My daughter and I met my brother in law and his two girls up to Ririe this morning. We got away from the crowds (just in case there was some colorful language) and went on the west side. A school came by about 9 a.m. and I caught one and they took off. They only came through for about 30 seconds [:/]. That was the only fish of the day. We fished from 8 to 12:30. Talked to at least a dozen other groups and nobody had caught more than 1 or 2. Some people down closer to the dam had a few perch but nobody else was having much luck. Where did they all go? The girls still had fun getting out of the house and you couldn't ask for a more beautiful day. Never fails when I really want to get some people into the fish it is an off day. Hopefully the fishing picked up this afternoon for those who waited the fish out.
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Nice pics-at least you've had a good day on Ririe[laugh] I have yet to be very successful at that place.[mad] I know the Kokes are excellent eating but I dare say they couldn't taste any better than those hybrids we brought back from Hegben. Meat was almost red in color-they were excellent!
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[
] Maghunter we were on Ririe too today. What a slow day for nearly everyone. We finally had to go find someone who was catching fish. When we finally got into the kokes action lasted a bout two minutes and then the fish were gone. It was hit a miss all afternoon but we finally kept eleven kokanee btween two of us. Threw back two or three 6". Only found three parties out of that huge crowd with any fish to speak of, we made # four thanks to one party who shared info with us which saved the day. See my Ririe report for more info.
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I had no luck in the 2 hours I fished this afternoon. I talked to someone who said they counted 125 vehicles parked by the ramp and above it. I also saw few fish being caught and not many on the fish finder. I moved around much more than usual. There seems to be better action when there are fewer people.
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lol i think i was the guy with the perch. we caught three at 10 inches and one at 12 inches also one koke we forgot our fish finder so we had a rough one today. but i did happen to meet one of our fellow forum members today Ovid creek. he caught about 10 to 11 kokes today. we just happened to be fishing next to each other and found out who each other was through mention of the site. Ovid creek is one of the most genuinly nice guys i have ever met he showed me how to use his vexlar because i am considering purchasing one and he let me try to nail some kokes next to one of his hole where he had a frenzy going. just want to throw big fat thanks out to ovid creek. here is a pic of my sissy day but it was way better than being stuck inside. man it was a beautiful day though.[:p]
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It was great to meet you Chrome Junky, and talk fishing a good part of the afternoon. Thanks for all the Island Park and other various waters strategy and tips.
After reading these reports I am feeling very fortunate about my success. I got to Ririe around 7:30am and did not get into that Koke run until 1:10pm. My wife and daughter showed up today and walked off to go sledding after two hour of boredom, this was a good thing, because my son paid attention to the poles instead of running around with his little sister. Ten minutes past there departure we started getting into them; as my son noticed a bite on one of our isolated poles. We got kokes off and on over the next 20-30 minutes; the problem was only one hole, and I was not going to fire up the power auger to jeopardize this moment. In all we landed ten good sized kokes in the run; plus one isolated 15-16' koke earlier in the day. I will say the Vexilar helped during these runs; I could locate fish at different levels; as the run did not stay consistent. Sometimes they were two feet down and sometimes fifty. I am not a salesman, but if you love ice fishing it is a great thing to have.
OvidCreek
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I'm thinking about going out to Ririe today or tomorrow....can anybody give some advice for a first timer? For example, what are people using to catch the kokes? How deep are you fishing? Where abouts are people catching them? Please reply or send me a private message! I really wanna catch some kokes for the first time!
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Koke fishing is like nothing else. Thursday I had a great day and caught a lot of fish in only two hours. As I stated in my report Saturday was SLOW. It seems that most of the schools this year have been about 20 feet under the ice, although they have come right under the ice or as deep as 50+ feet. IF you have a flasher or a portable fish finder you will have a lot better luck. As for jigs and what not I put a different jig on every pole and it doesn't really seem to matter to much. I do like to use something with a small treble hook, I have better luck with those. I do really like the Swedish Pimple they work great, but just about anything will work. For bait I use meal worms or earth worms. If you get into a school don't bother rebaiting your hook just get your jig back down as fast as you can before the school leaves. My favorite technique for hooking up is to lift you jig about two feet and let it drop they seem to nail it as soon as its done dropping then get ready set the hook. Good luck, the first time you get into Kokes its amazing, it would be cool to get it on video but I am always to busy catching to film.
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For kokanee I use a flasher about 6 inches above a pink flashy jig tipped with a piece of night crawler and set my rods at different depths, 8, 12,15, 20 and 25 feet to start with. When the kokanee start hitting and you catch one, most will follow it up to the hole. At that time I fish from 3 to 8 feet down. At that point with the pink jig, bait is not necessary ( usually). I try to set the hook blind after the second movement of the rod. (I use spring bobbers to detect the slight hits)
For perch on Ririe, I try to fish in water from 25 to 50 feet deep and a foot to six inches off the bottom. Once again I use a flasher about six inches above a jig. My favorite jig for perch is the old Dickey "Skinny Ice Flies." Since they are no longer made, I make my own. My favorite are the Chartreuse or White that glow in the dark. I tip them with nightcrawler and/or perch meat. A group of fishermen were very successful near me on Saturday with corn and perch eyes. Both them and I were catching kokanee on our perch rods from time to time, but as soon as we caught a koke on the bottom they would move right up under the ice. We had six groups of kokanee come through Saturday between 9 to noon.
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tob04002,
maghunter's and redleech's advice is great advice. I use similar techniques with good success. Study their info and pay attention to detail.
To add to their advice don't stay put in one spot if you haven't caught any thing within an hour or two. Check with others on the ice and find someone who is catching fish and then inquire as to why. Most ice fisherman are willing to share what they are doing to catch fish.
I can't stress enough how important it is to get your lure back down into the kokanee as fast as you can after catching a fish. Last Saturday the kokanee schools were spotty and small in number and gone in 2 to 5 minutes and then an hour or two wait for the next school. We had to quickly unhook a fish and get the lure down before the fish had moved on and were gone.
Whether fishing for perch or kokanee or trout, jigging your bait up and down several inches every several seconds attracts more fish to bite. Perch can be curious at times. Sometimes they will only hit if you jig the bait, other times they won'y bite your bait while jigging but only after you move it up and down and then let it sit still for two or three seconds.
Finally I had a friend that taught me something very valuable for ice fishing. It was that most of the time fish are either on bottom or in a zone 8 to 12 feet down under the ice, sometimes near the 20 foot zone. This holds true most of the time according to my depth/fish finder. You will catch more fish if you get your bait or lure in front of the fish's nose. On the side of my ice sled that I carry all of my gear in, I have measured and marked off one foot increments. If my depth finder shows fish at 12 feet down, I quickly measure off 12 feet of line plus several inches for thickness of ice and hurry and drop the bait down the hole. For perch or bottom hugging trout just drop the bait right to bottom and reel a few inches up until your line is taught. Good luck.
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