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Koke-n-a-smile
08-09-2009, 11:00 PM
I met Kokonuts at his place and spent the day on his boat on Saturday. What a great trip. The sky was overcast, there was little to no wind, and the water was really calm. I haven't had any luck catching Kokanee this summer, so Kokonuts was kind enough to take me out and show me how. Well, the morning started out a little slow, but Kokonuts started catching fish. (The highlight of my morning was seeing a deer on the shore, and netting his fish;)) Kokonuts caught 3 or 4 nice size Kokes, a small tiny one we tossed back, and a swaw fish. We switched sides of the lake, and Kokonuts caught his 5th. I hadn't even had a bite! I was using basically the same thing he was, but nothing was happening on my pole. The main difference seemed to be the custom flasher rig that Kokonuts made and was using on his downrigger ball. So, since he had limited, I switched sides of the boat, and used his rig. Bam! I had a bite. I reeled in, and about 5 feet from the boat, it spit the hook out! A few minutes later, same thing, it spit out the hook when it saw the boat. I figured that was going to be it. Well, we stuck with it, and finally, I landed my first Kokanee!tooexcited I caught two more, and when we had finally given up for the day, I was about to reel in the line, and Bam! This one practically jumped out of the water! We ended the day with 8 fish to bring home. (If you are doing the math you will realize we caught 9, well, all I can say is that one got away, so we brought home 8.;)) Thank you Kokonuts, worthy12you are a great teacher! I look forward to returning to the lake before they turn for the year, hope to see you on the water.

Kokonuts
08-13-2009, 09:19 AM
Catching them is a real blast! It was a very good day & I think we'll have a few more before the end of the season.

I'll be working on some more of my custom flashers to try out this weekend. I will be out on the Lake this Fri & Sat.
(14th & 15th)., I hope to see you out there! .....thumbsup......Kokonuts

Koke-n-a-smile
08-14-2009, 11:43 PM
It looks doubtful I can make it on Saturday. (wedding anniversary) I might be able to go on Sunday. I should be able to make it out next Saturday, let me know how they are biting. Knock 'em dead:)

Kokonuts
08-16-2009, 12:49 PM
I made it out to the lake Fri. morning about 10 & fished untill 4 with only 3 to show for all that time. The fish were still scattered on the South Side but not hitting anything that I offered.

Sat. I was out with a couple of friends from the Hideaway. We hit the water by 7 & fished until 12 with NOTHING to show for it excepy a few small Squaw Fish. I was trolling on the South Side again & marked a lot of fish but they just didnt hit anything that I was using. The fish were at the 50ft. level , water was 70 and it was cloudy all morning.
I didnt see many boats out either day, and those I talked with had the same hard times. crymeariver.....

I'll be back out by the end of the week to try it again.
....thumbsup....Kokonuts

Kokhead
08-16-2009, 07:48 PM
What sizes of fish do you get out of Merwin.

Kokonuts
08-16-2009, 07:55 PM
I been getting average size of 13-14" with some up to 16". They have all been fat & healthy !

I do think they are starting to turn, I caught some last week that showed the start of the hook nose.

..........thumbsup.......Kokonuts

Koke-n-a-smile
08-16-2009, 11:04 PM
Kokonuts, too bad about the fishing this weekend. I should be out there next Saturday, hope the bite is better. I picked up a new apex, we'll see how it works:) Anyone else going?

king koke
08-18-2009, 11:28 PM
I will be there, as the seasone is winding down. thumbsup

Koke-n-a-smile
08-21-2009, 03:19 PM
Looks like I will make it out on Saturday. Talked my brother in to going, so we will be in my boat (17' Smoker Craft, blue and tan). thumbsup Anybody have any ideas what they may be biting on now?

king koke
08-21-2009, 11:09 PM
awesome, see ya on the water. Ill be putting in around 6:30 or so I live in troutdale. And hooking up with kokonuts out on the lake. thumbsup I will be in my 12ft turquoise boat with my son and a friend.

Koke-n-a-smile
08-21-2009, 11:19 PM
Cool, I should be putting in around the same time frame. Supposed to meet my brother in Battle Ground around 6, so probably be up at Speelyai around 6:45 or so.tooexcited

Koke-n-a-smile
08-23-2009, 08:21 PM
Well, it was good seeing everyone on the lake Saturday. We caught two keepers, and a whole mess of squaw fishcrymeariver The Kokanee were caught on a red wedding ring, and a red pro-troll with an e-chip, and they weren't the biggest fish I have seen on the lake, but decent enough. Talked with the 1000 Trails guy at the dock when we pulled out, sounds like nobody is having much luck anymore, and that several of the regulars he talks to are done for the year. What do you guys think, are we done already?

---Koke-n-a-smile:)

MackPrince
08-24-2009, 12:53 PM
The ones I hooked weren't pink yet so I think we still have a little time left. I released a few small ones Saturday, but had several ferocious hits. I figure these fish were so big and net shy they just threw the hook out of fear.laugh hyst

I'm not quite ready to give up yet!

Koke-n-a-smile
08-26-2009, 10:05 PM
Looks like I will get to go on Friday, and maybe one day in the weekend!thumbsup Let me know if you will be out there, and we can meet up!

Koke-n-a-smile stomper

Kokonuts
08-27-2009, 10:49 AM
I'll be out again later on Fri, morning & again on Sat.
Lets meet up again on the water to figure them out!....laugh hyst......Kokonuts

Koke-n-a-smile
08-27-2009, 07:05 PM
Sounds great! I will have the family with me this time, so of course the weather forecast is for rain. I am shooting for fairly early am on Friday, but my idea and the families idea of early aren't exactly the samelaugh hyst

~Koke-n-a-smile

Koke-n-a-smile
08-29-2009, 02:20 PM
Got the whole family rousted and on the water Friday morning. The fish finder wasn't working, couldn't get it to turn on at all. Everything looks ok, but no dice. I decided to go for it anyway. So, without a downrigger, no leaded line, and no fish finder, I made my way out to where we had caught fish before. I threw on a red wedding ring behind a beer can lake troll on one, and a green apex behind a jack-o-diamonds lake troll on the other, gave around 50 pulls of line for each and set out fishing. Ended up catching a nice fat female on the wedding ring about ten minutes before we saw Kokonuts. We fished that area for a while, no more bites, so we moved on down the lake. Ended up the day with two Kokanee, and two squaw fish. The second koke came on the boy's pole, and they both took a turn reeling it in:) The sheriff came by, and said that was better than everyone he had talked to for the entire week. So I guess it's like they say, better lucky than goodstomper Anyway, both Kokes were bright silver, and didn't really look like they were changing, so maybe we still have some time in the yearthumbsup

sweetpea
08-29-2009, 05:57 PM
this time of year i go real deep. i usually go with a ford fender w/ 5oz weight trolling a wedding ring or apex. last year i was letting 100-130 pulls at least. i don't have a good downrigger so i long line it. i might try to get up there tomorrow and see. almost out of all my canned kokanee.

smokin' Kokes
08-31-2009, 07:11 AM
if a guy doesn't have a downrigger, i've improvised.

salmon reel on short rod with 150' of 130lb dacron in holder
4lb to 6lb downrigger weigh, fine for the slow koke troll
Sep's Simple Troll, takes the fishing line down the DR lin, returns to the surface on a hit release.

http://sepsprofishing.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=43000&Category_Code=STDU

http://sepsprofishing.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/43000%20additional%20Simply%20Trolling%20Device%20 with%20ruler.jpg

these work well on a regular DR also, saves lots of ball pulling.

Get'nJiggy
08-31-2009, 02:29 PM
Fished Merwin one last time this Sunday. Managed 7 fish for about 3 hours. 2 over 15" and the rest around 12". Kept to ourselves just west of Spelyei. A green weddign ring /ford fender combo, and a green/glow scorpion spinner/sling blade combo accounted for all the fish. It was a great summer up there, can't wait until next year!!! Here's my fishing buddy with two of the better ones......
http://www.kokaneefishingforum.com/fishing-forums/picture.php?albumid=106&pictureid=979

smokin' Kokes
08-31-2009, 03:22 PM
you got a fisherman on your hands there.
can see the determination in the fish hold stance.
hooked for life.
remember my son's first fish, searun Cuttthroat on North River off Willapa Bay 30 years ago trolling. outfishes me now

look at the hog gut on those 2.

try a little gob of the eggs on your front hook ahead of the corn.

Koke-n-a-smile
08-31-2009, 03:43 PM
Thanks for the idea on a make-shift downrigger. I have seen the simply trollin' device before, didn't know if/how they worked. I will have to pick one up and give it a try. My season up at Merwin may be over too, my brother is talking me in to hitting the Columbia and going for some "full size" salmon this weekend (along with everybody else:) ) If that doesn't pan out, I may try Merwin one more time.

Tight linesthumbsup
~Koke-n-a-smile

Koke-n-a-smile
08-31-2009, 03:46 PM
ps. Get'nJiggy - those are great looking kokes! I see they are a little pink, the couple I landed on Friday were still bright silver. Weird. How deep were you trolling at?

Get'nJiggy
08-31-2009, 04:24 PM
We were at about 45 ft before the sun hit then kind of dropped down to near 60 ft later on. The problem with that was all the pike minnows we'd get. The koke's were real aggresive and even if they didn't trip the downrigger you knew they were there, the pike minnows on the other hand, if you weren't really paying attention you'd drag them all over the lake.

SilverBullets
08-31-2009, 05:11 PM
Great report Get'nJiggy! Yep, your partner has got the stance down! thumbsup

Hey Smokin'Kokes...I have a couple of Shuttle Hawks, looks pretty much the same as your Seps Simple Trolling Device. I have yet to give them a try. One question...If the fish doesn't make the clip release, can you give it a tug up to get it to release, or would that just slide the devise up the rigger line to where you would have to reel the whole devise up to unclip?

smokin' Kokes
08-31-2009, 08:24 PM
the fish will bring the slider release up.

just pulling up on the line puts the slider in the Beam Me Up Scotty mode.

i seldom have a fish that's hooked not pull the line out of the release clip. i use scotty hair trigger releases

MackPrince
09-01-2009, 01:02 AM
Great report Jiggy!thumbsup