Any Kokanee Reports from Merwin

[kenvl46]

Have been thinking about trying it again. Caught a few small skinny ones back in early March.

[O Tshawytcha]

ttt :grin:

[yankemnbankem]

Are the springers biting in Drano Lake? Not really........which also answers the question about kokes biting in Merwin......NOPE. Water is still too cold in my opinion. You may have a few good days but it's not a hot spot.

[O Tshawytcha]

thanks yankem!

[motorhead64]

:meme: Hey all! I hope i don't hijack Splash's post before he wakes up ? Just wanted to say Thanks So much for the Day!!! We had a blast! Got there and fished by 6:00 am today and had 9 by 8:30 am! Took till 11:05 am to get our limits! The morning bite was on today boys! (and girls) Sorry! Just wanted to be polite and all! :D Saw a few women out there today too!! We got them all on the surface today! Way cool! So early and so much bigger than we expected to see as well! The biggest one was 14 inches and the rest were 12 or better? Way cool ! First time out this year and got to try out splash's new rods too!! Limited on both poles at 5 a piece!! If he doesnt mind me telling you fellow Ifishers................ if you want to stay away from the PIke minnows....???.............stay away from 40 foot depth on the downriggers!!!! :whistle: The only one of the day!!! Way to go splash!!!! :flowered: Your the man !!! Hope you enjoy the Vacation too!!! Sorry i cant go out and play as much as you are planning!! Only lost 4 today...........and by the way...............sorry bout the dogger and your favorite colored wedding ring spinner too!!! :pray: Hope you invite me out again after that one!! LOL!!! Home by 1:30pm ........... nice day out and enjoyed the laughs and wildlife scenery too!! Just wanted to go encourge anyone one else who wanted to know if it was starting to heat up for the kokes yet? Heck yeah!!!! Tried our luck with the Chinook friday .............only one take down for the seven boats and 4 bankies ?????????? Pretty bad from what we saw!! So today made up for it !!!! Wanted to say thanks again Slash!!! Had a great time as always!!!! Good day weather wise too!!! No rain or wind to speak of!!! Awesome once again!! Go out and get em folks!!!!! :cheers: Motorhead ..........out!!!!!!!

[P-ride]

Hey thanks for the report motorhead, sounds like a great day at Merwin! With the projected nice weather, I'm thinking about heading up there this week. Can you give me any ideas on where to start the troll? I had decent success up there last year, but it was all later in the season. I'll post a report when I get back :)

[kenvl46]

Great report Motorhead and thanks. Will give it a try this next week with all the good weather coming.
Water temp still at 49 deg. I'll bet
Ken

[Splash]

Yeah, you kind of know it's going to be a good day when you get bit in the first five minutes. :D

It was great to have you along Motorhead. Way to help break in the new sticks. Red and green wedding rings and green hootchie behind an active brass/chrome dodger at 1.4-1.6mph flat lined at 45 feet was the ticket for us today. And of course the stinky corn.

Water temp was 50.4*

[kenvl46]

Motorhead & Splash your report was dead on.
Wife and I limited out in about 5 hours today. Nice fish too!
Hoochies were the ticket............flatline
Ken

[P-ride]

Thanks for the reports guys. I think we'll be hitting it up this week too to try to take advantage of the forecasted weather. I'll be sure to report back!

[kenvl46]

Went again today (tues) limited out by 11:00. 50.6 deg. water and RAIN
Ken

[dbuechler]

How do you get up to the boat launch at MERLIN? Do you need down riggers? I heard that it is a deep lake. I never launch there not been on the lake. How big do the koks get?

[FishFood]

Went again today (tues) limited out by 11:00. 50.6 deg. water and RAIN
Ken

Do you have to fish them early or can you get them later?

[kenvl46]

The biggest bite seemed to be early but they were hitting the hoochies most of the day. Most everybody was getting bit but loosing lots of fish.
Got a limit again wed by noon.
Ken
Do you have to fish them early or can you get them later?

[sdsurfer]

The biggest bite seemed to be early but they were hitting the hoochies most of the day. Most everybody was getting bit but loosing lots of fish.
Got a limit again wed by noon.
Ken

I've only used wedding rings in the past. Can I ask what size(s) are the hoochies that people use for kokanee? Do you use corn with the hoochies? Thanks!

[jzell]

1.5 inch and yes

[msec50]

Did really well today with my new bolo (#3 with 4 blade) and purple hoochie and yes the hoochie is about 2" long and I add corn to it. It was nice to see so many women on the lake today also. It must have been the nice weather.
:thisbig:

[FishFood]

The biggest bite seemed to be early but they were hitting the hoochies most of the day. Most everybody was getting bit but loosing lots of fish.
Got a limit again wed by noon.
Ken

Hey thanks for the info. How crazy do you think it will be tomorrow (Saturday)?

Steve

[kenvl46]

I'll bet its jam packed sat. The lake was loading up when we left at 11:30
fri. Water temp on surface got up to 54 tho.
Will go again mon when the traffic is down.

[FishFood]

I'll bet its jam packed sat. The lake was loading up when we left at 11:30
fri. Water temp on surface got up to 54 tho.
Will go again mon when the traffic is down.

That's what I figured. I think I'll wait (gotta get that garden in). Is there any sunset bite by any chance?

[kokoneehaase]

That's what I figured. I think I'll wait (gotta get that garden in). Is there any sunset bite by any chance?

Evening bite is usually dependant on the wind. Tends to kick up in the early afternoon especially with a warm front over us like we have now. Last two to three hours of light can be as equally productive as early AM. I've found fishing a little deeper in the PM produces optimum results. GOOD LUCK

[FishFood]

Evening bite is usually dependant on the wind. Tends to kick up in the early afternoon especially with a warm front over us like we have now. Last two to three hours of light can be as equally productive as early AM. I've found fishing a little deeper in the PM produces optimum results. GOOD LUCK


Thanks! I really appreciate the info.

[6wapiti6]

I'll be making my first trip of this year to Merwin on Monday. Any hints on what direction head out of Spilyei? I've done ok there in the past, just wondering if they are in the "usual" places this year. If anybody is going to be up there I'll be in a white northriver with my 4 yr old and dad enjoying the day.

[Got Fish?]

Head straight across and a little west, you'll do fine. All day bite today, not red hot but steady. :)

[kenvl46]

Yes I agree with going straight across. We have been catching kokes
from the big rock close to the bank and then trolling west from there down to the point.

[lilbuddy]

How much fun was that? Saturday and Sunday were good to the humble kokanee fisherman. Out at daylight both days and to tellyou the truth did not get the before sunup bite. On a positive note the boat next to me sure did. Did equally well with red wedding rings or pro troll appexes in the orange and white color. After getting our quota of fish we went to catch and relase in order to do a little detective work. A purple pro troll was doing pertty good also. At the end of fishing Sunday (aboot 10) I tried the idea monots suggested of putting a vances trolling flasher directly to the downrigger ball and putting the release to it. From there dropped back about 5 feet to a dodger and hootchie. Oh my now that really was fun. Thanks for the idea, think it just might become a favorite if Sunday is any indication. Anyway sure was good to put the hurt on a few of those fish. Should keep me relaxed till next week!

[P-ride]

First off I want to say thanks for my fellow ifishers for posting reports and PMs sharing information. I made it out there today with a koke newbie(not like I'm a pro) and we both had a blast. Unfortunately we only ended up with 5, but 2 13 inchers! Didn't see a ton of nets fly and the couple of people we talked to said it had been slow for them. We'll be at it again next week!

[Meister Jäger]

My buddy and I had a great day on Saturday 5/17. I finally got to give the new fish-bat a workout on our share, plus one for the young co-pilot -landed with the trusty 20" Spidey Rod!!

One koke was about 10", the rest were nice 13-14 inchers. 4 of my 5 were hens. Various homegrown bead/spinner set ups were used; chartreuse seemed the primary color of choice. Put the new electric DRs to the test. It may suggest (confirm?) we're getting lazier...but boy is the auto retrieve a cool deal!

While the parking lot was over-flowing, the in/out was a breeze and plenty of room on the lake.

Saturday was so hot (back on land), I decided to grill the kokes in the Weber, then finished one by blackening it in a skillet and laying it to rest on a bed of Caesar salad. Uh, yum.


Can't wait to do it again!

MJ

[6wapiti6]

We took Got Fish?'s advice and did ok on Monday. Hooked 11 and landed 6, all really good quality fish. One was almost pushing 16" with the rest in the 13 - 14 range. 17 ft down with anything green seemed to be the ticket. My 3 year old had a blast and can't wait to go back and do it again.

[backeddy]

Is it just me or did you all catch a bunch of Pike Minow also. We varied our depth from 25-60 ft and were constanly hooking these things. I was using Pro-Cure Kokanee scent on the corn and we couldn't keep them off. Stoped using the scent, changed the depth, and swithched lures, but still caught the pesky things non stop.

[6wapiti6]

We got two when we were setting up a deeper depths. Once I moved up to the 15 - 20 ft depth range we quit getting them. I noticed on the depth finder the larger schools deeper and i think it was the pike minnows.

[backeddy]

We got two when we were setting up a deeper depths. Once I moved up to the 15 - 20 ft depth range we quit getting them. I noticed on the depth finder the larger schools deeper and i think it was the pike minnows.


I think your right on the money with that analogy!!! I was dragging through the larger schools deep and hooking all Pike minnows. There must be a ton of those things in there!:passout:

[P-ride]

We couldn't keep the darn pikeminnows off our gear either. I saw lots of schools at the 30-40' range, but I didn't think pikeminnows schooled like kokes do. We caught a couple of kokes about 30' down, but more pikeminnows. Maybe shallower would have been the ticket. We still had a great time with the nice weather. Can't wait to get after them again, keep those reports coming!

[kenvl46]

We took our nephew out and all three of us had a limit by 2:00. All but one were in the 14" range....really nice fish. The only time I tried to go down after the fish on the fish-finder I would get Pike Minnow so we flat-lined with wedding rings and hoochies. I agree if all the fish I am finding on the fish finder are Pike Minnows the Muskies have alot of work to do.
Was nice to see you out there with your little guy 6wapiti6, its great to see the young ones learning if you can just get them to hold still for long enough.
Ken

[yankemnbankem]

Looks like it's time to drag the ol black boat out and see if it works again. Nice reports. I heard others report that the fish were a bigger size too!

[bassin]

Fished it Monday and Tuesday. Easy limits of nice fish once I found them. 32 feet on the DR with a red spin glo behind the gang troll. I only caught one pike minnow. Anyone use those koke killers? I just can't bring myself to tye it on.

[kenvl46]

Yes I did try several last year and didn't catch anything with them. That was late in the year.
We got another limit today for the two of us by noon. They sure are plump little guys.
Fished it Monday and Tuesday. Easy limits of nice fish once I found them. 32 feet on the DR with a red spin glo behind the gang troll. I only caught one pike minnow. Anyone use those koke killers? I just can't bring myself to tye it on.

[adobe wall]

We couldn't keep the darn pikeminnows off our gear either. I saw lots of schools at the 30-40' range, but I didn't think pikeminnows schooled like kokes do. We caught a couple of kokes about 30' down, but more pikeminnows. Maybe shallower would have been the ticket. We still had a great time with the nice weather. Can't wait to get after them again, keep those reports coming!

There are amazing numbers of pikeminnows in Merwin. You can find them anywhere but they do often school up tight, a bit deeper than kokes. If you get in deep water that is close to the bank you'll see plenty on the depthfinder and you'll have a hard time keeping them off the gear.

Last year this time when we'd catch a pikeminnow, I'd make a couple of false throwing motions before tossing the fish high in the air behind the boat. There were always a few eagles around that would come right down and get it. A few ospreys too but the eagles would chase them off and make them drop the fish. It's pretty awe inspiring, seeing a bald eagle at 30 feet or less.

I nearly loaded the boat up today and went up to Merwin but it's a bit windy for evening fishing. The fiance and I will hit it early Saturday. I appreciate the posts, this should shorten up the curve on the first trip out.

regards, aw