Spring kokanee fishing

[Brad "the butcher"]

Is anyone else waiting for ice off to get at some kokanee? I am sure you guys in more temperate climates have been fishing for them since beginning of march.

Since we bought the acreage up north across from Bridge lake 3 years ago I have been getting obsessed with catching them, partly due to the fight and the fact that they have got to be one of the best tablefish in North America, unreal when smoked and can just as good as sockeye(I cannot tell the difference)

Still learning the ropes fishing for them vs the rainbows I have been chasing for 30 years. Kokanee fishing is really like ocean salmon fishing in a much smaller scale, much different then the stealthy approach for rainbows.

I troll for them with 9ft 6 weight flyrods and leadcore flyline, with their soft mouths you need a soft forgiving action on the rod or they rip a hole and shake off. Whenever I get one over 3lbs to the boat it is a guarantee that it will go snaky for one more big run and a jump or two.
Usually running apex lures, hotshots and home rigged small spin'n'glows with red/green beads tied with two #4 to#6 gamagatsu's, sometimes with a little colorado blade up front.
Gets harder in the heat of summer without a downrigger but can still hook them paying out 4 to 5 colours(40 to 50 yards)

There are guys in the know on kokanee forums that rave about tipping the hooks with canned shoepeg corn with added scents but for the life of me I cannot find the damn stuff around here, probably try some regular white corn and some krill pro-cure scent this spring.

On a good morning I can put 3 to 5 kokanee in the 1.5 to 4.5lb range, they get huge in this lake, my biggest was 4lb 3oz and it was only just over 20 inches......it looked like a mini-chinook!! The derby winner 2 yrs ago was a 6lb 120z monster, an old guy with waterfront next to the creek that runs through my property says he see's them bigger stacked up in the spawning channel. I would love to get one over 7lbs.

Tips and stories most welcome

 

[Brad "the butcher"]

Well just got back from up north at our property and was a little too early for good kokanee fishing. Lake was turning over(pea soup) and surface temp was 47 and never got over 50 on the warmest day.

Only one kokanee 14 in/1lb 3 oz.....very tasty, and a dozen or so lake trout in the 2 to 5lb range.

With fishing being so slow on plus it was rainy and cold on sunday I broke out the chainsaw and hiked up a ridge near the road with some dead standing fir and knocked 3 down. Cut into 4 to 6 foot lengths and rolled them down the hill in stages then packed to the truck. Two full loads for my Toyota, riding pretty low.

After bucking them into rounds and stacked it was about 10ft x 6ft x 4ft high. Probably 2 chords and can I feel it today, should have padded my shoulder humping the lengths through the brush, have a good bruise just before the shoulder joint.

At least now when we are up weekends for the summer when the fishing is better the firewood is handled so I don't have to waste time on the water or sweat my @ off doing that stuff in 25 plus celcius.

Was still great to get out of town fishing for the long weekend though.

 

[Bruce Culberson]

Brad we went out camping & fishing for the long weekend up here. Fishing was slow only one rainbow ~14".....just enough to feed two. It snowed up here earlier in the week, but the weekend was nicer!

Biggest kokanee I've caught was only ~9". Sounds like ther are some lunkers in Bridge Lake!

 

[Brad "the butcher"]

Yeah 262 views and my first reply........thanks Bruce, was wondering if anyone would chime in with knowledge and passion about kokanee but a post is a post.....

On friday morning it was snowing driving up and did not stop until 2pm or so, cold nights man. I bought a browning -30 mummy bag at x-mas from a tackle store I do pest control for 70$!!!! They are friends with the rep and he gives them his demo stock for cost to sell to staff and close friends when he gets next years models. I woke up the first cold night sweating wearing layers, this october/november will put it to the test.

The fishing was slow at numerous lakes in the area with the fluctuating weather Bruce, a week or two early for the big spring bite I believe. The water temp was only 47 F on friday and 50/51 on monday. Big hatches of chronomids as I was leaving so things should start picking up soon.

When they get over 1lbs they outfight rainbows IMOP, crazy head shakes and everytime you get them close to the boat they freak out with big runs and jumps. Just a blast with 5 or 6 weight flyrods. The little 14in/1lb 3 oz I caught came out of the water 4 times near the boat, the last one over my other line tangling and I had to pull the fish and tangle to the net with my off hand, amazed he stayed on.

They are built like mini chinook's, probably 20 to 40% more body weight in a rainbow the same length. Small heads with solid chunky football shaped bodies gives them a lot of staying power, common for people to lose as many as they land.

Down in the Pacific West USA somewhere a guy recently broke the world record with a plus 9lber!!!!! I really think Bridge lake could cough one up in that size range, some of the reds up the creek in spawn are just massive.

I will be going up again in 2 or 3 weeks and will update again.

 

[Bruce Culberson]

I've caught the odd sockeye that was close to 9lbs (`8.5lbs), but had no idea kokanee could get that big. Mostly around here I fish for rainbows and char in the lakes, and salmon in the rivers. Fishing always seems to be slow here for the May long weekend. I think it is because the lakes are turing over and the rainbows are spawing. My old outboard (a 1977 Merc 20hp Thunderbolt) started leaking gas somewhere in the housing.....

 

[WA Martin]

The guys have been going out after silvers (kokanee) on Palmer Lake here for a while now. Got to find someone with a boat who can teach me to troll.

 

[MyDogsHunt]

The Salmon Run's on here on the Clearwater and the Jet boats are thicker-n-flies on a carcass.
Lots of Kokanee on Dworshak reservoir near here, but I don't fish for em so I don't keep up with it.
The Smallies are starting to come on though as well as the pan fish in the mountain reservoirs so I'm happy.
Stay Safe
Charlie

 

[338375]

I've been fishing for Kokanee since I was a kid. We have numerous lakes around our area, that are great for them.
We went out last weekend, but the weather was nasty, and we didn't get anything. The first ones we catch are going in the smoker

 

[Brad "the butcher"]

Yeah, just like my trip 33837. The fishing and gardening season up here is easily a month behind this year.

hope to get out to a local lake in the next week or so for a few hours of rainbow fishing and a barbeque.

 

[pveiled]

Yeah, just like my trip 33837. The fishing and gardening season up here is easily a month behind this year.

It's the same out here on the East Coast Brad. Everything is mighty slow. Things are finally starting to blossom but we've had almost no sun...just a steady supply of rain and cold weather. I think it's really affecting the wildlife--we've got a bunch of blackbird chicks that are still in the nest and normally they'd be gone a few weeks ago. The fishing is also awful slow.

Unfortunately I lost my job a few weeks ago so I'm wasting time looking for employment when I should be at camp! Hoping that things pick up soon as I've got a hankering for some Rainbow. We don't have Kokanee out here (AFAIK), so I've never tried one of those, but I've certainly tried the beer of the same name and that wasn't for me. Hope your fish taste much better

On a related, but off topic, side note to the poor start of the season we're having out here there is more bad news on the horizon. There are new fish farms going up in the areas where my family traditionally fishes and I fear this is seriously going to mess with the wild stock. All in all this year is not looking too good. So get out there, catch a whopper, smoke it up and enjoy some for me will ya? Just don't wash it down with one of those skanky beers haha.

 

[bhyde]

Went out last saturday with a friend on his boat...No problems finding them..but actually keeping them is another issue...

The friend

out of 12 or so hookups between us, this is what we actually left with. I had fun anyway..Never trolled before

 

[Brad "the butcher"]

Those are nice kokanee's.
Yeah keeping them on until the net can be frustrating at times. They just go banana's when they get close to the boat.
I have found by using apex with the red tandem gamagatsu hooks to be just about the best for LANDING kokanee. With regular lures they get leverage with a fixed hook attatched to the lure and tear a hole to get free. Can't do that with the hooks just attatched to mono. Plus both hooks usually sink in.

Rubber snubbers help with them tearing free as well.

What were you guys running and how deep?

Looks like it will be a couple of weeks before I get out again.....flying to saskatchewan to bury my grandpa. No condolences please.....at 93 he had a good run and was active until 91.

 

[338375]

Yeah, just like my trip 33837. The fishing and gardening season up here is easily a month behind this year.

hope to get out to a local lake in the next week or so for a few hours of rainbow fishing and a barbeque.

Ya, its been a weird year so far. It will turn though. I was talking to a kid that works at our local Sportsmans Warehouse a couple weeks ago, and he showed me some pictures of the Kokanee they had caught. 16-20 inches and very fat.

It's the same out here on the East Coast Brad. Everything is mighty slow. Things are finally starting to blossom but we've had almost no sun...just a steady supply of rain and cold weather. I think it's really affecting the wildlife--we've got a bunch of blackbird chicks that are still in the nest and normally they'd be gone a few weeks ago. The fishing is also awful slow.

Unfortunately I lost my job a few weeks ago so I'm wasting time looking for employment when I should be at camp! Hoping that things pick up soon as I've got a hankering for some Rainbow. We don't have Kokanee out here (AFAIK), so I've never tried one of those, but I've certainly tried the beer of the same name and that wasn't for me. Hope your fish taste much better

On a related, but off topic, side note to the poor start of the season we're having out here there is more bad news on the horizon. There are new fish farms going up in the areas where my family traditionally fishes and I fear this is seriously going to mess with the wild stock. All in all this year is not looking too good. So get out there, catch a whopper, smoke it up and enjoy some for me will ya? Just don't wash it down with one of those skanky beers haha.

Sorry to hear about you losing your job. I can't imagine being unemployeed right now. Good luck on your search...

As far as taste goes, they are far better tasting than Rainbows imho. I don't even keep the Rainbows, but some people like them.
I'll even take the Kokanee over the Salmon I brought back from Alaska. Hopefully some day you will be able to try one

Went out last saturday with a friend on his boat...No problems finding them..but actually keeping them is another issue...

The friend

out of 12 or so hookups between us, this is what we actually left with. I had fun anyway..Never trolled before

Ya, they aren't always easy to land. Those are some nice looking fish :thumbup:

 

[pveiled]

Sorry to hear about you losing your job. I can't imagine being unemployeed right now. Good luck on your search...

As far as taste goes, they are far better tasting than Rainbows imho. I don't even keep the Rainbows, but some people like them.
I'll even take the Kokanee over the Salmon I brought back from Alaska. Hopefully some day you will be able to try one

Thanks for the kind thoughts 338375. It kind of sucks as well because the field I'm in is pretty specialized and for me finding another job is probably going to involve either going back to school to get a few more bloody letters after my name or leaving the province. Luckily the lady makes good money and we don't have any kids yet so we'll keep our heads above water but yeah...unemployment is never fun and right now it's just downright nasty.


Back to the topic at hand though...your endorsement of Kokanee over Alaskan Salmon is really tantalizing. I've never had Alaskan--I live in NS so Atlantic Salmon is pretty darn abundant here...at least as abundant as an endangered species can be I suppose--but Salmon is by far one of my favourite fish. I honestly have a hard time thinking of anything that tops it for me. A good rare tuna steak I guess but that's a totally different ball game. I am a pretty big fan of Trout as well though...I grew up fishing for Rainbow so I guess maybe it's just a case of liking what you're used to If you're saying that Kokanee tops Salmon then wow...just one more reason I need to get my butt out to the West Coast one of these days!

I actually just did a bit of research on this and it looks like Kokanee is a regional variant of Sockeye Salmon. Does that sound right to you guys? If so then 338375 I think your assessment of Kokanee being "better" than Alaskan Salmon makes sense: I've been told by several people more affluent than myself that Sockeye beats the crap out of Atlantic Salmon and my understanding, although I'm very unsure about this and actually can't even remember where I heard or read this now, was that Atlantic and Alaskan Salmon taste very similar. I don't think I've ever tried Sockeye honestly, as I normally pull in most of the fish I eat myself and when I do buy fish from the market Sockeye is much more expensive than Atlantic Salmon (since the Atlantic stuff is mostly farmed these days).

 

[22-rimfire]

Job replacement is seldom easy when you are in a specialized field without moving. I wish you the best of luck.

Being from the SE US and never having done any salmon fishing, when I saw the name Kokanee, I had no idea what the thread was about. Read through things and it certainly looks like a lot of fun and certainly very good eating. Hope you all are very successful with your Kokaneee Salmon fishing.

 

[338375]

Thanks for the kind thoughts 338375. It kind of sucks as well because the field I'm in is pretty specialized and for me finding another job is probably going to involve either going back to school to get a few more bloody letters after my name or leaving the province. Luckily the lady makes good money and we don't have any kids yet so we'll keep our heads above water but yeah...unemployment is never fun and right now it's just downright nasty.


Back to the topic at hand though...your endorsement of Kokanee over Alaskan Salmon is really tantalizing. I've never had Alaskan--I live in NS so Atlantic Salmon is pretty darn abundant here...at least as abundant as an endangered species can be I suppose--but Salmon is by far one of my favourite fish. I honestly have a hard time thinking of anything that tops it for me. A good rare tuna steak I guess but that's a totally different ball game. I am a pretty big fan of Trout as well though...I grew up fishing for Rainbow so I guess maybe it's just a case of liking what you're used to If you're saying that Kokanee tops Salmon then wow...just one more reason I need to get my butt out to the West Coast one of these days!

I actually just did a bit of research on this and it looks like Kokanee is a regional variant of Sockeye Salmon. Does that sound right to you guys? If so then 338375 I think your assessment of Kokanee being "better" than Alaskan Salmon makes sense: I've been told by several people more affluent than myself that Sockeye beats the crap out of Atlantic Salmon and my understanding, although I'm very unsure about this and actually can't even remember where I heard or read this now, was that Atlantic and Alaskan Salmon taste very similar. I don't think I've ever tried Sockeye honestly, as I normally pull in most of the fish I eat myself and when I do buy fish from the market Sockeye is much more expensive than Atlantic Salmon (since the Atlantic stuff is mostly farmed these days).

IMHO, it is better than most salmon I have had. I smoke a bunch of Kokanee on eyear, and took it to work with me. There were 15 guys I worked with, and I didn't tell anyone what it was, but they had it completely cleaned up in about an hour, then I told them what it was. They couldn't believe it.
You are correct, it is just a landlocked salmon. Another fish we have out here that is outstanding, is the Steelhead. Not only are they fun to catch, they too taste incredible.
The Steelhead is just a trout, that goes out to sea, and returns to the rivers.

 

[pveiled]

Oh man. That is a great story 338375...you're really making me salivate over here. Ha! Coincidentally all of this talk of fishing got me hungry so this morning I pulled some recently frozen fish out of my deep freeze to thaw for tonight. You'll never guess what it was...Steelhead! We have that on the East Coast as well and I will definitely agree that it's a really yummy treat. A good deal harder to come by than the Rainbow (we have several other varieties of Trout here as well but Rainbow are by far the most common IME) but I do like the Steelhead better than the Rainbow. Again a lot of the Steelhead here is coming from farms these days but you can still fish it in the right places. I am going have to make a point of asking the fishmonger at my local shop if he ever gets any Kokanee or Sockeye in at reasonable prices. I'm pretty sure Kokanee is going to be non-existant out here but with all this hype I'm going to have to ask anyway. If not I guess I really will just have to make my way out to the West Coast one of these days...I've always wanted to travel to the Pacific I hear that the hiking is spectacular out there.