goldfish.

[armyducker]

Sorry for the previous message misinterpretation.

No problem, I have no issues either way, I fillet fish at lake at times, I consider that processed, but not sure after reading above, I will without a doubt get it clarified. I like to be legal for sure.

[DeltaDude]

Deltadude...also..your speed at the time was a tad slow as well...idk if you were trolling at the time...but kokes prefer speeds of .9 to 1.8 mph...usually more on the faster side of that scale.

I slowed it down just because of all the beeps, just checking it out.

They look more like Goldfish.

They are goldfish :D

[callelk]

Those aren't fish bro...that's clutter and air bubbles being confused with fish...if you wanna see actual fish...turn off the fish id. Fish will show up as arches of various sizes...fish Id always exaggerates small bubbles and stuff and shows them as fish.

Concur, Fish ID shows everything with air as fish to include exhaust bubbles! With Fish ID off, you will be able to tell a zooplankton bloom from trout, but more importantly (for me anyway), trout and other fish from Koke's.

Look at the DR. Sonar web page for more info on HB units.

Went out yesterday afternoon for a couple of hours..complete bust. Two light hits as soon as I hit the opposite bank and that was it.

[G3 longliner]

went out yesterday by myself and caught 10 Koks - 6 went back to grow up - one hog was 18" and 5" across - bet 3 lbs. - heaviest this year - not to much blush yet - googens where out - even some of the fisherman are bad - a couple party barges just go tooling thru the fleet like " look at me " - you could hit with a rock:) didn't have any rocks - darn- talked to a couple boats that where not doing well on downriggers - I believe those fish coming up to under 20 ft. are ones you catch - just my opinion - I be a die hard longliner

[callelk]

went out yesterday by myself and caught 10 Koks - 6 went back to grow up - one hog was 18" and 5" across - bet 3 lbs. - heaviest this year - not to much blush yet - googens where out - even some of the fisherman are bad - a couple party barges just go tooling thru the fleet like " look at me " - you could hit with a rock:) didn't have any rocks - darn- talked to a couple boats that where not doing well on downriggers - I believe those fish coming up to under 20 ft. are ones you catch - just my opinion - I be a die hard longliner

No kidding about the googens...I spent 10 years windsurfing under the Golden Gate Bridge (Crissy Field), the airport and Berkeley Pier so it goes without saying I am not too impressed with someone "surfing" behind a wake boat in 72 degree water.....and it could be the lack of sharks as well too

So..what was the secret sauce yesterday and the location?

[G3 longliner]

pretty simple 1 oz ball on plastic slip weight holder - 2 ft leader - silver ( with flectolite ) ford fender - snubber - red wedding ring with garlic corn out 100 ft. at 1.5 mph - that's my stand by - hey next year it will be all different so no big secret - got there late - I think it was a early show - quit bitin by 11 - most on east side south of spring shores - maybe 1 week left? don't hurt any googens:)

[DeltaDude]

Concur, Fish ID shows everything with air as fish to include exhaust bubbles! With Fish ID off, you will be able to tell a zooplankton bloom from trout, but more importantly (for me anyway), trout and other fish from Koke's.

Look at the DR. Sonar web page for more info on HB units.

Went out yesterday afternoon for a couple of hours..complete bust. Two light hits as soon as I hit the opposite bank and that was it.

Yeah it very well could be, it was near the dam intake so I am going to guess that is what it was.

I still have to find that magic settings on my fish finder, after reading the manual, and watching multiple videos, still can't seem to dial it in.

Was fishing yesterday on the long line, got 5 bites... very good ones... one so good I had to cut the engine... but they all came off.

That being said, I was long lining with a worm, dodger, and kokabow, was very likely trout.

[G3 longliner]

hot tomorrow googens will be out early

[GrimReaper]

Think we saw you out there G3 - red and white rig? We were in the green/white crestliner, and also got buzzed a couple times by rec boaters - here we are pretty tight to shore and 20+ footer passes between me and the shore at full speed, maybe 40 feet away at most. I gave them the hands in the air shrug, but apparently they thought I was waving and just waved back.

Anyhow we boated 8 kokes, 2 of which were 18" - and wow they put up an epic fight. I was using downriggers, most fish we caught around 20' down, a couple shallower at 12-15'.

[callelk]

pretty simple 1 oz ball on plastic slip weight holder - 2 ft leader - silver ( with flectolite ) ford fender - snubber - red wedding ring with garlic corn out 100 ft. at 1.5 mph - that's my stand by - hey next year it will be all different so no big secret - got there late - I think it was a early show - quit bitin by 11 - most on east side south of spring shores - maybe 1 week left? don't hurt any googens:)

Yeah, the only change seems to be from an orange WR to red one. That and the upping to 1oz from 1/2oz or none at all.

The one I kept Sunday was starting to turn, hump forming, a "slight" pinkish hue if you were at the right angle but still very dark on top and silver sides at most angles. Meat was a tad more orange than red but tasted fine. I think that if I do catch more, it will be the smoker for them.

Graphed the water, coldest was 72.2 on top and 60.1 at 115'. The temp dropped consistently on the way down so there was not a therm plateau to speak of.

[kenbarb]

Barb and I fished Tuesday morning, nice weather, beautiful day with a lot of clouds and not too hot. We launched the boat at Bruces Eddy and headed to Canyon Creek, about a hundred yards out the fishfinder was really lit up with Kokanee, but we stuck with our plan and continued on our way. We had set our limit at 20 fish total, did not want to deal with any more than that. Pulled the boat off plane at Canyon Creek, the fishfinder is showing a few Kokanee. We get the lines in at 8:00 am, right away we have the first fish, catching is pretty consistent and we have 20 fish at 11:00 am. Started with pink squids, and scented red corn, but through trial and error, found that green squid with a chrome smiley blade, tipped with scented white corn was the hot lure, green beaded lures with spinner blades also worked good. The surface water temp. was 75-F, so we put the fish in a bag of ice as we caught them, this kept them very firm, with no rib bones popping out when we cleaned them. All of the fish were around 9". The jet skiers, and ski boats were getting active when we left, and it was starting to heat up, so if you are going, get there early. Tight lines, Ken

[G3 longliner]

went today slow 8 - 6 went back no hogs windy all morn. talked to a couple guys had about the same

[callelk]

went today slow 8 - 6 went back no hogs windy all morn. talked to a couple guys had about the same

Same here, kept one that was 13" because it was hooked in the gills but the rest were little and had a lot of light hits.

I did have one good hit when I was screwing around at 40' with beer cans and a large Rainbow Apex. Guess I will go back tomorrow morning and start looking for big trout...better than doing yard work!