09-16-2007, 03:15 PM
A friend and and I decided we needed to go give jigging Blue Mesa's kokanee a shot. We had heard it was hot. We met a couple of other folks in Gunnison. A couple of fellow mack-heads had provided all the deatails any moron should need to go find those pre-spawn salmonoids and perform a little permanent spawnus interruptus. The only problem was that someone tipped the fish and they took a "koke break". Then the wind delivered its own blow (pun intended).
Our intredip 4some launched from Elk Creek at 6:00 AM and went straight to the site of last week's free-for-all. Sure enough, there were fish there, mostly between 100 and 120 feet. They were scattered but we were confident that once the sun came up, they would ball up, we would find them, and the fishfest would be on. Wrong. Roger got the first fish about 8:15 and I hit one a few minutes later, both on 3/4 oz. Crippled Herrings. We were certain the bite was on.
Well....to make a very long story short, that was the end of the kokanee bite. Another dozen or so boats trickled in to cash in, too, but none of us found the fish. We spread out and looked high and low. Every once in a while someone would tag a fish, but we didn't see anyone catch more than one or two. Our conclusion was that they had vacated the area, at least most of them.
About 10:20 or so we decided to run downlake and look for macks, but about the time we got to our fishing area the Blue Mesa wind began to blow a gale. We managed to jig up one pup from 133' down, but the wind and constant whitecaps made boat control impossible and we bagged it after an hour or so of further frustration.
We had all had enough. Our Fun-Meters had been pegged.
Roger and I considered stopping at Taylor and/or Twin Lakes on the way home but the wind followed us all the way home and we bagged that idea.
The fish are in good shape if you can find them. We may have been just a few days too late.
Roger's kokanee:
![[Image: RogersKokanee.jpg]](http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y163/DonInDenver/RogersKokanee.jpg)
[signature]
Our intredip 4some launched from Elk Creek at 6:00 AM and went straight to the site of last week's free-for-all. Sure enough, there were fish there, mostly between 100 and 120 feet. They were scattered but we were confident that once the sun came up, they would ball up, we would find them, and the fishfest would be on. Wrong. Roger got the first fish about 8:15 and I hit one a few minutes later, both on 3/4 oz. Crippled Herrings. We were certain the bite was on.
Well....to make a very long story short, that was the end of the kokanee bite. Another dozen or so boats trickled in to cash in, too, but none of us found the fish. We spread out and looked high and low. Every once in a while someone would tag a fish, but we didn't see anyone catch more than one or two. Our conclusion was that they had vacated the area, at least most of them.
About 10:20 or so we decided to run downlake and look for macks, but about the time we got to our fishing area the Blue Mesa wind began to blow a gale. We managed to jig up one pup from 133' down, but the wind and constant whitecaps made boat control impossible and we bagged it after an hour or so of further frustration.
We had all had enough. Our Fun-Meters had been pegged.
Roger and I considered stopping at Taylor and/or Twin Lakes on the way home but the wind followed us all the way home and we bagged that idea.
The fish are in good shape if you can find them. We may have been just a few days too late.
Roger's kokanee:
[signature]