okay guys, after reading leaky's fishing story about big reds in devils and looking at everet14's pix i decided i would like to give it a try. now ive never fished for the big reds and dont know much about them i would like to get some info from anyone willing to give any???? i dont know if i would want to use my "fly pole" where im just starting fly fishing as well i planned on using my canoe i dont have any downriggers and such so maybe i wont be able to fish em i dont know. i read kodiak1 comment about the flies on top and such but what else can you do? i want to go to devils in southeast idaho maybe leaky you can give me a pointer on where you seen some and ill just give it a try i dont know any advise would be great and thanks ahead of time!!!!!!!!!!!! ALSO I cant find any info on the kokes for devil creek res????? can anyone help me please thanks again!!!
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you have a conoe, you need a fish finder, a fishin buddy would do fine. here is my advice for fishing from your canoe (change the names of places etc, i made this post for CO fishing):
this is actually a spin off from a PM i recieved and thought i would share. it is by no means all inclusive, and feel free to add any input, but this is what has always been a success for me:
The narrows (right outside the marina, no wake zone) is great for jigging buzz bombs, rainbow color and blue/white stripped have always produced for me. know your depths of your equipment and keep a steady eye on the sonar. drop that buzz bomb right in their faces and whammy, youll do great. they always seem to hit it on the down motion of the jig movment.
Cebolla basin (i might be off, but the last basin before the gunnison flows in). this is my money hole. weather trolling, or jigging. if i troll i troll two depths. depth one if followed by the sonar. that way im right in front of the koks. depth two is either 2 to 3 feet above/below where they are showing on the sonar, all really depends on how i feel. i ALWAYS troll wedding rings with the neon green or neon pink hooks with a few pieces of shoepea corn. if im not getting steady constant hook ups i change from corn to berkley power worms (the night crawler imitation things) in either earth worm color, neon green, or neon pink. i have yet to be let down using that set up in the number of years i fished there.
if it is jigging, i use my pontoon boat (always wear a life jacket, and i tie a hunting orange vest on the back of my chair for visibility). and use either buzz bombs, or stump jumpers (bladded jigs) in bright colors. buzz bombs dont seem to work as well here as they do in the narrows. the stump jumpers do how ever, and i tip them with those berkley power worms again, and i purposley mismatch colors, ie, if im using a neon green stump jumper, i will tip it with a neon pink worm.
lastly depoending on water level, i have jigged above lake city bridge, but be careful. from what i have heard the regs have changed for kok fishing above the bridge this year so read them carefully.
now as far as your fly rod. BIG orange, pink, or yellow flys. if a kok does hit your fly in the river, it will hit it out of aggression not exactly for food. let me know if you need me to explain. just try some of the tips that i explained fro CO in ID, especially the jigging part, thats the part i wanted you to see the most, let me know if you need some clarification. you caould also try to sweet talk Trout_Slayer into bringing his boat up, i hear that only takes a case of beer, that way you guys could troll.
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MAN, thanks A LOT!!!!!!! I DID NOT know that narrows had kok???? i will try this and i will let you know how i do ive been working a ton of OT now so i will have to see when i can break loose of that (getting ready for the big elk, deer season[cool]) and give all this a try thanks again so much for all your help will keep in touch...
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no no no. not the onieda narrows. what i meant to say is dont mind any of the names there, that post was tailored for Blue Mesa in CO. use the tips and techniques for up there in idaho. there ARE NOT kok's in the bear river lol.
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We have the Koke here, specially in Strawberry, but as far as with a FLY ROD, I was always taught that KOKE only eat zooplankton. Larry Tullis came up with a fly to mimic zooplankton.
I am sure it is possible to catch them on other flies as I have done it, by accident.
I did find this article:
http://www.protroll.com/books/?id=3
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If they are "red" You are going to want to make them mad, No matching the hatch here. To do well on these fish you are going to need to be able to see them. Blind casting for spawning kokanee has got to be a pretty low percentage fishing. So, if you find them either spinning gear or a fly rod will work. I prefer a fly rod because I think some of the materials on flies have a little extra movement to make them mad. Also, you can fish a little slower and sometimes (like last Saturday) thats what they want. One of my favorite flies for them is a conehead bugger with orange or pink cactus chenille and an orange or pink rabbit strip tied on up top. There are times when they want the smaller stuff so in that case a bright copper john or brassie should work fine. As for spinning gear, I have only used spoons that have some neon pink, green, or orange in them.
Make sure you can see them though, I have NEVER caught a spawning koke I couldn't see. Good luck!
I don't know a THING about devils but I would guess if there is an inlet they will be there, if not they will probably be by the dock false spawning.
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hey thanks a lot everyone im going to head out tonight and give it a try let you all know how i do thanks again...
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I went and caught 2 pretty nice reds. but the funnest was the fat cutties that I caught while fishing for the kokes. Very fun and a fair amount of fish in the area up by the YMCA camp.
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i used to catch some of the biggest, fattest cutties in WA fishing the salmon runs. they tend to eat the eggs that wash down stream. on one hand you could tell when you hooked a salmon, and on the other, you REALLY knew you were into a fat cuttie when you hooked one also. lots of fun. i always used a fly called "The Arctic Char" in both pink and orange.
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I am going to have to check out that fly. I think that thre were a ton more that I didnt get to hit but the ones that did sure were nice for the stream they were in
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also try looking for Arctic Shrimp, thats another name of that same fly.
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