kokanee tip from guide

[Kodiak1]

Jeff Smith, well-known guide and owner of Fins and Feathers in Coeur d'Alene says that he has found that dying his shoepeg with Pautskes' Nectar has significantly improved his catch rate on his charters. I haven't given it a try yet, but am heading out today to find the product! Mike
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[packfish]

Years ago I owned a small fishing store and had inquired on selling the Pautske line of products. I was told that I wasn't large enough to get it directly and would have to go thru a merchant. But they sent me a bundle of 'Balls of Fire" bumper stickers, 3 cases of the eggs and 3 cases of the nectar. Not knowing about the nectar I just sold the first 2 cases and almost all of it to the same guy. I questioned him on the product and it's effectiveness and he swore by it on everything. I kept 1/2 the case and tried it out. Everything from soaking worms in it to packing marshmellows in plastic bags with it poured over them. I now bait fish rarely but I can tell you that the product put trout on the table.
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[Kodiak1]

Interesting, Packfish. I looked for it today and couldn't find it. Sportsman's Warehouse did carry it, but don't now. I am going to continue my search! Thanks for the info. Mike
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[packfish]

It's out there. It is very popular in the NW for soaking Steelhead egg sacks. I did see it somewhere maybe 3 months ago but can't remember where. If I do I will post it.
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[coreyva]

I was in joes today and they have it in stock.
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[Kodiak1]

Corey,
Thank you so much! I never think about Joe's for some reason. I'm on my way to get it! Thanks again, and I'll report on my "testing" of it compared to straight corn. Mike
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[wiperhunter2]

I'm guessing that Joe's is too far from utah to make it work the drive but the nectar sounds like a good idea since we can't use corn in Utah. If the eggs have the nectar on them I wonder if they would work instead of corn with the nectar, has anyone out there ever used Pautske eggs while trolling for kokes? WH2
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[Kodiak1]

I am pretty positive that it is all about the corn. Yesterday we fished for kokanee at Lucky Peak, and tried regular corn on one rig and pink Pautzke Nectar on the other. The nectar and straight corn were both working well, and caught approx. the same number of fish. The only thing we knew for sure was that the Kokanee Killer we were using (with corn) had only caught one fish all morning. When we replaced it with a wedding ring similar to the other poles, it immediately got active. If you can't use corn, then I think I would use lures such as the Triple Teaser. Laws excluding corn can be easily justified in regards to trout, but you never see corn in the stomachs of kokanee. After all, they eat zooplankton almost exclusively. Using corn as a bait for kokes seems to be perfectly harmless to them. Mike
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[FISHINOTIS]

I have been using shoepeg corn died with some pink or red egg dye(boraxo) and then put into 3 or 4 baggies and add different scents to each bag--seems like the shrimp scent and anise are working the bes this year--and oddly enough the corn scent hasnt proven itself ! Ive caught kokannee, rainbows and coho on this corn so far this year at Cascade and Lucky Peak and it seems to outfish the plain white corn and worms both. Anybody else been trying this?
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[wiperhunter2]

Thanks for the info Kodiak. I have tried several different scents when fishing for kokes with varied success. Corn, shrimp and krill are a few I have tried and it is hard to say one works better than another but they all are better than the plain lure, at least most of the time. Do you think it is the smell of the corn that gets the kokanee going or the flash of the lure? WH2
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[Kodiak1]

Good question. Some things are certain. Flash helps. I have changed over to a small chrome dodger instead of kokanee pop gear, and like it, but am not sure if it outproduces the pop gear. Do scents help? The one thing you can say for sure is that they don't hurt. But I haven't seen a huge difference. Why do they hit shoepeg and not yellow corn? Who knows. Their saltwater counterparts, sockeye, are often caught on a bare red hook. They do seem to prefer red and pink. A confusing fish for sure. But thank God for them. They sure come in handy during the dog days of summer!! Mike
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[wiperhunter2]

Yesterday I ate some of the kokes I caught at Anderson Ranch and boy were they good, the fresher the better. I always use a dodger instead of the smaller pop gear for kokes and for me, the dodger has worked better but it does depend on the dodger. My favorite is a hammered silver but the pink sling blades that Shasta & RMT make, work good also. I have often wondered if I put that prism tape on a flat dodger if I would get as much flash as I do from the hammered silver, I'm planning on trying it on my next kokanee outing. I've caught many a koke on a plain red hook, mainly because we can't use corn here but where it is legal the corn really helps. Looking back on my fishing log from last year I see that in the month of Aug, the kokes I have caught at one of the local lakes have started to turn red, when do they start changing up there?
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[Kodiak1]

Idaho F&G has stocked both early and late spawning kokanees. Most of the kokes in the state spawn either in August or September.
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