Fishing Forum

I have never fished Jordanelle in all my years of fishing. I have driven past it so many times on my way to Strawberry and never did have much of a desire to try it. But with all the recent reports of Kokes being caught, I decided to give it a try this morning. I am a kokanee beginner, never really targeting them and I really didn't have much gear for trolling for them. I would like to thank all those that have posted what they use and the targeted depths. I went out and bought some pink and orange squids (I already had an assortment of dodgers), along with some gulp maggots.

We arrived at 6:15, was on the water at 6:30. Lots of boats already out. We tried several areas, with the narrows area producing the most action. It wasn't fast fishing, but once we found a productive spot we kept going back through it. Fish were caught between 30 and 35' with the most productive speeds a bit slower than most people had been posting. Between 1.1 and 1.4 brought the most hits. We ran 2 rods on the riggers and 2 rods with 2 oz banana weights pulling an assortment of offerings. Had several pops out of the release but those uneducated fish didn't know how to stay hooked. Pink squid behind a dodger was the winner and caught 4 kokes. We caught 2 kokes on a hammered copper triple teaser behind a banana weight. We also caught a lone small rainbow on a wedding ring behind a banana weight.

I was just happy to catch a few kokes. My daughter was a little bored but thought the fish were really pretty. We had to be off the lake by 11, so we just didn't quite fill our limit.
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It sounds like a good first outing to me. I'm sure it was good to try the gear and find some willing fish. I have never targeted them and have never caught one. Having grown up in the Northwest, it is still hard for me to hear people call them salmon LOL, but they look good on the outside and on the inside.

I suspect it was a big change landing those compared to battling those bear river cats[]
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Nicely done -- last week I had my granddaughter out for her first time fishing in a boat, and she landed the first 2 of our kokes at Strawberry -- and she was way excited...nothing wrong with creating some more 'fisher-women' out there....now if we can just get them to clean AND cook them also....Guluk....
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It's kind of funny, I used my cat rods on the downriggers. Just set the drag really light and they worked just fine. It's hard to replicate fighting big cats, but those kokes tug pretty good for their weight class.
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Sounds like a decent first trip. I’ve also never fished jordanelle and I’ve never fished for kokes so in my ever so humble opinion I would say you did fine and if you pleased the kid then that’s all that counts right...
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Well as far as table fare goes, those are mighty tasty. I like salmon, and these didn't disappoint. I heated up the grill and in the meantime I mixed some olive oil with garlic salt and lemon pepper,. I brushed those fillets well and put them on the grill skin side down on low heat and closed the lid. About 7 minutes later they were done. My wife isn't much of a fish eater, but she finished 2 fillets herself. Tasty, tasty, tasty! I now know why people target them to the point of an obsession.
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Don't they call your 11 and 12" kokanee back in the Northwest 'Salmon'? Nope, these aren't Coho or King Salmon, but if you're talking apples to apples, our Kokanee dwarf those in the Northwest....but don't tell anyone! Guluk....
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Yes as I recall there was a lake in central Oregon when I was growing up that had Kokes in it and they were usually 10-12".
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How about the Baker Lake Sockeye in Washington, same fish but these are landlocked
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