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Hey hit the pig yesterday with Dad, had a great trip being able to spend some time together... On the water shortly after 7:00, launched at the first ramp and wow the water is getting low, watch the big rock on the east side it will ruin your day if you don't see it and back into it... ramp is turning to soft mud, make sure you can winch your bigger boats onto your trailers or you might spend some time there... Anyway we just used the usual koke rig and washed lures for four or five hours... Found the fish at between 35-45' down... No real hot spot, just picked up one every once in a while.. Ended up with 9 Kokes and finished the day with a fun brown that grabbed a hold... Kokes are turning colors, so this will be my last trip until ice... I found the kokes didn't fight much at all today, where last trip they were extremely powerful and fun... That did change my catch to hook up ratio... Today we caught everything that hit... Fun day love to go fish'en with my Dad... Later J
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Looks like a good time!
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Thanks it was a lot of fun. Much better than work. J
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Good for you Jeff, it is always a good time when we get a chance to fish with our Dads. Nice bonus on the brown, how long was it?
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Hey Curt it was 22.5" and weighed 4 lbs. nice surprise and it sure fought better than the Kokes were. J
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Nice, were you using the same gear as you were using for the kokes? Glad it gave you a good fight.
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Yup it was a fluke, it hit my squid. I had seen some bigger fish hanging under the Kokes on the finder and wondered if a rapala or flatfish might entice a brown to hit, but it was midday so I didn't think the browns would take it then so I dismissed it. It taught me otherwise. Luck's always better than skill for me. Later J
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No fluke Jeff, it happens more than you think, a few years ago one member caught a 7 lber there, using a koke lure. I've tried targeting those big browns at the Pig with flatfish and Rapalas but no luck so far.
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I'm sure if I was trying to catch a brown I would have gotten skunked, like to luck into a brown once in a while. They are like walleye for me, happy surprises. Later J
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That's a hell of a brown, and nice collection of Kokes. Glad you and your pop got out. Missed you by a day, but I think I saw your marks in the mud. Glad you didn't get stuck, it's pretty gushy down there!
Kinda hoping I might hit into one of those browns, I think I've also seen them lurking below the Koke schools.
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Hey Jeff. That's a great trip. Zayne and I are going Sat. to try some jigging. Is there any chance at launching up higher by the spring?
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John that probably was our tracks and it is getting soft, but we were able to keep the truck on solid footing so I didn't even slip a tire as I eased it out. The trailer pulled in and out okay, but we were really careful and took our time so we didn't get in trouble. How did you do? Hope you had a good trip!! Later J
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Rod, we launched up top the previous trip and it was really steep and so I angled my launch to make it less steep and then my trailer was canted and if some good Samaritans hadn't helped me I wouldn't have been able to get the boat on straight. Then the pull out was really loose I spun way more than I wanted to. I preferred the first launch over the spring ten to one. Just make sure you look before you start backing, those rocks under water could ruin your day. Most of the Kokes are very silver still so you might still be able to keep them. I got a couple that were really deep bodied and looked like real salmon but they were starting to turn pink so they will be non keepers tomorrow. Anyway good luck and have fun, we were talking about jigging, but didn't have time to do both. Try the cliff on the south side of the dam and a little east, that's where I was graphing the browns in heaviest numbers. However, I didn't check, but the Kokes might be starting to stage up towards the inlet. Fishing was a lot slower by the dam than it had been, maybe the fish are moving towards the spawning grounds??? Later J
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I posted my [url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=894384"]Piggy report [/url]here. So - "pink=red". Guess I'd have to ask a DNR-er for certain, but I've had my fun. Might go drive up to see the run, maybe play at the inlet after. Hear pitching about anything red is likely to work up the Browns that pile up there waiting for leftovers coming downstream.
I mostly fished by the dam, it got too windy for me up by the cliffs. So do you "id" the browns by size or location? I figured they probably hug closer to the bottom while the kokes are more likely up higher - but just supposing.
Thought of pitching more rapalas or jigging curly tails for browns, but I too was too focused on trolling and the downrigger to break away from it.
Probably be firing up the smoker this weekend.
Had wondered how the launching was up toward the inlet, so I'm glad I went where I did. Thanks for the update.
Good luck if you get out there Rod. I was able to back on gravelly mud, but only barely put the trailer wheels to the water, so I wasn't floating - just pushed. Think I could use new rollers!
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Hey John, I am starting to wonder if the fish I called a brown is a Cutthroat, except it didn't have the marks under the gills, but I've had several people question me about the fish and I'm not sure... Anyway I have been seeing fish hanging under the clouds of kokes and they are indicating larger fish on my finder... They arent on bottom, they are about 5' below the clouds...
I just got my fish out of the smoker tonight and man they are so good... I wish I would have put a little more salt in the mix, but they are still really good...Anyway time to chase kitties... I didn't make it again tonight so I probably won't make it this weekend... Unless tomorrow night works out, but I haven't done anything with my wife all week, so I probably will spend some time with her tomorrow... Anyway catch ya later... J
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