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Was able to fish Porcupine (aka the pig) today with Petty4life. It was another slow day. The Kokes weren't biting at all, but we did put a few small bows in the boat. The weather was great for boating though. There was no wind, the lake was pretty much glass the whole time we were there. Jason's father-in-law, better known as The Great Randinee, was up there as well. Jason will have to tell us how he did.
It was a nice day on the pond, but I think I'm giving up on the pig this year.
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[red][size 3]I've about given up as well. The past two years have been slooooooowww. My fish and game neighbor said the numbers were down but he pulled out a big koke that would rival any Flaming Gorge open water Koke in size and splendor and another neighbor has done fairly well up there but I have not been able to reproduce their success. It is always better at the crack of daylight up there and they are both on the water by 5am kind of folks, maybe if I quit sleeping in???? [/size][/red]
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We were up there at first light today hoping that timing would do the trick. We didn't even get a bite for the first 1.5 hrs.
I'm sure they are bigger this year, but the numbers seem to be way down. I hope this is the bottom of the cycle, and they rebound the next year or two.
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I heard that last year when Porcupine was drained so low that most of the fish were lost that the water company didn't tell the DWR what they were doing so the fish in there could be salvaged. As a result the DWR was so mad that they have refused to restock fish in Porcupine and that there are only a few carry overs left in the lake that didn't die. Are you seeing lots of fish on the fish finders or is the lake fished out? I haven't been there myself. Acey
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[red][size 3]I have heard lots of stories, that being one of them. It doesn't appear it has been stocked since it was drained. We fished it quite a bit the year after it was drained just to see how things went. The trout fishing was good but not much in the way of Kokes; however, USU was up there doing net studies frequently and they were pulling scads of little Kokes up. The next season was pretty good for the Kokes, but the last two years have been dry. Another story is from my Fish and Game neighbor who said he found a beaver dam up river the year after it was drained and notified the DWR, who never did anything about it. He went up on his own time that fall and busted it apart but was afraid it was to late to have done much good. That next year is when they increased the limit to 12 fish (8 kokes, 4 trout) but you would fish all day and maybe pick up an 8" rainbow with any luck - a far cry from the 30 fish days before it was drained and beaver dammed. This year there has been a pretty good thermoclime layer and my fishfinder isn't super strong to see details along it but the marks I do see are small and few and far between and the fish in the boat less than that. [/size][/red]
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I have not heard the drain die-off story as of yet, but I did hear about the beaver dam. I don't think the beaver dam would have any effect on the kokes if it was very far up the stream. They don't spawn far from where they were planted/born.
We didn't mark many fish at all up there. No schools of fish anywhere on the lake. The bows we landed were not stocked fish, at least they didn't have any clipped fins.
I'm sure there are still quite a few big browns in there, as they wouldn't care if the reservoir was low, but that would sure have a detrimental effect on the koke population. I need to call the biologists up there and get the real story.
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