Fishing Forum

Last weekend when i was at the berry i was trolling throught the narrows when my fish finder marked a ton of fish 90 feet down.I thought it seemed strange that fish would be that deep so i went over the same area over and over and the fish were still stacked between 80-90 feet deep.my guess would be kokes would that be right?
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Probably the Kokes...unless it was the loch berry monster!
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I've caught a bunch of kokes at the berry over the past couple years ... never one deeper than 50ft. Kokes are running right now anyway and are either in the rivers or gathering up in the bays.

How powerful is your sonar? The weaker ones can misread at depths like that... its one of the reasons I went with a 8000 watt finder.


-DallanC
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I got a hummingbird 565 bought it last month and its been working fine at least to 65 feet because i have caught fish at that depth using my down rigger. I also dropped my downrigger ball to the bottom and the depth was correct when i marked those fish that deep.So if they are kokes how and what do you use to catch them ?
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I know, I'm saying I dont think those were kokes, something else in the water. The Kokanee at strawberry have started their yearly spawn. The fish trap is loaded with them right now. Its the leading edge of the spawn so the rest of those spawning this year are in shallow water in the bays getting ready to head up the streams.

As for "how" to catch them beyond recommending people hit up rockymountaintackle.com and spending $100 on gear... people are pretty close mouthed about their koke secrets Very few people that fish up there regularly catch kokanee.


-DallanC
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I would say those might have been kokes but I'm by far no expert on catching them at the berry. It is true that the kokanee are staging or spawning right now but not all kokes spawn at the same time, there are still plenty that are not the right age to spawn. I have read reports of members trolling for kokes in 90 ft of water. Here is one from Pezvela where he was trolling in 115 ft.
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/community/community.cgi?do=user_page;pg=user_profile_view.html;username=pezvela"][#63626b]pezvela[/#63626b][/url]
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STRAWBERRY. NICE DAY!

I had enough of cutthroats and rainbows and decided to pursue kokanee. We finally found the fish in 115’ of water at the east end of the narrows. I rigged a RMT set up with a small squid and dropped the Downriggers ball to 100’ and then got preoccupied with building a second rig.
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I dont think all the kokes are gonna be spawning yet otherwise there wouldnt be any left. I am thinking those were kokes i dont know if cutts or bows hang out in big schools that deep. I guess i need to figure out how to make them bite.Catching cutts all day long and all around the 20-22 inch range gets a little boring sometimes i need a challenge!! I would love to bring a fish from that deep it would almost be like fishing in the ocean. Also why would i need to spend over $100 in gear? Are lures getting that expensive were i need to take a 2nd mortgage out? [:p]
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You're right Cesar, it won't cost any where $100. I was up there fishing two days before the DAV event and I caught kokes both days. Use the RMT hyper plaid dodger and a UV squid in orange/purple, pink is also a good color. There are a lot less kokes in the lake than cutts but you can still catch them, just remember when you catch one in a spot to keep going back over it. Where we did the best was 1/4 to 1/2 mile out from Haw's point, good luck.
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Try ice fishing tactics by jigging for them, small jig on a dropper line below a kast master or equivilant tipped with a waxie. I have a friend who fishes Kokanee alot and has caught them at the Gorge and Porcupine verticle jigging from a boat on various colored buzz bombs, I've never tried it so I can't vouch for the success rate but he claims it works.[cool]
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Oh man i am gonna have to try jigging them from 90 feet that would be a blast to bring one up from that depth. Gonna try it next time i go thanks for the info.
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I have seen them up to the Gorge with the buzz bombs and my sister and bro-inlaw does the same thing and all they are hoping for is a snag. tail,side it doesnt matter as long as they snag them. I am not saying your friend does that but that is what I have seen. Not my type of fishing
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What exactly is a buzz bomb?
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[url "http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0068809123533a&type=product&cmCat=SEARCH_all&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&Ntk=Product_liberal&QueryText=buzz+bombs&sort=all&Go.y=8&_D%3AhasJS=+&N=0&Nty=1&hasJS=true&Go.x=13&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jsp.form23&_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1"]http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0068809123533a&type=product&cmCat=SEARCH_all&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&Ntk=Product_liberal&QueryText=buzz+bombs&sort=all&Go.y=8&_D%3AhasJS=+&N=0&Nty=1&hasJS=true&Go.x=13&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jsp.form23&_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1[/url]
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Thanks for the link i am gonna have to get me a couple and try them out .
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[quote ocean]Also why would i need to spend over $100 in gear? Are lures getting that expensive were i need to take a 2nd mortgage out? [:p][/quote]

Hahaha sorry it was a bit of a joke. What fisherman worth his salt doesn't over buy gear [fishin]

Seriously though its good to have a selection of at least 3 colors of dodgers, green, pink and hyperplaid (green btw works wonders for catching rainbows at the berry). You should have at least 2 different colors of squids and assassins (pink / orange). Figure at least 1 or two backups in case of loosing rig or breaking one (I break a ton of trailing hooks off my RMT gear... I learned to tie the pilchard rig and keep at least a dozen snelled double hook rigs with me in case I need to fix a regular rig... saves a ton of money).

Take the above and multiply it by however many poles you fish... I fish 4 at all times at the berry, and you easily reach $100 or more in gear. But it works and is more than worth it.

I have a dozen dodgers in at least 5 different colors, at least 5 of each color of squids and assassins, some normal, some glow in the dark ... so I can rig up all 4 poles with the same thing if thats what they want. I also run a few different RMT spoons in assorted colors successfully. Add in a bunch of other brand lures like koka-nuts, wedding rings etc... I wish I was only into my koke gear by $100 [cool]

Also, IMO (and I don't want to spawn an argument on this), but I believe scents are more important than the actual lures. I have something I've come up with by mixing 2 different brands of scents + a home ingredient that works extremely well. That on top of good koke gear can make the difference between a bunch of fish and nothing.

Consistently catching kokanee can be maddening. They are a ton of fun when you do get into them though which makes all the headaches worth it.


-DallanC
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