Fishing Forum

[]My Dad (magdaddy) and I fished Ririe this morning. Got there way before the sun and got all our holes drilled. Not much showing on the fish finder a few fish on the bottom but couldn't get them to bite. A couple of coworkers showed up about 7:30 started to talk to them and as soon as they put hooks in the water they started catching some Kokes, They caught nine between the four of them and then the school moved off. Nothing was biting any of our rigs. We were set up about 100 yds away. Then about 9:00 I noticed they were catching Kokes again. They waved us over because they were almost limited out. We headed over there and they let us borrow a hole. It was amazing just dropped your hook down about 5 feet and hundreds of kokes swarming around lift it up and you had a fish. We didn't even bother baiting our jigs just a bare hook and they would go crazy for it. We all caught our limits and then started throwing them back. This lasted for about fifteen minutes and then they moved off again. We lost count of the total number caught but we kept 6 limits worth. We weren't far from the ramp in about 60 feet of water the school was between 5 and 15 feet down. The ice was 5" with 3" of wet slush on top. I've heard about the big schools of Kokanee and how fast the fishing can be, but we've never been lucky enough to get into them like this before. It was really exciting, I hope our luck holds and we can do that again soon.
As soon as we got to my Dad's house we cleaned them and cooked a couple up to eat with eggs and pancakes. Oh my Gosh! there just isn't a better eating fish. We've got to fill the freezer with some more of these things. Ummmmmmm!
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Nice report Mag...I was going to go up there with my son-in-law and granddaughter but I was worried about the roads. Might have to try Sunday or Monday.
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Good job on the Kokes and good pictures. I could not go until afternoon. Steelfisher and I did not have that kind of luck. We only had a few hits and landed one cut. Fished from 3:30 until 8:00 at night with the lantern.

I am going to have to get up there in the morning sometime soon.

Windriver
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Are those really Kokanees? look like rainbows to me or am i missing something? thought a kok had a hooked jaw on it?
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[]look at the forked tail that will tell you all you need to know
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about how long were the kokanee??
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Male Kokanee get a hooked jaw when they spawn. A kokanee is actually a land locked sockeye salmon. They are a strange fish, they actually don't hit a lure or jig to eat it, they are territorial and don't like stuff getting into thier way. I have witnessed some large male Sockeyes on their spawning bed tear a rainbow trout into pieces that a fishermen was reeling in. They are plankton eaters (mostly water fleas) and just swim around swallowing water and filter out stuff to eat. Because they don't eat anything that can fight back they have virtually no bone structure to their jaws, you have to be careful not to rip the hook right through them. But when they get ready to spawn their jaws harden up and get hooked, they grow some really nasty teeth. They are arguable the best eating fish. The meat is dark red and flaky. As for the size you won't find any wall mounters in Ririe, I've never bothered to measure them but they are probably around 13" or so. I should mention that when they turn red they are not good to eat. The meat turns white and mushy. So if you see them spawning just catch and release.[]
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Good Explanation. I know a couple people who have gotten into a few larger ones this year in the 14-16" inch range. Last year it seemed like is all we could catch were the 9-11" dinks.

Windriver
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Great Report Maghunter! I am glad your friends shared; it can drive a man nuts to watch a party pull one after another while he gets skunked. That is one of the best koke behavior reports I have ever read--I knew they were plankton feeders, but I thought they were just going for a bigger meal. I am curious then why pink seems to be their favorite color; is it a vision thing like a bull seeing red? Also your dead on about the taste. The Best! If you like smoked fish they are also at the top of the taste buds using this method.

Well anyways I made it out myself today 1-25-09 and the fishing was great, but very wet. Got into the kokes 20 minutes after setting up in thirty feet of water; gosh the Vexilar is handy. Iced six in a ten minute period of rapid nibbles threw two back, one was six inches. Bite was over at 9:30 set up the ice cube and waited for another run, and was kicking myself for letting two go then at 12:10 it got fun! Several runs came through sometimes as deep as 40 feet sometimes only one foot down. Got my limit and caught and released several more. Fish seemed to be two sizes 13-14' and 6-7 although they were swimming together. My new ice cube is great I had three holes drilled and the fish were all around me with my ten inch holes it seemed like I was snorkeling with them and not fishing for them. I wish my son was with me, but for the last week he has thought Disney World was better than fishing; I will work on that[] Besides the kokes I only caught one 14' cutt off the bottom in sixty feet of water. I am hoping I got it figured out for the winter on the kokes behavior and run patterns; todays trip was like the one I had last year and they went well into late February. I still have not got into the perch; I have caught them, but last year there was never boredom if kokes were not in the area I was able to get into good sized perch and I had some of the best ice fishing ever.

Hope the koke trend continues!

OvidCreek
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Thanks learn something every day!! I did not know that.
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Went up to Ririe this afternoon. There were a few others out there. There is about 1-2" ice on a couple inches of slush then a nice 5-6" ice below that. The whole reservoir (within my site) is now frozen again. I had one hit during the 1 1/2 hours I was there. I saw 3 guys who managed to land about 6 or so kokes and 2 good sized perch. One other group landed one Koke that I noticed. No one else seemed to be doing too well, despite we were all fairly close together. Oh well, maybe next time.

I did see either a large white dog or a white wolf chasing some white tails up on the bench where the road turns to paralell the reservoir. I've posted a pic to see if anyone else can figure if it's a dog v. wolf. Looks like a big shaggy sheep dog to me. It's just it's behaviour seemed unusual. Not that I've spent much time w/ sheep dogs...
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Good report . MY guess is Dog . Curt G.
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Great Report. I would say that is a dog. I am glad it is freezing over again. We were walking in 3" of water on Sat. I would still be really careful if people decide to cross the pressure ridge. There was a bunch of open water over there on Sat. I would give it a few more days before venturing that direction.

Windriver
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One thing I have noticed that you could try with the kokes. Since you have a Vexilar, try to target the fish at the bottom of the school. They tend to be the larger fish of the school.
Congrats on the great day!!
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Dog. Great Pyrinese.
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Definitely dog!
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that looks like a dog to me.
how were the roads?
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I agree with Biglew

I hope to be there saturday if is not to cold for the toddler.
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