2013 Dworshak Fishing Thread

[kenbarb]

fishfam, I think the one we have been getting the most hits on is the Mack's cha cha Squider, but Wedding Rings, and Kokabow spinners are good producers, finding the right color seems to be the ticket for us, we have had the best luck with pink. I have a Humminbird too, and have the some problem you are having. I think the problem is the heavy alge in the lake, when you get in a concentration, the fish finder is pretty much useless. We just started fishing with the flashers attached to the ball, was up yesterday to try everything out, used 6' 6" light weight rods, and it a blast, those little Kokanee are real fighters, it's amazing how high they can jump. I'm not sure you can catch as many fish with this method, but it's a lot more fun. We fished from at Elk Creek, and Freeman Creek, did not see nearly as many fish on the finder, think everyone is right, they are headed up lake. Good fishing, and fun with the family on your camp out, boy does that ever bring back memories.

[JTM]

JTM, You are going to love the Chamberlain release, no more false releases, or dragging small fish around without knowing it, really makes downrigger fishing fun. We are going to fish Dworshak Lake tomorrow, and am pretty excited about trying some new stuff, will be using six and a half foot light rods, should be a lot of fun without all all the spinners and weight between you and the fish. I have the Chamberlain Stacker releases and have modified them a little to make them easier to use, they were made specifically for braided downrigger line, have tried everything out in the shop, hope it works in the water. Tight lines, Ken

I LOVE my new chamberlain releases!!! Thanks again Ken, These are hands down the best I have ever used. As for the fish finder issues I run 2 H-Birds my 597 is shooting off the back of my boat and often picks up the weight as the bottom. So I use it in map mode to follow the lake contour and track my hookups, up front I run a 596 and it stays true to the depth and shows the fish real well. Point is you might be getting false readings because of your weight.

[kenbarb]

Hi JTM, I knew you would like the release, you probably got the standard release, not the stacker, so you might give this a try. Attach your release directly to the cable, then make up a 3' cable, attach this to the bottom of the release, then attach the ball. attach a gang troll, like the Les Davis, you can even put a agitator, like the Big Al in front of the gang troll, when you attach your line to the release make sure the terminal lure is about 36' behind the gang troll. You can also make up a leader that will give you these measurments, then instead of twisting your line to attach to the release, just run the release wire through the eye of the swivel, or the line clip, for me this makes it easier , and quicker.
I have just started using this method, and can tell you for sure, it puts a lot more fun into Kokanee fishing, even if you don't catch quite as many fish (remains to be seen), it would still be better. Try one of your ultra light rods, 6' or 7', you will love it.

I have the 788ci combo in the back, and a 565 in front, which is starting to malfunction when it heats up, have been looking for an excuse to replace it with another color unit, now I have it, I can see the ball on the screen, and use that to position the ball at the position I'm seeing fish, at times the FF is working perfect, the screen will then get mottled with garbage that the pings are detecting, then it will show the ball as the bottom. This usually happens when I go into deep inlets where the algae growth seems to be concentrated more than the main body of water.

[JTM]

Great advice Ken thanks!! I love the leader and swivel idea instead of twisting line. I will be trying this out for sure!!!!

[kenbarb]

JTM, Another thing I'm going to try if not using the long leader is putting a bobber stop at the spot on the line for the drop back of the terminal lure, then you can get it the same every time, and can move the bobber stop if desired, also want to try a 2' vertical spacing between the terminal lure and spinners. Lots of fun ahead. Right now it is so hot out there, we are staying pretty close to home, waiting for a few cooler days.

[fishfam]

Ken -- Thanks for the advice on the corn and dyes. We spent a beautiful 4 day weekend up at Dworshak this past Fri - Mon. We camped up at Evans Creek - just above Magnus Bay. Fished various points anywhere from there up to Gold Creek. Boated 100 fish for the 3 days. Sure was fun.
Dyed corn blue and red, then I used Pro-Cure Anise Plus and Krill scents along with Mikes Herring. Mixed the Anise/Krill 1/2 TSP each on corn and same with the Anise / Herring. I made a Red and A Blue of each scent. Kept some plain corn, too. As long as we could find fish we had no problem catching them. We had to fish any where from 35 to 50 feet deep though. That made for heavy weights on the line. We only use 1 down rigger. The catch is much slower on the DR. But I do put the Kokanee rod (Okuma SST) in that position. Makes for more fun reeling in.

[fishfam]

Ken, JTM,
thanks for the inout on the FF. I am really disappointed and not sure what to do. It's the first one I have really ever used. I have asked H-Bird mounted in the front of the boat and the transducer rear mounted.
When the FF sees the DR ball as the bottom how does it react for you guys? Mine at times will show the ball (at say 35 feet) and if FISH ID is on it shows it as a fish. Then there are times when the screen just gets really wonky and won't synch to anything.
For your Front FF where is your transducer mounted at ?
How do you know you were in the algae - it may not look like what I think it does ??? This last trip the fishfinder quit working on Saturday and didn'r really work again for the weekend. Although, it did work better after H-Bird suggested updating the software. At least until now ....

[JTM]

My H-Bird locks onto the ball when I turn it is stubborn and insists it's the bottom the screen clutter is crazy and it show fish everywhere. I can turn it off wait a few minutes and turn it back on then it is fine till I turn again, that's why I gave up and use the front one to see the fish it works great and is shooting off my front electric trolling motor. I have also been told to reduce the sensitivity and that just did not work trust me I spent a day trying every setting it still thinks the ball is the bottom at times. Oh and BTW my screen will go crazy as well when it is locked on the ball, it will show depth up and down and just be totally unusable. If someone out there knows how to set one up with the ducer shooting off the back with no interference from the down rigger weights I sure would like to know.

[kenbarb]

fishfam, Glad the marinated, dyed corn worked out for you, a hundred fish in three days is pretty darn good, especially when you are playing with the kids, and fishing their schedule. Were the fish about the same size as the ones at Canyon Creek? I am working with some new stuff to try on the downriggers, our plan is to camp at Dent Acres next week for a few days and give it a try, will let you know how it goes, and what the setup is, if it works. Will be a lot more fun than all that weight.

[kenbarb]

fishfam, I mounted both of the transducers on the starboard side, they are about 8" apart. Not a good setup, they are too close together, and sometimes interfere with each other and give scattered readings. when I get the new one, the transducer will be mounted on the port side. You will always see the downrigger ball, if you didn't something would be wrong with your unit. My wife likes the fish id., so we use it in that mode, but we get a lot of false readings like you described, you can account for most of the false readings, but in the fish id. mode it's a guessing game.

On the the algae, this has been a problem at Dworshak for years, I can't tell you for sure that it is part of the problem, but I can't think of what else it would be. When you are in heavy algae and the FF can't see bottom I think it locks on the ball, when you get out of the algae it locks on the bottom, and you can still see the ball, that's just my best guess.

[Pzak]

Hey guys, I have never been to Dworshak and want to try camping by boat. Is the shore line conducive to motoring up and camping in some of the back areas?

[fishfam]

Pzak,
There are many designated camping sites all the shore. They are marked by mile marker. Most of the boat ramps have a map, which you can pick up, that show the sites. Most of the time you can find shore line that is sandy. You do not want to leave your boat up on the sand over night. The water can go down quite quickly sometimes and you could get stuck. I use an Anchor Buddy line to anchor the rear of my boat. The Anchor Buddy is made with surgical tubing inside the braided rope. The surgical tubing will pull the boat off shore and then you can the bow off to a stump. The water level is not at full pool.

[fishfam]

The kids are actually teenagers now and they do like to fish. When they get bored of riding in the boat we put them on the shore and let them swim and bass fish. We had one good bass meal over the weekend.... They want to tube but they also know that we are trying to conserve fuel for the 4 days.
So they know there is tubing only when we are moving to a new fishing spot.

As for the algae. I have heard people mention it and have also seen it in the literature regarding the fertilization program.
But I do not really ever see it. Is it submerged ?
Back in the Spring and early summer I had a hard time seeing anything the screen was so noisy. I adjusted the sensitivity, the tilt on the transducer, and a few other suggestions made by hummingbird - all to no avail. The Hummingbird suggested updating the software. The next trrip was good as far as noise and loosing the bottom. I could even see the DR ball without the screen messing up. Then on Sunday morning this last weekend the darn thing wouldn't read a thing. Not really sure what the issue was. I don't think I was in Algae. At least there wasn't any present on top of the water.
There was a lot of that foam though. Is that an indication of the Algae or is the fertilizer ?
Good Luck on your trip next week

[kenbarb]

Hi Pzak, You can find almost everything you need to know about Dworshak at www.dworshak.org ,This will give you the current water levels, and just about anything else you need to know about the lake. Click on "Maps" and you can get a print out of both ends of Dworshak. It is a beautiful place to visit, amazing that more people don't know about. fishfam is correct about anchoring your boat away from shore, the lake water level is dropping about a foot a day. I use a Anchor Buddy too, but if you don't have one just anchor a little ways from shore and get your feet wet. You will love the place.

[Diamond Sam]

Hi, my first post. . . I was wondering if fishing would be better at grandad or dent. I only have a small boat with an electric motor so I can't go far. I use a jack loud or for fender and a wedding ring with a few maggots and fish with about 20 to 30 feet down. Any advice would be appreciated. I am planning on going in the next few days. I'm from potlatch idaho but live in Moscow now. Thanks!

[kenbarb]

Hi Diamond Sam, Your best fishing would probably be Grandad, especially with the electric motor. If you go to Dent it is all paved road, but the road to Grandad is gravel. At Dent you are looking at a huge body of water, but at Grandad it has narrowed down, should increase your chances with your setup. Hope this reply was not too late.

[Pzak]

Thanks for info on camping guys. Kenbarb, the website link you posted was exactly what I was looking for.

[fowllanguage]

Good last weekend ended with 19, fishing by myself wind picked up a little towards the end of the day Saturday. Using 3 oz weights with dawnie rigs and herring tied size 8 hooks in a string behind green wedding ring, picked a few up on green swedish pimple with maggots (spikes). Fish were holding around 50 feet from the surface, went up by Dent Bridge and the northern fork cliffs. Decent day average size of around 12", fish are moving north though.

[kenbarb]

fowllanguage, Sounds like you had a good day. Were any of the kokanee you caught changing color yet, maybe you can tell me, I have never driven to Grandad, how is the the road? It sure takes a lot of gas to get there from Dent Acres.

[fowllanguage]

@kenbarb,

I think I was mistaken which bridge I was at, I think I was fishing Dent Bridge instead of grandad, it's faster for me to launch at freeman and run to dent then to drive the roads. Sorry about the confusion, the trip is long enough to dent that I keep thinking I should be at grandad, good news I guess is the fish aren't too far north at this point. I have heard the road is something to be desired to grandad though, I have to come from Moscow each time so I usually let the boat do the driving from Freeman as I can get there in about an hour and a half towing the boat.

For what it's worth all the fish I got were still completely silver no color change yet.

[kenbarb]

fowllanguage, Talked to a couple of friends that fished near Grandad last Tuesday, they fished about four hours and caught twenty, some were turning red, and on a couple the scales were sealing, they were actually fishing above Grandad Bridge, forty to fifty feet using downriggers. they had launched at Dent Acres, took an hour to get to Grandad. Glad to hear you caught yours at Dent Bridge, there's still a lot of Kokanee that can be caught without making that long trip uplake.

[brewsr]

Heh. I'm new to this forum, but have always wanted to fish for bluebacks in Dworshak, but after many, many years of fishing in Lake CDA I have never had the chance. We would like to try the reservoir Labor Day weekend. Too Late? If not, would Granddad be the place to go? Any advice would be appreciated.

[amxerhull]

It is getting a little late. Early last week we fished Canyon creek to Elk Creek and did well. Only one fish had color. Last Saturday we fished the same area and caught one small koke. You might have a better chance at Granddad but a previous post said the kokes above Granddad were starting to turn.

John

Heh. I'm new to this forum, but have always wanted to fish for bluebacks in Dworshak, but after many, many years of fishing in Lake CDA I have never had the chance. We would like to try the reservoir Labor Day weekend. Too Late? If not, would Granddad be the place to go? Any advice would be appreciated.

[brewsr]

John -- Thanks for the info. Looks like camping may be better for us at Dent and fishing might have to take a back seat due to the time of year. We may still try to head up the reservoir towards Grandad and give it a shot.

It is getting a little late. Early last week we fished Canyon creek to Elk Creek and did well. Only one fish had color. Last Saturday we fished the same area and caught one small koke. You might have a better chance at Granddad but a previous post said the kokes above Granddad were starting to turn.

John

[kenbarb]

Hi John, You will really enjoy Dent Acres, it's a beautiful campground, campsites give a view of the lake, nice trail to hike, and you should be able to catch kokanee without going all the way to Grandad Bridge, and beyond. Try Dent Bridge first, they seem to hang around the pillars, there is plenty of space to make figure eights around them. The next spot would be Cranberry Creek, from there to Magnus Bay, there are several inlets with creeks that could be productive. The lake is packed with Kokanee and they are not all at Grandad. Go to www.dworshak.org and you can, click on maps, and you can get a print out of the upper and lower lake.