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Thread: 2019 Dworshak Reservoir Kokanee Report

  1. #26
    Join Date
    Jul 2013
    Location
    Grangeville, Idaho
    Posts
    150

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Fog View Post
    Hi folks, new guy here.

    Tried dworshak for kokanee for the first time yesterday and got zero. Only had about four hours to spend on the water so we didn't make it very far up from Bruce's Eddy where we launched.

    Tried several lures and five different scents of shoepeg corn. Depths between 5-30'

    I know they are up there and I'll be trying again before too long.
    Welcome to the addiction.

    Fish are in there. And what I have always been taught, but not often successful at, is that the fish can be caught in almost any conditions, just have to know where they are and how to approach them. This board is invaluable since all it takes is one successful member describing a different, and successful, method, for all of us to learn a new trick. Last year when this happened it was shallow water where the fish seemed to be. We'll see what happens this year. Best of luck to all!

    Rick
    Gray/White Bluewater - Stop and say howdy!

  2. #27
    Join Date
    Apr 2019
    Posts
    13

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by ricks View Post
    Welcome to the addiction.

    Fish are in there. And what I have always been taught, but not often successful at, is that the fish can be caught in almost any conditions, just have to know where they are and how to approach them. This board is invaluable since all it takes is one successful member describing a different, and successful, method, for all of us to learn a new trick. Last year when this happened it was shallow water where the fish seemed to be. We'll see what happens this year. Best of luck to all!

    Rick

    Thanks, I'll be up there again, probably later this week.

  3. #28

    Default Any reports?

    Hope someone unlocks the secret to successful catching again. I'm reluctant to go back up until they start biting again. Never seen a fishery dry up like it did last week.
    Let us know how you did Fog.

  4. #29

    Default Any reports?

    Anybody on the lake recently? Thinking about making a few circles this week if it warms up a tad.

  5. #30

    Default

    Fished 4/28 from 8-12 without a bite. Merry's Bay to the marina. Surface to 50 feet down. Surface water was 54 degrees. 4 other boats seen gave it an hour before they all ran up lake. I'd give it some time unless you want to try searching up lake.

  6. #31

    Default Any reports?

    Thanks Big Mack. Saved me a trip. I dont have a lot of horsepower so not getting too far from the put ins.

  7. #32
    Join Date
    Apr 2019
    Posts
    4

    Default new guy

    Fished canyon creek, & Mary's bay on april 18, & 25. one fish each time april 25 also went up to
    Dicks creek, nothing.

  8. #33
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    Boise. Idaho
    Posts
    505

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Lou Mc View Post
    Fished canyon creek, & Mary's bay on april 18, & 25. one fish each time april 25 also went up to
    Dicks creek, nothing.
    Lou Mc,
    Welcome to the forum. Sorry the fish weren't biting, but we appreciate the report. Better luck on future trips.
    17 ft. red/white Crestliner
    90 hp and 8hp Hondas

  9. #34

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by ricks View Post
    Welcome to the addiction.

    Fish are in there. And what I have always been taught, but not often successful at, is that the fish can be caught in almost any conditions, just have to know where they are and how to approach them. This board is invaluable since all it takes is one successful member describing a different, and successful, method, for all of us to learn a new trick. Last year when this happened it was shallow water where the fish seemed to be. We'll see what happens this year. Best of luck to all!

    Rick
    Thanks and right on! We've fished Dworshak since 81 and used to get frustrated when the catch in all the hot spots suddenly died. In snooping the previous years posts, and other research we finally learned why. This forum can be a wealth of helpful information. Thanks to all who are willing to share!

  10. #35

    Default So share what you learned!

    Quote Originally Posted by icelander View Post
    Thanks and right on! We've fished Dworshak since 81 and used to get frustrated when the catch in all the hot spots suddenly died. In snooping the previous years posts, and other research we finally learned why. This forum can be a wealth of helpful information. Thanks to all who are willing to share!
    I’m pretty curious what you learned!

  11. #36
    Join Date
    Apr 2019
    Posts
    13

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by icelander View Post
    Thanks and right on! We've fished Dworshak since 81 and used to get frustrated when the catch in all the hot spots suddenly died. In snooping the previous years posts, and other research we finally learned why. This forum can be a wealth of helpful information. Thanks to all who are willing to share!

    Would love to hear your observations about catching them when the bite stops.

    I know I'll unlock the secret eventually, but always grateful for a few pointers from people with more experience.

  12. #37

    Default Catching reports

    Will this warm up help the bite? What's everyone's thoughts on this. See a lot of boats headed to the pool, maybe something is changing. Buddy of mine is catching some nice kokes in Hayden. He says they're scattered but big and fat.

  13. #38

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Fog View Post
    Would love to hear your observations about catching them when the bite stops.

    I know I'll unlock the secret eventually, but always grateful for a few pointers from people with more experience.
    In searching previous years posts some say the Springtime higher dam flows will move the fish 20+ miles upstream. Have you noticed sometimes the bite is best trolling upstream closer to shore? There is current especially when outflows are high, and current definitely changes Kokanee behavior. Study river flow, time of year, and compare to angler success and where. Take opportunities to question fisheries biologists, especially the ones actively researching Dworshak kokes. Outfitters and guides sometimes share info when asked. The outdoors is where they pay their bills so you can bet they've done their home work. Seems like I've read some of their posts, or referrals to their web sites and articles on this forum. Good stuff, and appreciated!

    There were an estimated 60,000 adult kokes last year, 250,000 this year! Hope to be on the water there in a couple weeks.

  14. #39
    Join Date
    Apr 2019
    Posts
    13

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by icelander View Post
    In searching previous years posts some say the Springtime higher dam flows will move the fish 20+ miles upstream. Have you noticed sometimes the bite is best trolling upstream closer to shore? There is current especially when outflows are high, and current definitely changes Kokanee behavior. Study river flow, time of year, and compare to angler success and where. Take opportunities to question fisheries biologists, especially the ones actively researching Dworshak kokes. Outfitters and guides sometimes share info when asked. The outdoors is where they pay their bills so you can bet they've done their home work. Seems like I've read some of their posts, or referrals to their web sites and articles on this forum. Good stuff, and appreciated!

    There were an estimated 60,000 adult kokes last year, 250,000 this year! Hope to be on the water there in a couple weeks.

    Thanks, I'll pay more attention to flow rates. I'm friends with a few guides that fish up there so I'll ask them about it next time I see them, they've always been really helpful in the past with information.

  15. #40
    Join Date
    May 2019
    Posts
    7

    Default New to Kokanee Forum

    I've been trolling this forum as a guest for the past year or so and finally registered. I appreciate the info that has been shared. Only been fishing Dworshak for 4 years and feel like there is a lot left to learn. In the past years May, June, and July have been very productive. Similar to other posts I spent the weekend of April 27th camping at Freeman and fishing the lake/reservoir. Two days of trolling and one bite, fished canyon, indian, merrys, and toward the marina. No downriggers but tried everything from 1 oz to 6 oz sinkers, dodgers, squids, wedding rings, superbait cut plugs, and macks flash lites to no avail. Also had 4 flavors of corn and three different colors. We got checked by fish and game and they said the fishing had gone cold as soon as they started filling the reservoir. I've heard rumor that during fill the fish push towards the shore any truth to that? Did fish one day on Hayden earlier in April and similar to a earlier response fish were scattered but are chunky guys biggest was 13.5.

  16. #41

    Default Outflows

    Quote Originally Posted by Freeheeler View Post
    I've been trolling this forum as a guest for the past year or so and finally registered. I appreciate the info that has been shared. Only been fishing Dworshak for 4 years and feel like there is a lot left to learn. In the past years May, June, and July have been very productive. Similar to other posts I spent the weekend of April 27th camping at Freeman and fishing the lake/reservoir. Two days of trolling and one bite, fished canyon, indian, merrys, and toward the marina. No downriggers but tried everything from 1 oz to 6 oz sinkers, dodgers, squids, wedding rings, superbait cut plugs, and macks flash lites to no avail. Also had 4 flavors of corn and three different colors. We got checked by fish and game and they said the fishing had gone cold as soon as they started filling the reservoir. I've heard rumor that during fill the fish push towards the shore any truth to that? Did fish one day on Hayden earlier in April and similar to a earlier response fish were scattered but are chunky guys biggest was 13.5.
    Welcome Freeheeler! The reservoir has not been filling. Outflows have been 9.8 kcfs til today when it dropped to 4.4. If this remains the reservoir will start filling and fishing should improve. http://www.nwd-wc.usace.army.mil/dd/...&date=5/9/2019
    Does anyone know if F&G has fertilized yet?

  17. #42
    Join Date
    May 2019
    Posts
    7

    Default

    Thanks for the welcome Icelander. I will have to disagree with you on the fact that Dworshak is filling. While I was fishing on the weekend of April 27 it was filling at about 6" a day and for the month of April it filled over 30 feet. Here's the link for April
    HTML Code:
    www.nwd-wc.usace.army.mil/dd/nwdp/project_daily/webexec/rep?r=dwr&ago=1
    (see average forebay elevation). I don't think the hyperlink worked haha "greenhorn". Looking forward to hearing some reports of fish getting caught again.

  18. #43
    Join Date
    Apr 2019
    Posts
    2

    Default Picking up

    I've been cruising this forum for a few weeks to keep up on when to go back up after the last 2 trips of nothing so I figured I needed to contribute. We trolled for 5 hours yesterday and out of the 12 or so boats around us, we saw one boat catch one fish. That made it real awkward when everyone kept staring at us while we killed it. We fished 3 different set-ups and all did great. We fished pier to pier at Dent bridge and a couple hundred yards up river to the bridge as the afternoon warmed up. About 12:30 hundreds of small salmon started jumping all over and slowly moved up river and most of the boats just followed but we stayed the same path we had all day. We fished one rig with small pink and silver bells with 1oz at 50' behind the boat. My other rig was a set of large cow bells with 2oz at 65'. Both tipped with garlic corn and maggots. My 4 year old was fishing a dodger with 2oz at 50' with a green wedding ring and Fire corn. He caught 5 fish very quick and for most of the day was ahead of me. We boated 28 fish between 8-12" but I lost 3 at the boat (I don't use a net, just the sling them in method) and had over 30 strikes that just didn't produce. I was marking huge schools all day and when the small ones were jumping on the surface, we would get 3-4 strikes each pass 100' downriver behind those groups.

  19. #44
    Join Date
    May 2019
    Posts
    7

    Default

    That sounds awesome scales in the boat. From your previous trips did you do anything different or was the bit just "on" for you guys. Can't wait to get back down and try again, thanks for the report.

  20. #45

    Default

    Thank you for the excellent report, we are very happy to see that you had a good day. Water flow through the dam was dropped on May 9. Coincidence?

  21. #46
    Join Date
    May 2019
    Posts
    7

    Default Jigging?

    Last September I got the chance to jig for kokanee. Their timing for spawn seems quite a bit later than Dworshak kokanee but the tactic of jigging was pretty dang effective. I grew up jigging for bluebacks through the ice so have always been curious about dworshak and jigging. Has anybody had success jigging for kokanee in dworshak? seems you would need one of the terrova gps electric "digital anchors" to be able to set up over 100-400 ft deep water. Pandoras box????

  22. #47

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by amxerhull View Post
    Thank you for the excellent report, we are very happy to see that you had a good day. Water flow through the dam was dropped on May 9. Coincidence?
    About 7 fish an hour around and above Dent Bridge. Fishing traditional, 4oz 30'; 2oz 60'. Smaller than last year at an average of 10". Liked a little faster troll. Watch for debris; pulled a bunch of mono out of a wad of branches from the lower unit, no damage thankfully.

  23. #48

    Default Thanks!

    Quote Originally Posted by kgb2232 View Post
    I've been cruising this forum for a few weeks to keep up on when to go back up after the last 2 trips of nothing so I figured I needed to contribute. We trolled for 5 hours yesterday and out of the 12 or so boats around us, we saw one boat catch one fish. That made it real awkward when everyone kept staring at us while we killed it. We fished 3 different set-ups and all did great. We fished pier to pier at Dent bridge and a couple hundred yards up river to the bridge as the afternoon warmed up. About 12:30 hundreds of small salmon started jumping all over and slowly moved up river and most of the boats just followed but we stayed the same path we had all day. We fished one rig with small pink and silver bells with 1oz at 50' behind the boat. My other rig was a set of large cow bells with 2oz at 65'. Both tipped with garlic corn and maggots. My 4 year old was fishing a dodger with 2oz at 50' with a green wedding ring and Fire corn. He caught 5 fish very quick and for most of the day was ahead of me. We boated 28 fish between 8-12" but I lost 3 at the boat (I don't use a net, just the sling them in method) and had over 30 strikes that just didn't produce. I was marking huge schools all day and when the small ones were jumping on the surface, we would get 3-4 strikes each pass 100' downriver behind those groups.
    I forgot to THANK YOU! for the heads up about your success. The wife & I had a great day on the water after reading your post!

  24. #49
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Posts
    39

    Default Planning on going out soon!

    Will be going out after the holiday once I get my boat out of hock at Miller Marine in Orofino. Would appreciate any updates anyone has on the lake this weekend. I plan on using sling blades & dodgers for the first time ever!
    Thanks

  25. #50

    Default Interesting

    Quote Originally Posted by stevec View Post
    Will be going out after the holiday once I get my boat out of hock at Miller Marine in Orofino. Would appreciate any updates anyone has on the lake this weekend. I plan on using sling blades & dodgers for the first time ever!
    Thanks
    Well, it appears either everybody's busy fishing, nobody's fishing, or everyone is tight lipped lol! I hope to fish Tuesday and will post results.

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