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I hit Ririe this evening after work. I fished for about 2 hours. My intention was to find the perch. I started by drilling a ton of holes then I put a rod in shallow and instantly had trout. I then worked the holes with the Vexilar until I found what I thought were perch. I reeled up a fat perch and was proud of myself for hunting them down. That is when things got crazy. The vex screen filled up from 20-30 ft of water. I sent the swedish pimple down and started catching Kokes. I could still see the perch on the bottom, but I could not get down to them without my jig getting wacked by a Kokanee. This went on for an hour. I ended up landing around 30 Kokes. When it was all over the light was going quick but the perch kept biting right up until dark.
I ended up catching 7 trout, 30 Kokanee, and 11 perch. the action was truly awesome. I kept a limit of Kokes and the perch for dinner. Its awesome that we have the two best eating fish in good numbers.
I have to work tomorrow, so good luck to all.
Windriver
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CRIPES!!! Why can't I ever get a day like that this year? Maybe I just need to start fishing with you Windriver. Congrats on the awesome day and the good report.
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Hooked like u and I went to Ririe with some friends yesterday and experienced much of the same. We didn't get there until about 11 am, and we wanted to find the perch. We fished in about 40-60 ft of water and caught two perch immediately. That's when all hell broke loose with the kokes. We borrowed the old man's Vexilar, and at times the poor thing was literally solid red with the schools of kokes. First they were in the top 15' of water, then they were on the bottom, then the top, etc. I have never had the silver sides stay around so long. We must have iced 75-100 fish(only took 10 home between the 5 of us). Then they were gone. We iced another perch, a trout and a sucker and went home. It was a great afternoon. One of our best days ever on Ririe. By the way: ice is 8-11" thick and people had four wheelers all over it. Good ice!
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im headed out right now to ririe ill let ya know how it goes
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You have to use the Juniper ramp by the dam . The lake is only open for one mile from the dam . The rest of the lake is closed to protect winter range for big game . The other ramp is Blacktail and is on the other end of the lake . You should have no trouble the road is paved all the way to the water . Curt G.
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The road to the ramp is steep. You might want to park on top and hoof it down. Or if you have chains you will be fine, even in a 2wd.
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thanks guys. your comments are very helpful. we are so excited to finally get out and chase the often talked about Kokanee. their flavor is the stuff of the legend and I can't wait to try it for myself.
Thanks again for all your help. I'll post our results tomorrow!!
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Is anyone going on Monday? I am going to try it early for the perch and hopefully hit the Kokes later in the morning. I will be fishing by myself but would love some company if anyone is off work.
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Hit Ririe again tonight and fished for an hour and a half before dark. The Kokanee came in again but only briefly. I landed two and broke off several others. I was being lazy and the Kokanee would rap around my Vexilar transducer and break off. I also ended up coaxing eight 9-10" perch into biting. They were really finiky tonight. Not as hot as last night but really good fishing for a short trip after work.
As has been noted the ramp area was really busy today it seemed like a small city when I arrived.
Windriver
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I might hit it in the morning for a few hours monday. It depends on my little one. We were headed to Island Park, but he looks like he's got croup. So if we don't go up I'm planning on hitting Ririe either Monday &/or Tuesday mornings before he wakes. I'll let you know if it looks like I'll be available tomorow night. PM me anytime you need company!
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are you still fishing where the crowds are or are you getting away from people and doing well?????
thanks
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Looks like I should'a gone up with you guys. Nice catch.
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We were not right in with the masses, but not too far off. I think that there are enough kokes that you just need to be patient until they head your way. It certainly did not hurt us that we had a couple of fish finders to help us target the fish. They make it easier to put your bait in the zone. From there, the kokes just hit anything that gets in the way!
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I get away from people if I want anything other than Kokanee.
Windriver
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Well my son and I got out to Ririe today and we had a blast. Thanks to maghunter's advice we parked our 2WD at the top of the steep stuff and avoided complications on the slick part of the road. Once we made it to the boat ramp we met Jim Knox who had just limited out with his wife. He was kind enough to share a few tips and even pointed us towards the holes he had been using! So we wasted no time getting out on the ice and preparing for our first kokanee experience. And we waited. For over an hour we had nothing, not even a single bite. Then like magic people just 50 feet away from us began getting excited and catching fish. I told Benjamin to get ready and cross his fingers that the fish would move our way. And they did. Fish were swimming just beneath the ice and even seemed as if they might come right up our holes. In 30 minutes we had our limits. And then they were gone. We sat there for another two hours without a single nibble. Just as quick as it began, it was over. I have never witnessed anything like it in the 30+ years I have been fishing.
It was a fishing memory that neither my son or I will soon forget. And it is one we hope to repeat very soon. Thank you to everyone who posted their stories and advice on the forum.
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Glad to hear you guys did well out there yesterday. I went out today with Mattinidaho early morning and caught a nice cut right off. He got some hits from perch but kept missing them. After a while we moved around a bit and never did well. The area around the island looked like a village had set up but only a handfull of people seemed to be catching much. I did land a good sized sucker (first for me) then had some hits that acted like perch, but we didn't land anything else. Finally called it a day around 1230. I guess the fish got tired of partying all weekend and are recuperating.
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Were you guys the ones with the little yellow lab?
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as to where to fish. Most of the posts mention fishing by the boat ramp or by the dam. Google Earth's map of Ririe appears to have two boat ramps. Which one should we target? 
]
] Awesome!, but, awesome! Reminds of a day on Mackay Reservoir several years ago except it took me all day to do what you did in two hours Windriver. Congrats[laugh]