Myself and a couple other members got on Jordanelle this morning a little after 7am, launching from the personal water craft ramp, as the main ramp is still iced in. Thought it was going to be a banner day when we quickly landed our first and last Kokanee for the day, we also landed three rainbows had several long line releases and one break off. We ran my four down riggers between 3 and 20 ft with the action in the 8-12 ft range. Thanks for joining me on my shake down cruise Sean and Tony.
Awesome! Thought about going there but ended up at deer creek instead. I will get there next month.
Well done, glad to hear we can launch
(03-19-2021, 11:27 PM)obifishkenobi Wrote: [ -> ]Myself and a couple other members got on Jordanelle this morning a little after 7am, launching from the personal water craft ramp, as the main ramp is still iced in. Thought it was going to be a banner day when we quickly landed our first and last Kokanee for the day, we also landed three rainbows had several long line releases and one break off. We ran my four down riggers between 3 and 20 ft with the action in the 8-12 ft range. Thanks for joining me on my shake down cruise Sean and Tony.
Thanks for the report. Those are some nice looking bows. I was thinking of attacking it myself this week - and then I saw the weather forecast for this week. 
Still haven't decided for sure. The forecasted high's for the valley are in the 40s. I would think Jordanelle will be cooler than the valley. I'm not a big fan of boat fishing below 50*F temps; my hands don't work well when its cold (poor circulation at my young age).
I have thoughts of hitting Jordanelle early, its been 3yrs since I last went. My past experience with this lake will keep me in thought. 
I don't know what it is, but Jordanelle never gives me warm fuzzys. Maybe it's more "off" reports than "ons". Being 20 minutes from SLC probably doesn't help the fishery.
Glad you caught some fish!
(03-20-2021, 02:04 PM)Bduck Wrote: [ -> ]I have thoughts of hitting Jordanelle early, its been 3yrs since I last went. My past experience with this lake will keep me in thought.
I'm like you jordanelle is my last chose. hoping FG by anvil the ice is moving off.
(03-20-2021, 02:04 PM)Bduck Wrote: [ -> ]I have thoughts of hitting Jordanelle early, its been 3yrs since I last went. My past experience with this lake will keep me in thought.
Jordanelle has undergone a long-term metamorphosis. In the early years, it was a premier smallmouth fishery...with many fish exceeding 20 inches...and is the source of the state C&R record...over 23 inches. In those days you could not keep any smallies over about 12 inches and there were probably quite a few released...without measuring or weighing...that might have exceeded that record.
In those early days there was still a large population of chubs and hordes of yellow perch to provide a great forage base for the hefty smallies. But...as happens in most smallie-infested waters...the chubs gradually disappeared as the smaller ones were eaten each year and the bigger ones aged and died out. The smallies then switched to a mostly perch diet...eating perch from hatchlings to 7 or 8 inches. There was a huge perch population, however and the culling by the smallmouth mainly served to provide some large perch that survived past smallie eating size.
And then...one winter there was a major perch dieoff under the ice...from some kind of parasite or virus. The perch almost disappeared. Of course that had an impact on the smallies. Most of the big bass died of starvation. The remaining ones had trouble growing past about 15 or 16 inches. There is not a population of crawdads or any other typical food source in Jordanelle.
Trout? Jordy has always been a good trout pond. DWR plants a lot of rainbows but there is also a small population of cutthroats and more than a few browns. I have caught lots of all species both in open water months and through the ice.
The past couple of years have seen a whole lotta new things happening to Jordy. DWR has come up with a new management plan (see attached). They are introducing new species (like kokanee) and are monitoring the results.
Even before Covid, Jordanelle began to experience/suffer/endure much greater boater traffic. Both more anglers and many more of the "power squadron" persuasion. This past year...with so many people being out of work...even weekdays the lake was as crowded as weekends. More people and more pressure has noticeably reduced the overall quality of the fishing. Who knows what it will be this year.
Never got skunked on any of my trips there but bites were few & far between. That last trip was on a sunny very cool late winter spring type day on Sunday. By about 10:30ish the power squadron had shown up, it didn't take long for the lake to turn into an agitated washing machine full of wake. That was my turning point not to go again and with the Berry not to far I started bypassing Jordy.
I drove past Jordanelle to strawberry until last spring when I decided to give the Kokanee a go, as ice off is earlier there than at the Berry. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the Kokanee there last year 14-17”. I’m hopeful that I can find the same quality this year, while I wait for ice off at Strawberry. I was not able to fish where I wanted to on Friday as it was still covered in ice, I’m hoping to get out there a couple more times in March and April then I’ll be done with Jordanelle for the year.
Sounds like someone broke the no bananas rule.
Yes stay away from Jordanelle, koke fishing is never any good there. Lol
I would rather drive another hour to strawberry and fish with the crowd and deal with cutts which are so much fun. Lol
![[Image: 1-C665997-BFA9-4-E04-B228-1-CFFFB9-BA865.jpg]](https://i.ibb.co/JxqYYWB/1-C665997-BFA9-4-E04-B228-1-CFFFB9-BA865.jpg)
![[Image: B23-C6686-8-B66-49-FC-A7-C5-70913-E0-BC7-A5.jpg]](https://i.ibb.co/PZRzVRF/B23-C6686-8-B66-49-FC-A7-C5-70913-E0-BC7-A5.jpg)
PS I did a Boat shakedown trip at Jordanelle on Thursday the 18th, only one rainbow no kokes. Only heard/saw one small one caught that day when we were there. Ice still covering some areas of the lake so not able to try all spots I do well at.
It won't discourage me from fishing it later when all ice is gone and water temps improve a bit. Very Early season is usually the only time I have any struggles up there for Kokes. March/April last year messed up with Covid rules etc. May June July and August were....Money
Tight lines,
Mildog