The story about the one that got away.
I arrived at my destination on schedule and was excited to see that I beat some avid kokanee anglers to the parking lot (but not the fishing hole). In due time, I hope to be the first line in the water of the day. Unfortunately, to do this, I might need to camp out on the lake.
The day looked promising. There was a decent number of anglers targeting the area we wanted to fish. The day started off slow (at least in my tent) and continued to be consistently slow. I managed to put 3 kokanee on the ice before the bite really slowed.
As my fish finder went blank, I decided to eat my morning chili (which was still hot in my thermos). Then, an hour later, I put some hot dogs on the buddy heater, cracked a window and let those around me enjoy the smell of freshly cooked hot dogs (next time I’m bringing smokies). I ate all my lunch and snacks by 1230 and was starting to wonder if the “bite” would ever pick up. I even started thinking about how I’d cook a kokanee on my buddy heater. I couldn’t stop thinking about food to help fill the void between bites.
After many hours of switching baits and jigging styles, I was almost ready to give up. Everyone around me was starting to pack up. I believe there were about 25 kokanee caught in our kokanee community from sunrise until about 1300. For Tyee Lake, this was a small number of fish. We were not marking kokanee. We saw some other anglers closer to shore leave earlier, which we assumed meant the bite was slow everywhere. Later, we would discover that they took 20 kokanee home before 1030. Were we in the wrong spot? We should have been seeing kokanee everywhere.
Then, almost on cue, everyone had packed up and were leaving. When I looked back at my fish finder after saying bye, I noticed large schools starting to show up. The “bite” had turned on. There were fish everywhere and they were hungry. I tipped my jig with one mealworm and one piece of corn (anise and garlic were both working). Thankfully, I had brought a large supply of mealworms and corn. Over the next hour (from 1300 to 1400) I would experience some of the best ice fishing for kokanee that I’ve ever had. I must have missed 30 hard bites and missed an equal amount of soft bites as well (I was constantly rebaiting). A lot of the time I got bit as soon as I got back down to the fish. I landed 7 kokanee within the hour. My last chance at filling my limit presented itself just before 1400. I hooked into a big kokanee and I was excited and ready to land it and start packing up to head home. Then, just as my flasher came to the hole, I lost possibly the biggest kokanee of my day. It must have been big enough to reach the 16 inch range, but I’ll never know as I did not get a good look at it.
I would then spend the next 45 minutes trying to catch the one that got away. I had bites, but not as many. It was an experience that I hope every kokanee angler gets to have. The bite had died off as quick as it came. I was marking a few fish that came to my presentation but would not bite. I tried everything, but had no luck coaxing Walter to bite.
My thoughts of the day:
What causes a kokanee bite to turn on and off so suddenly?
Is it the angle of the sun in the sky?
Is it simply a different, more aggressive school of fish that move it?