Kokanee and other lake fishing.

[ondarvr]

Looks like more lake fishing will be in my future again.

I moved to the shore of Lake Washington in 1958 and fished it plus small creeks almost every day as a kid and now with the local rivers either closing or the returns of steelhead in the local rivers being poor, I find myself fishing the lakes more often again even though I live on a river. Maybe I need to move back to a lake.

I like the two rod in fresh water deal, it can keep a two or three man crew scurrying the entire time...OK its not tuna fishing...but its close to home, relatively easy, low cost, only takes part of a day, kids love it, the wife may even go and the clean up from the salt water is zero. Its also nice to only use a gallon or two of fuel for a day of fishing. The kids and newbee’s love a 20 or 30 fish day in nice weather.

One of the things I'm looking into now is getting a spread with the gear, kinda looking at side planers and or an outrigger type setup, nothing pricy, just something to get the gear away from the boat. One rod each and its set back and depth...two rods each and you need to get them out to the side further.

I use a combination of lead lines, downriggers, flat lines and sinkers right now and it seams lead lines have about the best results unless I really need to get deep. I'm not sure if this is because they are typically further away from the boat, but they work.

Let’s hear some opinions and setups.

[NW Fishing Guides]

Jody, it's sad to think that it's come down to this, you once lived on one of the best steelhead rivers in the state and now have to go somewhere else to pursue your passion. Never in my life did I think it would come down to this, I'm glad both my Grandpa and Dad are gone because this would have just killed them. We will all be kokanee fishing soon if things don't change.

[Smalma]

Ondarvr -
I agree that have a variety of "presentation" not only increase your individual efficiency by allowing you to select the best presentation but as you implied it also allows you to spread gear out when fishing with more than a couple rods.

I have used planners boards some and found them to a reasonably way to spread some of the multiple gear. After some experimentation I finally settled on running a single planner on the side of the boat that is the easiest for me to keep track of . I run the board out from the boat on a heavy cord with my line attached to a release off the back of the board. With a release the board stays out to the side to be dealt with when I'm ready (hopefully after landing the fish).

Unfortunately during the time of the year (May/June) that presenting gear at multiple levels or fishing a method such as leaded lines that work up and down the water column with the boat turns the kokanee boat traffic on my favorite kokanee lake has gotten to the point that having to constantly watch the other boats and pulling and reseting gear to avoid issues makes it questionable whether its worth the effort to set multiple gear types. With the inattentive boat drivers, those newbies that have no clue that there might be gear more than 30 or 40 feet behind a boat or out to the side, or my favorite the "boat bullies" it is not a matter if you are going to have a problem resulting in gear tangles with other boats but when and how often.

Last year on Stevens the only dodgers I lost (2 of my favorites) were the results of encounters with other "fishermen".

Tight lines
Curt

[Nelly]

Ok, Smalma... I'm interested!
Tell ya what, I'll drag your hiney down to the Columbia for springers and you can show me the kokanee ropes!
I've only messed around on Lake Stevens once... which is stupid, I know.

Are there any of those jumbo rainbows left in Lake Stevens? Didn't Jim Goerg of The Reel News purchase and plant a bunch of 'bows a few years ago?

[ondarvr]

I was told the Lake Stevens Kokanee Derby is going to be held May 21st, but haven't seen anything official yet. ??

Nelly, you should team up with Curt

[Nelly]

Sorry for hijacking your thread Onda,
I know the kokanee highliners use a combination of leaded lines and long-boom downriggers to cover the water column.

Unless I miss my guess, I think the lead-core catches as many kokes as the riggers.

I would have to agree with Curt that the planers on high traffic fisheries would be more trouble that they're worth. However, if you're an early morning or early in the season kinda guy, I'll bet that those planer boards would pay off!

[ondarvr]

I don't plan on running a side planer very far out, just enough to get away from the boat, not sure if its an easy option though.

I tried using some 10'6" 2 to 8lb steelhead rods last year to get a couple lines out to the side further, but they felt a little stiff for Kokanee, they would probably work much better for larger cutthroat and rainbows.

I'd also say that for the most part these lakes aren't very crowded, Samamish and Lake Washington see almost no fishing pressure for their size and even Lake Stevens was much better than I thought it was going to be during last year's derby. Tight fishing doesn't bother me, I used to fish the Tillimook area a lot years ago when it was good...and crowded, Drano lake and Wind river are OK too. Compared to those places these lakes are wide open.

[cobble cruiser]

Jody, it's sad to think that it's come down to this, you once lived on one of the best steelhead rivers in the state and now have to go somewhere else to pursue your passion. Never in my life did I think it would come down to this, I'm glad both my Grandpa and Dad are gone because this would have just killed them. We will all be kokanee fishing soon if things don't change.

I feel the same about our current steelhead situation.

Jim,
Jody not only lives on what was once one of the greatest steelhead rivers in the state but I would vote that he also lives on what was one of the best holes on the river! Sad indeed!

[ondarvr]

Gone are those 30 lb steelhead right out front in February and the long ago C&R season. Now I need to drive to the Cowlitz, nooch, CR, Grande Ronde, etc to land a steelhead.

So now I'm asking about Kokanee to feed my need to fish some local stuff.

[Jerm]

This might help. I bought one, but haven't tried it out yet.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7iCRImv4q8