2012 Official Wickiup Fising Reports

[DLM]

Here is the place to fill us all in on your latest trip to Wickiup. Let us know how you did, good or bad.

Let all of us know what worked and just as important, what did not work. Depth, speed, scent, lure, don't hold back.

Pictures are always welcome of course.

[Dr. Matt]

All -

I fished Wickiup on Saturday from about 6 AM until about 1 PM. I caught 6 really nice, fat Koke's. Two weighed 1 lbs 11 oz and I had one other that weighed 1 lbs 10 oz. The other three were large by normal Wickiup standards. I have yet to see the fish schooled up on the fish finder and all of the fish I caught were using an 80 ft. set back with my down riggers set between 5 and 7 feet depth. I have been trolling faster than normal (at least for me at 1.2 to 1.3 MPH). I've fished Wickiup two other times since opening weekend and the experience I detailed above has been the norm for me... curious to know what others are experiencing.

[Love Kokanee fishing]

Yeah I have been up there a couple times in the past couple of weeks. Caught a few each time. Really nice fish. Caught all of them on the Hoochies with the plastic bill, orange and white and green spots and white.

[rainORsnow1]

Traveled from portland to wickiup this past weekend.... nothing both days! I dont know wtf happened. Aside from the horrible weather saturday, i thought from the reports i got we would at worst end up with a few. Marked fish.... just couldnt get even a drive by. Park host said its been hot and cold at best(made me feel a little less stupid). I wish i had done a bit more research as well, didnt realize crane praire was 4 miles a way! I would of packed up the first night. Damn! But thats fishing i guess....ha!

[mrmike]

Fished Wickiup memorial day weekend it was a humbling experience I am very interested who took all the fish out of the lake. In three days we had 7 drive bys 3 hooked and lost, landed one 20 inch rainbow. It rained,snowed,wind blew it was misserable front after front moved in, first time ever skunked I tried every thing they just weren't hitting marked lots of fish. large drop in water temp had 50.1 degrees that a big drop from some of the reports I gotten snow the size of half dollor pieces.

[Love Kokanee fishing]

Don't you just love the Central Oregon weather!!!! You know it's only gonna get better!!!! Can't wait till Saturday. The weather man says there's a chance of rain but, I have my fingers crossed. The little bit of luck I had has been with a well scented corn, and those Hoochies with the plastic bill. Will post more Sat night

[bertschb]

I fished Wickiup today (June 1st). We got there at 9:30 and fished until 2:00. Only caught one fish (16"). When we were cleaning our fish there were two guys in the fish cleaning station who had been out since dawn. They caught 14.

They were using similar lures (hoochies), similar depth, scented white corn, dodgers, etc. But, they said they used leader that was double the length of their dodger. That's about 8" of leader between dodger and lure. I've been using 24"-32". The one thing I forgot to ask them was what they were using for setback. Oh, they also said they catch way more fish early in the morning. I thought you could catch Kokanee all day. I didn't realize mornings were the best time by far. Of course, I've only been doing this for a little over a year...

After talking to them I went through my tackle box and shortened the leaders on my lures to 12"-15".

I'm now wondering, what kind of leader length are you folks using with a dodger (no Ford Fender type flashers)?

[SilverBullets]

I fished Wickiup today (June 1st). We got there at 9:30 and fished until 2:00. Only caught one fish (16"). When we were cleaning our fish there were two guys in the fish cleaning station who had been out since dawn. They caught 14.

They were using similar lures (hoochies), similar depth, scented white corn, dodgers, etc. But, they said they used leader that was double the length of their dodger. That's about 8" of leader between dodger and lure. I've been using 24"-32". The one thing I forgot to ask them was what they were using for setback. Oh, they also said they catch way more fish early in the morning. I thought you could catch Kokanee all day. I didn't realize mornings were the best time by far. Of course, I've only been doing this for a little over a year...

After talking to them I went through my tackle box and shortened the leaders on my lures to 12"-15".

I'm now wondering, what kind of leader length are you folks using with a dodger (no Ford Fender type flashers)?

http://www.kokaneefishingforum.com/f...+leader+length

[bertschb]

Good grief...everything you ever wanted to know about Hoochie leader length! I feel stupid for not finding that survey.

I'm going to search for Apex leader length now. The Apex lures come with a long leader and swivel attached. I'm going to assume that the factory recommends that length and the lure imparts enough action by itself to allow for the long leader.

Thanks for the link!

[SilverBullets]

Good grief...everything you ever wanted to know about Hoochie leader length! I feel stupid for not finding that survey.

I'm going to search for Apex leader length now. The Apex lures come with a long leader and swivel attached. I'm going to assume that the factory recommends that length and the lure imparts enough action by itself to allow for the long leader.

Thanks for the link!

I mainly use the 1.5 size apex (alot of these are sold as trout lures) which come rigged with 12lb leader and are recommended to be trolled at 1.5-2.0 mph. For better action at slower speeds re-rig with 8lb mono. As far as the leader length 36" should be fine for most lakes.

[smokin' Kokes]

fish the length the kokes tell you, they always know what they like on a particular day.

tie up several shorties leaders, 6>8"
mid 8>12"
long 12>18"

try one length, no bites and fish on the sounder at the depth you're fishing, change leader length.

easy to change the color of hoochie on open leaders

same with lures such as the Apex. most manufacturers tie these long so can always be shortened to correct bite length for the day.

kokanee are like women, they change their minds about what they want on the hour or at least every day.

trout are dump eating machine beasts. anything that would mistake a large hair and feather ball for food has to be stupid.

kokanee are the Einsteins of the fish world, they can humble and make any fisherman feel dumb as hell.

[bertschb]

kokanee are the Einsteins of the fish world, they can humble and make any fisherman feel dumb as hell.

Man, you got that right! I was getting a little cocky at the end of last season. I caught fish at Wickiup each time I went, moved to Paulina mid summer and caught them there for six weeks. Moved to East when I had a slow day at Paulina and caught fish there for the rest of the season. Seemed too easy.

This year I caught 14 opening day at Wickiup. Figured it was going to be another "normal" year (this is my second year of fishing some I'm very naive). The next day at Wickiup we caught one lousy fish. The next three weekends we caught....one.

I'm gun shy now. I'm trying to debate where I should go tomorrow. Wickiup for the 16-18" fish or Paulina to try jigging for the first time. Paulina is tempting just because I may actually catch something even though the fish are supposed to be less than half the size of the ones at Wickiup. Wickiup has me scared. Zero confidence. I definitely feel dumb as h*ll!

[mrmike]

If I can add my two scents these cold front sweeping in has a big effect on the barometer in these shallower lakes. Memorial day weekend twin lake and Pine Hollow and Crane Prierie also stopped producing fish The thought came through my mind also BUT love the challenge be up at Wickiup for the KPT on the 16th of June. The fish are still there/ the water temperture is perfect. The fish are scattered found the fish trolled threw them they just won't bite. Good Luck

[rainORsnow1]

I completely agree with Mr.mike. i had the same exact experience he had. He just caught more fish. there is no reason with the lunar phase we had that weekend and with the earlier reports before then, that the lake should of yielded more.But most fisherman know it takes something drastic, (like a big temp change, rising water,etc.)to change fishing so much. I'll wait until next year. Unless the report goes real hot before august. But just to throw something out sickening for all those out that weekend, I got a very reliable report of someone taking 30 that Saturday. Somebody's got the magic touch! On that day anyway. So they're definetly catchable in number when the bite shuts down.

[Kokaneegal]

Just got back from 4 days fishing at Wickiup. I agree, fishing was very slow. We didn't see anyone catching more than one or two. We saw lots of fish but they weren't biting. The weather was terrible, snow, hail, rain, high winds, and very little sun. Our fish were not picture worthy so I won't post any pics. Hopefully it will get better before the derby!!!!
KokaneeGAL

[hersheyk1]

Went last Saturday and came home Friday we only got two fish and lost two the two we got and the ones that were lost are real nice fish at the boat for the week give them everything I had seemed like orange worked best talking to a few that were getting some they were real shallow nothing more that 10 feet deep fished varios depths down to 25 feet and never got any marked a few fish down to about 20 feet was the lowest we seemed them on the FF. This was the first time to Wickiup for me probably won't make it back this year looking towards next year to go back and try it again thanks. Good thing we were the only ones on our side of Gull Point. Good luck when you go. KK

[Kokaneegal]

How was fishing this weekend June 16 & 17? We are getting ready to go up to fish for a week. Hope you guys from the derby left us some fish!!!!!!
KokaneeGAL

[twisted lines]

Not sure about the weekend but it was (slow) Wen and Thurs! Didn't see another boat catch a fish and I caught very few. I went to Odel on Friday to catch fish and did.

[IssaquahBob]

@KokaneeGirl - Friday & Saturday at Wickiup reminded me of the song lyrics "What a difference a day makes, 24 little hours ...." My son (ChukarDave)and I fished it on Friday from mid-morning to just about 2 PM; had one hit which netted us a 15-incher. That was it. Saturday we were on the lake at 4 AM in preparation for the Kokanee Derby. Three of us on-board; we boated 11 kokanee; our 5 largest weighed a total of 9.66 pounds which placed us 4th in the derby. All the hits were shallow; ran sling blades and orange micro-hootchies 150 to 200 pulls back and they accounted for at least 80% of the catch; our 2 downriggers were shallow also. We lost 3 nice ones at the boat; one ran between the boat and trolling motor; two broke the mainline. Weather was awesome on Saturday. Derby winners said they were running Mack's Feather Lights and an Apex up in the flats (12 feet of water); they did not say what colors of either. Hope this helps and hope you get into them!!!

[Kokaneegal]

Bob - Thanks for the great report. Congratulations on the derby. Were you using any weight and how short were your leaders with the sling blades? Also which area of the lake were you catching them? Thanks.
KokaneeGAL

[Love Kokanee fishing]

i was out on Wickiup at 5 AM. I finished at 1. Caught a couple right off the bat and caught a couple more around noon. Five or six take downs and three lost. One of the kokes was almost three lbs. Biggest koke I have ever caught, the other three were all real nice fish. Great day to be on the water. Glad to troll around Wickiup for a few bruisers than go somewhere else to catch a limit of the little guys. Kokes at Wickiup are so much bigger.

[IssaquahBob]

i was out on Wickiup at 5 AM. I finished at 1. Caught a couple right off the bat and caught a couple more around noon. Five or six take downs and three lost. One of the kokes was almost three lbs. Biggest koke I have ever caught, the other three were all real nice fish. Great day to be on the water. Glad to troll around Wickiup for a few bruisers than go somewhere else to catch a limit of the little guys. Kokes at Wickiup are so much bigger.

What part of the lake was the best? Were the fish still shallow? On Saturday, all 11 we landed were taken trolling 5 to 15' below the surface and orange was a hot color. What lure and color seemed to work best for you?

[Love Kokanee fishing]

I seemed to do alright trolling from Gull point straight to that huge butte and back. To the right of the Island if it wasn't under water. Also did pretty well out in front of the boat launch in the afternoon. Hoochie things in an orange splatter I guess and also some white with green spots and another with pink spots. The Hoochie thing is the only lure that worked for me. I tried a couple of plain old Hoochies and nothing. Man you caught eleven??? Talk about a good day. Looking forward to getting up there again so I can try some Apex lures everybody is talking about.

[Love Kokanee fishing]

I seemed to do alright trolling from Gull point straight to that huge butte and back. To the right of the Island if it wasn't under water. Also did pretty well out in front of the boat launch in the afternoon. Hoochie things in an orange splatter I guess and also some white with green spots and another with pink spots. The Hoochie thing is the only lure that worked for me. I tried a couple of plain old Hoochies and nothing. Man you caught eleven??? Talk about a good day. Looking forward to getting up there again so I can try some Apex lures everybody is talking about.

Have not put my downriggers on yet so I was fishing about 24 pulls. Not sure how deep that was. Buddies fishfinder said 13 feet to 7. So throughout the day it was anywhere from 34ft to 7ft

[DLM]

This is going to be a long,long day, heading for Wickiup tonight, here at work now, the pickup and boat are out in the parking lot calling to me, luckily I can't see them from my window. I don't dare go out for lunch or I would never make it back.