Strawberry with 2knots 7/16

[obifishkenobi]

I met up with 2knots this morning to fish Strawberry in his boat, we arrived by 5:30am and started putting out lines before 6:00am. The first and largest koke of the day 20” 3.5lbs. came while I was setting back my second line, I was alerted to it when it came flying out of the water behind the boat. We limited out by 8:20am. We also caught well over 20 cutthroat, we didn’t keep count. We caught all of our Kokes between 45-52’ going 1.7 mph across the lake from the dry storage, near Sage Creek. I did most of my damage with a watermelon pattern dodger and watermelon bead and blade set up, and Allen got his on a Apex with a chartreuse stripe. Conditions where fantastic and the company was even better. Thanks for the invite it was a great morning.

[2knots]

Fun day glad to have you aboard, looking forward to the next trip. We almost got to sit down and relax during the 1st hour between the cutts and kokes I’m not sure during that time we hardly ever had all the rods in the water lol. Weather was beautiful with a breeze when we got there then Turing to glass, nice to be in the cool morning air.
Water temp was 60 or higher above 38’, dropped to 56 at 40 and 52.6 at 45’. Surface temp when we started was 64ish and actually went up to 68 at 10’

[Mildog]

Great fish, good report. Good weather, good company
Awesome fishing action ! Can’t complain about that.
Thanks for posting!

[wiperhunter2]

Sounds like you two had a great day at the Berry, the best report I've read in a week or longer and to get both limits that quick, awesome. What was the secret to your success, was it location?

[obifishkenobi]

Sounds like you two had a great day at the Berry, the best report I've read in a week or longer and to get both limits that quick, awesome. What was the secret to your success, was it location?

It may be location we where fishing the same area I fished a couple weeks ago, the guides Kokanee kid and Bobbie McClane Krome Fishing  have been in the same areas when I have been at the Berry around Sage Creek and Sage Island. Depth is important, it has been hot, people need to move down with the fish and 2knots apex lures are definitely good.

[Paddler]

Homemade wedding ring with chartreuse beads and a chartreuse Colorado blade has been good. The Fish Hawk TD has taken the guess work out of it, especially given the sharp thermocline.

[2knots]

Location yes but once we found the kokes we pretty much worked the area not venturing far any direction, as Paddler said the Fish Hawk takes the guessing out. Shawn’s watermelon gear “said” green tones right off but of course I had to play with other colors ( stubborn) for a bit before putting anything green or chartreuse on lol. Speed, later in the am we kept going through the fish on the FF and getting 1 or losing it part way to the boat, we should of been getting multiple hits based on what we had on the screen so did some stop and go’s by dropping the kicker down to an idle (.6 on the gps) for about 15 seconds and letting the gear slowly flutter down and then kicking it back up to 1.7, it was effective they hit on the drop and acceleration.

[Bduck]

[i]Great fishing adventure & nice catches, as always a fun time out with 2knots, had a conversation with Alan while he was in route to home. If I knew you guys were heading that way I would have decided to go also. But I'm set to go Monday with my neighbor.[/i]

---

[Paddler]

This has been a breakthrough year for me.  I first fished for Kokanee two years ago and had some success.  Last year wasn't so good.  This year I've been refining my techniques with particular attention to not pulling hooks.  I'm using the Shimano Convergence 10' 6" mooching rods with Islander MR3 reels spooled with 25#(!) Big Game.  They're my ocean salmon setups, and Kokanee are salmon, after all.  The rods are quite sensitive, absorb the shocks very well and are long enough to keep fish out of the engine if they run that way.  I've recently been using the Scotty releases, but setting them light enough is tricky.  I rigged up a couple of Offshore black releases to try next trip.  I think sometimes the release itself can pull hooks before the fish comes off the downrigger.  I'm also now very careful to lighten my drag after setting out the rod so that it requires just a bit of tension to pull line, similar to trolling walleye with cranks behind planer boards.  The last thing is to be patient, let them run, same as chinook in the ocean.  Don't rush it, let them play out.  That makes netting a non event.  We let chinook play out so much that when they come to the boat they're actually laying on their sides.  No chasing them with the net, no knocking them off by accident.  Kokanee are the most fun I've had fishing fresh water, and are my wife's favorite salmon, bar none.

This is the homemade "wedding ring" I mentioned above.  I just sort of made it up with stuff I had on hand and didn't run it much at first because it didn't inspire confidence.  I had also been told that green was a no-no at Strawberry because of the cutts.  That has not been my experience.

[liketrolling]

you guys are killing me telling every one where the kokanee are at, but they should be moving soon. I will be there Monday also.
the last day I was there they were starting to school up good.

and Paddler your lucky your not catching cuts with green but you need some green to catch kokanee sometimes. 
it looks like you are using good hooks it looks like a drop shot hook to me I think is the best hook to use for kokanee
some days you never lose a kokanee and other days you do. so no matter what you do you will lose some. 

some days the wife and I have are 8 kokanee by 8 am so if you are losing some you can fish till 9.   and think of the thrill you have when you lose that 5 lb'er

[wiperhunter2]

Sounds like you two had a great day at the Berry, the best report I've read in a week or longer and to get both limits that quick, awesome. What was the secret to your success, was it location?

It may be location we where fishing the same area I fished a couple weeks ago, the guides Kokanee kid and Bobbie McClane Krome Fishing  have been in the same areas when I have been at the Berry around Sage Creek and Sage Island. Depth is important, it has been hot, people need to move down with the fish and 2knots apex lures are definitely good.

Thanks Shawn. Did you get your boat back on the road? Thought I saw it at the Winco parking lot earlier today.

[Paddler]

you guys are killing me telling every one where the kokanee are at, but they should be moving soon. I will be there Monday also.
the last day I was there they were starting to school up good.

and Paddler your lucky your not catching cuts with green but you need some green to catch kokanee sometimes. 
it looks like you are using good hooks it looks like a drop shot hook to me I think is the best hook to use for kokanee
some days you never lose a kokanee and other days you do. so no matter what you do you will lose some. 

some days the wife and I have are 8 kokanee by 8 am so if you are losing some you can fish till 9.   and think of the thrill you have when you lose that 5 lb'er

I haven't hotspotted any locations, but did run into a bunch of cutts off Haws last week if anybody's interested.

I'm using Gamakatsu "Walleye Wide Gap" #2 hooks that were purchased a long time ago for worm harnesses.  That was before my Hewescraft, and I bought it in 2005.  They seem to work well.

https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/gamakats...lsrc=aw.ds

I catch my share of cutts, but I don't think more with green than other colors.  Pink didn't do much of anything, orange was better, chartreuse was the most productive.

I'm not much of a morning guy, much prefer going later and really just enjoy being on the water.  Quick limits don't do much for me.

[wiperhunter2]

Location yes but once we found the kokes we pretty much worked the area not venturing far any direction, as Paddler said the Fish Hawk takes the guessing out. Shawn’s watermelon gear “said” green tones right off but of course I had to play with other colors ( stubborn) for a bit before putting anything green or chartreuse on lol. Speed,  later in the am we kept going through the fish on the FF and getting 1 or losing it part way to the boat, we should of been getting multiple hits based on what we had on the screen so did some stop and go’s by dropping the kicker down to an idle (.6 on the gps) for about 15 seconds and letting the gear slowly flutter down and then kicking it back up to 1.7, it was effective they hit on the drop and acceleration.

Thanks Alan, always a good idea to stay on the fish once you find them, if possible. You never know, by trying different things you might find that magic color or lure combo. Wow great idea, dropping the speed all the way down to .6 can't say I've ever tried that before but it makes sense.

[WET1]

This has been a breakthrough year for me.  I first fished for Kokanee two years ago and had some success.  Last year wasn't so good.  This year I've been refining my techniques with particular attention to not pulling hooks.  I'm using the Shimano Convergence 10' 6" mooching rods with Islander MR3 reels spooled with 25#(!) Big Game.  They're my ocean salmon setups, and Kokanee are salmon, after all.  The rods are quite sensitive, absorb the shocks very well and are long enough to keep fish out of the engine if they run that way.  I've recently been using the Scotty releases, but setting them light enough is tricky.  I rigged up a couple of Offshore black releases to try next trip.  I think sometimes the release itself can pull hooks before the fish comes off the downrigger.  I'm also now very careful to lighten my drag after setting out the rod so that it requires just a bit of tension to pull line, similar to trolling walleye with cranks behind planer boards.  The last thing is to be patient, let them run, same as chinook in the ocean.  Don't rush it, let them play out.  That makes netting a non event.  We let chinook play out so much that when they come to the boat they're actually laying on their sides.  No chasing them with the net, no knocking them off by accident.  Kokanee are the most fun I've had fishing fresh water, and are my wife's favorite salmon, bar none.

This is the homemade "wedding ring" I mentioned above.  I just sort of made it up with stuff I had on hand and didn't run it much at first because it didn't inspire confidence.  I had also been told that green was a no-no at Strawberry because of the cutts.  That has not been my experience.

I don't see a wedding ring on that rig? Were you just referring to beads and a spinner blade?

[obifishkenobi]

Sounds like you two had a great day at the Berry, the best report I've read in a week or longer and to get both limits that quick, awesome. What was the secret to your success, was it location?

It may be location we where fishing the same area I fished a couple weeks ago, the guides Kokanee kid and Bobbie McClane Krome Fishing  have been in the same areas when I have been at the Berry around Sage Creek and Sage Island. Depth is important, it has been hot, people need to move down with the fish and 2knots apex lures are definitely good.

Thanks Shawn. Did you get your boat back on the road? Thought I saw it at the Winco parking lot earlier today.

Yes Sir, I got it rolling you must have seen me on my way out of town, check out my Ririe post on the Idaho board.

[Paddler]

This has been a breakthrough year for me.  I first fished for Kokanee two years ago and had some success.  Last year wasn't so good.  This year I've been refining my techniques with particular attention to not pulling hooks.  I'm using the Shimano Convergence 10' 6" mooching rods with Islander MR3 reels spooled with 25#(!) Big Game.  They're my ocean salmon setups, and Kokanee are salmon, after all.  The rods are quite sensitive, absorb the shocks very well and are long enough to keep fish out of the engine if they run that way.  I've recently been using the Scotty releases, but setting them light enough is tricky.  I rigged up a couple of Offshore black releases to try next trip.  I think sometimes the release itself can pull hooks before the fish comes off the downrigger.  I'm also now very careful to lighten my drag after setting out the rod so that it requires just a bit of tension to pull line, similar to trolling walleye with cranks behind planer boards.  The last thing is to be patient, let them run, same as chinook in the ocean.  Don't rush it, let them play out.  That makes netting a non event.  We let chinook play out so much that when they come to the boat they're actually laying on their sides.  No chasing them with the net, no knocking them off by accident.  Kokanee are the most fun I've had fishing fresh water, and are my wife's favorite salmon, bar none.

This is the homemade "wedding ring" I mentioned above.  I just sort of made it up with stuff I had on hand and didn't run it much at first because it didn't inspire confidence.  I had also been told that green was a no-no at Strawberry because of the cutts.  That has not been my experience.

I don't see a wedding ring on that rig? Were you just referring to beads and a spinner blade?

Yep.  My homemade imitation, hence the quotation marks.