more kokanee salmon

[bkidder]

I had a chance to get out with two of my brothers to fish for kokanee salmon, lake trout, and rainbows on Flaming Gorge on the UT/WY border. The rainbow and mac fishing were about the same as they've been all year for us. Lots of fish, but nothing too big yet. The kokanee were the real fun on this trip! The water has warmed a bit and the koke bite is starting to warm up as well. Theres nothing like a kokanee hitting and then jumping up out of the water!

The best rig was once again rocky mt tackle UV squids trailing behind their dodgers. I tried to match the color of the squid to the color of the dodger and that seemed to improve the bite. Orange and pink were the best colors, but thats nothing new with kokanee. The hyper plaid dodger did awesome too. We used spinners behind the hyper plaid, and also had success using tasmanian devils behind them.

Pop geer and wedding rings produced well at first, but it is always a pain to use that rig. Once the bite really turned on I put the pop geer away. Another reason I don't like pop geer for early season kokes is that they have pretty soft mouths. The added pull that the geer gives causes more fish to be lost to ripped mouths. By using the RMT dodgers, which pull very little, we increased the percentage of kokes we got to the net. Later in the season their mouths firm up a bit.

This trip was a lot of fun, and now we have some good fish to eat! It will be a couple more weeks before I can get back up there, so I'll have to make it last!

Take care, bkidder
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[birddogwi]

great report bkidder!

I was wondering if you guys out there find fishing temperature breaks and scum lines works for you?
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[bkidder]

You know, with kokanee salmon temperature is very important. If you can find that thermocline you can usually keep your offerings in the koke zone. They feed on plankton and that is where you'll find them. This time of year the thermocline is actually quite high in the water column so you don't even need a downrigger to get them. As of a few weeks ago you had to get into the bays to find water of a suitable temperature. Right now the lake is starting to warm up all over. I got a temperature probe during the winter. Next time I go up, when the temps are high enough at the surface to drive the kokes down, I'm going to use the probe to help me find that zone of proper water temperature. I think this will make it much easier to get on them quick!
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[Flycasting]

Nice report. I am really hoping to get into the kokes when I am up there next week. What depth seemed to be the best?
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[bkidder]

We were still getting them pretty near the surface. Our best rigs were put way behind the boat and then downrigged to about 15 feet. I imagine when you get up there they will be a little deeper. But, don't start out too deep, especially if you start before sunup... which is best to do anyways. The reports from last week are saying that kokes were being caught as deep as 35 feet. So, I think that gives you a pretty good depth range to focus on!

Good luck, and let me know if you have any other questions!
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