Good luck this year to all you Deadheads out there.
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Good luck this year to all you Deadheads out there.
Any information on the roads to DeadwoodQuote:
Originally Posted by sawtooth
Has anyone been able to get in yet? Route?
Talked to Forest Service today..579 is still closedQuote:
Originally Posted by voicebugler
Snotel says 40" of snow at Deadwood Summit
The route through Cape Horn is open right now according to Lowman Ranger Station.Quote:
Originally Posted by rem40xb1
I fished for 2 days and caught several kookanee 9-11" There are lot's of fish but they are small--Good for the big trout and chinook--I caught 5 chinook biggest 6.5 lbs--Cutthroat are about 1.5-2lbs on average--I didn't keep any fish --Plan to return in about a week
Thanks for your report. Sounds as though changing the Kokanee limit to 15 was premature. How many boats and other Kokanee fisherman did you observe? Was there heavy Kokanee fishing pressure in your opinion?
There were only 3 to 5 boats on the water fishing the 2 days I was there--Very typical for deadwood--All the camp grounds were pretty much full but not many boats or fishermen--Most of the people do some type of bank fishing and catch rainbows and cutthroat --Deadwood has never had heavy fishing pressure it only gets fished from about june to august--I go up to deadwood during late july and august and starting in august there is only a few hunters in the area--I have been fishing deadwood for over 30 years and not much has changed in that time--Deadwood has NEVER been over fished--IDFG management plan is a joke when it comes to over harvest at deadwood--Maybe they should spend some time at deadwood and check fishermen and really see how many fish are being caught and not set the management from a desk in some office--I have never seen a game warden at deadwood in 30 years other than the people who collect the eggs and they are usually college kids and a IDFG employee
That is what the general consensus seems to be. Thanks for your insight on this matter. I look forward to your next report. Hopefully the chinook and large rainbows will thrive and provide you some action.
I went up this past weekend and kayak fished 2 days mostly the Riverside and between the river inlet and first island on the west side of the reservoir. I caught several decent cutthroat and rainbows (19-22in) in the river to inlet mouth. Kokanee fishing produced a lot smaller fish than last year. I'm still not convinced that the spawning beds in the Deadwood River weren't affected by the Pioneer Fire 3 seasons ago. But there were plenty of fish to be caught as well as plenty on the fishfinder, just not as many keepers.
You mind me asking where and how and what you were using for the chinook? I’ve tried several days up there with little success. Just caught one little one is all. Heading up there next week and am super excited to try again thanks! 👍
Quote:
Originally Posted by rem40xb1
I always use herring when I fish for chinook--45 to 50 ft deep in the deep channels
Thanks, I’ll give it a go and let ya know how I did.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rem40xb1
Got back from Deadwood a few days ago. Spent 6 days/5 nights there with my wife and dog, camping at Barneys. Great time, but it was extremely windy every day. Tough finding a time to fish in the afternoon without being blown around. In fact we had a major wind storm one evening that caught us off-guard. It had dirt and dust blowing everywhere, camp chairs blowing away, tent was sideways, popup canopy wanted to take off. Luckily all the stakes held. I'm guessing 40+ mph gusts for about an hour. Then I bet we had at least 3 days in a row where the reservoir was empty from noon to 5 or 6. Whitecaps everywhere keeping everyone off the water. Going out during the day just wasn't fun. Anyway, the only pleasant time to fish was early in the morning or late in the evening. Even with that, we never saw more than a half dozen boats out there at any one time. Maybe not even 6. With all that going on, we were still successful in catching a bunch of Kokanees. Didn't quite have 2 possession limits, but close enough. Plenty for the freezer for future smoking. And to confirm previous reports, the Kokes are running small (at least compared to last year). 10" to 11" was the norm, with a few 12" to 13" Kokes caught. Probably for every ten 11" Kokes caught, we got one 13" Koke. Nothing over 13" caught. Had lots of hits and landed several doubles. Action was so good that I eventually resorted to just lifting the Kokes into the boat instead of trying to net them. Only lost 2 at the boat doing this.
Ford Fenders with spinners seemed to be the lure setup that worked best for us. Orange was the hot ticket although pink, green, and purple did OK. Could never get the Dodger/hoochie setup working as well as the Fenders but they did catch a few. Didn't use my downrigger this time. Just long-lining with 1, 2, and 3 oz weights. Although we were marking fish from 8' to 50'+, most were in the teens and low 20s. So rigs with 1 and 2 oz were catching the most fish.
FYI, we've been camping/fishing at Deadwood for 15+ years, although we tend to get up there only once a year. We came in through Warm Lake/Landmark and then down (as usual). Road conditions were horrible (as usual). But I guess that keeps down the population there. We were there from last Sat through Thurs afternoon. Never saw many boats out fishing at any time, even on the weekend. Seems like many/most people camping were there for ATV/dirt bike riding. Few campsites with boat trailers. Although we did see a couple boats pulling skiers and a couple jet skiers. No issues though as they were across the lake. Also, I've used the Cozy Cove boat ramp many times and the Riverside boat ramp a few times. They are both OK, not great. The Cozy Cove ramp is a bit short, but I only have a shortbed F150 and a 16' boat so it's not an issue for me and is very convenient when staying at Cozy Cove. Larger rigs/boats may find it a bit tricky. On this trip however, there was a very crude/primitive boat ramp (sanctioned by the camp host driving through, not sure if he was F&G though as he asked us if we knew the new limits as he had forgotten; maybe a test but he didn't ask any other questions) right next to our campsite at Barneys. Decided to give it a try. Very narrow and shallow but worked for us. Very convenient to have it right there.
Hope to see more reports from Deadwood.
KokaneeKevin
Pic showing some whitecaps. Rougher than it looks.
Attachment 9745
I can verify Kevin's remarks regarding the fishing. I would only add that I came to the conclusion that the larger fish were more available in the first and last light. I was there 4 days (same period) and fished out of Cozy. My best set up was the small pink and white Kokabow dodger with a hot-pink squid, and hot-pink shrimp flavored corn (Mikes). Literally wore out 2 squid and will hang their tattered remains in reverence above my tying bench. I emptied my bottle of pink corn on the last morning and the catch rate went noticeably downward. I don't know why the 13 inch fish were hitting more often in the low light; but I took to just fishing early and late. One male was showing a light pink with red blotches on his belly. It appeared that there were lots of fish working the bottom (below 40 ft.). But, I could not get those fish to take.