Kokanee at Porcupine 6/28

[F15Hwhisperer]

Had a little camping and fishing trip at porcupine this weekend and was able to get out on the kayak a few re to chase some Kokanee.

Water temperature was around 65 in the morning and warmed close to 70 in the afternoon. I was marking schools from 30' up to 10' with several schools jumping and on the surface in the early morning hours.

Fish were plenty willing to bite as long as I could get my gear to them, pink hoochie with a dodger. I don't have a downrigger so I added some weight to get it down, I was probably only 10-15' down because I wouldn't usually get bites from the schools deeper than 15'. I was trolling at around 1.5 mph.

I caught a dozen or so Kokanee, all very small, but still tasty, and one nice sized cutthroat. I had a massive brown trout follow one of the hooked Kokanee up to the surface that got my heart racing, but no browns in the net this trip.

Wish the Kokanee were bigger up there but it was still a fun trip. If you go, go early before the crowds show up and the fish dive deeper. I had the best luck in the early morning and evening hours

[wiperhunter2]

Thanks for the report a pic, sounds like a fun trip. How full is the lake? Last I heard it was going over the spillway. In rare years we have caught kokes there as big a 13" while ice fishing during the Winter but for quite a number of years the kokes have been smaller, like you said. There are bigger kokes in there but you generally need to get much deeper for them, like 30 to 40 feet down. One thing that will help you get deeper, if you don't have lead core line, is to use banana weights. I'd start off with 1 oz, then go to 2 oz or even 3 oz, depending on how deep you are marking the fish. Bet that was fun seeing that big brown following that koke in. Several members have caught browns up to 7 and 8 lbs there while fishing for kokes. My personal best was a nice 5 lber and my friend wiperslayer has caught one there while ice fishing that went 6 or 7 lbs.

[JArner]

Very nice report, thanks for the information. My friend has tried for kokes up there a few times but has only managed one or two in a trip. We fish from kayaks as well, so glad to see your success.

Not sure what your kayak setup is like, but if it has some rails a downrigger isn’t too hard to setup. Here are the two that I’ve run. One was purchased and is a Scotty brand. The other one was made from a rod butt section I picked up from a local fishing shop in their warranty returns section.

[Ramen4Breakfast]

Very nice report, thanks for the information. My friend has tried for kokes up there a few times but has only managed one or two in a trip. We fish from kayaks as well, so glad to see your success.

Not sure what your kayak setup is like, but if it has some rails a downrigger isn’t too hard to setup. Here are the two that I’ve run. One was purchased and is a Scotty brand. The other one was made from a rod butt section I picked up from a local fishing shop in their warranty returns section.

How did you mount the Scotty downrigger to the track? It seems like all the ones I find are hull mounted.

[wbb]

How did you mount the Scotty downrigger to the track? It seems like all the ones I find are hull mounted.

The little Scotty downriggers come in a variety that snap into the standard Scotty pole holder base.  I'm sure he just used one of the track mount Scotty bases.  I have the same rig on my float tube.

[JArner]

Very nice report, thanks for the information. My friend has tried for kokes up there a few times but has only managed one or two in a trip. We fish from kayaks as well, so glad to see your success.

Not sure what your kayak setup is like, but if it has some rails a downrigger isn’t too hard to setup. Here are the two that I’ve run. One was purchased and is a Scotty brand. The other one was made from a rod butt section I picked up from a local fishing shop in their warranty returns section.

How did you mount the Scotty downrigger to the track? It seems like all the ones I find are hull mounted.

The downrigger is Scotty #1073DP. And like wbb stated it will pop into the track mount gear that they make ( Scotty #438 Gear Head)

[F15Hwhisperer]

Thanks for the report a pic, sounds like a fun trip. How full is the lake? Last I heard it was going over the spillway. In rare years we have caught kokes there as big a 13" while ice fishing during the Winter but for quite a number of years the kokes have been smaller, like you said. There are bigger kokes in there but you generally need to get much deeper for them, like 30 to 40 feet down. One thing that will help you get deeper, if you don't have lead core line, is to use banana weights. I'd start off with 1 oz, then go to 2 oz or even 3 oz, depending on how deep you are marking the fish. Bet that was fun seeing that big brown following that koke in. Several members have caught browns up to 7 and 8 lbs there while fishing for kokes. My personal best was a nice 5 lber and my friend wiperslayer has caught one there while ice fishing that went 6 or 7 lbs.

It's as full as I have personally ever seen it. I don't think that water is going over the spillway, but the big cottonwood trees along the bank around the lake all have wet feet right now.

I have thought about getting lead core line, but I'll need to get another rod and reel setup to handle the lead core if I do. I could probably use a line counting trolling reel anyways. Any budget recommendations on rods/reels that have treated you well?

I tried to get as much weight on it as I could, but the shelves at Sportsmans were clean of any sinkers whatsoever, I ended up stringing on a buzz bomb without the hook up above the dodger and thankfully that got it down enough for this early in the season. I'll pick some more sinkers up once this panic settles down a bit. Has anybody here tried and had success with dipsy divers or other brands of diver for kokanee? I was going to try that out, but those were all sold out as well.

[wiperhunter2]

I have thought about getting lead core line, but I'll need to get another rod and reel setup to handle the lead core if I do. I could probably use a line counting trolling reel anyways. Any budget recommendations on rods/reels that have treated you well? I tried to get as much weight on it as I could, but the shelves at Sportsmans were clean of any sinkers whatsoever, I ended up stringing on a buzz bomb without the hook up above the dodger and thankfully that got it down enough for this early in the season. I'll pick some more sinkers up once this panic settles down a bit. Has anybody here tried and had success with dipsy divers or other brands of diver for kokanee? I was going to try that out, but those were all sold out as well.

Here is some info that might help, I've not used dipsy divers much but others on here have. Have you tried Anglers Den for your fishing needs?
I know it not practical for everyone but I have different rods for different kinds of fish. Medium heavy for wipers and lake trout, ultra light for kokes and smaller trout and I run med rods for my lead core line reels but I use lead core setups walleye, wipers, even kokes at times. I know a lot of folks get caught up in buying the big name brand rods and reels but I never have, I buy stuff that is on sell, discounted or even rods that others are selling when they upgrade, same with reels. I run the cheaper Okuma line counter reels or even the Cabelas depth master line counter reels, mainly for when precise distance for lures is required. I don't worry about it too much for kokes and smaller trout, when running them on down riggers and side planners but it really makes a difference when fishing for walleye, wipers, even lake trout at times. One other thing, some people think it cost a lot of money to have a lead core line setup but in fact, it can be fairly cheap, although the rods should not be too light when running lead core, any reel will do. A low profile bait caster isn't idea but I've seen Ira run just a regular spinning reel with his lead core line. The bigger the spool the better because it can hold more line but in general, you will rarely need more that 5 colors of lead core line. You for sure do not need a line counter reel because the line already is colored and each color is the came length, so a line counter does little good. I do prefer a star drag reel because it will hold more line, especially when running lead core line but that's mainly because when putting ten colors of line on at one time, it doubles how long the line can be used. Lead core line does not wear out like mono but over time the colors fade and it's harder to see the change from one color to the next, when this happens and it takes many, many years, you can take the line off and put it back on backwards, with the tenth color being reversed, to be your first color, when you do this it will look like you put new line on because the colors from 5 to 10 are rarely used, they look like new. Lead core line isn't that expensive, you can find it on sell at the end of the Summer fishing season for around $10 for 10 colors but even if you pay full price, I've never paid over $20 for a 10 color spool.

[JArner]

Here is some info that might help, I've not used dipsy divers much but others on here have. Have you tried Anglers Den for your fishing needs?

I'll put in second plug for Anglers Den, they typically have stock of the things I need. They are also friendly and willing to share knowledgeable. The DIY downrigger butt/reel section came from their warranty returns pile. They let me sift through them and pick a couple up at no charge.

[Anglinarcher]

"I tried to get as much weight on it as I could, but the shelves at Sportsmans were clean of any sinkers whatsoever,"

The only thing worse then not having any sinkers in the stores is having to tell customers we don't know when they will get in. 

At the Riverdale Sportsman's Warehouse, we got sinkers in last week.  I don't know how long they will last, but for now, we are good.
We have always had the trolling sinkers in the wooden compartments below the line on the back wall.  I some some 3/4 oz there and then we jump to 2 oz and bigger, but we have them.  We also have the cannon ball in the half ounce and up.

Note: due to the supply chain getting Covid-19ed, and the massive increase in people going fishing, this report is accurate of 10 minutes, or less.  uggggggg