Fishing for Kokanee tip's and advice

[Brad "the butcher"]

Hey everyone
Went up to our property in the caribou on the weekend for the first time this year and almost won the bridge lake kokanee fishing tournament!

I landed 4 over 2lbs with the biggest being 2.6 pounds and only 19.25 inches, they are fat like tiny chinook!
Could not believe the 2 or 3 big screaming runs AFTER they come to the boat.
Missed the tournament leader by .3 lb's!!!

Have always fished for rainbows but going for large kokanee in a big lake is new to me. There have been kokanee to 7lb's plus.

When I was using hotshot's and flies the action was slow but when I went to the Apex 1inch trout killers in pink and orange the big ones started to show up.

I am using flyrod's with leadcored line to get down and just add a tiny barrel swivel 6 ft from the lure if I am not running flies.

I picked up a couple tiny 4inch flashers but have not run them yet.
I do not want to run a gangtroll as I hate them, has anyone used the tiny flashers?

Since they are landlocked sockeye I thought running micro salmon gear (flasher/dodger with lures )would be effective, I guess flies like mini-bucktails.

The kokanee fever has gripped me, did not even try to catch the lake trout after the first big kokanee although I did get some small lakers.
When I started running shallower, from 3 to 4 colours to 2 to 2.5 the lakers stopped and kokanee picked up.
It makes sense as the lakers eat them that they would stay higher above them.

Best eating trout I have ever had, can't tell from wild sockeye the flesh is so red and firm.

I will try to bribe my wife with a bottle of wine to help me finally get some pic's up with the new photo forum where I begged a tutorial.

Anyone here with some good tips for fishing for big ones or just kokanee fishing stories/pic's?

Regards and tight lines.

 

[Hamon]

Hey Brad,

I've not been fishing in a couple years, but from my days up at Horse Lake in 100 Mile House, I remember a couple things that worked.

Horse Lake tended to have rainbows up near the top, Kokanees in the middle, and lakers down low. 3-5 colors normally got the Kokanees there. I never got into flashers or gang-trolls. They always seemed like a waste of time, but I'm sure some folks have had success with them.

I had good success with spoons, both Mack's Lure Imperial Spoons (take off the weird attachment on the top and toss on a split ring and swivel), or the Luhr Jensen Needlefish also seemed to work pretty well. For colors, I had good success with both pink and chartreuse for whatever reason.

I used a bit heavier gear than flyrods, but I bet one of those rods would make for a heck of a fun fight. Enjoy!

Travis

 

[bcornelis]

Regarding fishing for kokanee at Bridge Lake, I have used fly fishing equipment there myself with very good results.

I recommend trolling flies with a type 3 sinking line (fast troll) and pink, orange , red and green flies. Kokanee seem to like a fair amount of flash so I tie hollographic flashaboo onto the back of the flies I use. The propellor flies also seem to work well in Bridge Lake.

If using hardware the pink wedding band behind a gang troll works.

Make sure your hooks are sharp as kokanee have soft mouths and are agressive fighters.

 

[338375]

I've never tried fly fishing for Kok's. We always use to troll with small ford fenders and wedding rings. Sometimes a single piece of white corn on the hook...

I really like to eat the Kok's. Wait until you smoke a batch of them
They are really good :thumbup:

 

[WA Martin]

At Palmer Lake (WA, near Oroville, just south and west of Osoyoos, BC) they use wedding rings and kokanee killers trailing shoepeg corn.

 

[stingray4540]

Kokanee fishing is awesome and addicting!

Some things that you might want to invest in. Not entirely necessary, but will really help your pursuit of kokes:

Downrigger
fishfinder

small dodgers

hoochies
vance's slammers
apex
wedding rings
whatever has worked for you in the past

Shoepeg corn! on each hook, sometimes I like to soak them in garlic or anis scent.

pink and orange seem to be the hot colors, but chartreuse and watermelon work as well.

It helps if you can find a good local fishing forum. Our local forum here in CA is fishsniffer.com if you want to start there.

The biggest tip of all...
Just like any fishing talk to other local koke fisherman and find out what it working at what depth at the moment.

 

[Old CW4]

I love kokanee! Some of the best fun I've had fishing in my too-long life has been with them. Years back (in the 70s) they were stocked in many of the lakes on the Grand Mesa, the world's largest flat top mountain west of Grand Junction, CO. The family and I spent many happy days up there at 11,000 feet on the 300 or so lakes on top fishing trout and kokanee. I've had them jump clear over the boat and was so impressed several times I let them go after reeling them in out of simple respect for a fighter. They're a great fish, great sport, and great eating.

 

[Brad "the butcher"]

Well I have been up to the property twice the past 6 weeks and did pretty well.

Trolling apex off lead flyline in green, orange and pink has produced 2 or 3 kokanee every morning in the 2 to 3lb range.

One was 2.8lbs and was only 19.5 inches long!! Looked like a miniature chinook it was so fat.

Never caught a kokanee over 3/4 lb before this and man do they fight when they are 2lbs or so.

Big jumps and screaming runs.

First trip they wanted orange and pink, then two weeks ago the only one that worked was translucent green with a reflective green strip up the middle.

Brought home 7 and ate 2.

Missed winning the Bridge lake Kokanee tournament by .4 of a pound!!!!!!
Dang, first prize was $300 bucks for 5$ entry.

Picked up a tiny green/silver 3in flasher with an echip for the next trip. I figure I will run it off of my 8 weight and have my 6 weight without a dodger and just apex so I don't overload the rod.
You get a good bend in the 6 weight already when 3 to 4 colours of lead line are out.

Have to stop my kokanee obsession for a day and try to nail a big laker again since we are now able to retain 1 lake trout a day since December of this year.
Got 2 over 10lbs last year on flyrods and hotshots.

Also need to drive 20 minutes down the road and try Sheridan Lake. Rainbows consistently in the 4 to 8lb range with a few over 15lbs caught every year. 18lbs was the biggy last year. Big moody, windy lake from what I have heard but is one of the premier destination trout lakes in all of Canada.

Should help bring them in, I hope.

Regards