How do you choose the “perfect” kokanee lure?
For most ladies, kokanee fishing is one fishery where pink and sparkly is actually a choice that can produce outstanding results.
Today, Sarah chose the winning combo and helped us each bring home a limit of kokanee. She wanted something pink and sparkly, so we went searching in our lure building kit and found a micro squid made by Richie of Paulina Peak Tackle. We combined this with a 4 inch Mack’s Lure sling blade.
We started fishing in a new location (compared to yesterday) and started trolling over to where we marked lots of active kokanee the day before. It did not take long until we were marking fish and had one on the end of our line. Then, as quick as we hooked into a fish, the fish got off and then we spent the next while doing figure eights over a few good sized schools that were not interested in biting.
Sometimes, we must go against the old saying of “do not leave fish to find fish.” In our case this morning, the kokanee that we marked were not active fish and only one of them ended up in our cooler. We then proceeded over to our area that was productive last night.
It took us a while to find the kokanee as they had moved slightly from where we last found them, but once we did it was then time to dial in a productive depth. Choosing a depth was not an easy task. We tried 10, 12, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25 and 30 ft depths. With a setback of 75ft we were able to adjust our depths and dial in what the fish wanted.
As we fine tuned our depth, a couple kokanee bit Sarah’s lure and we were able to land a few of them. Most seasoned kokanee anglers know that active, happy kokanee will travel up and down in the water column. It was interesting to watch them as they swam up and down from 15 to 30ft. After studying the active kokanee behaviors, I noticed that most fish were returning to an average depth of 30ft. I chose to settle on a 25ft depth off our downrigger which would put our light dodger set up in the zone of curious eyes.
I was amazed at how “picky” the kokanee were today. I only hooked one kokanee in the first 2 hours and Sarah had put a limit of kokanee in the boat on her starting line up dodger and lure. What were the kokanee after? Was it the action of the lure getting tossed around on a short leader? Or, was it the smaller profile of the micro hoochie?
I spent the next while experimenting with different dodger and lure combinations, but nothing would compare to the “hot” combination of the day. We would continue on our day catching most of our fish on this one lure and dodger combination, but we would do so back at our original location.
When the bite seemed to die down where Sarah had caught her limit, we decided to give our original location another try. To our surprise, the kokanee bite had turned on there and we were back in business trying to catch my limit of kokanee. I lost quite a few fish before my final limit fish was hauled aboard. I am impressed with how the kokanee are fighting this year. Some of them are fighting like the Meadow creek strain that was stocked as triploid fish many years ago. I’m excited about this year’s summer fishery as these fish not only fight well, they are chunky and are thick in the shoulders.
In summary, sometimes we must find that one lure and dodger combination that will put fish in the boat. Our setbacks and depths may have been the same, but without the right lure we may have only come home with a handful of kokanee. To me, this is what makes kokanee fishing so exciting. There is not one day that is the same and this is what keeps me going back for more.