Nothing But Bows

[Paddler]

We gave Jordanelle a try yesterday, 7 hours without a bite.  Fished the main lake, west side all the way up to the level of the marina, up the Rock Creek arm, depths from 5' to 50'.  Per mildogs post I started at 10' for an hour.  The Rock Creek arm thermocline seemed about 5' higher.  Surface temps began about 60.5F, rising to about 64F by the time we left at 3:00.  In the main lake body the temps were as folows:

Surface- 61.9F
5'-         61.5
10'-        61.1
15'-        60.9
20-         60.8
25'-        60.4
30'-        58.3
35'-        57.2
40'-        56.1
45'-        54.3
50'-        52.5

So it seems that about 47' would be prime, but it wasn't.  I marked a couple of fish I'm pretty sure were kokes at 28'.

The water was very stained, which would limit light penetration, which would logically cause plankton growth to be higher in the water column, which would mean to kokanee would need to come up to feed for short periods of time before returning deeper to their comfort zone, but who knows where the feeding zone was?  For those who poo-poo temperature sensitivity, we know that kokanee go down to 200' during the summer months in Lake Berryessa in California, guys over there often fish down at 70' or deeper. 

We came upon a kayak fisherman who was in the process of doubling by longlining his gear on the surface.  Rainbows, of course, he never touched a kokanee.  I have a buddy who was also up there fishing in his yak, he fished up and down also, with only a single 13' rainbow to show for it.  There were some guys in a Lund doing circles out in the main lake, I saw them later at the cleaning station with rainbows.  We stopped to talk to some folks in a pontoon who were netting something, they were gathering small chunks of driftwood.

Take aways-  There were no biting kokanee in Jordanelle despite the DWR planting about 130,000/year.  Maybe due to the runoff stained water, maybe because the place is pretty much full pool, or something else, like planting other predator species, or maybe it's too early, etc, etc.  But whatever the reason, I won't be returning soon.

[brookie]

Just got back from Jordanelle solo trip this morning. Wanted to launch at 5:30 but they had pulled the wedge dock so it took 15 minutes longer to get the boat launched. Only went about 200 yards past the buoys and put down the first rod 7'. While I was putting the second rod out the first rod went off so I just let the second one skim on the surface. First was a rainbow, while releasing the second rod still skimming on the surface went off - average kokanee. No rods in the water so I turned back. got both rods in and koke number 2 at 5', biggest of the day. Probably should have gone home it was now 6:15. After that lots of rainbows and finally about 9:00 one more koke at 15'. Did have several hits that pulled off the rigger tail dancing but were not on when I picked up the pole. Not sure what they were as many of the rainbows do the tail walking thing. Surface temp was 59.9* at the start.

[Mildog]

Paddler, you should have tried 5 feet! You were too deep!
?
Good report!

[Paddler]

Paddler, you should have tried 5 feet! You were too deep!
?
Good report!

I did try 7'.

[BROWNBAGGN]

I do love your temp report. What type of device are you using. I need one

[Paddler]

I do love your temp report. What type of device are you using. I need one

https://fishhawkelectronics.com/fish-haw...h-hawk-td/

[Mildog]

We gave Jordanelle a try yesterday, 7 hours without a bite.  Fished the main lake, west side all the way up to the level of the marina, up the Rock Creek arm, depths from 5' to 50'.  Per mildogs post I started at 10' for an hour.  The Rock Creek arm thermocline seemed about 5' higher.  Surface temps began about 60.5F, rising to about 64F by the time we left at 3:00.  In the main lake body the temps were as folows:
               

****Paddler, All, here is temp info from Jordanelle FYI caught 6 kokes 2 rainbows that morning at YES *10 feet or less Interesting how little change in first 25 feet of depth 
                       August 5 2020 ** next to your info

Surface- 61.9F.           71.5 **
5'-         61.5.             71.5
10'-        61.1.             71.2
15'-        60.9.             71.0
20-         60.8.             69.9
25'-        60.4.              69.9
30'-        58.3.              65.5
35'-        57.2.              62.3
40'-        56.1.               60.0
45'-        54.3.               58.3
50'-        52.5.                55.9
                          55’.      53.6
                          60’.       50.9
So it seems that about 47' would be prime, but it wasn't.  I marked a couple of fish I'm pretty sure were kokes at 28'.

The water was very stained, which would limit light penetration, which would logically cause plankton growth to be higher in the water column, which would mean to kokanee would need to come up to feed for short periods of time before returning deeper to their comfort zone, but who knows where the feeding zone was?  For those who poo-poo temperature sensitivity, we know that kokanee go down to 200' during the summer months in Lake Berryessa in California, guys over there often fish down at 70' or deeper. 

We came upon a kayak fisherman who was in the process of doubling by longlining his gear on the surface.  Rainbows, of course, he never touched a kokanee.  I have a buddy who was also up there fishing in his yak, he fished up and down also, with only a single 13' rainbow to show for it.  There were some guys in a Lund doing circles out in the main lake, I saw them later at the cleaning station with rainbows.  We stopped to talk to some folks in a pontoon who were netting something, they were gathering small chunks of driftwood.

Take aways-  There were no biting kokanee in Jordanelle despite the DWR planting about 130,000/year.  Maybe due to the runoff stained water, maybe because the place is pretty much full pool, or something else, like planting other predator species, or maybe it's too early, etc, etc.  But whatever the reason, I won't be returning soon.

---

I do love your temp report. What type of device are you using. I need one

https://fishhawkelectronics.com/fish-haw...h-hawk-td/

Paddler posted some temp info above next to yours from 2020. I have a fish hawk also. Neat unit very accurate. Honestly I don’t use it much now. Just every once in a while for curiosity.
I don’t look for temps when fishing for kokes. I fish where I find them and catch them, irregardless of the water temp. I always try shallow until I find them elsewhere. Now I have livescope I can see kokes shallow that I wouldn’t on standard down looking sonar.
I can look back and see all 4 dodgers and squids and watch fish react or NOT very frustrating. Surprised how often they follow and don’t hit even with changing speeds, turning raising or lowering . Other times watch them coming and call the hit? Can drive you crazy !

[Paddler]

Interesting. I only have my Lowrance LCX 111c HD, which is 19 years old. Downscan only, of course. I'm basically blind at less than about 15FOW. I marked a couple of kokanee at 28', so around 60* but no hits. I just don't think they were up in the Rqckcreek arm yet. In retrospect I think we should have toured the lake to look for cleaner water and started there.

Most of my fish have come in the Rockcreek arm in years past, which is why we went there. We started in the main lake, then went over to the west thinking there would be cleaner water since it may have been out of the flow, but no dice. We then headed north along the eastern contour but were maybe late? Hard to cover a lot of ground at 1.5MPH.

My wife is sending negative signals about my going out to the coast solo so I may put more effort into Jordy. I watched one video that showed going faster later in the season, probably worth a try as they get more aggressive closer to the spawn.

[Bhuntin]

Also worth noting that Friday night was the full moon. Highly probable that the Kokanee fed all night on the rising plankton, thus making it a tough bite the next morning.

[stan55]

Kokes are out in main lake and the mouth of the arm. Brookie has them dialed in. The arm will heat up towards fall as the Kokes begin to stage to run up the arm. The especially dirty water hasn't helped either. Hope it clears up soon.