Went camping and fished on Pali
es for most of last week. The fishing was incredibly slow, which I expected. Luckily we didn't get skunked as we caught a steady one fish per day until the final day. Pretty hard to be upset about slow fishing when you're in an area as beautiful as that. All the fish we caught were on a red and yellow Acme Kamlooper.
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Also, I was lucky enough on this trip to catch my first Kokanee.
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Too bad it was slow, but congrats on the Koke. Are they starting to turn color up there?
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I fished it for 4 days straight also a week ago. Close to the same success. We were about 2 a day. browns and cutts. Most fish were very skinny. Caught most on kwikfish. One jigging with tube and one with wedding ring and lake troll. How big was the koke and what area? I tried to find them but no success. There were thousands of them this winter by big elk.
congrats and thanks for the post
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I used to fish pali
es with my in-laws years ago. Doesn't sound like it's changed much. Most I ever caught there was four fish. My father in law however was a different story. He used lead core line this time of year, with a frog flatfish, and he always caught twice as many as anybody else in the boat.
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I was out on Saturday and Sunday near McCoy. A good chunk with two lines in the water. Probably fished 4-5 hours each day, Sunday more dedicated to trying to catch fish than just goofing off. Spoons, crawlers, crawlers and jig heads, crawlers and floaring jig heads, gulp, rapalas, trolling, drifting, etc and nada. Nada, nada, nada. Nothing new for me on that lake.It is a tough lake and I can not remember talking to anyone who doesn't feel the same way. I have decided tho I am going to try something different. Flatfish, rubber soft bait minnows, spinners, something. I have a tacklebox full of stuff that has caught me over the years and will start trying it on that lake as my go to stuff doesn't do it there. Hard to stay away from crawlers tho. I have only been to the Big Elk arm once this summer and no luck that day but didn't try to hard. I will target Kokanee there for sure. The lake and the driftwood in it has just started to clear in the last week or so. The Snake flowing in right now is just clearing within the last few days. Water temp was between 64 and 68 both days this weekend on the lake. I don't remember seeing it above 70 whenever I looked.
Coltergeist, were you camped at McCoy Creek? I see you are from Grace and there was a big group from that area camped across from us. We got there Friday afternoon and this group left Saturday morning. We camped in the spot right on the lake.
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Well thanks for the report. Better luck next time dude!
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This has been a tough year for fishing. Jackson Lake here in the park has been really slow. I have had 3 trips with no fish and I think I know what I'm doing there !!! I have had success with Pali
es kokes using a 4" Pro-Troll rotating flasher in white with a pearl white Rocky Mt. Tackle squid about 10" behind it. I have tried other colors and combos but that seemed to work the best. I have not fished Pali
es this year, I was waiting for some good reports !! I hope the fishing here turns on for the fall...so far the rivers and lakes have sucked !!
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I don't know much about the Koke's, so I don't know if it was turning or not. I thought it had some nice color to it. I caught that one about a mile south of the Blowout boat ramp on the east shore.
I didn't camp at McCoy, but do you remember any names of the people that were there? I stayed just off the highway right near the Blowout boat ramp area. Not the best, or most quiet camp spot, but it was convenient.
I did notice some boats in that area of Elk Creek and never knew how deep it was or if there is anything to watch for. Has anyone trolled there?
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I do have some pictures from the trip that I will try to post tonight when I get home. The Koke wasn't very big, about the same size as the Cuts and Bows we caught. I didn't measure but I would guess it to be about 18" and was thin.
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I didn't catch the names of anyone camped there but they had a homemade cargo trailer that maybe looked like something for scouts or something that said Bancroft, Idaho on it. I talked with one of them for a few asking about Blackfoot and he gave me some pointers and not surprisingly he suggested Chesterfield instread. Geez, is summer really blowing by this fast? I haven't been to many of the places on my list to fish this summer.
Big Elk is more than 100 ft deep in much of it. Near the hiway and the cliffs for sure. The upper end is far more shallower. It holds many fish and from my experience they are no less finicky than the rest of the lake. It is definately somewhere to try if in the area.
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