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luckykoke
03-01-2010, 11:51 AM
Just wondering if anyone else is fishing Lucky Peak now. We have been out on three separate occasions in Feb and caught 8, 11, and 6 kokes. Seems like there have been a ton of boats out there especially compared to last year. Best of luck fishing this year,
Lucky

sawtooth
03-01-2010, 10:21 PM
It is good to hear that LP is starting to produce.

sawtooth
03-01-2010, 10:23 PM
Hoping to get out to the lake this weekend. Were the fish on top or will I need to use the downriggers? I was waiting for the water to warm up a bit but my fishing addiction needs a fix. :)

luckykoke
03-03-2010, 09:22 AM
Seems like they were in the 15-20 foot range. We didn't try on top so there could be some up there. I think we are heading out Sunday to give it another try.
Lucky

kodiak1
03-03-2010, 03:18 PM
Hey Lucky,
Congrats on getting a good start on the kokes!! I'm curious. Last year they seemed to be on the move more than usual early on. They were around the dam early on, then they were packed in below Arrowrock, and finally settled in at Spring Shores. Wondering where you found them. Thanks for any info. Mike

sawtooth
03-03-2010, 11:23 PM
Luckykoke,

If you see a red and white 17' Crestliner on the lake Sunday afternoon stop by and say hi.

Sawtooth

luckykoke
03-04-2010, 12:19 PM
They have been on the move this year too. We have fished spring shores one week and then went back and fished there again with no luck. We spend an hour or two tracking them down. Not even sure where we will start on Sunday. Sawtooth, I'll look for you. We are in a Yukon with a black strip. We will be running 4 poles. Good luck this weekend.
Lucky

Luge
03-04-2010, 08:12 PM
Lucky, sounds like you have a great boat driver, fish locator, and tackle consultant. What's your secret.

luckykoke
03-05-2010, 11:46 AM
Well to tell you the truth, my boat driver sucks and I have to direct him all the time. Rumor has it, he caught 6 last week and I caught 11 the week before. The proof is in the numbers. See you on Sunday and please try to contribute this week!

sawtooth
03-08-2010, 12:55 AM
Went out for three and a half hours on Sunday afternoon. Hooked two kokes and two trout (when we got a little to close to shore). Had a couple other takedowns, but didn't have them on long enough to see if they were kokes or not. Fish were holding at 12-20 feet with no real combination being a true winner. A variety of homemade spinners and a couple of needlefish all had fish on. Luckykoke, I think I saw your black striped Yukon, but you were a little out of voice range, and by the time I passed back through you were long gone. How did you do on Sunday?

clearwaterb
03-08-2010, 10:11 AM
weather was great, fishing not so much. Fished both days, marked TONS of fish. Only caught a few trout. I am thinking that the water coming up has them a little messed up. What does anyone think of that assessment? I tried down riggers, the trusty leadded line, squids, weeding rings of various colors, nothing seemed to work. Most of the fish were in that 12-24 foot range. The few folks I talked to caught some at 45 feet deep.

bkondeff
03-08-2010, 05:16 PM
I have yet to wet a line for Koke's, but am very excited and have been doing research. I do not have downriggers yet and while at a store recently was told I won't need them until later in the summer. I thought I would ask your opinion. There is a used, but like new Cannon manual avail for a decent but not great price. I have a lot of gear to buy on a limited budget so....

Should I get the downriggers sooner rather than later or can I afford to wait a few months.

Brian

sawtooth
03-08-2010, 07:55 PM
bkondeff,
Look out, your about to step off onto a very slippery slope. Koke fishing can become addictive and like many addiction it has a way of separating you from any and all disposable income you may have. :) In regards, to your question about downriggers, you should be able to catch fish either without weight or with small inline weights through May. Once the weather reaches highs in the 80's a downrigger gives you the ability to catch fish without excessive weight on your line or the use of leadcore line. I have a couple friends that fish throughout the summer without a downrigger at Lucky Peak, but by mid-June they are pulling so much weight or have so much leadline out that they are loosing alot of the fun of catching these silver bullets. Another big bonus to having a downrigger is that you always know exactly the depth your line is fishing. You can also stack two lines on the same downrigger, allowing you to fish two known depths on one downrigger. If you have a good deal available to you right now, I would probably pick it up and then wait a while before buying a second. I used one of my downriggers this weekend and it sure helps knowing you always have at least one line at the depths your fishfinder is marking fish. Hope this helps, and tight lines.
Sawtooth

luckykoke
03-09-2010, 09:22 AM
Sawtooth,
We didn't do well at all. Fished hard and only caught one rainbow. It was a tough day. We did stop by a red stripped crestliner, but found out it wasn't you ;-) The guy was very nice though so that was good. Think he thought I was a little crazy when I asked him if he was Sawtooth. I'll ditto Sawtooths remarks on the downrigger. Plus I'll add that with a couple of downriggers it is easier to get 4 lines down without having a tangled mess and you want to run 4 lines if you are fishing with 2 people. Remember to buy your two pole license though.
I would also agree that the reservoir coming up is causing them some of the problems, but you also have the runoff from Mores Creek coming in and the change in the weather. Good luck to all, not sure if I'll make it out this next weekend, but will keep you posted if I do.
Lucky

kodiak1
03-09-2010, 12:21 PM
Brian,
Sawtooth and Lucky give great advice. Sometimes, we have two downriggers out, and the third pole with lead core gets all the action. This is often true even in the heat of the summer, but usually early in the A.M., before they drop. You will love downriggers; they are, in my mind, a necessity, and will greatly increase your catch rate. I know some will disagree with this next bit of advice, but I strongly recommend the Penn downriggers. I fish a lot on the ocean for salmon, and on the west coast, you will find that Penns dominate. They never seem to break down, and they have HUGE numbers to indicate depth. It can be difficult early in the morning and later in the evening to read depths on a small readout. Unfortunately, no one around here carries them. They can be ordered easily on the internet. I had a friend fish with me recently, and he sold his Cannons shortly after and ordered Penns. Just one person's opinion!!! Good fishing. Mike

kodiak1
03-09-2010, 12:49 PM
Hey Brian--have you looked at EBay? I just checked it out for Penns, for example, and there is a pair of fine looking Penn 625's with the desired 2' arm for $269 for the pair, "buy now price", with a 60 day guarantee. Good deal. If you prefer the Cannons or Scotties, I am sure you could find some good deals, as well. Mike

metalheadgene
03-09-2010, 09:34 PM
That is a good price for those Penn's....being a longtime Koke fisherman using leadcore and wieghts I fished last sunday for the first time with my new Easi Troll and loved it. It caught the most and biggest fish of the day. I also agree that later on, the lead core can dominate but the downrigger is a blast.

3RivrFishr
03-09-2010, 10:45 PM
Geno
First of all welcome to KFF. Secondly, how many downrigger rods should I build for ya? thumbsup

Uboat
03-09-2010, 11:09 PM
I just loined the club... looking forward to exchanging info with you folks. Metelheads down rigger did great but my 30 yers old leadcore line did pretty good too.....

BorntoFish01
03-10-2010, 12:39 PM
Oh boy, there goes the neighborhood with you 3 schmucks...Uboat/Mel, Geno, 3RivrFishr/Ron. nananana

Good to see Mel and Geno onboard.

I'm excited to see another koke season coming on. Think I've got enough hootchie rigs tied to get me through many years.....oh wait, I just got the urge to tie somemore. thumbsup

3RivrFishr
03-10-2010, 08:33 PM
Uboat, your leadcore has been fishing longer than I have. laugh hyst

metalheadgene
03-10-2010, 08:49 PM
Ron...I need one for now but soon will need two:rolleyes:

Mel was right, that leadcore line was so old you could not even see the colors on it yet it did very well.

Dean...I can't wait to get you back out there!

BorntoFish01
03-11-2010, 10:31 AM
Me too Geno....Mel and I were talking and maybe if the weather/winds settles down, Sunday or Monday might be good.

sawtooth
03-15-2010, 12:39 AM
I wasn't able to make it out this weekend to LP.:( Sunday afternoon was sure nice. Was anyone else able to get out? If so how was the fishing?

Uboat
03-15-2010, 12:58 AM
Borntofish01, Dean, and I will be out there tomorrow.We will post a report when we get back.

metalheadgene
03-15-2010, 08:49 PM
Good luck boys. I should have kicker bracket out of the shop tomorrow and be back in business by the week-end.

Uboat
03-15-2010, 09:37 PM
Dean and I hit it today. We caught a bunch of trout and only a couple of Kokes. Turned out to be a beautiful day after the wind died down.

Uboat
03-15-2010, 09:38 PM
Good luck boys. I should have kicker bracket out of the shop tomorrow and be back in business by the week-end.

Did Rick take care of you? The Bay kit on my kicker is awsome!!!! QUite a difference.

metalheadgene
03-17-2010, 09:46 PM
Well...inquiring minds want to know??

metalheadgene
03-17-2010, 10:15 PM
Yea Mel...Rick did a great job. He took the 3/16 material off the sides and replace it with 7/16 along with the flanges...tiggid all the way around.

Is it me or is this just a bunch more trout in Locky Peak this year?

Uboat
03-18-2010, 01:01 AM
According to a fish and game guy they stocked a bunch of trout in there. All the ones we caught are cookie cutter fish. It gives you something to do between Koke bites.......

clearwaterb
03-18-2010, 12:56 PM
how deep? I have been marking tons of fish around 12-20 ft. But I have heard they are getting them at 40+

LILFISHER
03-18-2010, 03:24 PM
Uboat, your leadcore has been fishing longer than I have. laugh hyst

And it is older than I am. tongue2 Glad you guys got into a few. It is to nice up here and I have to work 12s. I knowcrymeariver. More money for Gear! LIL

Uboat
03-19-2010, 05:26 PM
how deep? I have been marking tons of fish around 12-20 ft. But I have heard they are getting them at 40+

We had 6 colors on the lead lines and 45' on the downrigger...... trolling very slow...

Sluggo
03-19-2010, 10:19 PM
Hello,

I need some advice on catching Kokes at Lucky Peak. My dad LOVES to troll but his health is failing and I am not sure how many more productive years he has. I have taken him fishing at LP the last couple of years in late June and early July. We have caught a few Kokes but nothing to brag about. I would love to get some advice so, hopefully, we can catch a few more. Is there an area that seems to be more productive? The last few years we have fished near some cliffs with the Dam about a mile away. What type of rigs seem to work best? What is the best time of year to fish for Kokes at LP? We only have one downrigger and also lead core line. I know that we are not setup the best so and advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys and good luck fishing!

skookum9
03-20-2010, 01:51 AM
Maybe you could catch a ride with one of the regulars here from that lake and they could give you a quick little lesson. It seems like that would be a good bit faster than just reading advice from here. From what you've said about your dad it sounds like time is of the essence. They started the hitchhiker thread here and that seems like just the place to start. Not to say that you should turn down the advice that others will offer, just that it might be good to have someone show you the ropes first hand. I'm mostly a jigger rather than a troller and so I really have very little to offer you for advice, and I only fish here in Oregon and Washington so I don't know LP at all. But I do wish you all the best of luck in your pursuit. I hope you and your dad will be able to have an absolute blast this summer. Good luck!

sawtooth
03-21-2010, 09:59 PM
Went out this afternoon for a couple of hours. Nice weather when the wind let up. Fishing was slow with only two kokes in the boat. Saw a couple of other boats land a fish but it looked slow for the most part. Hopefully some more warm weather will kick them in gear. Surface temp was still in the mid to low 40's.

clearwaterb
03-22-2010, 09:42 AM
we go 6 in 4 hours of trolling. Very strange out there. We marked tons of fish at 38 feet when we got there and they started rising to 17 feet by the time we were done. Could not drum up a bite with leaded line. The down rigger was the only savior. Got 1 at 25, 23,20 and 3 at 17 feet.

salmonster
03-22-2010, 07:52 PM
Hit 'em good on Sunday. First time all year we did not catch any trout at all. Picked up 20 or so from 7 'till noon. I've been hearing whispers about some carry over fish running approx 3 lbs but have not seen any. Have any of you?

kodiak1
03-22-2010, 11:26 PM
Zimowsky started that rumor in the Statesman. I will believe that when I see it! Way to go on your Sunday fishing. Could you tell me where you found them? I have been wondering if they are still concentrated down by the dam (Lucky Peak) or have they begun to move towards Spring Shores? Mike

salmonster
03-23-2010, 08:27 AM
We were in the canyon just downstream from spring shores. On Sunday i could have just said "look for all the boats", there were more than a dozen boats in the same spot trolling around. There were two or three boats doing really well, and the only thing I could figure was that the others were just going too fast. I usually alternate faster/slower until I find a good speed, but Sunday I never got any faster than the slowest idle, about .8 to 1.0 mph on the GPS.

kodiak1
03-23-2010, 11:28 AM
Thanks for the info. You live up to your forum name!!! Keep hammerin' em! Mike

sawtooth
03-23-2010, 06:46 PM
Sounds like Salmonmonster has it figured out. worthy12worthy12Congrates. I was thinking of making a run up to the canyon, but chose to spend my limited time at the dam. Guess that was a bad call. Will have more time next week to try a few more locations. Guess I will have to put the canyon on the list.

salmonster
03-26-2010, 11:37 AM
We have a group of guys that go on Wednesday afternoons and call it "Men's League". We went up Wednesday after work, fished the same area and only caught 4 on our boat, and each of the other boats caught 3, so they may be on the move.

salmonster
03-27-2010, 06:21 PM
Hit 'em good again today. My wife talked me into sleeping in. We got to the lake around 9:30. Caught two limits of kok's by 1:00. We turned loose as many trout as we kept kokanee. Nice kok's all around 17 inches. We fished near the dam. All fish around 30 feet. We actually had 2 passes through the same spot, both times all 4 downriggers went off, and we landed 7 of the 8. With the net busy, I bassmastered a couple over the rail. One hit my wife in the head. She was not impressed.

metalheadgene
03-28-2010, 11:23 AM
Very impressive....we worked pretty hard to catch 15 (3 of us) fishing from 9 am up until 5pm....mostly up river from the dam but ended the day with the last 2 by the dam. Ranging from 14 inches to 17 inches. About 45 feet down up in the Canyon.....You should change your name to Salmonmaster

Mojo
03-28-2010, 09:51 PM
Geno, do you have any advice about getting your tires checked before a trip on the freeway? :) Just ribbing you bud...

3RivrFishr
03-29-2010, 08:01 PM
Geno, do you have any advice about getting your tires checked before a trip on the freeway? :) Just ribbing you bud...




I've blown a tire or two in my time--but my spare is always full of air.

laugh hyst

Hey, lets test out the new tires on a trip to the Gorge.

metalheadgene
03-30-2010, 08:18 PM
You guys are hurting my feelings...oh wait..I dont have any. Anyway..Ron there was air in the spare but it was sitting on an old rusty wheel from it's day in Tilamook Bay.

Looks like when you use a boat as much as I do...two years is about all you can get out of new tires on a single axel..oh well...live and learn.

LILFISHER
03-31-2010, 05:06 AM
If you wern't doing 80 down the freeway that wouldn't happen. LIL fencing

Mojo
03-31-2010, 12:47 PM
If you wern't doing 80 down the freeway that wouldn't happen. LIL fencing

No Kev, he was talking to me on the phone when it shelled out. I thought he was either going to jail or had witnessed a horrific crash. Good to know it was only a tire.

LILFISHER
03-31-2010, 03:04 PM
Tires going is always a butt puckering experance. One time it would be nice to have a double axle trailer. LIL

salmonster
04-02-2010, 02:37 PM
Any of you fishing Lucky Peak Tomorrow?

metalheadgene
04-02-2010, 03:56 PM
With the weather looking kind of iffy and cold, I thought this would be a good week-end to have the boat in the shop and get all the yearly services performed so there will be one less boat out there this week-end.

Good luck of you are out there!

salmonster
04-04-2010, 12:14 PM
Tough Saturday at Lucky Peak. It rained, it snowed, it blew. We fished near the dam, we fished in the canyon strectch, we fished deep , we fished shallow. We tried almost every color, several types of lures. We had limited success with everything. Hooked quite a few fish, but could only muster 8 kokes in the boat. Some days you get the bear.........

metalheadgene
04-04-2010, 04:52 PM
I dont think you can call that a bad day. Looks like you continue to have them dialed in.

salmonster
04-05-2010, 01:14 PM
My buddy showed me a photo of 2 kokanee that he and a friend caught at lucky peak in 2001. One was 27" and the other was 19". The state record fish is 24.5". They did not realize it at the time.

I've only been fishing for these things for a couple of years, but have not heard of anything anywhere near that big in Lucky Peak. We have yet to see anything bigger than about 18 inches.

Which leads to my question - Is this likely a genetic thing? Are some kokanee 2 year fish and some 3 or 4? or are they all the same and it was related to the food supply relative to the population?

kodiak1
04-05-2010, 02:48 PM
A big reason some kokanee sometimes get larger is because they switch feeding from zooplankton to another source. Take Priest Lake and Wallowa L. as examples. When they introduced mysis shrimp, records were regularly broken. At Wallowa, they have broken the state record 6 times since last year. A 7.1 #er was caught last year, and already this year a 7.5 broke the record in Feb. and they just caught a 8.6 pounder breaking the record yet again. But the problem is that the mysis eat the zooplankton, wiping out the primary source of food for the kokes, and then the population collapses as it did at Priest in northern Idaho. Fortunately, the shrimp planted in Payette didn't survive, or the lakers would be history. Only some kokanee switch over to the mysis, thus only a small number of behemouth kokanee. The mysis seemed like a great idea at the time, but sometimes you just shouldn't fool with Mother Nature!! Mike

sawtooth
04-06-2010, 12:35 AM
My buddy showed me a photo of 2 kokanee that he and a friend caught at lucky peak in 2001. One was 27" and the other was 19". The state record fish is 24.5". They did not realize it at the time.

I've only been fishing for these things for a couple of years, but have not heard of anything anywhere near that big in Lucky Peak. We have yet to see anything bigger than about 18 inches.

Which leads to my question - Is this likely a genetic thing? Are some kokanee 2 year fish and some 3 or 4? or are they all the same and it was related to the food supply relative to the population?

Salmonster,
Kokanee usually take four years to mature and spawn. But like other salmon, some will hold over an additional year before spawning. This is one way they are able to survive through drought years or several poor water conditions in a row. In order to reach record size you need a combination of good genetics, optimal food supply and the additional year before spawning can certainly be of benefit. Kodiak I's explanation is another variable to the trophy koke's development.

luckykoke
04-06-2010, 09:12 AM
My buddy showed me a photo of 2 kokanee that he and a friend caught at lucky peak in 2001. One was 27" and the other was 19". The state record fish is 24.5". They did not realize it at the time.

I've only been fishing for these things for a couple of years, but have not heard of anything anywhere near that big in Lucky Peak. We have yet to see anything bigger than about 18 inches.

Which leads to my question - Is this likely a genetic thing? Are some kokanee 2 year fish and some 3 or 4? or are they all the same and it was related to the food supply relative to the population?

It would be great to see that photo. Is there anyway you can post it up on here for all of us to see and dream? Also, wondering if anyone has gone up to Arrowrock this spring. Last year we went up there and caught some 18" fish very early in the season. Seemed like the fish were bigger up there for some reason, but we got tired of the squaw fish. Wondering if these whoppers you speak up spent a period of their life in Arrowrock water growing and then got sucked through to Lucky Peak. Just another thought to ponder.
Also Kokanee are density dependent. Less fish = more food = bigger fish. More fish = less food = smaller fish. Has anyone looked at the stocking rates 1997-2001? Any thoughts?
Lucky

salmonster
04-06-2010, 09:57 AM
Here are the kokanee stocking numbers for lucky peak for last 20 years.
I'll see if he can scan the photo


Date Stocked Species Type Size Number
Stocked
06/03/09 Early Spawner Kokanee Fingerling (3-6 Inches) 199,800
06/03/08 Early Spawner Kokanee Fry (0-3 Inches) 195,570
05/31/07 Early Spawner Kokanee Fingerling (3-6 Inches) 245,000
05/24/06 Early Spawner Kokanee Fingerling (3-6 Inches) 308,050
06/03/05 Early Spawner Kokanee Fingerling (3-6 Inches) 174,150
06/03/05 Early Spawner Kokanee Fry (0-3 Inches) 26,000
06/14/04 Early Spawner Kokanee Fingerling (3-6 Inches) 10,200
06/03/04 Early Spawner Kokanee Fry (0-3 Inches) 145,750
05/28/03 Early Spawner Kokanee Fingerling (3-6 Inches) 97,000
05/17/01 Early Spawner Kokanee Fingerling (3-6 Inches) 201,145
06/07/00 Early Spawner Kokanee Fingerling (3-6 Inches) 221,850
06/02/99 Early Spawner Kokanee Fingerling (3-6 Inches) 225,000
06/16/98 Late Spawner Kokanee Fry (0-3 Inches) 75,295
06/20/96 Late Spawner Kokanee Fry (0-3 Inches) 184,301
07/12/95 Late Spawner Kokanee Fry (0-3 Inches) 126,998
06/07/94 Late Spawner Kokanee Fry (0-3 Inches) 249,654
06/04/93 Late Spawner Kokanee Fry (0-3 Inches) 15,332
07/01/91 Late Spawner Kokanee Fry (0-3 Inches) 118,500
06/13/90 Late Spawner Kokanee Fry (0-3 Inches) 384,600
06/05/02 October Spawner Kokanee Fry (0-3 Inches) 190,000
05/29/97 October Spawner Kokanee Fry (0-3 Inches) 250,000
05/30/95 October Spawner Kokanee Fingerling (3-6 Inches) 49,400
05/23/95 October Spawner Kokanee Fry (0-3 Inches) 207,000
05/09/91 October Spawner Kokanee Fry (0-3 Inches) 92,800

salmonster
04-08-2010, 10:39 AM
I have the photo scanned, but It says it is too large to upload

sawtooth
04-08-2010, 04:06 PM
Has anyone been out to LP this week? I am hoping to get out either Friday or Saturday if the weather permits.
I am not interested in trolling in 40 mph winds. 101no101

salmonster
04-08-2010, 09:04 PM
We have a group of guys that goes on Wed evenings. We only had 3 boats last night. Conditions were perfect. I got skunked and have no idea why. We had one boat get 3 and the other get 2. We have been limiting pretty regularly for about 3 weeks now. I've been choking on a big piece of humble pie all day.

I talked to 3 or 4 boats that were taking out while we were putting in and only one of them had caught any kokes, and only 1. Did they all take the day off?

luckykoke
04-09-2010, 08:57 AM
Salmonster,
I sent you a pm.

sawtooth
04-09-2010, 09:39 PM
Well Salmonster, you weren't the only one getting skunked this week at LP.
Got a late start today, and fished from 10-2:30 with only one Long Distance Release to show for it. I didn't see one fish come to the net during the day, with more than 10 boats fishing around me. Well, that's fishing. I did get to try out a new Cannon downrigger and a rod I built last week, so not all was lost.

BlueBack79
04-10-2010, 01:30 PM
salmonster, if you send me a pm, i can help you get that photo uploaded. i've got to see that 27"er!!

salmonster
04-11-2010, 11:27 AM
I emailed the photo to luckykoke, he had offered to help.

We did better yesterday. An ICY, miserable wind blew hard from dawn 'till about 10:30. When it let up, the bite was on for about 90 minutes. We had 4 or 5 passes through the same spot where either all 4 or 3 of 4 rods went off.
Our batting average was horrible and we still ended up a couple of fish short but it was a rodeo. We need to practice our multiple hook-up routine.

The fish (I'm assuming kokanee but am not sure) were chasing what in the salt I would call "bait balls". The surface would occasionally erupt with small fish jumping and larger ones thrashing them. We brought the downriggers up to 15-20 feet and tried to drive through them.

For a little while it looked like every boat in the area had a fish on.

luckykoke
04-12-2010, 07:19 PM
Here is the photo of the 27 inch Koke from Lucky Peak. I hope there are more to come. Thanks Salmonster for sharing

salmonster
04-12-2010, 07:38 PM
Thanks for posting that. My buddy that is holding the fish did not catch the bigger one, so he is hiding his face. He is a regular reader, but hasn't posted yet

idahooutdoorsman
04-13-2010, 12:39 PM
Too bad they didn't have that fish officially weighed, more than likely state record. Also wondering if anyone has been hitting Arrowrock?

BlueBack79
04-13-2010, 10:14 PM
wow! that thing is a mungster!!

kodiak1
04-14-2010, 11:01 AM
Salmonster,
Nothing more crazy than multiple hook-ups. My favorite are when we hook two or more coho in ocean. Psychotic fish anyway!! So, I am heading up to check out the boat Friday before dragging it up to Kookenay Lake in B.C. Best way to check out a boat is to drag some wedding rings or micro-hoochies, right? Where were the kokes congregated on your last run, if I might ask. Not that they will necessarily be there on Friday, but it would make good starting point. Any info is appreciated. Mike

salmonster
04-14-2010, 04:00 PM
We have been concentrating near the dam, near those concrete pillars.
We have a group going this evening so I shoudl have report tomorrow. Last Wednesday I got skunked.

kodiak1
04-14-2010, 05:29 PM
Thanks for the info. I look forward to your report on tonight, and hope you hammer 'em. Mike

Mojo
04-15-2010, 03:26 PM
Years back they stocked chinook in Lucky Peak. Not doubting the story, but that fish looks more like a nookie to me. I caught some smaller chinook on wedding rings, up to about 18". I think the tail is more squared off thatn the V tail of a Koke, but it is hard to tell in the picture. Whatever it was it is a heck of a nice fish!

salmonster
04-15-2010, 06:27 PM
Yep, it is a tough photo. When you see the actual photo you can see that there are no spots

salmonster
04-15-2010, 06:30 PM
We had 5 boats last night, all but one got 6-8 each, so we did pretty good. My buddies all read this but don't post and are giving me SH$! about posting how we are doing so I will probably let up for a while.

kodiak1
04-15-2010, 10:37 PM
Yeah, I understand your "lurker" friends being concerned about someone discovering their "secret hole". I sure hope nobody discovers Lucky Peak. Personally, I have always shared on this site and on Big Fish, knowing that, first, it is a generous thing to do, and secondly, realizing that sharing fishing information runs both ways. Mike

BlueBack79
04-16-2010, 12:07 AM
well, im going for the first koke trip saturday morning. i'll be in an american jet with a brown soft top. first trolling trip with the new boat, kicker and downriggers. i hope you keep posting. let your friends know that its not like youre pulling a roger phillips or anything. i know i appreciate the reports...and i'll do the same.

Mojo
04-17-2010, 12:49 AM
Pounded LP from 9 to about 6 tonight. Caught some trout, and one nice Koke. Crackered a coupel kokes near the boat. It was flat out tough. Fished all over, and used everything in the box. Tried every depth we saw fish at on the sounder. All I can say is good luck out there. In a couple of weeks it'll be money!

kodiak1
04-17-2010, 03:00 PM
Well, Mojo, I guess misery does indeed love company. We were up there--mainly as a shake-down cruise for our upcoming trip to Kootenay Lake in B.C.--but dragged dodger and micro hoochies, pop gear and wedding rings, etc. and couldn't buy a fish for the two hours we were there. I think the last time I was skunked at L.P. was at least ten years ago. Hopefully bad timing. We tried every depth like you, but it just wasn't to be. Saw a few picked up by the dam, but that was it. I have to put the boat in by the dam at least once to realize how I hate that ramp. Spring Shores is soooo much nicer, and it seems, less rude idiots on the ramp. Don't lose faith--we'll get 'em later!! Mike

BorntoFish01
04-17-2010, 08:41 PM
We're headed out there tomorrow/Sunday. Hopefully we'll get into some action....other than the water maggots that'll be drawn out by the forecast 70-degree weather. With that in mind, I think we'll put in at Spring Shores for the better/larger ramp.

If you see a blue/silver Weldcraft, with "Team Moose Drool" and "Born to Fish" lettering on the sides, give a shout.

sawtooth
04-17-2010, 10:04 PM
Born to Fish,
I am hoping to get out their tomorrow as well. My son and I hit the lake for a couple of hours on friday afternoon, before the storms moved in around six thirty. I lost two at the boat. Both on rod that was near the surface. No luck at 40ft. or 30 ft. Had another trip my release at 25 ft, but was off before I could get the rod out of the rodholder. If you see a white Crestliner with red and tan along the gunnels stop by and say Hi.

BlueBack79
04-18-2010, 11:14 AM
we "hooked" into them pretty good yesterday, but our catch rate sucked. ha ha. hooked into 10 by the dam but could only land 4. missed a couple others too. we kept trying to let my buddys kids get in on it. didnt work out too well. orange wedding rings worked the best. we were set at 20 ft. and 30 ft. thats where we were marking most of the kokes. oh ya, we were by the dam. the bite seemed to be really hot from about 8am - 10am...then turned cold! anyone here run a 22 footish blue jetboat. had a load of people and dogs. if so, that is a hell of a set up you have.

salmonster
04-18-2010, 11:19 PM
Blue Custom Weld with the brown dogs is me. We had some company from Twin up for the weekend.
We didn't get that many Saturday.
Did much better today, had to make some "adjustments".

salmonster
04-18-2010, 11:21 PM
Hey Sawtooth, I fished next to you all morning. windy

Sluggo
04-18-2010, 11:22 PM
Fished today for about 8 hours...it was very slow. Hooked 8 and landed 6We did not make it out until around 10:30. Talked with a boat who was fishing by the dam and they limited out. Most of the fish were between 20-30 feet deep.

salmonster
04-18-2010, 11:23 PM
Our whole Wednesday night group was up there this morning. I think everybody limited

BorntoFish01
04-19-2010, 11:52 AM
We put in at Spring Shores Sunday at about 0830 and fished our way down to the dam. Wrapped things up by 4pm with a talley of 10 boated out of 15 hooked. 9 nice kokanee and 1 trout. No particular hot spot...and didn't see alot of nets flying considering how many fishing boats were on the water. Our fish were caught in the 30-35 foot range for the most part.

Uboat
04-19-2010, 05:11 PM
It was probably that new Rainshadow RDR76L in Green Bay Packers colors.....

BorntoFish01
04-19-2010, 10:53 PM
It was probably that new Rainshadow RDR76L in Green Bay Packers colors.....

Yeah, no doubt you're right on that...you did a great job building that killing stick for me.

3RivrFishr
04-19-2010, 11:54 PM
I love that blank. I hope you catch hundreds more kokanee with it Dean. Bring it up here for summer run steelhead in August and we'll work it out properly. Great job Mel.
thumbsup

sawtooth
04-20-2010, 12:16 AM
Salmonster, I will keep an eye out for your Blue/silver Custom Weld in the future. Fill free to say hi next time. I will try to get out again next weekend if I am not on the Columbia chasing Springers. :)

BlueBack79
04-21-2010, 10:22 PM
anyone been up the last few days?
planning on heading up to the dam friday after work around 4pm, then back up early sat. morning. if you see a brown american jet, motor on over and say hello!!

hoolee99
04-23-2010, 10:24 AM
we might head up and i will be in a white weldcraft.

BlueBack79
04-23-2010, 11:01 PM
well it was windy and a little slow. only spent a couple hours on the water...boated 3.

hollee99, was that you up there by the dam? only other boat on the water.

i'll be back up first thing in the morning.

hoolee99
04-24-2010, 09:56 AM
No I did not make it however got 2 downriggers mounted and am ready to go. Should be going for a afternoon eve, fish today. Might make over to arrowrock not sure yet.

metalheadgene
04-25-2010, 03:50 PM
Took the wife for a saturday fish on Lucky Peak. Not a bite male two rounds in front of the dam so moved up river and found 7 in about 3 hours then it was like someone flipped a switch. We took a lunch break and went up river a little further and hit another 5 in 2 hours and again, the switch was flipped and we could not get that 12th one. But we were off the water by 4:30pm....would have been 4 pm but it was boat ramp follies..oh well....still a great day!101bananna101

Sturgeonator
04-25-2010, 04:11 PM
Way to slam'em Geno thumbsup

luckykoke
04-26-2010, 09:07 AM
We finally got out on the water yesterday. It was a slow start, spent a couple hours looking for the fish and only put 2 in our boat, then low and behold we found them. It then took us 2.5 hours to put the remaining 16 in our boat. Even had a triple on during one of the hook ups. Largest fish was 17 inches. The rest ranged 14 inches and up. Here is a photo of my buddy Corky with the day's catch.
Lucky

BabyHuey
04-26-2010, 09:19 AM
Nice LuckyKoke, did Corky catch any fish, or just rock the boat? Were the willows working or were the ford fenders bringing them up from the deep?

hoolee99
04-26-2010, 10:30 AM
I believe that I may have to have an exersism on my boat, if any one knows someone let me know. we fished until dark and hooked two but never got them to the boat.

luckykoke
04-26-2010, 03:37 PM
Huey,
To tell you the truth, Captain Corky didn't do much but sleep in the boat. Rough night I guess. Told me stories about PBR. To answer your other question, we actually run a number of set ups, but the duel ford fender and all green wedding ring worked the best. We ran ford fenders off the down rigger ball and then had a set back of about 10' and then would run another set of ford fenders and the all green wedding ring. I really think in this tough fishing condition, the more flash you have the better. Most fish caught around 10-20 feet and for some strange reason, the murky water and a fast troll worked best.

kokaneekiller
04-28-2010, 01:23 AM
Hello everyone first post here. i have been reading about all the kokanee your catching good job. YEap LP is loaded with them. o and by the way my friend who i fish with with caught a 20" kok. Thing looked like a ocean run salmon but was a kokanee fish and game checked him that day. Anyways last year we caught prob 60 koks each. this year we are at about 20 total but mostly bigger fish all around 13-20". We are truelly blessed for are bigger kokanee that feel like a snag when you first hook into them. But to get to the reason i am posting on this thread.

IM looking to see if anyone has hooked any other kind of salmon in lucky peak. i have heard stories of huge salmon being caught in lucky peak. I think they are chinook salmon or coho i am not sure. MY dad calls them black mouth salmon and told me he used to use wire leader line so they would not break him off. Has anyone cuaght one of these salmon in the recent years heard any stories. WEll thank you all for your time. If anyone knows anything about these salmon please write to me at Arexroat1@netzero.com.
i have heard alot of stories abouth these salmon but nothing to recent.

kodiak1
04-28-2010, 10:07 AM
Hey Kokanee Killer,
Welcome to the site, and why not start posting your results? In answer to your question about chinook, the F and G planted coho in 1968, and then started planting small numbers of chinook from 84 to 2000. So, those days are probably over, at least temporarily. There wasn't likely any natural spawning, in that Mores Creek's temps are too high often times, a F and G biologist told me. When your dad refers to blackmouths, that is a term usually used for resident chinook or kings. Mike

salmonster
05-01-2010, 01:16 PM
Where were all you guys this morning?
There were no other boats
There was no wind
We had 18 fat ones in the boat by 8:30

lnnnsxt
05-01-2010, 03:10 PM
Do you have pics of these fat ones?

sawtooth
05-02-2010, 12:09 AM
Spent my day pouring a concrete pad for the boat. Hoping to get out to the lake some time next week. It isn't often that you get a wind free saturday morning to yourself at L.P. Glad you were able to take advantage of it.

TrekRider
05-05-2010, 10:34 PM
Fished Lucky Peak on Monday morning and again on Tuesday afternoon. Caught 12 and 10 near the dam using 3oz banana weight with wedding ring.

kodiak1
05-06-2010, 03:35 PM
Darn, TrekRider. Glad there's at least one fisherman not too wimpy to face the waves, cold temp's and wind to do some fishing. You make me feel a bit guilty!!! But only a bit. Congrats on some good catches. Mike

BabyHuey
05-07-2010, 01:34 PM
Anybody planning on heading out this weekend??? Should be nice weather, yeah???

BlueBack79
05-08-2010, 01:18 PM
was on the water yesterday from about 6 a.m. - 11 a.m. pretty slow for us. boated 5 and lost 5. wind was almost unmanagable. had to cut the kicker and troll with the main motor. decent amount of boats on the water. saw quite a few picked up.

BlueBack79
05-09-2010, 04:02 PM
ran up to spring shores with my dad to back his jetboat in and make sure the motor and kicker are running right. figures the day i DONT go up there to fish it is beautiful. saw more boats around spring shores than around the dam. may have to try down there next weekend. anyone fishing in the narrows? hows it been? might

Kokanee Vandal
05-13-2010, 02:58 PM
Planning on heading up this evening and for sure one day this weekend. This will be the first trip this year and I cannot remember what a good trolling speed is. I will plan on fishing from 15 down to 30 or so and maybe try one line up top. Have they gone deeper or are there still some near the top? Thanks for any tips.

I will post my results and gear/techniques if all goes well. I can't tell you how much I have learned from this site as well as all of the friendly folks at the dock, LP is a nice fishery all the way around.

kodiak1
05-13-2010, 03:17 PM
Everyone has their favorite speed, but I have always done best at about 1.5 to 1.8. I use that with pop gear and either wedding rings or dodgers and hoochies. Good luck, and let us know either way. Welcome to the forum. It is much more fun--and generous--to be a participant than to be a "stalker" !!! Good luck to you. P.S.: Darn, that is a good handle. Being an Idaho Vandal myself, I am kicking myself for not having thought of it!!! Mike

tamiloveshermike
05-14-2010, 12:07 AM
Going out tomorrow to see if we can catch anything. The last time we went out was back in March. We only caught one. So, we'll see if we do good tomorrow. Does anyone know how deep they are? Thanks, Good luck to all

Kokanee Vandal
05-14-2010, 10:05 AM
Mike,

Thanks for the tips, I will be heading out tonight and tomorrow morning. I will be trying a white hoochie with an irrodecent skirt. I will also try my usual pink with the skirt as well. And it is always good to be a Vandal!

tamiloveshermike
05-15-2010, 09:38 PM
Fishing was pretty good today. Lots of fisherman down by the dam. We caught 5 also down by the dam. Had to use down-rigger. We caught them about 40 feet under. signfishin So good luck all.

KokeJunkie
05-15-2010, 11:24 PM
Going out tomorrow to see if we can catch anything. The last time we went out was back in March. We only caught one. So, we'll see if we do good tomorrow. Does anyone know how deep they are? Thanks, Good luck to all

101chromefish101

Went out Thurs and found most of our fish in 25-30 ft of water but they were as deep as 40 in some locations. Make sure you check your fishfinder if you are not hooking up as they may have changed depths. Find the right lure/color combo and you should do well as it seems fishing is improving. We had two limits in the boat in 3 hours and prob had the same number hooked up but lost. Lots of action and good weather. Good luck!

BlueBack79
05-16-2010, 03:15 AM
had the urge to try for a little bigger salmon, so we made a last minute trip up to riggins. ended up hooking into three. lost two, but managed to get this one in. my buddy lost one as well. saw a decent amount of others caught. my lightweight steelhead set up made for a fun and challenging battle! ready for some more kokanee. has anyone been trying the narrows out lately?

sawtooth
05-16-2010, 01:49 PM
Nice fish Blueback79 awesomereport. My buddy and I hit the Columbia a couple times before they closed McNary and did pretty well when the winds weren't keeping us off the water. I hope to get back to LP sometime this week for some Koke action.

redfish
05-16-2010, 11:14 PM
Nice Chinook Blueback 79. That makes a great day. I drove to Moscow for my daughters graduation and there were a lot of boats on the Salmon, but the Clearwater near the Potlatch Mill looked like a parking lot. They must have been catching some fish there also.

BlueBack79
05-16-2010, 11:53 PM
almost drug my boat up to fish the park hole. glad i didnt. way too many boats in there for my liking. it'll be nice when they open it up to vinager creek...spread the traffic out a bit.

Kokanee Vandal
05-17-2010, 10:07 AM
Fished Friday evening from 5-7 by Spring Shores. Didn't have to go too far from the ramp. First fish was at 25', then nothing so I went up to 20'. Four more at that depth. 4 on a pink hoochie with a dodger and 2 on pink kokanee killer also with a dodger.

They seemed to be moving quickly all over and speed didn't seem to be a key as I varied between 1 mph and 1.4 (my motor was angry and wouldn't hold a good idle). Missed a handfull more and hooked the smallest kokanee I have ever hooked up there, feisty little guy though. Oh, all of the fish were 15". Fish on people.

Ferg
05-17-2010, 10:39 AM
Hey all, I found this forum a month or two ago and it's been helpful and interesting. After seeing everyone's thoughts on readers that don't participate I decided to join and hold up my end of the deal. It's become apparent that I need a downrigger. Been long lineing it with banana weights but that seems to be hit and miss. Went Friday morning by the dam and caught 3 in 6 hours. Two were around 13 but one was so small it fell through the holes in my net. :/ Oh well, better to let him grow anyway I guess. Caught them on wedding rings. One pink and one chartruse. It occurs to me that it's probably more about depth than anything else.

kodiak1
05-17-2010, 12:25 PM
Ferg,
You are right about that. Besides, those banana weights sure diminish the fun! There is no doubt that the precision of a downrigger greatly increases the catch rate. I have tried to determine whether pop gear or dodger are best, wedding rings or hoochies, chartreuse or pink, and it is just too tough to figure. But there are a few important "musts": downriggers, shoepeg or maggots, speed, and location. Oh, and luck and timing!!!! If you are going to invest in a d.r., I would suggest you look at the Penn's on the internet. Not very common in this area, but on the west coast where I fish each summer, they are the go to downrigger. I love 'em. Big numbers so you can see the depth from everywhere in the boat. My oldest Penn is 30 years old and never had a problem with it. The repair guy in Port Angeles tells me the Cannons break down at ten times the rate of the Penns. He fixes them all, and swears by the Penns. Just saying, take a look. Thanks for sharing info. Hope to hear from you often. Mike

Mojo
05-20-2010, 09:25 AM
Anyone fishing Friday? Len and I are headed up in the morning, planning on launching the Sled-O-Matic at Spring Shores. You won't be able to miss us, dark gray 22' Alumaweld V-Sled with 2 Big Jon Downriggers. I'll be wearing my kokaneefishingforums shirt (probably under my guidewear). Holler if you see us...

BorntoFish01
05-21-2010, 09:01 AM
WOW Joe....wearing the new shirt and styling on LP. That oughta draw more attention from the kokanee than a fresh new can of shoepeg corn. ;)nananana

Hope you guys have a great day and catch a bunch. 101cheers101

Mojo
05-22-2010, 12:34 AM
Limits of 15-16" Kokes. Released all the trout we caught. Scratch fishing, buit we finally found the fish. Not too crowded, and the weather didn't suck too bad...

Mojo
05-22-2010, 11:04 PM
Daughter and I fished 3 hours this afternoon in the snow. Got some nice Kokes (15 to 17 inches), one little koke (released), a few trout and 1 NPM. Had 3 different western tanagers land in the boat during the storm. 2 of them landed on the gas line to the big motor. Strange, but cool!

Dennis D. Wolfe
05-23-2010, 03:01 PM
Friend Steve and I went out tuesday and had a good time. We landed 6-7 that were 15-16" category in the first hour.. Back to basics using Koke Killers and white corn . No down riggers, just used 3 oz. of lead and flashers . Finished the morning off with a limit of Dandies! Will be going out again on Tuesday with hopes of more fine fillets! Gentle Ben.....

Kokanee Vandal
05-24-2010, 09:55 AM
Fished Friday evening but was blown off the lake (just have a little 14' aluminum.) Fished at 25 feet for a while until I saw them jumping. Went up to 12'-15' and bang, they hit fast. Lost a couple and then the wind meade it too tough so I headed in.

I can never dial in the depth, a new battery for the fish finder would probably help. This is the first year I have been fishing blind...kind of fun actually.

luckykoke
05-24-2010, 10:57 AM
We fished Sunday despite the snow and possible bad weather. We were out for 3.5 hours and caught our limit. Here is a photo of Captain Corky with our limit. Biggest fish was 17.5". There are going to be some hogs come summer!

Huey, we missed you out there. I'm wondering when do we get to put some blood in that new boat of yours. Not sure I'll know what to do in a stable boat!

Ferg
05-24-2010, 03:29 PM
Thanks for posting the picture luckykoke. That's a nice catch. Looks like it was beautiful on sunday. We went up saturday for a few hours and managed to catch one koke and a NPM. Should have gone sunday but had yard work to do. Going to try to make it up tomorrow for an evening fish. Supposed to be the nicest day this week.

We always fish by the dam when we go and although we haven't gotten skunked yet we haven't really killed it yet either. Maybe I'll try by sping shores next time.

luckykoke
05-24-2010, 04:52 PM
It did turn out to be a very nice day. Not much wind and it finally heated up. Keep us posted on your evening outing. I've never had that much luck in the evening. I'll have to give it a try again soon. Good luck

Gurnealius
05-24-2010, 07:24 PM
New kid on the block- been spying this site for a year or two:) Finally decided to join. Didn't want to come on here and brag.......joking joking. Seriously though- new to the game. Learning a ton and having fun. Launched at Spring Shores on Sunday morn. Caught 3 - 15' kok just past Macks Creek ramp. 20ft down on all three. Had fish hit probably 6 or 7 other times but either missed or were just playing with it. You'd see the single strike on the down rigger but then nothing. Not sure what that means? Any ideas?

I don't get out there as much as I'd like-but nice to meet you all.

Later

Gurnealius
05-24-2010, 07:25 PM
New kid on the block- been spying this site for a year or two:) Finally decided to join. Didn't want to come on here and brag.......joking joking. Seriously though- new to the game. Learning a ton and having fun. Launched at Spring Shores on Sunday morn. Caught 3 - 15' kok just past Macks Creek ramp. 20'down on all three. Had fish hit probably 6 or 7 other times but either missed or were just playing with it. You'd see the single strike on the down rigger but then nothing. Not sure what that means? Any ideas?

I don't get out there as much as I'd like-but nice to meet you all.

Later

kodiak1
05-25-2010, 07:01 PM
Are you using rubber snubbers? They really do help. So does mono, since it it is so forgiving. Are you putting too much corn on? I would not use more than two kernels. You aren't setting the hook, are you? All that being said, losing kokanee is just part of the game. They have soft mouths, and there isn't anything we can do about that!!! Welcome to the site as an active member, not one of those dreaded "lurkers"!!! Mike

Gurnealius
05-25-2010, 07:15 PM
I wasn't using snubbers cuz I was using dodgers- I never use snubbers with them cuz that's what Sep said and I've just stuck with that. Was using 4lb mono, 9 inch liter, squid with double hook ups- tipped with small white grub and dick night attractant. 3 we caught hit like maniacs and faught hard all the way to the boat.

Ferg
05-26-2010, 10:03 AM
Went out yesterday after work. We launched from spring shores and fished through the mouth of robie creek? With the highway bridge? Not sure because I'm not really familiar with the lake yet. Then we fished about half way up the narrow stretch towards lucky peak dam and back. We caught two NPM and nothing else. Not sure where you guys are catching these monsters out of spring shores but with a little more time I'll figure it out.

luckykoke
05-26-2010, 02:25 PM
Ferg,
I have to ask, what does "NPM" stand for. I haven't seen that term used before. Also yes, by the bridge that is the Mores Creek arm. I've never fished in there so not sure if there are fish there. I have fished the narrows area towards Lucky Peak and have caught fish there. Like I said, I haven't had much luck on evening fishing either. May give it a try soon though. Will report.

Ferg
05-26-2010, 05:18 PM
NPM = Northern Pike Minnow (if you're politically correct) formerly known as squawfish.

King Tut
05-27-2010, 12:31 AM
I have never used a snubber with my downrigger, but I have behind a trolling weight. If you have a soft rod would it still help?

salmonster
05-27-2010, 12:23 PM
Hey Tut, Nice to see you posting!

Mojo
05-28-2010, 07:18 PM
I have never used a snubber with my downrigger, but I have behind a trolling weight. If you have a soft rod would it still help?

I always fish snubbers. I fish them in front of my dodgers, not between the dodger and lure. I use some pretty wimpy rods as well as some that have a little more background, and use snubbers on all of them. They really do make a difference.

King Tut
05-29-2010, 12:21 AM
What is the best color of snubber? My worry is that it might distract the fish from the real prize.

Mojo
05-29-2010, 11:30 AM
I use the tan ones...natural colored. I use the smaller ones, not the "salmon bungee" type.

skookum9
05-29-2010, 12:07 PM
I noticed this discussion and am marveled at the differences in some of your experiences from most of mine. If I want to lose more fish all I need do is use a snubber. I do use a sensitive rod with a soft tip but that is all. I have tried on many occassions, more with silver salmon that koke's but it's the same for both, and whenever I use snubbers I can rarely get a fish to stick. And I always use braided line. I have not found the need for snubbers yet. Perhaps if I were using a really heavy rod that had no more flex than a 2X4. I'm not sure what the difference between the fishing that others experience than that which I do but there must be something significant. I would love to learn someday what that difference is.

In my experience, what Gurnealius experienced has nothing to do with snubbers, or anything to do with their soft mouths. When I've seen fish do this it's always because they are not taking the lure well. I've often found this is because of the leader length being either too short or too long. Sometimes I've found it to be because of the speed of the boat. And sometimes I've found it to be because of the action imposed by either the lure or the dodger being just a tad too radical or even not enough. Again, this is just my experience and I can't say for all times for all people. But I would love to know the difference between those who fish snubbers successfully and myself. I'm always learning as much as I can but sometimes I just don't see what others may find obvious.

King Tut
05-29-2010, 07:36 PM
Thanks Skookum 9 and Mojo for the info. I'll run up in the morning and try one with and one without a snubber. Last Tuesday eve at LP I don't think it would have mattered. They pounded my bait, many had both hooks in them. I'll let you know.

Driftfish'r
05-30-2010, 08:53 PM
Just found this forum a couple weeks ago when steelhead was over. Lots of great info. Just thought I would give my fishing report. I've only koke fished 5 or 6 times so I seem to spend a couple of hours getting things figured out. Went to LP this mourning and from 9 to 11 all we caught was one little kokanee and four rainbows. We finally switched to Macks kokanee killers green with double hooks and dropped to 55 feet and got 11 kokanee over the next 2 hours. I am curious to see if every body was fishing that deep. We were fishing just northeast of the dam. Almost all the kokes were about 16 to 18". Thanks again for all the info.

kodiak1
05-31-2010, 12:11 AM
Sounds like you got into them. Congrats! We went up to Spring Shores last night just for a ride, and talked to some guys pulling out. They are def. "in the know" and were fishing with all the right stuff. Didn't catch a single koke. P.S.: get used to "trying to figure things out". Just part of the territory with kokanee. Obviously you did a fine job of figuring! Welcome to the site and hope to hear regularly from you. Sending you a PM

hoolee99
05-31-2010, 10:56 AM
About a week ago around the same location we were downrigging at 60' that seemed to be the magic number for us. We were using 6lb downrigger balls so at 1.6mph is not sure what depth, we guess at about 47-51'. We used dodgers and squid jigs and did good. Saw a lot of people using wedding rings and no downriggers and they were also doing ok.

King Tut
05-31-2010, 06:57 PM
Yesterday fishing was busy but 8 koks were small 4 were big [ 14-16 ] and 4 trout,1 big one. Good thing about it is I only had to clean 4 fish. Today we caught 18 big koks, 2 small, 1 trout and a NPM. Downriggers caught most the fish but only half the depth as the stories before. Could not make a call on the snubbers. Splatter back squid was the hot one. Perfect fishing morning with the overcast. Hope to hear how everyone else did.

Gurnealius
06-01-2010, 01:40 AM
Thanks for the tip shookum 9. Makes sense that it wasn't the snubber- I might have been trolling too fast or leader length might be it too. I've been running them at 9 inches off sling blades or basic 4/0 dodgers-
went out for a few hours on Saturday morning and caught 2 kok and 2 bow just east of turner gulch in the canyon- they seemed to like purple squid- Reading most fish at 40' to 50'. Set downrigger at 35' and worked pretty well. We did lose about 4 kok right at the boat but they were pretty small anyway. I still haven't hooked into anything bigger than 15+. Keep hearing you guys say you're hooking them at 17.5 and 18. Hopefully I'll find em soon.
Fish on!

Oh, I did catch a 20inch bull up at arrowrock about 200 yards out from the first launch area. It was about 4 weeks ago and was a great fight. The drag was in effect let me tell ya. I had a very light pole with 4lb test. As I got him close to the boat he kept diving down. Good times. My first Bull Trout was a memorable one.

sawtooth
06-02-2010, 08:53 PM
Went out Monday morning and limited by noon. Lost three at or near the boat before finally getting my first fish of the day around 9 am. Homemade spinner in green and pink seemed to be the ticket. Downriggers were set from 25-35 feet down. Smallest was 14 inches, two were at 17 inches. Hoping to get out again this weekend.

kodiak1
06-02-2010, 09:41 PM
Sawtooth,
Congrats!!! What part of the reservoir did you find them? Must be more fun on your own spinners!

sawtooth
06-02-2010, 10:09 PM
Thanks Kodiak 1,
The only thing better than catching them on my own spinners was that the rod I was using was also one of my own. An 8 foot 3 wt fly rod blank, with a graphite handle. Those larger kokes can really put a bend in that rod.tongue2 Picked up the fish off the point across from Spring Shores ramp and the cove just down stream.

kodiak1
06-03-2010, 01:07 AM
Man, they must be fun on that fly rod. Thanks for the response. Mike

King Tut
06-03-2010, 01:24 AM
Fish were all over the place. Caught fish at 50, 35, 30, 26, and 23. Many small koks ( 8 to 10 ). Ended up at 9:00 with our 12 big ones 14 to 16. Plus 2 trout.

Ferg
06-03-2010, 10:29 AM
Nice Job Tut. I'm not very experienced but the only time I went up in the evening I went to spring shores and caught 2 NPM and nothing else. Maybe wasn't deep enough, maybe didn't have the right lure.

I've had pretty good luck by the lucky peak dam. Went saturday and caught 4. We lost more than we caught but it's still fun to see your rod tip bounce even if you do lose them. :)

We were using a ford fender and an orange wedding ring on one line and a dodger and a green wedding ring on the other. I'm new so I'm experimenting. There seemed to be the same number of hits on both set ups. Apparently they weren't picky on saturday. 3 were around 15 inches and one was a little over 10.

hoolee99
06-05-2010, 12:04 AM
Thursday we got on the water around 3:30 and had filled the cooler by around 8:00. We trolled around towards the dam and over on the south side by the last boat ramp. Using downriggers at 52' caught at least 6 over 16 to 18 in lenght and they were fat. Now there in the smoker as I write this. we found that most of the fish we caught were in deeper water 140' and over. I was using a dodger and squid jig. I must say thanks to all those who post because I have learned a ton, thanks again.

Gurnealius
06-06-2010, 08:37 PM
Fished from 1 to 4:30. 8 in the boat and 1 in the prop......oops

Rained the whole time - Caught em all at 60ft. All fish were between 15 and 16.5 inches. Tried to upload a pic but keeps giving an error message. Maybe it's too big a pic?


See ya!

King Tut
06-06-2010, 11:13 PM
Fished Saturday 6:30 to 10:00 am 5 trout most of those on a Apex, 6 to 8 small koks and 12 big koks. 2 were 17+ which is better than Wednesday night. All at 30ft or less with squid. Color did'nt matter as far as I could tell. Was going to go this morning but it was raining so I slept in. Sounds like I should of put on the rain gear.

hoolee99
06-06-2010, 11:40 PM
went sunday and rain gear was needed, took my brother in law and a friend and watched and made a ton of fun of them for all the lost fish. All I did was drive the boat it was nice didnt have to take fish off or get hook ready run the riggers and didnt get wet. We boated about 5 fish most over 14 inches caught, caught 3 under 10 and realesed those. For us the dodgers and squids were the ticket, did find red fire corn and think it really did help. Tons of boats felt like I was playing frogger out there today. But was still a great day.

Gurnealius
06-07-2010, 01:16 AM
LOL! Ya, probably 10 boats doing laps near the overlook- Everyone seemed to play nice. The sling blade squid combo is dynamite right now. We did lose a few but most of them were hooked twice. They were hammering or bait- great times!

kodiak1
06-07-2010, 03:03 PM
Fished LP this A.M. and got lines in around 7:30. Lights out for a while, with doubles, etc. Then, it just shut off. Not because they were dropping, as often happens in the summer. Just plain old quit! Really had to work for a fish. All nice sized though. Maybe should have gone down by the overlook. 25' and a sling blade and micro hoochie did well, as did a Jack Lloyd 2-blade and w.r. Mike

Kokanee Vandal
06-07-2010, 11:56 PM
Will be heading up tomorrow morning. Not sure if I should hit Spring Shores or the dam. Almost always hit Spring Shores, but sounds like folks are doing good by the dam. Can't believe they are so deep, I wonder if that's the case by the dam, because they seem to be around 25' or so at spring shores. Anyone heading up tomorrow? I will probabaly be there before 8:00. I am in a white 14' Grumman with a French Brittany on board (probably in my lap). See you out there.

skookum9
06-08-2010, 03:08 AM
Kokanee Vandal, I've got to ask a really dumb question, mostly because this came up at my wife's work just the other day, (she's a vet tech). You mention a French Brittany and I am confused. Brittany's are from France originally, and if I understand correctly, Brittany is in France. So exactly what would be the difference between a Brittany and a French Brittany. I have a Brittany myself and have had others in the past and there are many great qualities about the breed. I know this is way off topic of kokanee so please forgive me, I'm just curious about this dog.

Kokanee Vandal
06-08-2010, 08:42 AM
Well, there are two breeds, American Brittany and French Brittany. The French I suppose would be the true Brittany, although I am sure some will argue that. They are smaller and come in many more color variations than the American. They are also supposed to work closer and are a little less active in the field you could say, although mine is crazy at home like any other bird dog. They look a bit different, with a more dished and shorter nose. If you look at pics side by side you can see the difference. From my overall experience, they are calmer, but that can vary dog to dog. Hope this helps.

Ferg
06-08-2010, 12:17 PM
I have a pair of Brittanys myself. They are American Brittanys and given how their personalities are, I don't dare try to take them fishing. They are go go go and I'd do more dog baby sitting than fishing. I wonder if that's another difference in the two varieties.

Let us know how you do. I probably won't be able to make it up till Sunday.

Kokanee Vandal
06-08-2010, 05:01 PM
Fishing was not good. One hit in 2.5 hours. I spent most of my time looking for the fish. There were also more boats than I have ever seen up there, weird. Saw a few catching but not like usual. I am trying again tomorrow, we'll see.

hoolee99
06-08-2010, 09:16 PM
are you going to be at spring or over by the dam, I am thinking about heading to spring tomorrow for a morning fish. I will be in a white weldcraft jet boat.

Kokanee Vandal
06-09-2010, 07:07 AM
I'll be at Spring Shores. I hope it doesn't rain the whole time.

Blueback
06-09-2010, 01:40 PM
I just registered to this sight and I'm really stoked to see there are people who are as nuts about local kokanee as me out there. This is a late report but my gal and I were out Sunday evening and couldn't find any fish around the dam so we moved about half-way down the Res. towards Spring Shores and hooked about a half-dozen in the last hour of daylight from 25-30' on small orange dodgers and red/chart. mini-squid.
Normally, by this time of year we have already had many trips in but the big springer run has cut into the kokanee time so it's only our second trip out.

kodiak1
06-09-2010, 02:41 PM
Welcome to the site, Blueback. You confirmed what I had thought was happening the past few days. As Kokanee Vandal said, fishing Tuesday was as slow as I have seen it in some time. Thought it might be an evening/night feed, and that was confirmed by the only "solunar" type chart I have found to be accurate for kokes, and that is the "fishing forecast and moon phase" charts on the weather channel web site. It showed Monday night with a big spike at 1-2 hours after sunset, and pretty much the same thing on Sunday night. I tend to be skeptical about those types of things, but have become a believer after watching the chart for the past three years. By the way, got to meet Kokanee Vandal this last Tues. morning, and enjoyed getting to know him. Should have known he would be a terrific person--after all, he IS a Vandal!!! Mike

hoolee99
06-09-2010, 09:14 PM
Went to Spring Shores for a morning fish and ended up staying there until around 2:00. Landed 4 lost at least 6, 2 trout one large both realesed for another fight. Found that fishing out there was alot tougher than I have had over by Barclay bay. The fish seamed to be so few and far between. I was using my dodger and squid but that didnt work until at least noon. Plenty of company out there for sure today, I would guess around 10 or more boats fishing.

King Tut
06-10-2010, 09:56 AM
Went to Turner last night and only boated nine. We did not fish as hard as most nights. Fish are all over the place and we had to switch lures in the last hour to get our last 5. Squid only caught 20% of the fish. One trout gets to see another day as well. Happy fishing!

Kokanee Vandal
06-10-2010, 04:21 PM
I also enjoyed meeting Kodiak and his lovely wife, always good to meet more Vandals.

Fished Wed. morning early until noon. Had a friend and his son with me and put them onto fish, but they had a tough time landing them. I can sympathize with that. The hot lure was hot pink hoochie behind a dodger and they seemed to hit at 25', although they never showed up there on the finder. Tried some pink Berkely maggots to no avail, white was still the ticket. Hope everyone does well, see you up there soon. (Oh, and when can we get some Idaho weather instead of Seattle weather?)

Blueback
06-11-2010, 12:50 PM
Thanks Kodiak,
That's funny, I'm a Vandal too '(94). We are heading up to LP this evening and hope to hit it Sat. morning too. Anybody have any word about what is shut down with that Ironman 70.3 Race? I'm assuming we'll have to launch out of Spring Shores instead of the dam. Any info here would help a lot. Thanks.

sawtooth
06-11-2010, 07:35 PM
Hit LP this morning for about five hours. Picked up three around 9am. Then things slowed down a bit. Left the point across from spring shores and moved to the dam. Started getting bit again around noon. Some at 25 ft. some down at 45-50 ft. Most on homemade spinners (pink and green) and corn. Had to leave when things were getting interesting because of an afternoon appointment. Ended up with eight kokes in the boat. Released two trout. Little windy but great day all around. Took my son and his friend. Hope to get out again middle of next week.

pescado paul
06-12-2010, 12:40 AM
Went out at about 3:00 this afternoon and left about 7:00. Hooked 4 and boated all of them, 3 at 35 on chrome apex and 1 on a squid/dodger combo. 3 pigs and one smaller. Fished in the area I call the middle bay. Start at spring shores and head towards the damn. After you leave the open area or bay at the spring shores boat launch you go through the narrow stretch and then it opens up into a smaller bay with docks on each side. I would appreciate some help on what you all call this spot. Then from there, near as I can tell from google earth, it narrows up somewhat until you get to the area at the damn. Do any of you spend much time fishing those in between areas? It seems I only hear about those 3 open areas. I am pretty new to the site so I may be off on that. Anyway that's how I did.

Sluggo
06-12-2010, 07:20 PM
Hello,

My son and I are heading up to LP tomorrow for only the second time this year and was wondering what the current conditions are. What depth seems most productive? What lures/attractors seem to work best? What area(s) seem to be holding the most fish? Any information/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks so much!

Kenprice
06-12-2010, 10:41 PM
Planning on hitting LP in the morning. Generally launch at Turner and run a 16ft G3 with 2 Cannon Minimag 10 electric DRs, Yamaha 115 main and 8hp kicker. I'll most likely be by myself, my fishin' bud (wife) is feeling under the weather. I've been doing ok (for me) near the dam, begin getting hits straight out from Turner and lined up on the south intake tower. Trolling across to the current racetrack under the overlook and merge into traffic. I'll begin there and see where the day takes me.

BlueBack79
06-13-2010, 04:37 AM
almost headed up kokanee fishing, but decided to go crappie fishing again....with horrible results. took a LARGE splitshot (3/8oz.) directly to the bottome lip at about 90mph....from about 50ft. away. snagged in a russian olive and jerked with all my might. thought i busted my front, bottom teeth out! luckily all teeth in place and just a mangled lip. i am done crappie fishing strike until i hear some solid reports. getting back to the kokes! funny thing today was, we were fighting the wind, complaining how $hitty the crappie fishing was, trolled around a rock cropping, and there was a racoon, down on the bank, eating a crappie!! laughed my ass off!!

Blueback
06-13-2010, 04:34 PM
Thanks for that report BB 79 - I fished Lucky Peak Friday, Sat. and the first two hours or so Sunday morning and was wishing I had gone to Strike for crappie. Doesn't sound like Strike is red hot either.
We finally picked up a couple of decent Kokes really early this morning at 20 ft. on red Hotspot flashers (kokanee size) and minature pink squid near the dam. Sat. evening we fought the wind and fished a few spots all the way from Spring Shores to the dam and hooked a couple around 35 ft. on mini-trolls and homemade spinners. Very windy and hard to fish - wind gusting 3 different directions that last hour and a half.
Friday evening was a bust - got chased by lightning. Seems like I am having to work 3X has hard for Blueback than normal lately and can't seem to dial in on a consistant depth. I might back off a week and see if things stablize.
I feel your pain BB79.
I took a pencil lead to the eye on the Grande Ronde a few years back throwing glo corkies for steelhead. It was the middle of the night, I snagged up, gave it a good pull and took an ounce square in the eye. Took it a year to heal completely.

metalheadgene
06-13-2010, 07:29 PM
The wife and I hit it for just a couple of hours...got there around 930 am and out of there by 2pm. We hit all the usual spots but very very slow for us. Ended up getting one pig Koke and one nice trout.

Lots of thumbs down from other boats we passed.

The entire spring shores area all the way to the dam turned into grand central station. Glad we got out when we did. There was a line of rigs pulling boats waiting to get into Springshores around 2 that was backed up about a mile to the highway.

Sluggo
06-13-2010, 08:48 PM
Fished LP from 8:00-2:00 today with only one large Koke for the smoker. We caught another small one and released it and a NPM. We had a couple of other hookups but they broke free. VERY SLOW and DISAPPOINTING! I hope others had better luck. Oh, it was a ZOO this afternoon!

Blueback79...it must be racoon season. We enjoyed watching a big racoon climbing up and down the cliffs. The birds were very agitated!

sawtooth
06-14-2010, 09:30 PM
Will be going up to spring shores in the morning. Hope things pick up a bit from the last few reports. I'll report how things go tomorrow evening.

Kenprice
06-14-2010, 11:46 PM
My trip to LP Sunday sounds about par. Made two hookups but lost them at the boat. Need one more hand for the net when fishing alone I guess. Both were near the dam, about center pool. Had a couple of light hits that never connected as well. The fish were all over the fishfinder 20 to 70 ft, and lots of loners.

I was mighty glad I was up there early in the day. Sounds like I left about the same as the rest of you - counted 78 vehicles in line to enter Spring Shores, about half of them rigs with boats. Even had to wait in line to get out, apparently due to some sheriff patrol action on the road. I was very happy to be leaving at that time, looked like tempers were warming and the fuses were short. Maybe next weekend...

Blueback
06-15-2010, 01:27 AM
I'm glad I'm not the only one having a hard time dialing in these LP kokes lately - I'm going through vast areas of LP and graphing no kokes and when I do they are scattered throughout the water column.
Next time, I'm taking my neighbor and joining forces with two 2-pole permits and double stacking at 20, 30, 40, and 50 to start. That, and try to launch at Barclay. Spring shores was getting pretty cozy at 9 am Sunday when we pulled out - can't imagine it later. Yowza. One mile back-up!
All the usual money spots are falling a little flat - have had the most hook-ups near the dam, center pool and along that rip rap between the launch and that first big concrete structure in the water - if the wind co-ops. Every year fishes a little different - this one seems a lot different.

jcutler
06-15-2010, 10:39 AM
Fished Lucky Peak sunday around spring shores and the narrows from about 11:00 to 2:30 with no hits. Decided to head down and try around the dam and picked up six nice kokes and a small rainbow in 2 1/2 hours. Smallest koke was 15 1/2 and largest was 17 1/2. It was a fun day but wish I would have remembered the sun screen!

sawtooth
06-15-2010, 05:59 PM
Right when I think I am figuring out the Kokes at LP I have a day like today to keep me humble. Lines were in the water at 7:15 and fished till 12:30. Most of my time was spent near the dam and landed only two 15+ inch kokes and released 5 trout and a NPM. Fish were marked at 15-50 ft down. Both kokes came from the downrigger at 27 ft. Trout were caught from 25-50 ft down. Kokes were plentiful in this area as recent as last Thursday, but now it is over run with trout. I am wondering if the recent trout planting has scattered or moved the kokes to new feeding grounds.

kodiak1
06-17-2010, 10:50 AM
Boy, you and Blueback are right---L.P. is fishing strangely. Talked to two separate guys yesterday who had fished it. Both know what they're doing. One caught one koke, and the other guy got blanked. I wonder if the large runoff is having something to do with it? In the past, the lake has stratified by now, but the fish seem to be everywhere, both in terms of depth and area. P.S.: the road across the dam is still closed, but is supposed to open this weekend.

hoolee99
06-17-2010, 11:22 PM
since you guys have done this before, I was curious on how the fishing typical is going into summer. With heat and more boat action how does this affect them? This is my very first season ever doing this so I have no idea what to expect. Thanks

Kokezero
06-18-2010, 12:42 AM
Hi everyone, I new to the site and new to the kokanee fishing. I have never been to Deadwood Res. I have heard that it is a hot spot for Kok's is this true? If so I have a 12 inflatable raft with 30lb minkota tolling motor. I have most of the gear wedding rings and dodgers/flashers.
I would like to know your input on the Dipsy Divers and a kok setup. I used to use a similar set up for Coho's back in South Dakota. I have two 9' rods both with line counters and 10lb test mono is this too lite of line for the dipsy's Magnums?
Any input would be great.

DV

luckykoke
06-18-2010, 12:17 PM
Deadwood Reservoir is full of Kokanee, however they are much smaller in size. Probably 9 to 12 inches. You can catch them all day up there. I drove up there on Wed for work. Saw one boat fishing and they said they were catching a few. A couple of things you might want to know. Right now the only road open to get up there is the 579. It wasn't in too bad of shape, but it will take you some time getting up there. It took us 4.5 hours. Your set up sounds good, not sure about the test with the dipsys. I've never run them so I'm not a good source.
If you don't mind catching the smaller kokes, I would suggest Anderson Ranch. Much easier to get to and it is full of kokes too. Good luck!

TrackerTX17
06-18-2010, 08:47 PM
Been a watcher not much to say. However I do use dipsy divers "0 w/ring" using 15# line. I generally run 80 to 90 feet of line out putting be down 20 to 30 feet at LP. I have used all kinds of koke setups and they all catch fish, just some are better then others depending on the day. Hope this helps.

Gurnealius
06-19-2010, 03:54 PM
Fished Deadwood twice last July- Caught lots of kokanee- They seemed to be running a bit bigger. Most were 13 to 14 inches. Caught alot of cut throats too. Fished from the mouth of the fiver staight down to cozy cove at 25 to 40 ft. Pretty much trolled in and out of schools the whole time.

BlueBack79
06-19-2010, 04:18 PM
we were fishing it in july last year too. as soon as the gear was down, the fish were biting. i agree on the size. 13" - 14" was the norm. some a little bigger and smaller of course. two guys on the boat coming out with near limits everytime wasnt bad! we hadnt fished it in years, so we just started trolling around. marked fish all over the res. from the mouth to the dam. we never got into the cutts, but heard people were catching some big ones. ill for sure be making a few trips back up there this year. beautiful place and lots of action.

Blueback
06-20-2010, 12:41 PM
Regarding Hoolee 99's comment: LP in years past has been a lot more predictable as far as the depth you could find them at and the areas they could be found this time of year. In 2008, I fished the 1/3 of the reservoir near the dam and had about 5 spots I could regularly find kokes in day in and day out from early June to early July and rarely had to fish anywhere else. I think I had about 23 days in there at that time. This year, nothing seems consistant so far, but I haven't fished since last Sunday.
May have to go check out Deadwood - sounds pretty good. I have never fished Anderson Ranch either. I hear they are small but plentiful in Anderson. Anyone know the avg. size and what the limits are up there?
I also hear that a possible world record koke was taken out of Wallowa Lake in Oregon recently. Anyone hear about that one? Might give LP a shot tonight.

kodiak1
06-20-2010, 02:27 PM
You are right about the world record. They are waiting for verification. Actually, record after record has been broken this spring. The state record has been broken several times. I, too, have considered a trip over there, realizing the big ones are a long shot. They say the world record is very likely to be broken at least one more time, since there is still lots of time to put on weight. Mike

Kenprice
06-20-2010, 06:20 PM
Fishing today was bust. Wind was a royal pain at the dam, up around the bend by the buoy, and at Spring Shores. Didn't see many fish on the FF, not a single hit, bump, let alone an honest strike. Most people were reporting the same on the lake, one boat had hooked up several Rainbows, but no one admitted to any Kokanee. Think it's time for the Kokanee that comes with hops and barley, seasoned with yeast.

Working a boat in the wind with two DRpole setups was more work than it was worth! Wow, I'm pooped.

By the time I pulled in to Turner's Gulch around 2 pm, the waves were white capping in that area, and seemed like the wind was gaining steam. Glad I came home when I did, cause now it's raining and wind is blowing hard.

Live to fish another day...

Ken

kodiak1
06-21-2010, 05:29 PM
Thanks for your detailed report, Ken. You made my mind up for me, reg. fishing tomorrow. Heading to Magic instead of L.P. Welcome to the site, and hope to hear much more from you---and hopefully about all the kokes you nailed!!! Mike

AverysAdventure
06-21-2010, 08:01 PM
Hey Guys - Trying to figure out what to do tomorrow? My buddy tells me the dam access has been closed during the week, is that true? Says fishing at Spring Shores has been slow. Said Arrowrock was better a couple days ago. Where should I go? (I'm leaning for CJ crappie but open to anything)

Oh, by the way "hello" all!!!

Thanks,
Rod

kodiak1
06-21-2010, 10:06 PM
As you can see by my post above, I'm heading to Magic. But, if you check the site you frequently post on, the cousin to this one, Anderson Ranch did well for another poster. Might be worth a try. Mike

AverysAdventure
06-22-2010, 02:09 AM
All plans cancelled. Some ****head slashed all my buddies tires at Arrowrock. Got word from a friend of a friend that my buddy was stranded and needed help. Drove up to AR and found him between boat ramps with all tires slashed. Yep, all 4 truck tires and both trailer tires. I had extra trailer tires so I got his boat home but his truck is sitting in the sand on rims. If we find the guy - no one else will. WTF is wrong with people? My last day of vaca will be helping my buddy get his truck home - you SOB!!! By the way he did really good on some 3 yr Koks! (they just cost him 3 yrs pay)

Kenprice
06-22-2010, 09:07 AM
Who does stuff like that??!?!?!? Good Grief, if ya got a beef with someone, leave 'em a note. I'll be keeping my eyes open. I don't frequent AR much, but that doesn't mean the ****heads don't travel around.

Any facts that can be shared, such as suspicious persons, out of place vehicles? Hard to know I know when one is out on the lake. But then, there are a fair number of us here who are out there. Maybe a neighborhood watch of sorts for the lakes?

Ken

sawtooth
06-23-2010, 09:52 PM
Was on the water and fishing by 8 am today. Fished near Spring Shores with only a single NPM to the boat. Wind started to pick up around 10, but went to the dam anyway. Wind was pretty intense by the dam. Had a single take down during the two and a half hours of wind busting and decided I would give the crappie and bass a try in one of the coves. Released two smallies, biggest was 13-14 inches. Wind finally let up so I decided to give the kokes one more try before heading home. As I was heading back towards the narrows from the dam, I marked some fish at 20 ft down in the middle of the lake. Dropped the downriggers and within minutes I hooked a fat 15 inch koke. This was at 2 pm in the afternoon with full sun. What those fish were doing at 20-25 feet is beyond me. I made several passes in the next 45 minutes and had five or six takedowns in that time. Unfortunately, my hookup to landing ratio was not real good. By 3 pm the boating traffic was starting to pick up and the action shut down. I picked up and landed one more fish at 35 feet, before calling it a day. I talked with three other boats earlier in the day and none of them had even had a hit. I sure I would have gone home empty handed as well if I hadn't stumbled into those fish on the way to the marina.

BlueBack79
06-24-2010, 12:53 AM
those are the kind of sob's that make it worth going to jail for a day or two. im a firm believer in what goes around...really goes around. he'll get his one way or another.

Kenprice
06-24-2010, 09:50 AM
Went to LP last evening (6/23/10), on the water by about 7pm and spent the next 2 hours churning water at the dam.

First time I've done this on a week day evening, and probably the last. Pleasure boating traffic was incredible and the fish were few and far between on the FF. Those that did show were in the 30 - 35 ft band. No takers at all.

This weekend - maybe Arrowrock, or a warm water trip to Brownlee...

RickM
06-27-2010, 12:11 PM
Fished LP several times .... mostly evening. With the wind and the water skiers it has been pretty tough. We fished 25-40 feet, did not see many fish on the fish finder. Perhaps Deadwood, Arrowrock, or Anderson will be better locations for our next trip.

trKOKS
06-28-2010, 10:57 AM
Just found the site and registered. It is nice to find such a good resource, and see that there are lots of others that enjoy KOK fishing as much as I do. We went up to LP yesterday for the morning bite...fished mostly over by spring shores, and into the narrows. Lots of fish on the finder between 17-25ft...threw multiple setups and depths at them with only a few takedowns. Can't believe LP has not gotten hot yet. We will keep trying though. Any day of fishing is a good day!

kodiak1
06-28-2010, 11:47 AM
Welcome to the site, trKOKS, and thanks for the report. Yeah, it has to happen soon! Mike

Metal_Detector
06-30-2010, 12:25 AM
I just bought a couple of downriggers and I am interested in fishing for kokes. Was wondering if anyone had some illustrations/directions or anything that would help me get set up. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.

Riverrunner
06-30-2010, 12:37 AM
Just found this site. I have only fished for koks a few times but just got back from Wallowa Lake. Caught plenty of 10-13 inchers, one that was 19 and weighed over 3lbs. The biggest I caught was 23 inches and 4.5 lbs. Probably the fish of a lifetime for me but I'm hooked. Looking forward to spending some time learning to fish the local fish.

kodiak1
06-30-2010, 01:04 PM
Metalhead,
I can give you two important bits of advise, one of which just could save your life!!! Don't ever tighten the clutch (drag) on the DR more that what it takes to prevent line from feeding out. People who crank it down and then foul the ball on the bottom can have the rear corner of their boat dropped to below water level. Especially important on smaller boats. Second, make sure you don't slam the ball onto the arm. Amazing how this will begin to take its toll on the cable. I lost two balls in the ocean years ago, not heeding that advice!! I now regularly inspect the cable on the terminal device. Do a google search on downrigger techniques, and you will get lots of good articles. Mike

F-Bomb
06-30-2010, 06:01 PM
plus....

careful on your DR storage for transport...if you see or feel a kink in the cable reset your gear and eliminate that kink or you will be replacing expensive weights and releases...also a good idea to test your connections at the weight assembly regularly.

(not a bad idea to keep at least one spare replacement weight/release kit on board....we spend a lot of money getting to and fro for fishing plus time is generally limited so it's worth the coin to have a back up right with you...if you fish enough you will lose your DR gear at least once..much more for some of us!) Koks at LP not so much but start chasing bottom dwellers like kings and maks with DR's or fish at Anderson or Arrowrock and you'll hang up a lot.

Everyone has their favorite techniques that work. Here is one that's worn out three boats with semi productivity at LP since the 80's and still my personal favorite. It's clean, easy, and the funnest when you hook up.

Single hook triple teazer flour orange/white medium (if I could only have one lure that would be my pick..any painted pattern combo of that bunch has been consistant at LP...floure green, yellow, and hammer red/silver also work) drug back 30ft from the ball at 2.0-2.7mph. Find the fish on your sonar and run your DR at the bottom of the lowest concentration. At that speed with standard weights you are up a bit. Note..LP fish seem to like total depth of 120ish and we've seen/caught em consistantly at 50-60 feet which has been the 50* zone we suspect. In the spring they don't seem to school in shallower water, once again the thought is looking for a consistant mid 50's thermal where the "experts" say they hang out.

No fish on your sonar means the school is 20 ft minimum and you are dispersing them as you travel over plus you only see minute area and it would be a miracle to consistantly mark fish in that 2ft average swath. No marked fish in known areas, seeing others catching fish, and also remembering that there are millions of them in LP means they are up. Set DR to 10 feet, run your spoon back to 45ft minimum, and get after it. Get a bite or hook a fish and go right back over that spot until you shut them off, move the school out, or catch your limit. The little spoon likes a minimum of 2 mph some swim better and catch better then others. Get a veteran and observe it's pattern so you can mimic it with your other lures. Smells also work as will yellow or white corn on these. Corn sometimes affects the swim action too much and will slow your bite. We usually do half and half until we find the combo. Some days you do...some you don't! (fishing)

So there you have it...probably not the ultimate fishing tech for meat hauling at LP (flasher spinner corn probably is) but it's the funnest and easiest method for consistantly taking the little torpedos.

BlueBack79
06-30-2010, 09:58 PM
riverrunner, saw your koke on the chicken...that was a brute.

Sluggo
07-02-2010, 02:24 PM
With Lucky Peak being "slow" right now, has anyone fished at Strike or Brownlee lately? We are thinking about going and would appreciate any recent reports on crappie fishing. Thanks guys!

kodiak1
07-02-2010, 06:23 PM
We fished Brownlee a few days ago, around the cemetery, and couldn't buy a crappie--OK, a couple, but that was it. No one else could connect either. They were in there, but nothing would work.

King Tut
07-04-2010, 11:34 PM
fishing early today and caught 9 in three hours. Kept 5 koks that were 16" plus. It was in a spot I never fished before. Maybe I need to quit going to the old fished out spots and find new.

F-Bomb
07-05-2010, 12:45 PM
Same here... once we dialed in pretty consistant...they were busiest at 15ft and trolling speeds up. Spinners with as much yellow corn as you can get on it and some steelie stink. (the stink and corn combo seems to be the magic..because it was on with several of our regular offerings..but super hot with the spinner combo and more hook ups) Did the best blasting along windward. Also suffering a weird rash of releases without hookups. Can't get my buddy to swim down there and see what is up! We'd be done in a few hours most days if we hooked 90% of what hits. Weird

TrackerTX17
07-05-2010, 03:48 PM
Fished LP from 7 to 11 this morning hooked 11 and landed 7. All 14 to 18" in front of Sping Shores. Used green/red wedding rings and white hoochies with red fire corn. No downriggers, used dipsy divers and leaded line down 15-30 feet. Unfortunately won't be back until the end of July because of work commentments.

luckykoke
07-06-2010, 11:38 AM
Fished Lucky Peak Saturday July 3. Hit it early and had two newbies on the boat that are now hooked on Kokanee fishing. We landed 16. Threw back 6 and had these by 11am.
Lucky

F-Bomb
07-06-2010, 12:55 PM
5th of July...Fishing is officially HOT at LP.

Two limits of nice, bright, fired up chromers right at 15" plus. Half that many wiggled off at the boat. 20 ft and up all colors of triple teasers with stink and corn going 2mph-2.3mph. They are on to the larger size spoons now. Equals better bite and hook rates. Finally got dead calm and it was really ON! FUN

diatonic
07-16-2010, 05:14 PM
July 16th. Kokanee are still hitting hard at Lucky Peak. Fished this morning from about 6:30 am til 1:00pm. Trolling near Spring Shores where everyone else was :). Doing about 2 mph, using beer cans, a snubber, and a Rocky Mountain Tackle Assassin I was hitting them hard. Live worms for bait on both hooks. Wedding rings seemed to do well too. Worms were bringing in bigger kokes than the fire corn. A great morning.

Trolled about 15 to 20 feet down. Got a couple 17 inchers, some 15", some 13".

One of the 17":

http://linus.webboise.com/imghost/pics/ab5e021732e75b909bb3fd50405e64ba.jpg

Blueback
07-17-2010, 03:22 PM
Thanks for that report. Might have to get up there. We fished Anderson last weekend and had a field day. Didn't get any over 13' but man, that Reservoir is just full of 12-13' kokes. They wouldn't touch my Dodger/Squid set ups on a downrigger but my gal was just killing them on a lead line & beer can with a green/red wedding ring - no scent and double corn. I finally switched over to her set up when the ratio was about 7 to 1 and we filled the cooler. Hooked most at 15-18 ft. They were biting just as well at 11am when we left as they were at first light just after 6am. We launched out of Curlew ($5) and fished straight across just off shore in about 90 ft.

kodiak1
07-19-2010, 03:34 PM
Just got back today from L.P., and had to work for a limit a bit more than last week. The big guys were all coming from 25'. The 20 and the downrigger caught all smaller fish. Caught on 19" lunker, my first 19 of the season, and he was getting fairly pink. More so than I have seen with the big guys. The clock is ticking!! Mike

Blueback
07-20-2010, 02:43 AM
We hit LP at first light Sunday morning off Spring Shores and did really well until about 8:30. Found a really nice concentration of fish but I guess the net was coming up too often and enough boats horned in and they dispersed. We moved further down toward the dam and found another little pod about 9:30 but my gal was snake bit all morning and shook off a few more at the boat.

We hung it up about 11:00 but got out of there with three nice 16"+ and given how pink they are getting I gotta agree with Mike and say there ain't much time left for the big guys. One of the bigger hens had well developed eggs. Still looking for Mr. 19" this year.

We hit all the big guys at 25-30 ft off the downrigger and a lot of the 11-12"
up around 15 feet, on the lead line especially before sun-up. Only one hit off the dodgers and squid - everything else on the beer cans and wedding rings. Nothing on the Apex either. Same pattern we found at Anderson last week. I've just about given up on kok-a-nuts in LP. Usually fish them behind a Sling Blade but LP fish don't seem to excited about 'em. Anybody else have any luck with those things? Nick

kodiak1
07-20-2010, 10:40 AM
Interesting about what you were catching them with. Our experience was just opposite. All the big ones except one came off a sling blade (UV) and a micro hoochie with Pautzke Nectar soaked shoepeg. The one exception was with a Jack Lloyd and w.r. However, now that I think about it, the sling blade was at 25 and the pop gear was at 20. But, they sure seemed to like the sling blade. Go figure, huh? Mike

Blueback
07-21-2010, 02:04 PM
Most were hooked on "medium sized" pop gear with a silver bladed wedding ring, double shoe pegged with Pautzke's Gel Krill. This is the gear we had on the first two hours of daylight and did well. When things slowed a bit, I started mixing things up and experimenting like I usually do (Purple Haze Hot Spot flasher/uv Apex, straight triple teaser/Berkley maggot, straight mini flatfish no maggot, etc).

I'm usually not surprised when I don't hook much during experiment time because the fishing is usually pretty slow. I usually have on the tried and true pop gear or mini hotspots or Sling Blades with mini squid or hootchies when the bite is hot. My question wasn't so much about the Sling Blades which I know are effective, but more the Kok-a-nut and Sling Blade combo and why they don't seem all that excited about it. I know Kok-a-nuts are good in other places - just don't know why they seem ineffective @Lucky Peak. Maybe it's me.

At any rate - will be out there tommorow morning straight out from Spring Shores at first light. Maybe Friday morning too. 14 foot yellow Mirror-craft with a black 25 horse Merc/electric trolling motor. If you're out there swing over and say Hi/compare notes. Might be alone if I can't convince my neighbor to rack out at 4:30. Thanks for sharing your tips/tackle-helpful. We found fish at roughly the same depth at you but did have a little success at 30ft as well. Thanks Mike. Nick

King Tut
07-22-2010, 08:09 PM
We did good on Kok-a-nuts up to about three weeks ago. Ever since then I have been catching them on squid. Saturday the 17th we caught 18 nice ones and Sunday 10 big ones 16" plus and then it turned off at ten. We fished till the ski boats started playing lets see how close we can get to your boat. Those guys are either jerks or don't know any better. This weekend is probally the end for L.P. Are the fish in good shape at Anderson?

Blueback
07-23-2010, 02:17 PM
Maybe I'll hang on to the Kok-a-nuts for another year. We hit Lucky Peak Friday morning. Fished from about 5:45 too 9 a.m. We picked up one 17', a 16' and about a half dozen in that 11-12' range on squid/flashers and pop gear w/ wedding rings. The seventeen's jaw was kyped and he was somewhere between pink and spawning crimson. Yeah, there ain't much time left.

We fished Anderson two weekends ago and they were dime bright. We were thinking of trying to get back there one more time too. If it's the same conditions your going to ice a cooler full. Hooked most @ 15-20 ft.

Yeah, those idiot boats really push it sometimes. Had a boat load of kids rip by our bow, full throtle last season. Could of touched them with a spey rod. Lucky I was armed with Lamiglas and not Ruger. Morons.

While there are still a few people reading this thread - does anybody know anything about crappie in LP? I've heard rumors they are in there and we've farted around a little looking for them but no luck. Heard they hang in one of the creek arms. Any info would be welcome.

kodiak1
07-23-2010, 02:44 PM
Never heard of crappie. I have another puzzle. For the last few years, I have been graphing large schools of fish in the narrows, close to the big bend area, at approx. 150 feet in about 160 175 foot depths. No, I am not picking up bottom stuff, because I have watched them move to other areas. Thely are typically close to the sheer drop-offs, but I am not picking up dual readings either. Any clues?? Mike

BorntoFish01
07-23-2010, 02:59 PM
I've never heard of crappie being caught in Lucky Peak, and the only warm water specie stocked by the state since 1968 are smallmouth....

Couldn't find any data to indicate if they'd be native to the Boise River but I doubt that.

Blueback
07-26-2010, 03:02 AM
Guess crappie was a longshot. I don't know Mike. I graph a lot of stuff hanging just off bottom all over that res. and we spend half the day wondering what it is. What would hang at that depth and suspend off bottom like that? If memory serves, F&G has tried planting Chinook in there and some other large salmonid hybrid - Splake? I think you can go to the IDFG website and see what they have tried in there over the years - a few of them failed - or did they?

I know my buddy nails big whitefish fishing deep in Pend Oreille. Would NPM's hang that deep? I hear there are channel cats in there but then again, I believed there were crappie in there too. I was thinking of pestering a biologist and picking their brains about these deep dwellers are. If I find anything worth reporting I'll pass it along.

I did catch a koke last year that was raked pretty good by something that had some decent teeth. Looked a lot like a cut-plug herring that comes back after getting hammered by a big ocean spring with no hook-up......Makes you wonder.

Mojo
07-26-2010, 12:57 PM
When I was a kid we used to catch perch in LP. Just a thought...

kodiak1
07-26-2010, 04:14 PM
I'm sure some of the deeper blips are Northern Pike Minnows, and perhaps trout, but I can't imagine either of those hanging at 175'. They did plant lakers years ago, but it was not successful. Oh well, nothing like a good mystery! Well Blueback, I guess we have to have something to think about while trolling out there. Mike

kodiak1
07-26-2010, 04:20 PM
Trolled LP this AM and limited by noon. Had to work for them a little harder. Seemed to be all over. A couple of boats were doing well on the surface, we caught most of our fish at three colors on lead core, and the two downriggers were slower, but the 25 outproduced the 20. When we arrived the kokes were jumping like crazy between the two docks. Must have been 50-60 breaking the surface at any one time. Then they just shut down. Obviously gathering at the spot where they were planted, but it seems earlier than last year. None of the larger fish caught this morning had any color to them, as they did last week. Go figure. Mike

Blueback
07-27-2010, 04:41 AM
I had a hunch We should have been out there instead of hiking - sometimes you gotta keep the better half happy. I hate hiking.
Here's a wierd little list of what they have tried to plant in LP in the last decade or so: Coho, Fall Chinook, Lake Trout, Smallmouth (Ditch Pickles) and Cutthroat.
Glad you iced some Kokes. Probably Strike next weekend, then kick-off for fall Steelhead and catch and fillet season on the lower Clearwater next. Interesting factoid: they are planting way more koke fry in Cascade than LP or Arrowrock this year....but why? It's like 3 to 1.

kodiak1
07-27-2010, 03:07 PM
I am sure L.P. will provide a lot more good fishing. Next year's generation of spawners are hefty and plentiful. If you don't think kokanee fishing is growing, I stumbled across a kokanee specialty tackle shop in Meridian today. I won't mention the name, so as not to cause a conflict with the site's sponsors. The point being, the fishery is growing!!! Like you, I will be heading over to C.J. later in the year. I love the fall trout fishing there. Mike

Kokanee Troller
07-27-2010, 03:34 PM
5th of July...Fishing is officially HOT at LP.

Two limits of nice, bright, fired up chromers right at 15" plus. Half that many wiggled off at the boat. 20 ft and up all colors of triple teasers with stink and corn going 2mph-2.3mph. They are on to the larger size spoons now. Equals better bite and hook rates. Finally got dead calm and it was really ON! FUN
Thanks for your imput on Arrowrock...the biggest kokes in Idaho are there, but having to deal with the squaw at 10 to 1 is getting bad. How deep were you? I usually fish the opening between the main channel and the
camp ground. I have never heard of that many cops there, you must have been on a weekend..I like to fish there because no cops, w-skis, and those
crazy ski-do's.
I spent a week at Odell in Oregon...what a education for me. I always thought I was at least a average koke fisherman, but to watch those hard core guys made me look like a beginner.

Blueback
07-28-2010, 03:52 AM
Hello,
I got sick of shaking off all those NPM's myself up in Arrowrock. But you're right - there are some piggies in there. Wallowa has to be the new mecca though - back to back U.S. records with the world record in the cross hairs. Not that far a drive for the LP faithful.
Mike, koke fishing mania just keeps growing in this Valley......3 or 4 years ago it was on the down low......I caught wind of that koke specialty shop.....need to check it out.......low battery....gotta go

F-Bomb
07-28-2010, 04:46 PM
20ft and as is typical they were in the same area up in the river arm..river mile in from the barn. AR is infested and is pretty much a waste of time because of the squawkers.

We also caught quite a few decent trout as well but pretty much consider them shakers as well. These bigger kokes in LP and AR just keep us fired up for the upcoming steelie season up north.

LP yesterday afternoon really slow...a couple small fish boated..fish that we found were spread out and at various depths. Our normal couple of hot spots for the last three weeks cooled right off. Few boats out working but most guys were saying not much going on. Quite a bit of false releases. That has seemed to mean a slow down coming and being in the smaller fish. Nice to be out and traffic was not that crazy.

luckykoke
07-28-2010, 04:52 PM
Last year we caught a small perch trolling for kokes, then this year for work I was doing a demo on a ROV and we ran into a school of perch. It was up the Mores Creek arm. Not sure how many are around, but they are in there.
Lucky

hoolee99
07-29-2010, 03:13 PM
I have no idea about perch, just know that I was at LP on Wednesday and still don't think that I have gotten my land legs back. It must have been blowing 30 huge rollers but we still boated our limit by about noon. We used dodgers and squids at around 50 feet.

Kokanee Troller
07-30-2010, 11:59 AM
I have no idea about perch, just know that I was at LP on Wednesday and still don't think that I have gotten my land legs back. It must have been blowing 30 huge rollers but we still boated our limit by about noon. We used dodgers and squids at around 50 feet.

Fished LP Thursday..started about 7:00 a.m. nothing, about 8:30 the bite was
on..Fished the narrow arm that goes to LP Dam about a 1/2 in. Using just
blades and wedding ring with corn, had our limit in 3hrs. Fish were brite and no signs of turning yet,,will be back Monday.

TrackerTX17
07-30-2010, 05:36 PM
Fished LP this morning, landed 8 all 13"-15" with two starting to turn pink. Ran our divers 20'-30' in the cove area between Spring Shores and the narrows toward the dam. We probably lost as many as we caught with most of the fish caught between 10-12noon. We were using hoochies and wedding rings with fire corn.

Riverrunner
07-30-2010, 07:49 PM
It was slower down by the dam. Couldn't buy a bite on any anything but wedding rings with fire corn and even then I only boated 3 by 1100.