Ririe

[duksnfish]

Anyone tried Ririe since ice left and spring is here? Thinking about trying it some time soon, just curious on conditions.
[signature]

[hookedlikeu]

Fished it today in the boat. Caught some trout and Kokanee trolling blue fox spinners. Water was fairly clean by juniper but got muddy quickly as you headed toward blacktail. We fished all the way to meadow creek and saw no ice. Surface water temperature was 39 degrees. We put in at juniper and I'm not sure if the road to blacktail is open.
[signature]

[wiperhunter2]

I've never caught kokes with BF spinners before, were you using silver or gold? Were you fishing right on the surface, or using down riggers? Thanks for the report.
[signature]

[PaleoJesse]

I fished it yesterday and today, looking for perch. I launched at Blacktail, the road is open and good. Water on the Bt side is dirty with sediment, but it clears up the further towards Juniper you go. We did really good on rainbows both days and got into the Kokanee today while trailing worms.

[curt69]

Welcome to the forum . I can't get my paper work in order . Everytime I call it is busy and the Web page say the HIN number I am giving them is not a good one . It is the number on the title and the boat . Very frustrating. This new boat regeneration system really sucks .
[signature]

[duksnfish]

Thanks for the info folks, hope to get out first of next week when maybe this weather will settle down.
[signature]

[hookedlikeu]

Sorry for the late reply. We were using all silver spinners on the surface. I had a rod with lead core out but didn't pick anything up. Tried from 2 to 5 colors. We also tried a couple of our go to spots for perch but couldn't find any either.
[signature]

[wiperhunter2]

Thanks for the info, I've noticed in the Spring and late Fall the kokes are near the surface but I'm not sure if that is true on larger lakes.
[signature]

[Wyo307]

I am thinking about fishing it for the first time ever on Saturday. A friend sent me some pictures over the past couple days of his dad doing well out there on koks. Does anyone care to share with me a good place to start and how deep? Also what colors seem to work the best for koks in this lake? For that matter anyone want to go fishing? I'll provide the boat if someone wants to provide some knowledge.

Its about a two hour drive for me but it sounds like I have to be heading that way anyways so I might as well drag the boat with me and do some fishing! I always like getting out on new water anyways.
[signature]

[duksnfish]

Wow, what a great day on the water. A little cold and windy, but Koks bit all day long. Hot for a while then off then right back on. Ended up with 17 koks and 1 rainbow. But, it was first time I've ever had any luck catching them. Cant wait to put a few on the Barbie
[signature]

[psanders71]

Nice mess of fish... Thanks so much for sharing! Looks like I have a little more incentive to get the boat out this week to make sure everything works!!!
[signature]

[fallsfish]

On the lake yesterday. Real slow, only two hits and no fish. Everything was real shallow according to a fellow that caught 10. Back at it again this morning.
[signature]

[fallsfish]

Fished shallow and caught 13. Lost about that many. Nothing over 12". Wind came up around 3 pm so got off the lake. Fished just south of the dock and could only catch them in the one area. Good day.
[signature]

[ironrod]

Got the cobwebs off thr boat. Targeted kokes, only got three to participate but felt good to get out! Those we got were long lining with wedding ring. Top ten feet I'm guessing. Squid was sent deep 40-60 ft where we kept marking fish but no luck.
Have a great rest of your Easter weekend
[signature]

[fallsfish]

Caught 12 Kokes and 1 trout yesterday. Fish are still shallow and are taking a straight line with red/orange wedding rings behind silver pop-gear. Three boats fishing until 11:00 then four more came after it warmed up and quit blowing. Only talked to one other fisherman and they had only caught two.

Water is starting to stain from the muddy run off. The fish were all about the same size from 10-12 inches. Friday looks like another good day, so may try it again.
[signature]

[RJD007]

Thanks for the report, I would love to get to Ririe but am torn between Walcott, American Falls and Ririe for the weekend. Are you marking any schools of koks suspended or mostly shallow?
[signature]

[fallsfish]

RJD007 sorry I didn't see your question until this morning. I fished yesterday (Monday) in the rain and caught 8 koks and 1 bow. Fish are still shallow. I see schools on the electronics but not sure if they are kokes. Two weeks ago I tried the downrigger at 20-30-40 ft and no takers. I was marking fish but could not get them to bite.

Looks like our weather is going to be wet for three or four days. May try it again on Wed or Thurs.
[signature]

[MMDon]

The optimum water column temp for Kokes is 56.5 degrees. Until the surface water is warmer than that they will be as high in the water column as possible as that is where the most plankton is located. As the water warms the Kokes have to move down and this downward movement determines the growth for each years Kokanee as the light penetration below 20 feet is not good for plankton growth in a biomass like Ririe. The longer they can stay close to the surface the larger the fish. The second controlling factor to Koke size is the amount of runoff bringing nutrients into the biomass. The bigger the snowpack the more nutrients that are washed in to feed the plankton. Since the wind always blows at Ririe, fish the corners that the plankton blows up against and hope for cooler night temps to keep the fish up in the water column.
[signature]

[fallsfish]

Great information. I may have change my approach to fishing kokes based on the wind and feeding pattern. Your explanation about the optimal temp for kokes is the reason why the fish are at the surface this spring. It certainly has been cool and wet. The run off is great with plenty of biomass being flushed into the system. Maybe we will see some better growth this year, hopefully around the 17" mark. The last two or three years the fish have run in the 10-12" with a rare on 14". All in all it may be making for a great year. Hope so.
[signature]

[MMDon]

Something to consider or not. Tournament Kokanee fishermen hate boats that run pop gear. Their reasoning is as follows. When you find a school or a shoal of Kokanee, if your presentation is correct you should be able to run back and forth across the school, sometimes only from one direction and limit out off that single school. A dodger, small in the spring and larger as you go deeper allows you to do this however . . .
If you run popgear you have to remember to a Kokanee, every other fish in the lake represents one of their predators. Popgear generally represents a school of fish. While you will get the occasional reaction strike with pop gear, you will also move or break up the school of Kokes. It's that fight of flight thing and either way it ends up with flight generally speaking. This is why dodgers have become so popular. What they see is another Kokanee doing something interesting and they seem to be naturally curious according to the videos of Kokes trailing dodgers.

When we are fishing for Kokes, if a boat trolls through our area with popgear, especially at the same depth, we generally move on and look for another target school.
[signature]