Gorge Kokanee

[Lundman]

Late post from the weekend - just got the camera downloaded with a few pics from the Gorge weekend trip.

We (wife & I) started out Saturday morning at about 7 a.m. at the Pipeline. The weather was cloudy and cool until 10, then the sun came out but the fish never showed up.

We trolled until noon and got 6 dinks (all released) and then headed for a shore lunch break. We had a 6 month old black lab with us and somehow he found a dead carp and decided he needed to take a roll in it. Boy howdy that was a real nose opener [unsure]...

After giving him a few swimming/bath lessons he was a bit better. We headed back to the Lucerne Ramp and found a sprinkler and some shampoo in the camper - that's right we were the people giving our doggy a bath at the top on the ramp.

Needing a new plan I talked my wife into heading to Squaw Hollow -I had seen it on the map but had never been there and it looked like it was about 8 miles up the road. I left the boat top up and drove about 40 mph up the road and after going for about 30-40 mins. I finally pulled over and asked where the turn off was from a guy along the road. That's when he told me that the turn-off was renamed to Holmes Crossing (Polictically Correct).

We hit the water about 4 p.m. and headed acrossed and started working the water in big loops searching for the kokes that Sockeye slayer had said thhey had been catching...

Well about 10 mins till 6 p.m. the wife said 10 more mins and we were heading to the shore for the evening. Within 5 mins the bite came on. Bang the first rod goes off and the fish jumps up about 3' out of the water and is taking line. I hand the pole to the wife and she battles it for a few mins and then it jumped again about 30' out and was far from giving up. The wife was holding her own until the fish got to the back of the boat and jumped one more time around the other two rods on the other downrigger. She then handed me the rod because she didn't want to loose the tangled mess.

Well to make a long story short in the next hour we banged 5 nice ones and ended up with a double to fininsh off the evening.

Here is a pic of two and our co-pilot -- we had one koke for dinner last night.... Hmmmm Good...
Thanks again sockeye slayer for location....


(edit: max picture size 400 pixels wide)
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[lunkerhunter2]

Nice fish man! I love the kokes! Got to find some that size a little closer to home.[cool]
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[macscabin]

Good job on finding them. Those Kokes are mighty tasty. I got to get back out there for some more.

Macscabin
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[Flycasting]

Thanks for the report and the pics! []
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[Kent]

Well done Craig.
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[wiperhunter2]

Nice looking kokes Craig, how big is that larger fish? Those kokes are a blast to catch and can give you a run for your money when they start to jump. Does stearing your boats in big loops help catch the kokes?
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[sockeyeslayer]

great job buddy... I am glad that you were able to find them....they have been a little spotty for most people the last two week's but I too was able to locate them on monday and tuesday mourning as my wife and kid's decided last minute they wanted to go to the lake!!!
The wife doesn't go very often so she was on the reel the whole trip...she did lose a big one( not her fault) but she did land a 5.3 pounder that was 24 and 1/2 inches long as well as a 4.4 and a 4.0 all great fish!!
It should start to turn on in about two week's and then be hot to say the least until spawning season...again congrad's on some great fish!! (great Looking Dog!!!!!)
JARED JOHNSON/ SOCKEYESLAYER
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[Lundman]

I am the guy that does loops, zig-zags, speeds-up, slows down until we hit a koke - then I make bigger and bigger circles (loops) over and over and over and over. This has proven to be successful and having a GPS is the key to really working an area as big as Flaming Gorge.

You can see fish all day on the finder but going from 1.6 up 2.0 mph has caused many a bite. Making bigger and bigger loops and keep beating them in the head. This method has proved itself more than once.....

The only draw back to this method is when the wife is driving and she starts telling you to make up your mind. It's a fun discussion to have....[crazy]

Shoot me a PM if you need any further detiails Curt....
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[high_and_dry]

Great post,

I'm dying to give it a try, but I'm still saving for the downrigger. Mama want's to add the camper top first so I'm stimmied for now. Are the Strawberry kokes easier to locate, and similar in size to the ones at the gorge?

Regards
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[TheMachine]

Hey Lundman, nice Kokes. Thanks for the report. I know how it is with the dog situation, they like to get into the smelly stuff. Congrats' on getting your wife to drive the boat and still talking to each other. We tried that little experiment ONCE and that was enough. I thought I was pretty patient, but I guess not. [pirate]
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[waldocod]

I just picked up a really nice downrigger (with the ball and release) on ebay for 1/2 of what a new one costs.They have many downriggers for sale...you just have to research a little to make sure you're getting a good deal.They sometimes sock it to you with the shipping costs.
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