Strawberry Kokes????

[hooked4life]

I just spent the last 4 days at the berry with my new down rigger set up on my boat with high hopes of getting into a few Kokes .... No such luck. I was useing a ping and silver dodger and a pink squid. I tried 30 - 50 feet and only caught bows and cutts. Any tips or tricks would be helpful.

[fishon][fishon]
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[OCF]

Not sure exactly how your are fishing? If you are using RMT dodgers, you need to bend a small "S" curve in the dodger. If you use a Kokanee Creek dodger, they are fine out of the package. The squid should be set 12-inches behind the dodger. If the dodger is functioning properly, the squid should be whipping back & forth (side to side).

I have also found that pink colors work the best in < 30 feet of water. In 30 to 50 feet "whites" & "blues" seem to work the best (not always but as a general rule!). I know some guys smear a scent on the dodger, & swear this works. I haven't tried it; however, I always use a scent on my spoons.

If you are new to down rigging, have you figured out how to add a cheater hook? You can increase your catch numbers by approximately 50%.
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[Kent]

Did you see any kokanee on your fish finder? Because the kokes are in schools a fish finder is almost a necessity to catch them.
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[TRUBBS]

More details on the cheater hook?
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[OCF]

Check out some of my old posts. July 2009, 2010 & 2011. I describe the use of cheater hooks in detail.

I am fishing Strawberry today, I caught as many on the cheater as I did on the main line. Caught 20 in 3 hours with 2 poles. Only one koke, about 15 inches. Biggest cutt was 19-inches. So I have not found them either. Tomorrow is another day!
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[wiperhunter2]

They are kind of like stacker clips, for putting more than one line on a downrigger at a time.
You can read about his method at this link:
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/forum/Utah_Fishing_Forum_C55/gforum.cgi?post=601076;search_string=cheater%20hooks;#601076"]http://www.bigfishtackle.com/forum/Utah_Fishing_Forum_C55/gforum.cgi?post=601076;search_string=cheater%20hooks;#601076[/url]
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[TRUBBS]

i read that tread posted, and all it really said was that the cheater was ran 5' above the rest.

trying to find the other threads now to see how youre rigging them up
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[wiperhunter2]

I guess you missed this," I used a pink RMT squid on a pink/silver crystal flash dodger on the main line and the fluorescent pink spoon as the cheater."
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[TRUBBS]

No I got that, just don't know how to actually Hook it up. I seen what all he was using, just didn't see/know how you actually hook the line up
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[wiperhunter2]

Maybe a pic will help.
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[mtncat1]

trbbs the rig they are talking about is just a 5 foot length of line with a small spoon or other lure.then you take a cross lock clip and tie to the end.then to run it you just drop it down your fishing line after you have dropped your down rigger to the desired depth.the dropper line will then go about half way to your ball and stop. then when the fish takes it you must release your down rigger and reel until the bottom rig stops the dropper rig. I hope this helps.
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[trueblue2]

Friend and I were at the Berry yesterday and nearly limited again on Kokes. Lost sever bigger ones, but did get one 20" and two about 19", with three smaller ones. Will add a new post later today with pictures.

Squids didn't work again for us, but Kokanee Killers in purple saved the day. The magic depth was 48' with some hits down to 65'. Ran downriggers with stackers 10' apart. Kokanee scent helped. Also, virtually all bites came when the wind came and put a chop on the water.

Hope this helps some. There are some nice Kokes in the Berry!
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[TRUBBS]

Thank you, ended up googling it to find any pictures /videos I could to make sure I understood it right. The concept just seamed "fishy" to me but now I got it lol

If I understand what I read correctly, the attached double clip (stacker) setup is for 2 poles, 1 rigger tho correct?
Where the cheater line we were talking about is just 1 pole, 1 rigger.

Gonna have to try it up at the gorge next month. I'm excited!

also, anyone have a picture of how the new "S" bend looks?
i obviously know how to make an s bend, just want to get a idea on how much bend to actually do
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[OCF]

Let me try and describe the use of a cheater hook for a down rigger. There are two ways to do it. First you need to create the cheater hook itself. I use 5 feet of leader material and tie a "cross over snap" on each end of the leader. (you could use a swivel, if you do not have a snap.) You attach a spoon or some other lure with little action on one end of the leader using the snap. (RMT spoons, Shasta tackle, needle fish work real well. Triple teazers, Jakes spin a lures have too much action and twist up your line)

The simple method: You attach the main line from your rod to the down rigger release clip and drop the down rigger ball to say 30 feet. You will notice that there is a parabolic curve in the line from the end of the fishing pole to the down rigger release. You attach the cheater using the other snap to the main line and toss over board. The cheater will sink to the apex of the parabolic curve or in other words 1/2 the distance of the depth. So using this method, you will be pulling a lure at 30 feet and 15 feet.

The difficult & most fun method: You attach the main line to the down rigger release. This time drop the down rigger down to 10 feet. Attach the cheater as mentioned above & toss over board. Now this time, the cheater will be located 5 feet above the main line hook. (1/2 of 10 feet = 5 feet) Attach another "clip on" down rigger release from the down rigger cable to the main line. Drop the down rigger ball to 30 feet. This time you will be pulling a lure at 30 feet and 25 feet. Using this method, you will often pull two lures through the same school of fish resulting in double hook ups. Fishing Strawberry this week, I probably averaged 6 double hook-ups each day I fished.

In general, I have found that the cheater hook will increase your catch rate by 50%. I had one day this week that I increased my catch rate 100% - in other words, I caught as many on the cheater as I did on the main line.

Hope this makes sense!
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[wiperhunter2]

Thanks for the detailed writeup of how to use the cheater hook. I just figured you were talking about another name for a stacker but this is totally different. As hard as kokes fight, I bet it is tough to get both fish in, when you get a double hook up with this method.
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[TRUBBS]

Yes. Thank you very much for taking the time to type all that up.
I think a double hook up would be awesome to fight!

Going to sit down & ponder on that last part about the double hook up way for a little bit to make sure I got it figured out in my head. They way you described everything it should be easy to visualize once I get a free minute to do so
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[TRUBBS]

[quote OCF "You attach the main line to the down rigger release".
This time drop the down rigger down to 10 feet. Attach the cheater as mentioned above & toss over board. Now this time, the cheater will be located 5 feet above the main line hook. (1/2 of 10 feet = 5 feet) ***Attach another "clip on" down rigger release from the down rigger cable to the main line.*** Drop the down rigger ball to 30 feet. [/quote]

this is the only part that i cant grasp my head around

whys the need/purpose of having 2 clip releases running from the Cable to the main fishing line?

can you run 2 dodgers squids this way? or do you have to run a dodger/squid combo on the bottom and only just a single spoon no dodger on the cheater to keep them from twisiting together?

sorry for a the dumb newbie questions but im new to using Driggers and wanna learn as much as anyone is willing to teach me.
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[OCF]

"whys the need/purpose of having 2 clip releases running from the Cable to the main fishing line"? I guess the reason for the second "clip on" release is to make sure you are in control of the depth. If you did not have the second release, the cheater may float up to the apex of the curve in your line - I am not sure? I do know if you use the second release you know exactly where your cheater is in the water column.

"can you run 2 dodgers squids this way? or do you have to run a dodger/squid combo on the bottom and only just a single spoon no dodger on the cheater to keep them from twisiting together"? I have never tried this? It might work? I try to keep things simple. Looks like you might have some experimenting to do. Try the methods that work first & see how much fun and effective this type of fishing is. When you are confident in what you are doing then experiment - my 2 cents!
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