Flaming Gorge Kokanee

[SantaClaus1961]

Could anyone give me some guidance of tackle for Kokes at the gorge.   I have fished the berry alot for jokes.  Ideas I'm looking for is dodge size and colors. Also squid, minisquid, shrimp.


All ideas are appreciated.  TIA

[liketrolling]

what works at Strawberry works at FG just make sure you have some green stuff, some times apex works. brads cut plugs 
but you can't beat squids, also what works one time may not work the next 60 min. just take what you have and hope you can find the fish.

[wiperhunter2]

Liketrolling fishes The Gorge more than anyone else I know, so I'd listen to what he says. Another option is asking Ryno, he is the fish biologist for the Gorge, try sending him a Private message, if he does not respond to this post. By the way, welcome to the site.

[Ryno]

I agree with Liketrolling. Something working "now", may not work "later", so don't hesitate to switch it up if your not catching. Granted all of my open water trips have been on the Utah side this year, but overall a silver dodger and pink squid or spinner has been best for me. I've caught fish on other colors, but silver/pink combos have far outperformed others in our boat. I've been using RMT 4.25" dodgers in Hyperplaid and Fusion and also the Lakeshore Tackle 4.5" dodger in Moon Jelly. The mini squids and plankton have been best overall, but I've recently upsized to the larger squids and even billed squids. We have a good year class of small Kokanee (11-13 inches) right now, and I don't like to release kokes, so I've upsized to try and avoid catching them. Along with fishing deeper (50-60ft), it seems to help. Other colors are sure to work as well, and even some of my buddies are having days where they're catching fish on about every color they drop down. I've recently heard good reports on purple, chartreuse, and black, in squids, spinners, and even spoons.

Hope it helps and you have a great trip, Ryno

[smokepoles]

Ryno, we'll be at the Gorge next week fishing from Lucerne.  We generally fish both south and north - south for the scenery and north for generally larker kokes.  Is that holding true this year?  Is there any biology of why the north holds larger kokes, at least by what seems to be common wisdom?  

BTW, one of the largest kokes I ever caught was on a double spoon set up I dropped down below the schools for lakers.  He must have followed that down to depth because the hit was fierce and instantaneous once depth was reached.  The second small spoon on that was about 4", probably enough to keep the year class kokes off although limits may be tough to come by ;-).

[Mildog]

I agree with all of the above. I catch plenty on the same stuff I use at strawberry, Jordanelle and other waters. Be ready to change up a bit and try different depths to find them. Silver scale sling blade or luhr Jensen 6” range dodger or similar and pink squid tipped with Berkley maggots trolled at 1.5 to 1.7 mph is a pretty solid starting point. If you catch them at the berry with the gear you have you should be able to catch them at the Gorge. Need to find them first of course.
Good luck

[Ryno]

Ryno, we'll be at the Gorge next week fishing from Lucerne.  We generally fish both south and north - south for the scenery and north for generally larker kokes.  Is that holding true this year?  Is there any biology of why the north holds larger kokes, at least by what seems to be common wisdom?  

BTW, one of the largest kokes I ever caught was on a double spoon set up I dropped down below the schools for lakers.  He must have followed that down to depth because the hit was fierce and instantaneous once depth was reached.  The second small spoon on that was about 4", probably enough to keep the year class kokes off although limits may be tough to come by ;-).

Based on the reports I've received, that middle portion of the reservoir near Lucerne has been pretty devoid of Kokanee this year anyways.   I would do like you suggested and run north or south.  If you go south, I would definitely look at the canyon on both sides of the cut-thru,  the open water north of Kingfisher Island, and also in Hideout along Beehive Point.  I've heard some spotty but good reports from those areas.  

In terms of larger fish on the north end versus south, that's a pretty common trait for all species in the reservoir.  There's higher growth rates up north and lower down south.  The north end of the reservoir has two large tributaries, the Blacks Fork and Green Rivers, which are a large sources of nutrients.  Those inflows are basically a huge source of fertilizer, that greens up the algae, which supports higher densities of zooplankton, and provides more food for kokes, rainbows, cutts and small lake trout.  Once the water gets down into the Canyon Region and closer to the Dam, those nutrients are depleted, and therefore less fertilizer to go around.  We have some tributaries down lower too, but they don't size-up in flow or nutrients compared to the Blacks Fork and Green Rivers.

Hope it helps and good luck, Ryno

[smokepoles]

Thanks, Ryno. Those areas to the south are among where we typically fish, and nice to hear they hold some potential again this year.  Sure is pretty down there, and always a few osprey to watch.

 So, I'm curious as to how far the kokanee move to find more rich feed?  While they may run smaller to south end, always seems to be plenty around.

[Ryno]

Thanks, Ryno. Those areas to the south are among where we typically fish, and nice to hear they hold some potential again this year.  Sure is pretty down there, and always a few osprey to watch.

 So, I'm curious as to how far the kokanee move to find more rich feed?  While they may run smaller to south end, always seems to be plenty around.

I don't know how much they move in a given day, week, etc. but they're good at finding forage and they'll go and stay wherever it is.  I've looked at a lot of kokanee stomachs and abdomens and have 1) never seen an empty stomach and 2) never seen them without an abundance of fat.  So they're very efficient at finding food.  When we do our annual abundance estimates for Kokanee, they're always highest in the vicinity of Buckboard.  That's also the area with the highest densities of zooplankton.  So it makes sense why they're all up there.  Densities will vary as you work down reservoir though, and can be different from year to year.  I suspect forage or zooplankton drives a lot of that, but I'm sure water quality and predator avoidance are factors as well.