2009 Merwin Report thread

[adobe wall]

Okay this isn't the first Merwin thread of the year but the report thread always seems to be popular. With the Sunday springer closure I'll be fishing there a bit earlier this year.

Here's a motivational video from Merwin last year, you regulars have already seen it but it's still fun to watch. Kinda sobering when you realize that there are about 10 looks for every one you catch....

http://s273.photobucket.com/albums/jj227/Superd2231/?action=view&current=testcut5.flv

Sooo...which iFisher is going to report the first Merwin kokanee? Put yer reports here.

tight lines, aw

[dbuechler]

Let see some PICS of the first KOKS of the year? I should may be up there on sunday??/?? Any body else want to go?? PM me
DB

[Kokonuts]

I am going up with my boat on Thur. & will be out as much as I can all season. I have an RV at the Campers Hideaway so I keep the boat there. Hope to see you all out on the water!:meme: Kokonuts

[jzell]

On a positive note, this year so far the price of gas is lower that last, which makes the drive more attractive.

IT'S STILL TOO EARLY!

You guys are truly NUTS!

Go catch a springer...or a winter steelhead,

jz

ps. AW, I should have placed a bet as to when this thread would start.

[twib]

Okay this isn't the first Merwin thread of the year but the report thread always seems to be popular. With the Sunday springer closure I'll be fishing there a bit earlier this year.

Here's a motivational video from Merwin last year, you regulars have already seen it but it's still fun to watch. Kinda sobering when you realize that there are about 10 looks for every one you catch....

http://s273.photobucket.com/albums/jj227/Superd2231/?action=view&current=testcut5.flv

Sooo...which iFisher is going to report the first Merwin kokanee? Put yer reports here.

tight lines, aw

Great Video AW! I hope you do some more filming this summer. How about some Springer footage?! Thanks for sharing.

[Meister Jäger]

Going to give it a go Sunday with my partner-in-crimes-of-fish-on.

I think somebody had mentioned it was too early, but I'm not sure...:whistle:

Will post up results...if there are any! I can GUARANTEE it will be vastly more relaxing than trolling beside three thousand of my closest friends that I've never met on the Columbia (that, and I can't fish Saturday...). What a zoo...

MJ

[lilbuddy]

Thanks for the motivation AW. I guess Ill get off the couch and give it a try this weekend if it dosent snow. Last year took the boat up in March and ended bringing it back home after a couple of good snows. Got lots of new stuff to try. White Motion Marine if anyone is in the area. 2009 kokanee season about to start....got to love it!

[adobe wall]

Thanks for the motivation AW. I guess Ill get off the couch and give it a try this weekend if it dosent snow. Last year took the boat up in March and ended bringing it back home after a couple of good snows. Got lots of new stuff to try. White Motion Marine if anyone is in the area. 2009 kokanee season about to start....got to love it!

I am fairly sure I saw you up there a couple times last year. Motion Marine's tend to stand out. I'll definitely give a wave.

I'm still working on springers. The Columbia is clearer than last year, so I may anchor up and run a kwickfish behind the fishcam.

The camera is frustrating, but I always learn stuff from it.

regards, aw

[wannacatchem]

The camera is frustrating.......


I would go stark raving mad if I had that in my boat.




How much are they and where can I get one.....?

[adobe wall]

I would go stark raving mad if I had that in my boat. How much are they and where can I get one.....?


I've got an Aqua-Vu Scout with the DVR. I think the camera and DVR together are about $400....I hope not but I know my wife spent a good bit on it.

It's geared towards ice fishing and you have to do a little redneck rigging to get it facing aft and working right for trolling. If you have $1200, a Walker Strike cam is a much better setup (and you get a nice electric downrigger in the deal).

It took a few months and some heated emails to the folks at Nature Vision just to get some method of actually using the file that the DVR stores. I can't really recommend the Aqua-Vu but maybe if you find one at a good deal it wouldn't be a bad choice. I wanted one with a long cable (I think mine has 80 feet) but in truth you run out of light once you get much deeper than about 60. Knowing what I know now I'd do it differently, but this one is working okay.

The kokes are fun on the camera when you can actually get it oriented right. If you see a guy in Kokanee Cove on Merwin fishing by himself in an open sled and shouting a lot, that's me yelling at the fish cam.

regards, aw

[Soulakala]

Hey AW:
Your video is cool, now I know why you might get a little frustrated seeing those fish checking out the offering only to have them ignore it. I made my first trip to Merwin this year with my brother in law and fished one cold day without luck. We saw and talked with others out there having the same luck as us -zero. It was just too cold. We plan on coming back when the weather and water are warmer. I think this will be a great place to start my grandkids fishing. So thanks again for your effort hope to see you out there yelling, at least I will have an explaination too the kids. LOL

Soula

I've got an Aqua-Vu Scout with the DVR. I think the camera and DVR together are about $400....I hope not but I know my wife spent a good bit on it.

It's geared towards ice fishing and you have to do a little redneck rigging to get it facing aft and working right for trolling. If you have $1200, a Walker Strike cam is a much better setup (and you get a nice electric downrigger in the deal).

It took a few months and some heated emails to the folks at Nature Vision just to get some method of actually using the file that the DVR stores. I can't really recommend the Aqua-Vu but maybe if you find one at a good deal it wouldn't be a bad choice. I wanted one with a long cable (I think mine has 80 feet) but in truth you run out of light once you get much deeper than about 60. Knowing what I know now I'd do it differently, but this one is working okay.

The kokes are fun on the camera when you can actually get it oriented right. If you see a guy in Kokanee Cove on Merwin fishing by himself in an open sled and shouting a lot, that's me yelling at the fish cam.

regards, aw

[dbuechler]

Just wondering if any one will be heading up to MERWIN on sunday? To give it a try
DB

[Meister Jäger]

Sooo...which iFisher is going to report the first Merwin kokanee? Put yer reports here.

tight lines, aw

GAME ON!

I neglected to bring the camera but my buddy will vouch for me; taken around noon or so on Sunday: about 13.5 inches and just under a pound -a beautifully-silver kokanee hen. Taken at about 8' on a FWG System-2 silver/chartreuse dodger and my homespun blue/chartreuse WR spinner product.

Buddyboy had a couple of takedowns that unhooked themselves on the way to the boat. Apparently he reeled in my line with a 'minnow' attached - I was enjoying a brief snooze in the sun at the time!

The water is still greenish with pretty poor visibility. I counted 7 trailers in the Speelyai parking lot when we pulled out at 3pm.

One down....oh soooo many to go!

MJ

[Dropshot]

I wanted one with a long cable (I think mine has 80 feet) but in truth you run out of light once you get much deeper than about 60.

AW.

When you say you run out of light at 60 feet, what kind of light are you talking about? Natural sun light, UV, infared? I know nothing about underwater cams so pardon my igorance.

[adobe wall]

GAME ON!

I neglected to bring the camera but my buddy will vouch for me; taken around noon or so on Sunday: about 13.5 inches and just under a pound -a beautifully-silver kokanee hen. Taken at about 8' on a FWG System-2 silver/chartreuse dodger and my homespun blue/chartreuse WR spinner product.

Buddyboy had a couple of takedowns that unhooked themselves on the way to the boat. Apparently he reeled in my line with a 'minnow' attached - I was enjoying a brief snooze in the sun at the time!

The water is still greenish with pretty poor visibility. I counted 7 trailers in the Speelyai parking lot when we pulled out at 3pm.

One down....oh soooo many to go!

MJ

Outstanding. :cheers: Hope that is a sign we will have quality fish again this year.

AW.

When you say you run out of light at 60 feet, what kind of light are you talking about? Natural sun light, UV, infared? I know nothing about underwater cams so pardon my igorance.

Both. The camera has built in invisible spectrum lights (I think they are UV, but may be IR). Get much deeper than 60 feet even in Merwin and you have trouble picking out a lure that is 4' back, even with the onboard lighting.

I tried running the camera on the Columbia in September, a little murkier water, and ran out of light at 45 feet. I'm sure a UV coated lure would help but if you can't see the fish it's kinda pointless.

I will work with it more this year, I've still got some improvements to make. Hopefully Merwin will clear up. I did have some action on the cam once the fish got to around 30' deep last year but any shallower and the're skittish.

regards, aw

[kenvl46]

Wed
Caught 3 -12" to 12.5" in and 1- 15" all were on the thin side in comparison to what we get later on. Was surprised by the size tho. Rain and snow all day that we were there. Was just two other boat trailers in the lot.
Hoochies was the choice and flat line.
Ken

[Got Fish?]

This weather should really help out up there. Thinking I may go Monday afternoon for a little trip. Im sure people are hitting it this weekend!

[kenvl46]

Yes we are thinking it will be better fishing now with warmer weather too.
Guess we will try it again Mon morn.
Ken

[kenvl46]

Monday picked up 5 12" TO 13".........6hrs of fising
Tues just got 2 12" for 5 hrs of fishing. Was really slow hardly any fish caught by anyone we talked to. Must of been 20 rigs in the parking lot.
Again just flat line 100' behind the boat.
Ken

[bassmann]

went out friday netted 1 in 4 hrs. today went 5 for 9 in 5 hours couldnt keep them on the hook:mad: All on a lime green & black wedding ring behind a chrome ford fender:excited:. Two boats that I talked to didnt have any yet, any others have any luck? And it was nice meeting kokonuts out there today. bassmann:cheers: water temp 47.7? is that accurate?

[comeherefish]

Went out Friday...had different things on all four poles. Four hours and ended with notta!:passout:

[Woodcanoeguy]

Went to Merwin for 4 hours early Sun morning. No hits...tried hi-low-slow-fast-flatline-downrigger-red-green lures. 50 boats on water....most fishing...saw two caught in the debris line. Nice day to shakedown teh boat anyway.

[P-ride]

Went to Merwin for 4 hours early Sun morning. No hits...tried hi-low-slow-fast-flatline-downrigger-red-green lures. 50 boats on water....most fishing...saw two caught in the debris line. Nice day to shakedown teh boat anyway.

First of all, welcome to IFISH and the trout forum. Also, thanks for the report. With Springers drawing to a close and the nice weather finally showing up, I can't wait for my first trip to Merwin.

Hope to see more posts from ya soon! If you have a story you'd like to share, that would be great. It's kind of an IFISH tradition, but not mandatory. See ya on the water!

[kenvl46]

Mon.
Six hours on Merwin netted 1 squaw fish. Only heard of one boat with a catch of 2. Lots of boats on the water today enjoying the sunshine.
Fishing was Great........Catching was poor.
Ken

[Chesapeake]

Didnt want to let it fall off the page.

Nobody was up there for the trout opener? The weather was great.

[toomanydenny]

:applause: Thanks for starting this thread. Was gonna do the same. I havent been yet this year but did have a co-worker report that a friend went 5/ 9 a few days ago. Lets hear the reports... bad ones too! goodluck all

[Got Fish?]

Fishing is good but very unpredictable right now. I have been there twice and got near limits both times only to head to the dock and find most other got 1 or 2 for the morning. Pay attention to how far away your catching your fish and if your not getting bit in 10 min your doing something wrong. There are already some real nice sized fish up there too.

Anyone jigging in that lake? They seemed to be balled up and might be susceptible to jigging.

[Boster]

Okay this isn't the first Merwin thread of the year but the report thread always seems to be popular. With the Sunday springer closure I'll be fishing there a bit earlier this year.

Here's a motivational video from Merwin last year, you regulars have already seen it but it's still fun to watch. Kinda sobering when you realize that there are about 10 looks for every one you catch....

http://s273.photobucket.com/albums/jj227/Superd2231/?action=view&current=testcut5.flv

Sooo...which iFisher is going to report the first Merwin kokanee? Put yer reports here.

tight lines, aw What pound weight do you use on your downrigger??
Boster

[adobe wall]

What pound weight do you use on your downrigger??
Boster

The homemade downrigger, I usually use a 32 ounce cannonball. The other cheap plastic downriggers I use take about a 3 lb ball. I'm definitely low tech.

Looks like a week from today will be my first trip up to Merwin unless things get going at Drano.

regards, aw

[Kokonuts]

Fri. May 1st....Where is Spring?

The Lake was windy with small waves at 8:00 when I went out, the it got windy with white caps, then it got worse.

I left about 12:30 when the Wind Surfers started jumping over my boat! :D

I did talk with 2 guys who got 4 verly early before the wind came up.
Kokonuts

[toomanydenny]

:) REPORT: First trip to Merwin this year. Fished aprox. 7 hrs. Started out with a "macks flashlite" in red and silver with a red WR spinner and wht corn, no lead, 50 pulls. No strikes in 1 1/2 hrs. Switch to chartruese and silver "flashlite" and chart.WR. Fishing on top with no lead, 1/4oz and 1/2 oz. Still no strikes. After seeing several caught by trollers using small silver chain trolls, I finally dug out a small silver willow leaf troll and used the chart.WR and 1/4 oz lead, 25 pulls, went 3 for 3 in one hour. Nice size for this early in the year!
Most the fish I saw caught were in the am on the rockslide side across from speeleye. Due to my slow learning curve the first trip, mine were all caught in the afternoon.

Heres a question I have long pondered. I know there are small chinook and rainbow trout in merwin. Why are there no large ones? Lack of feed is all I can guess as kokes are plankton feeders. Anyway whats your :twocents:
Good Luck All

[Loner]

Well I intended on waiting until June to start Kokanee fishing but I broke down and headed up to Merwin on Saturday with my youngest and a good friend. After spending the bulk of Friday evening switching the boat back over to lake fishing, tying some new wedding rings, and organizing the the monster pile of tolling rigs and gear my wife got me for Christmas, we were al ready to go.

We hit the water about 9:00 were fishing by 9:30 and had one in the boat buy 9:35ish. The fish were kind of all over the place in both depth and lour color. About the only consistent thing I ran was two pieces of corn on the front hook an a piece of gulp worm on the trialing. We marked and hooked fish from the surface to 30ft. All of our fish were caught on wedding rings green/black, blue/chrome, red/chrome, solid gold and few other I guess. Like I said we were all over the place just when I though I had it figured out it would go cold, I would then switch up one of the rods in one way or the other and then pick up another fish.

We pulled up a 2:00 and had boated 8 fish, my youngest who is 4 reeled in his first two kokanee this year and got promoted from official sqaw fish reeler/bonker to a full fledged Kokanee deck hand.

http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s225/lonerIndustries/SANY1026.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s225/lonerIndustries/SANY1032.jpg

[nwsoftball]

Does the Spiderman PFD come in adult sizes??

[ppbthorsen]

:applause::applause::applause: Atta Boy!!!! :applause::applause::applause:

[comeherefish]

He looks pretty pumped...very cool!:whistle:

[P-ride]

Does the Spiderman PFD come in adult sizes??

I was thinking the exact same thing! I would totally rock one of those...:meme: Anyway thanks for the report and way to get after them. I'm looking forward to my first trip of the year up there myself!

[FallRiverGuy]

Sounds like a good day on the water. Very nice report with lots of great details.

[Fourteen]

Thanks for the report . It 's great to hear that the fish are a good size this early . Just imagine what they will be like in July & August . We had some last year taking line after they were hooked .

[lilbuddy]

Tuesday and Wensday Merwin report..... good fishing both days but had to work at it at times. 80 percent of the fish were on red wedding rings. The interesting part was about half the fish were 100 ft. back and the other half were on the downrigger. Unlike last year in the early part of the season there were defined schools of kokanee that when found could be caught. The other method was longlining out the back when nothing was showing deeper. Id say the fish are maybe a little smaller than last years early ones but still nice. The cove produced a handfull of fish but the south shore area was most productive.

[bassin]

Tuesday and Wensday Merwin report..... good fishing both days but had to work at it at times. 80 percent of the fish were on red wedding rings. The interesting part was about half the fish were 100 ft. back and the other half were on the downrigger. Unlike last year in the early part of the season there were defined schools of kokanee that when found could be caught. The other method was longlining out the back when nothing was showing deeper. Id say the fish are maybe a little smaller than last years early ones but still nice. The cove produced a handfull of fish but the south shore area was most productive.

How deep did you fine them on the DR?

[lilbuddy]

How deep did you fine them on the DR?
when no schools were on the fish finder I would run from the rigger ball just 2 feet below the boat to about 12 foot deep. Not a real good way to fish shallow but did connect on half a dozen that way. The defined schools were from 20 to 30 feet and quite catchable when you could find them. Setback on downriggers early on like this was 40 to 60 feet.

Hope this helps Dave

[Got Fish?]

When your not marking fish they are flaring from the boat. They won't show on the finder but with a half once of weight and about 15-20 pulls your NAILING them. Color didn't seem to matter today but we were fishing under them for a bit till we figured it out. Once we did we were done.

[P-ride]

Thanks for the reports! Hopefully I'll make it out there in a week or 2 and be able to post a report myself...

[mikey]

Where to camp at lake merwin??? Want suggestions as to where are the camp grounds in the area?

[Steelheader12]

Landed 5 out of 7 in three hours fishing 3 rods. Fished 20ft deep on the riggers. Wedding rings and spinglos with corn did the trick. Light leader 4lb test.
Good Luck

[sucker]

How big were the fish? I hope bigger than the minnows I caught at Yale.

[bassin]

when no schools were on the fish finder I would run from the rigger ball just 2 feet below the boat to about 12 foot deep. Not a real good way to fish shallow but did connect on half a dozen that way. The defined schools were from 20 to 30 feet and quite catchable when you could find them. Setback on downriggers early on like this was 40 to 60 feet.

Hope this helps Dave

Thanks for the feed back

[lilbuddy]

Good fishing Sat and Sun. 100 feet out the back with no weight was still most effective,
A question I have that was discussed some last year is what is legal as far as releasing fish? Sundays fish were 5 out of 8 good sized and the other 3 need some more growing. Also if you limit early is it legal to catch and release until you get your fill?
Anyway fishing was good by the Hideaway area. Quite a few boats were down river farther but didnt have to go that far to get fish. The size of the better fish is makeing me think that they just might be as nice as last years models!

[Whaler]

Decent fishing fishing for us on Sunday. We managed 12 nice Kokes for 4 people without a net (forgot it at home). Obviously we lost quite a few at the boat trying to hoist them over the side but still had a good time out on the lake.
The best producing set up for the day was a chartreuse dodger with silver prism tape, red wedding ring with silver blade 20" behind the dodger, ,Shoepeg corn, 3/8 oz weight 3ft in front of the dodger, trolled 60feet behind the boat.
There are going to be some very nice sized fish later this year and team "No Net" will be after them.

[sucker]

Good fishing Sat and Sun. 100 feet out the back with no weight was still most effective,
A question I have that was discussed some last year is what is legal as far as releasing fish? Sundays fish were 5 out of 8 good sized and the other 3 need some more growing. Also if you limit early is it legal to catch and release until you get your fill?
Anyway fishing was good by the Hideaway area. Quite a few boats were down river farther but didnt have to go that far to get fish. The size of the better fish is makeing me think that they just might be as nice as last years models!

I believe you use trout rules for Kokanee in Merwin; If you are using bait the fish should count as part of your limit even if you throw it back. If it is small and you give it some slack a Kokanee will usually get off; if it doesen't get off you should keep it as you probably killed it.

[kokanut]

Good fishing Sat and Sun. 100 feet out the back with no weight was still most effective,
A question I have that was discussed some last year is what is legal as far as releasing fish? Sundays fish were 5 out of 8 good sized and the other 3 need some more growing. Also if you limit early is it legal to catch and release until you get your fill?
Anyway fishing was good by the Hideaway area. Quite a few boats were down river farther but didnt have to go that far to get fish. The size of the better fish is makeing me think that they just might be as nice as last years models!

According to WDFW, when using bait (corn) on Merwin, any fish that is caught must count towards your 5 fish limit even if released and it would not be legal to continue fishing after reaching your limit. There is no minimum size, so if you throw back a little guy it still counts towards your limit according to the regs.

[Fourteen]

Any reports from Merwin this weekend . The feedback from ifishers last week was encouraging . I 'm anxious to get up there this year but right now I 'm concentrating on Drano for the time being . Thanks if anyone has gone .

[cmb1998]

Any reports from Merwin this weekend . The feedback from ifishers last week was encouraging . I 'm anxious to get up there this year but right now I 'm concentrating on Drano for the time being . Thanks if anyone has gone .

Fished from 4:45 from 12:15 on sat. Second truck in the parking lot. 2 kokes to the boat, 1 squa fish, and about 6 - 7 hooked but lost before we could get them to the boat.

Good luck.

Chirs

[dogrunner]

Made it out one day last week two people in boat limited in three hours. brass colored flashers one wedding ring with "gulp" and one with shoepeg corn 2oz and 40 pulls they were running about 14". Down river of the Hideaway

[cmb1998]

Made it out one day last week two people in boat limited in three hours. brass colored flashers one wedding ring with "gulp" and one with shoepeg corn 2oz and 40 pulls they were running about 14". Down river of the Hideaway

The neighbor was out with his kids yesterday. 2 boats fished a total of 6 rods from 6am until "all the damn ski boats came out" aka 11:30. 8 fish total.

Good luck

Chris

[Raining_Kings]

First trip Kokanee fishing ever on Sunday. Read some books, did some shopping and spent a lot of time doing research on the internet and iFish. Result, 2 rods and 2 limits! Took from about 8am to 3pm to get our last fish though. Lots of moving around also, and gear changes. Most success was a silver ford fender, red double-hook wedding ring with corn and worm bits. Kokanee are fun, and Merwin is a pretty lake. Sure is a lot of debris out there though!

[Sportsman18]

Great day on Sunday! Got on the water at 6:30AM and fished til the plasure boaters came out about 12:30PM. 4 rods for 15 kokes in the box. Various blades but a 3-blade chrome/brass rig seemed most popular with hot pink wedding ring with hot pink Gulp maggot and hot pink dyed shoepeg corn. 35-50 pulls on the top with no weight. Jim Teeny blades worked well also. They were really soft hitting and we lost several but a great time was had by all. The Gulp pink maggot seemed to do the job. We fished rods with plain yellow shoepeg corn, hot pink died corn, and maggot with pink died corn --- hands down winner was the combo of died corn and pink Gulp maggot. Lots of debris on the water though so be careful.

[shinnookums]

My buddy and I hit the water about 9:30 this morning and the lot at Speelyai was full. Caught 8 nice ones in short order and then it slowed considerably. Dam flow? Finally topped off our 10 fish limit with a couple of smaller ones by 12:30. All caught with 3 oz lead, silver/gold flashers red beads and silver blades tipped with shoepeg corn. 30-40 pulls.

[dbuechler]

Does any body have a report on MERWIN? How was it saturday and sunday?
DB

[10-7]

I think the limit at Merwin is 6 this year and Yale is 16. At least that what Fishermens Depot is showing on board. Can anyone confirm?

[adobe wall]

I think the limit at Merwin is 6 this year and Yale is 16. At least that what Fishermens Depot is showing on board. Can anyone confirm?

5 in Merwin, 16 in Yale.
Merwin, you follow landlocked salmon rules which means the kokes fall under the trout limit (5). Yale, there is a special bonus kokanee limit of 16.

hth, aw

[dbuechler]

Its 5 only

[HighSlacker]

Fished today 6am to 1pm. 2 poles 2 fish. Had done well on 2 prior trips within the last 2 weeks but not today. My brother got both fish down by the dam. I threw the entire tackle box at them today and couldnt buy a bite. We also couldn't seem to locate at what depth to fish. They seemed to be everywhere from 15' to 60'. Maybe next time

[sharkcatcher2]

I think the limit at Merwin is 6 this year and Yale is 16. At least that what Fishermens Depot is showing on board. Can anyone confirm?
I read the wash. regs book yesterday at work. The state limit is five for merwin, 16 at yale, though I hear so far the fish at yale are running small so far.

[Fly Junkie]

Went out on Merwin saterday. Landed 8 and lost 3 at the boat as well as other misses. All in 5 hours with 2 rods in the water. Was nice out there but it got a little choppy as the wind came up. Green wedding ring behind a lake troll with white shoepeg corn was working the best. The depth was all over the place from 10 to 30 feet.
This was the first time out Kokanee fishing. So I guesse I knew a little about what I was doing.

Good Luck!!!!

[sucker]

Hope to fish Merwin this week; went to Yale last week. The bite has slowed compaired to a week earlier; hope that means less compitition for food and bigger fish later in the summer. A lot of fish taken out of Yale this month. I talked to a guy that had limited at Merwin in about an hour and came to Yale to try for more fish. He said the fish were much bigger at Merwin.

[Merganser99]

Does any body have a report on MERWIN? How was it saturday and sunday?
DB
I was out for a few hours starting at 6 on Monday. My first trip this year. I got one. 1/2 oz lead, 30 pulls on a green wedding ring with corn. 50% of fish marked were between 40 and 50 feet. The rest were scattered above that. Talked with another fisherman who had limited when I was pulling out at 9:00. He was fishing a downrigger at about 20 ft.

[Dr Strangelove]

The bite just shut off at 10:00AM today. Went 5 for 8 with two rods. Green wedding rings and dodger hootchies was the ticket. Beautiful day on the water. Doc

[Raining_Kings]

Went on Saturday, and only managed 3, plus a trout. Red wedding ring and lake troll, flat lined seemed to be the ticket. Tried a BUNCH of other stuff with no avail. Was MUCH better the week before.

[Fourteen]

Went out Tues. & Wed. of this week . My wife and I caught a total of 13 fish. Most were caught on green wedding rings tipped with green gulp maggots and corn between 10-20 ' We were using 12 " leaders in front of a gold dodger .

A fellow at the dock said that the Fish & Game Dept. planted 8 k muskie in the lake last week . We were marking them at all depths both days .

[honker1]

Went to Yale this morning and the wind was blowing so hard that I decided not to launch and went back to Merwin. Fished with a green wedding ring with a gold dodger. Had on 1/2 oz lead and 104 pulls of line. Fishing was good. Trolling at 1.5 to 2 mph.(GPS) Landed 5 fish in 3 hours and lost only 3 at the boat, usually loose more. Looks like it's going to be a good year, as 2 of the fish were over 14". Can't wait for later June, if the fish are already this large. They just need to fatten up a little.

[ppbthorsen]

I thought about going to Yale as well, but opted for Merwin, since I know where to look at Merwin. Needless to say it was a beautiful day.

http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/IMG_6833.JPG

Took my girls up with me, and the four of us had a great day.

http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/IMG_6846.JPG

Fished a variety of things...green wedding rings, red wedding rings, glow hoochie with green beads...all tipped with maggots. We boated four of 12-14. A couple made it off the hook while out a ways, but several escaped just prior to the net....very frustrating. Probably due to the new deckhands… It was fun watching the bride catch her 1st koke though!!!

We were mostly running downriggers 25-30' down fenders about 20' behind the ball. Otherwise we were flatlined 75'-100' w/no weight behind fenders. I'll agree, I'm anxious to see the size of the fish later this year. They're already nice fish!

http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/IMG_6835.JPG

I’m curious who was running the black Hewes with the Honda’s. I recognized your boat as the one stored directly next to mine. In fact I saw your pile of ice when I took my boat back yesterday afternoon. I always see you going the opposite direction when going or leaving the storage place.

[Fourteen]

Nice pictures and a " great report "

[HighSlacker]

Fished today from 6 to noon. Went 5 for 7 if you count squaws. If not just one 13" chunk koke. Bites were on orange apex 20' on downrigger. White corn w/pro glow anise. Had trouble finding the fish. A couple times I found a big school, hooked up, and low and behold, squaw. Anyone I saw had to work pretty hard for a fish. Mostly Koke cove down to Merwin Park.
Keep your tips up!

[hookumhi]

Fished yesterday , SLOOOOOWW 1for 2

[toomanydenny]

:whistle: 5 fish at Merwin

[Steelie Ben]

Three rods today from 7:30 till 9. Boat limit of fatties with three pushing 16". Apex behind the rigger set at 25' tipped with corn. Had two tripples!

[lilbuddy]

I think I have changed my mind. The fish this year are good sized! Friday through Sunday good fishing with one early limit and 2 takeing a little longer. 25 to 40 feet with anise corn. Sure going to be fun come August with the size of these guys. Might have to upgrade the leader strength if these fatties keep putting on the feed bag!

[HighSlacker]

What area of the lake are you guys having the best success? Thanks

[Dr Strangelove]

We found them today, in HUGE schools, but the durn things had lockjaw real bad. Didn't matter what we through at them... 1 fish, 2 misses, and 6 hrs of Vitamin D.

[HighSlacker]

Today 6 kokes and the same amount of ********* for 9 hrs. All the Kokanee came in two 45 minute spans, 3 hrs. apart. Hoochie mammas at 25' Go figure

[Fourteen]

Fished for 8 hrs . Eight Kokanee for us using a gold dodger and green wedding ring with a silver blade on one pole and red and silver flasher with a gold and green wedding ring with a red blade on the other . Plain corn and anise corn were used as bait . We were using down riggers and most fish were caught between 20 - 25 ' . Bruce and I also caught a number of Northern Pike Minnows . The lake appeared very high and had a number of floating debris rafts on it .

[ppbthorsen]

Fished for 8 hrs . Eight Kokanee for us using a gold dodger and green wedding ring with a silver blade on one pole and red and silver flasher with a gold and green wedding ring with a red blade on the other . Plain corn and anise corn were used as bait . We were using down riggers and most fish were caught between 20 - 25 ' . Bruce and I also caught a number of Northern Pike Minnows . The lake appeared very high and had a number of floating debris rafts on it .
:yeahthat: Couldn't believe the amount of debris. Lake looked alot higher. We went 3 of 7 or 8. Hook ups on green wedding rings as well as glow hoochies tiped with anise corn and maggots. We also had several squaws. Still pretty slow though.

[sucker]

The wife and I caught 10 Kokanee in 5 hours on 6/04/2009. Two around 9" four 10" to 12" and four over 14". Used four blade willow leafs with flame wedding on one rig and hot pink on the other; both tipped with rubber maggots and corn soaked with Lunker Lotion trout/steelhead (red.) Flat line with 1.5oz lead out 100 feet. Water temp from 52 to 56 deg. at surface. Varied speed from 1mph to 2mph and continued zigzag. Fish hard to find but good bite once found. Be carefull many logs and sticks floating on surface. Weather overcast with a few slite rain sprinkels.

[bassmann]

fished with kokonuts today 1 for 3 till 11:00, then five in less than an hour (11:45). Half were cought with an apex and the others on green and black wedding ring tipped with corn 1oz led at 40 pulls. Smallest was 12 the biggest 2 were 15. bassmann:cheers:

[Bleed'm N Eat'm]

I took the boy out to Merwin today and we got 9 fish. Put in at Cresap Bay at 7:30, and out at 12. Big fish for it being so early. 2 15in. plus, 3 14in. 2 12in. and the usual couple 10 inchers. You really have to look for them, but they are there. A littlle deeper than you think tho. Good Luck to All.

[Bleed'm N Eat'm]

fished with kokonuts today 1 for 3 till 11:00, then five in less than an hour (11:45). Half were cought with an apex and the others on green and black wedding ring tipped with corn 1oz led at 40 pulls. Smallest was 12 the biggest 2 were 15. bassmann:cheers:
Wow! We were fishing 2-3 oz. at 40 pulls and were fairly consistant all day. Beautiful day tho. Nice job!

[ElkTalker]

I got my boat back with a new motor last week and took it to Lake Merwin for its first run on Sat 6-6. We then fished the south shore just west of the fleet until noon and went 7 for 8 with kokanee and about twenty five squaws. The size of the kokanee seamed average with a couple small around 12” and a few at 15” and the rest in between.

I fished it again today Monday 6-8 with my dad and brother. The weather was nicer and we went 15 for 17 by 12:45pm. It started very slow with only two fish by 9am. It took awhile to find some fish and then to find what they wanted. We caught most fish between 20’ & 25’ and a few down to 40’. The best lure was red and green wedding rings with silver dodgers. I tried every thing; Hoochies, Apex’s, over a dozen different spinners. Then I put on the wedding rings and it was steady action with a few doubles and nearly triples until we had our limit. We tipped our hooks with Gulp Maggots in green and glow.

Thanks for all the other reports. Good luck ET

[toomanydenny]

:D Fished Merwin mon. from 10am to about 3:30. Four nice kokes with the smallest we kept probably 13" and the largest close to 17". Released 3 small kokes and one trout. Also kept two of the nicest trout I have ever caught in merwin, aprox. 12-13" and fat. We lost probably 8-9 fish. We had the most sucess with a small spinglo with white corn. Also fished a red wedding ring and a green one both also with white corn, 2oz lead and 30 pulls. Fish were scattered and we had top do a little looking to find fish. Good Luck All...:excited:

[HighSlacker]

My son and I fished yesterday 10 to 6. Went 6 for 9 on the Kokes and at least twice that on *********. Last week our wedding rings couldn't buy a bite and we caught most of our fish on pink Hoochie mamas. This week the Hoochies got zip and everything was on Wedding rings or Apex's. All caught 20' to 30'. Used both anise corn and gulp maggots.

[lilbuddy]

I got my boat back with a new motor last week and took it to Lake Merwin for its first run on Sat 6-6. We then fished the south shore just west of the fleet until noon and went 7 for 8 with kokanee and about twenty five squaws. The size of the kokanee seamed average with a couple small around 12” and a few at 15” and the rest in between.

I fished it again today Monday 6-8 with my dad and brother. The weather was nicer and we went 15 for 17 by 12:45pm. It started very slow with only two fish by 9am. It took awhile to find some fish and then to find what they wanted. We caught most fish between 20’ & 25’ and a few down to 40’. The best lure was red and green wedding rings with silver dodgers. I tried every thing; Hoochies, Apex’s, over a dozen different spinners. Then I put on the wedding rings and it was steady action with a few doubles and nearly triples until we had our limit. We tipped our hooks with Gulp Maggots in green and glow.

Thanks for all the other reports. Good luck ET

[lilbuddy]

Try it again.
Wanted to say that I also had a massive squaw fish bite Saturday, early and in the south shorline area that had been good. After 20 minutes of that bagged it for the dam and did pretty good with 3 fishermen. On the way back snooped around in several areas that have been good over the years and discovered quite a few fish holding by Wood Village.
Sunday morning at Wood Village was all by myself. Bite was good enough to have me laughing outloud like a silly kid. Kept barking off the little guys and kept 5 nice ones.
In the 3 days fishing most fish were caught in the 25 to 35 foot range. Once again orange protrolls with various scents as well as maggots produced, I will say it is about 50 50 with slimey corn produceing as well or better than maggots
Nice fish go get you some!

[ElkTalker]

I started marking the schools of squaw fish with the GPS so I could avoid them.

[Fast Water]

My dad got four today and one *********.

Fish were on the small side.

[ppbthorsen]

My dad got four today and one *********.

Fish were on the small side.
Yeah Penns!!!!!!!!!!!

[adobe wall]

I hit it today for 8 solid hours and it was tough. Ended up with three kokes for 2 rods, lost 3 more. Two of the three we kept were 14" measured fish, thick too. The other was 12 1/2". These will be nice fish in late July/early August.

We got all of our fish at 35 feet. Did hook a very small 8" koke on top at first light while letting our line out, and also caught a pikeminnow on top flatlining our gear. Water temp was 62 degrees.

We tried a few combinations but green caught the fish. Pink seemed to be a good pikeminnow color.

regards, aw

[ppbthorsen]

:meme::meme:Thumbs up to the Clark County S.O. for calming down the wakeboarders this morning at Yale!!!!!:meme: :meme: :meme::meme::meme::meme::meme::meme::meme::meme::m eme::meme::meme::meme::meme::meme:

[sucker]

:meme::meme:Thumbs up to the Clark County S.O. for calming down the wakeboarders this morning at Yale!!!!!:meme: :meme: :meme::meme::meme::meme::meme::meme::meme::meme::m eme::meme::meme::meme::meme::meme:
That is good news; those folks are the reason I seldom fish on weekends.

[ElkTalker]

It was a tough day to catch a fish. 7:00am -12:45pm 8 koks in the cooler and two lost at the boat. I looked and looked for a fish that would bite. Even the squaw fishing was slow only two.

Good luck, ET

[Merganser99]

:meme::meme:Thumbs up to the Clark County S.O. for calming down the wakeboarders this morning at Yale!!!!!:meme: :meme: :meme::meme::meme::meme::meme::meme::meme::meme::m eme::meme::meme::meme::meme::meme:

I have been on both sides of this and it's kind of like the bankers versus the boaters. There have been days fishing on beautiful glassy water when I wished I was skiing, and days when I was skiing that I wished I was fishing. When skiing, I try to give the fishermen as much room as possible, and when fishing, I just ride out the waves. Share the water and show courtesy. Of course, if you see someone doing unsafe, unethical, or illegal things, make the report.

[adobe wall]

It was a tough day to catch a fish. 7:00am -12:45pm 8 koks in the cooler and two lost at the boat. I looked and looked for a fish that would bite. Even the squaw fishing was slow only two.

Good luck, ET

I didn't see your boat out there- do you still have the Starcraft? I wrote off my trip as due to the lack of time I've spent at Merwin this year, but you usually nail 'em pretty good up there.

aw

[P-ride]

I didn't see your boat out there- do you still have the Starcraft? I wrote off my trip as due to the lack of time I've spent at Merwin this year, but you usually nail 'em pretty good up there.

aw

Hey Dave, did you have any of that funny smelling corn on the boat?!? You know the kokes up at Merwin love that stuff :D

Did you fish all the usual spots or concentrate on certain areas? I can't wait to get up there...

[lilbuddy]

Well that was interesting. Saturday was tough with just 3 caught. Daylight bite was by far the best but just could not keep the darn things hooked. After about 8am. it really slacked off and the orange protrolls wouldnt even work. Finally broke out a Vance Tackle chrome dodger and chrome sokeye slammer and had quite a few bites but could not land the blasted things. They would hit it so hard it would startle me. Finally broke off the 2 I had and said the heck with it and called it a day
Sunday 5:30 am orange protroll was on fire till about 7. Once again many lost fish.About 7:30 couldnt get one to bite even though I was marking lots of fish. Needed 2 more so took out same dodger and tried a chartruse spinner squid after many other setups and got it done. Dont know if they liked it or the bite just turned on. Took till 10:30 but it just makes me feel better to end on a high note.
Fishing alot tuffer than it had been no real hot areas that I could tell. What few fish caught were still in that 30 to 40 foot range. Sure makes it interesting, you never know fron week to week how they will behave.

[ElkTalker]

I didn't see your boat out there- do you still have the Starcraft? I wrote off my trip as due to the lack of time I've spent at Merwin this year, but you usually nail 'em pretty good up there.

aw
I still have the Starcraft, we were fishing the last point before you could see the Dam. The new motor runs great and very smooth.

I plan to spend a lot more time at Mewin this year, there should be some very nice fish up there come July and August.

[honker1]

Wife & I fished Merwin today. Got on the water about 8:30 and decided to fish closer to the dam and was marking several schools of fish. The wind was chopping up the water a little and trolling against the chop was a full time adventure, but made the choice to stick with it. I tried a pink hoochie, but no hits. Wife was using a green WR, with a gold dodge and picked up 2 fish in about 15 minutes, fishing in about 30' of water. Time to change to a green WR with a silver dodger, dropped the downrigger to 35' and I picked up 3 fish in a hour. Thought we were in for a limit day, but the wind died and the sun broke through the cloud cover and then the bite stopped. Fished until 12:30 and only picked up 1 fish after the sun came out.
Ended the day with 6 kokanee in 4 hours, so I was a happy fisherman. Now need to do something about the 3 - 3 tight. I may have to net the wifes fish with a tennis racket. :wink:

[Splash]

I may have to net the wifes fish with a tennis racket. :wink:

Now that was really funny! :applause::applause::applause::D

[ElkTalker]

Three limits today after some help from "Lilbuddy" :thisbig:Thank you!!!

Kok-killers, Apex, spinners, Hoochies, all caught fish, 6am-12:15pm 25'-35'

I lost more fish today then usual. My Apex's and Kok-killer hooks were all tied up at 180 degrees apart and the full hook length below. I had not retied every thing after I changed my spinner hook placement last year. After I lost a few fish on my Apex I put on a hoochie with a closer hook set and the hook in the same direction and we stopped losing fish. Total 15 for 20.

[lilbuddy]

Good fishing Wednesday through Saturday. Same stuff as mentioned before. Question for the heavy thinkers at Merwin is how can the bite be so red hot one minute and then just shut off the next? Several days the early morning bite was really good and then the adventure would begin. Long stretches of no action along with flurries of activity. This would be happening while marking good numbers of fish on the screen. I know you can catch them anytime of the day as we did really well Thursday afternoon with 15 fish in less than 2 hours. I guess the frustrating part is you get somewhat cocky when you see fish on the screen and get one hooked right on schedule and then when it turns off you can troll over a bunch of schools without even a look. My latest theory is if they quit cooperating Im going to the next spot now not 2 hours from now as this seemed to work a time or two.
Sure some dandys this year. Takes some time to not land the little guys but worth it to try to find the bigger ones.

[Fourteen]

Good fishing Wednesday through Saturday. Same stuff as mentioned before. Question for the heavy thinkers at Merwin is how can the bite be so red hot one minute and then just shut off the next? Several days the early morning bite was really good and then the adventure would begin. Long stretches of no action along with flurries of activity. This would be happening while marking good numbers of fish on the screen. I know you can catch them anytime of the day as we did really well Thursday afternoon with 15 fish in less than 2 hours. I guess the frustrating part is you get somewhat cocky when you see fish on the screen and get one hooked right on schedule and then when it turns off you can troll over a bunch of schools without even a look. My latest theory is if they quit cooperating Im going to the next spot now not 2 hours from now as this seemed to work a time or two.
Sure some dandys this year. Takes some time to not land the little guys but worth it to try to find the bigger ones.

Some of the schools you are marking maybe northern pike minnows or they may not be feeding at the time for whatever reason . It 's hard to second guess the Koks in Merwin . I have experienced the same senario as you when fishing the lake . I do agree that early am is generally a good time for the bite to be on for a couple of hrs. or so . I also agree that it 's time to move when they quit cooperating . I will generally give it 30 minutes in an area then go find them again .

[dogrunner]

Monday through Thursday fished morning and some evenings couldn't get anything to bite. Went home with nothing after four days. Tried everything I had with down riggers and with out. Will be back later in June to try again.

[adobe wall]

Good fishing Wednesday through Saturday. Same stuff as mentioned before. Question for the heavy thinkers at Merwin is how can the bite be so red hot one minute and then just shut off the next? Several days the early morning bite was really good and then the adventure would begin. Long stretches of no action along with flurries of activity. This would be happening while marking good numbers of fish on the screen. I know you can catch them anytime of the day as we did really well Thursday afternoon with 15 fish in less than 2 hours. I guess the frustrating part is you get somewhat cocky when you see fish on the screen and get one hooked right on schedule and then when it turns off you can troll over a bunch of schools without even a look. My latest theory is if they quit cooperating Im going to the next spot now not 2 hours from now as this seemed to work a time or two.
Sure some dandys this year. Takes some time to not land the little guys but worth it to try to find the bigger ones.


I'd agree with move if they have lockjaw. I worked some schools for hours last year to no good effect, but when I moved I started catching again. I remember one trip where I spent a long day trying to get that last fish.

Only fished Merwin once this year and also found some schools that clearly would not bite. It helped to go elsewhere, I just wish I'd done it quicker.

Never had any problem getting a pikeminnow to bite, and they usually don't return the same color as kokes on my graph anyways. If I find a cloud of them I'll usually run gear through it once just in case but it never takes two trips through it they are pikeminnows. Heck the eagles have to eat too!

regards, aw

[SteamboatAngler]

Did pretty good today, best so far, we managed to land 9fish all fat fish. talked to alot of people who were running bout 55 to 60 feet, with some luck, we were only at 35 feet and killed em, not a single pike minnow.

[Chuck83]

No pikeminnows because, you were trolling faster.:twocents:

[Dr Strangelove]

6 hrs this morning; one 13 incher and two drive byes. This lake is slowing down. Green apex had the hits at 50ft. Nothing on the wedding ring.

[ORFishingNoob]

Heading out tomorrow all day, will be my 1st time using a ford fender and corn ! We don't have down riggers, so wish us luck LOL ! IF you see 2 fat dudes and 1 beautiful girl enjoying anything they catch, that'll be us !

[P-ride]

Heading out tomorrow all day, will be my 1st time using a ford fender and corn ! We don't have down riggers, so wish us luck LOL ! IF you see 2 fat dudes and 1 beautiful girl enjoying anything they catch, that'll be us !

Good luck! Let us know how you guys do! :excited:

[SteamboatAngler]

Noooo, I had no pike minnows becase they didnt seem to be there. I dont think trolling speed would affect the fish. havent changed out trolling speed since last year, caught tons last year.

[sucker]

The wife and I on the lake at 05:30 caught one kokanee, one pikeminnow, and one trout right off and then nothing for four hours. Tried dodges and flashers with everything in the box and still nothing. Finally in desperation I hooked a four blade willowleaf and green wedding ring which I had replaced the original blade with a colorado #3 brass blade. Attached it to the downrigger and drug it down thirty five feet. At first this didn't work either so I started changing speed; not varied but at 1mph for a few minutes and then 2mph for a few and back to 1mph. This did the trick as fish would hit nearly every time I changed speeds. Caught our last eight kokes in two and one half hours and came home.

[Kokonuts]

Spent most of the day looking for the Kokanee, started on the south side & got one early then nothing. I had decided that I would move around instead of going back in the same area. So I packed up & went all the way down to the dam where we did well last Sat. but nothing there. Moved up to the big bay on the south side about 1/2 mile up from the dam. Picked up 1 more there and moved up again to the houses on the West side of the lake, hooked a couple in the middle of the lake but lost them, so I kept on trolling on the west side, then moved out to the middle of the lake again & got 2 more about 3:00 but by then it was time to go home!

I should of had a limit but lost 3-4 at the boat trying to net them by myself.

I tried several different combos but the brass ford fender with an all pink W.R. & silver blade did the best. I think I got them all with it. I used some orange, orange & green Apex that were good a few weeks ago but no hits today.

The fish down at the dam were down at 50-60 ft. but in the middle of the lake they were at 40 ft. deep.

:D......Kokonuts

[ORFishingNoob]

What an Amazing Day of Fishing we had !
Never having fish Kokes b4, we went to Fishermans, got Ford Fenders, tons of Red wedding rings, Gulp Maggots, Corms, and White + Pink Fire Corn.

Equipped with a bunch of 20 doller polls, we hit the water, and hit it hard ! First couple of hours, caught 1 Squa. Then From 3-5pm it was on FIRE, we Landed 10 Kokes (kept 5), lost 4 at the boat (having no net, we had to try and fling them in, alot of times we flung them over the other side, and back into the water lol) caught 3 trout (landed all of them) and 3 Squa Fish.

We were Estatic when we caught our first one aorund 3, then caught 4 that same hr... We put in at Cresap, went up for about 10 min with the 15hp, fished left bank, caught fight, then saw boats on teh right side, crossed the middle, caught fish there, followed the boats with fish finders around lol, caught nothing ! we then just made big loops around the lake into 2 of the "bay"'s if you will, and caught loads all day, it was a BLAST !

Was nice until around 5:45, started to get windy, so we stayed till 7, then headed out.

We Ranged from Speed 3-5 on my 40LB trolling minn Kota, depending on wind/water chop, speed 3 on flat water caught the most, i would say no more then 2mph. The electric is just more relaxing then the small motor the small boat has on it, easier to catch some ZZZ's inbetween fish =)

Far as Depth, we didn't have any Down Riggers, or Depth Finders... But i would say we were 25-40 feet the majority of the day... We put 3 polls in, one shallow/one mid/one deep, and what ever hit 1st, we put them all that far, it seemed to work well.

We used Ford Fender + Red Wedding Ring... 1 Maggot + 3 piece white corn +1/2 inch of worm, and it worked like a charm ! We tried just magots, or just corn, but putting all 3 seamed to work the best ! Sometimes putting maggot on last, cause its synthetic, it held everything else on.
http://i378.photobucket.com/albums/oo229/ORMOTO/Fishing%20Kokanee/IMG_4696.jpg
http://i378.photobucket.com/albums/oo229/ORMOTO/Fishing%20Kokanee/IMG_4712.jpg
http://i378.photobucket.com/albums/oo229/ORMOTO/Fishing%20Kokanee/IMG_4719.jpg
http://i378.photobucket.com/albums/oo229/ORMOTO/Fishing%20Kokanee/IMG_4722.jpg
http://i378.photobucket.com/albums/oo229/ORMOTO/Fishing%20Kokanee/IMG_4726.jpg
http://i378.photobucket.com/albums/oo229/ORMOTO/Fishing%20Kokanee/IMG_4735.jpg
http://i378.photobucket.com/albums/oo229/ORMOTO/Fishing%20Kokanee/IMG_4764.jpg

[Splash]

An excellent report of a great day of fun on the water Noobs. :applause:

[bassin]

ORfishingNoob:
Now that is a report I was happy to read.
True IFISH sharing. And great Pictures.

[HighSlacker]

Fished yesterday 12:30 to 4:30 2 poles. Started at Koke Bay, with other boats in the area and picked up one, but it looked like all the fish being caught were very small. We picked up went down to the cabin and trolled down past Wood Village with nada so turned around and trolled back up and started picking up fish. Ended up with only 3 keepers but lost many more. Last time out using the same gear we lost only 1. Go figure. Most were caught on Red Apex/shoepeg/dodger at 30 to 35 feet. No Squas. When we got back up to the mouth of Spielyai Bay we were securing our gear to leave and noticed a guy with a boat full of kids trolling around and they were hooking up beyond ridiculous. Looked like they were using Ford fenders fairly close to the boat and at one point they had five fish on within five minutes. Guess I better go get some Ford fenders.

[007SPRIG]

OrFishNoobs

Dude you got to calm down. I can see the net in your boat. Glad you had a great time.

[Stowaway]

OrFishNoobs

Dude you got to calm down. I can see the net in your boat. Glad you had a great time.

The only thing that little net comes in handy for while koke fishing is when your hat blows off into the water...probably did have a better chance flinging them in. Great report and post Noob!

[ORFishingNoob]

OrFishNoobs

Dude you got to calm down. I can see the net in your boat. Glad you had a great time.

The net it pic has holes at bottom, keen eyes tho sprig !

[lilbuddy]

Whats up with the dinks all of a sudden? Took off Friday and hit it. Early am start so ran up to kokanee cove to see if anybody was home and saw quite a lot of activity happening in them there waters. The good news was fish were hitting right off the bat but they were all dinks. Now I dont know about you guys but I feel like trying to loose kokanee just isnt right. After several interesting releases decided to get out of there.
Checked out the log cabin area and found more activity in them there waters. I think mom and dad had sent the kids to kokanee cove as the size of fish was good and was able to finish up with nice sized fish. Saturday morning me and a buddy same spot with same result with a little sorting required. 37 to 42 feet,1.0 to 1.2 mph anise corn and protrolls.
Noticed that there didnt seem to be a fleet of boats in any particular area and can say we did better in the middle of the lake. Schools are showing really well now on finder and for an extra bonus Id say about half the fish yanked the line off the downrigger clip wich dosent happen to me very often. There are really going to be some fat little piggies in there by August!!!!

[Fourteen]

Whats up with the dinks all of a sudden? Took off Friday and hit it. Early am start so ran up to kokanee cove to see if anybody was home and saw quite a lot of activity happening in them there waters. The good news was fish were hitting right off the bat but they were all dinks. Now I dont know about you guys but I feel like trying to loose kokanee just isnt right. After several interesting releases decided to get out of there.
Checked out the log cabin area and found more activity in them there waters. I think mom and dad had sent the kids to kokanee cove as the size of fish was good and was able to finish up with nice sized fish. Saturday morning me and a buddy same spot with same result with a little sorting required. 37 to 42 feet,1.0 to 1.2 mph anise corn and protrolls.
Noticed that there didnt seem to be a fleet of boats in any particular area and can say we did better in the middle of the lake. Schools are showing really well now on finder and for an extra bonus Id say about half the fish yanked the line off the downrigger clip wich dosent happen to me very often. There are really going to be some fat little piggies in there by August!!!!

Thanks for the report . PM sent

[sucker]

The byte at Merwin was hot this morning; the wife and I had our limits of nice fat kokes by 9:30 so we went to Yale and caught 11 pan sized kokes for the smoker.

[ElkTalker]

Fished the lake today with my dad and youngest son, we fished the last bend before you could see the dam in the middle of the lake and the south shore. Out of 15 fish a few were on the light side (12”-13”) with one 10” that I could not shake. Hoochies in any color except pink worked good in the early morning then any spinner with green was hot until we had our limit,( about 10:30am).

We fished all three rod from downriggers between 27’& 40’, I did mark several fish lower but the water is just to cold at 50’ & 60’ to do very well, so I kept it higher.
It was great to finally have a sunny day on the lake. I used a lot of gear that worked last year for me but so fare this year it has been to cloudy,

I saw something today that I have never seen before. The middle rod was being reset after landing a fish and had a setback of 10’. The outside rod went off and my dad let the middle rod sit wile he netted my fish. Another kok came in with mine and I saw it nail the middle rod just 10’ behind the boat in the prop wash.

I think this happened on my last trip also only I did not see the fish hit the lure. It was the same exact setup with the lure just 10’ behind the boat in the prop wash. Both fish were 15”

Go get’em, ET

This was a hot spinner today.!!
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/Crescent_Lake_June_2008_164.jpg (http://www.ifish.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/79977/size/big/cat//ppuser/15535)

[lilbuddy]

ET that reminds me of a time last year that the boss had one on. I went to scoop it with the net and was really suprised when I ended up with 2 nice sized kokanee in the net! Have noticed several times a fish right along side the one that is hooked comeing to the boat but that was the only time netting 2 at once.

[Dr Strangelove]

My favorite is when a hot hooked koke is jumping and lands right in the net - without hooks. It's happened twice to me at Merwin. Almost but not quite as good as when a bald eagle dropped a steelhead at my feet. But that's another story nobody even believes...

Doc

[Splash]

It's happened twice to me at Merwin. Almost but not quite as good as when a bald eagle dropped a steelhead at my feet.


Was it making an offering to a fish god or did it just feel sorry for you? :D

That would be awesome either way (assuming it was clipped). :)

[sucker]

Does anyone know why a 10" Yale koke seems to fight stronger than a 15" Merwin koke. Possibly they eat too much and get fat and lazy like myself.

[FallRiverGuy]

I saw something today that I have never seen before. The middle rod was being reset after landing a fish and had a setback of 10’. The outside rod went off and my dad let the middle rod sit wile he netted my fish. Another kok came in with mine and I saw it nail the middle rod just 10’ behind the boat in the prop wash.


I have heard of this happening before with 15 foot set-back and 5 feet down on the rigger. There might be something to fishing right behind the boat. :idea:

[hookumhi]

My daughter and father in law joined me today for 5hrs we got 8 kokes average was 12" or so and lost 10 LDR's VERY WINDY. The fish hit mainly red and green wedding rings with silver dodger with corn at 34ft on the rigger.

[sucker]

Fished Merwin yesterday from 6:00 to 11:30 when the wind started blowing at the west end of the lake. After 3 hours we had only 2 Pikeminnows to show for our troubles. Marking fish at 40 feet so thought 35 feet down would be good. We finally found the fish at 25 feet and they would not touch the green wedding rings we used with great success on monday. The best color was hot pink with a larger than normal blade (#3 brass hammered colorado.) Water was really clear could see my downrigger ball down to 30 feet; may be the reason for extending the line to 75-80 feet behind the ball. Once we found the combination we caught our limits in short order. Kokes are gaining weight fast average around 15" but real fat; never caught a single dink unless you count the pikeminnows.

[hookumhi]

Oh I forgot to mention I only set mine back 20ft , a coupla times I did set back 45-50 ft it didnt seem to matter. I will be out there again tomorrow with my daughter in a green Boulton hopefully see some ifishers out there. Anyone ever use a Hummdinger? I just picked up a few to try out tomorrow along with some firecorn .

[HighSlacker]

Fished solo 6 to noon. 15", 2 14", 2 11". All on 1.5 red apex w/ anise corn at 40'. must of had 25 hits. Lost a couple nice ones and a few dinks. Absolutley beautiful out on the lake.

[Nathan Bohlmann]

Thanks to the kind angler who advised moving up to three oz’s of lead, my day was a success

One -15, 1-14, 3-11 inchers.

Most caught at 40 feet on green wedding ring, and luh-jensen flashers,

Two smaller ones on downrigger with Sep flasher and red apex, at center of lake, only one near dam
Anise corn and Berkley imitation maggots.

lake clean of debrie. fished from 6 - 12.. wonderful day

[Fourteen]

The wife and I fished the lake the last two days and picked up a total of 10 kokanee . The first day we only caught two & didn't find the fish until about 1 pm . Then the wind came up and it got to difficult to control the boat . The second day the fish were again hard to find the first 3 hrs. . We finally located the schools and netted eight until we left at 11 am . Barbara and I were using green wedding rings & corn both days with gold dodgers . The fish were at 34 ' .

[marthagofish]

Oh I forgot to mention I only set mine back 20ft , a coupla times I did set back 45-50 ft it didnt seem to matter. I will be out there again tomorrow with my daughter in a green Boulton hopefully see some ifishers out there. Anyone ever use a Hummdinger? I just picked up a few to try out tomorrow along with some firecorn .

I will be up there tomorrow and plan on trying a green humdinger.
I'll be in a Hunter green drift boat with another ifisher and our spouses.

Hope the wind doesn't come up too early tomorrow.

[hookumhi]

On the Water by 6am off by 1030 Lots of Lake Lice . VERY SLOW :passout:for us today finally got my daughter on a coupla dinks by using a pink hoochie and chrome dodger at 50ft. If I had read your post earlier marthagofish I'd have come by to see how your catching was ,hopefully you did better than us.:cheers:

[ElkTalker]

I will be at the lake fishing tomorrow the 4th -10th (except sunday), AM mostly but my boat is big enough that the lake lice don’t bother me. If you see me say hi.

Also I would love to have a pic of my boat out on the water, so IF you see me and IF you have a camera take a pic of my boat and I will send you a couple spinners for your troubles.

Good luck to all, ET
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/toter_A.JPG (http://www.ifish.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/80148/size/big/cat//ppuser/15535)

[ElkTalker]

Just a quick report from Saturday July 4th, I fished the same area down towards the dam with an old friend and our four boys all under the age of 10. I fished three rods 35’- 45’ deep with Green, red and blue spinners tipped with Gulp Maggots. The surface temp was 67 degrees.

All four boys caught there limit and I left my last one in the lake. My friend could only watch the madness as he did not stop to pick up his license. We lost 7 fish near the boat or on the surface, one broke the leader after diving under the net and hitting the prop

We left the dock at 6:00am and were back by noon. The fishing was slow but steady in the morning but picked up quickly by 10:00. It was the perfect example for why I bring two and sometimes three nets when I kokanee fish.

Good luck, ET

p.s I still have all week!!!:meme:

[sucker]

How were the jet skis and wakeboard boats; didn't go this weekend as I thought it would be really bad.

[sucker]

The wife and I fished Merwin this morning; 9 kokes and 1 trout took 6 hours today. The water is starting to get warm 65+ degrees at surface. Two downriggers one at 25' and one at 45'; both caught fish. I caught one fish that looked just like the normal kokanee but had large spots on it's back the back color was much darker than kokanee I have caught at Merwin. The fish looked like a Coho; a fat 14"; never herd of land locked coho but it did not look like a sockeye. Definitly a salmon and not Chinook; I will smoke and eat it like it was a Kokanee.

[magoo54]

i also fished merwin today, got kinda wet . i did catch 4 fish 3 squaw fish and 1 nice kokanee, i liked what i saw lots of fish on the screen but the bite was not on . will be back . magoo:D

[HighSlacker]

We fished 11 to 6, 2 rods. 8 kokes 4@15" and the rest 11" to 12". All at 40' off the riggers. Most were caught in the middle of the lake by the village. My red apex that accounted for a limit last week only got 3 of the smaller fish and few hits. The larger fish were all caught on a green wedding ring, which had pretty steady hits all afternoon. Don't these fish realize they are supposed to hit the same lures week to week?

[sucker]

Fished Merwin yesterday with my brother and his grandson: 6:00am to 11:30am. Got 14 nice kokes and one 9" dink which I kept as it was bleading. Two downriggers at 35-40 feet and one flat line with 2oz and 80 feet out; 2 fish on the flat line. Pink wedding ring worked best. The lake is getting low; now 8' below full pool. Not sure why the lake is down as Swift and Yale are still near full. Nice day on the lake and didn't get soaked like on Monday. Fifteen nice kokes in the smoker now can't wait until they are done; :throb: smoked Kokanee.

[hookumhi]

Got a late start yesterday , we went 4 for 14 , lots of unbuttoning :passout: Saw ElkTalker and family out there and they seemed to be having a blast. Nice to meet a fellow Ifisher on the water:cheers:

[sucker]

First attempt at uploading photos; hope it works!

Fifteen Kokanee ready for the smoker:

My favorite Merwin kokanee lure, has been responsible for the death of more than 50 kokanee in the last month.

My most productive Kokanee lures.

[Fourteen]

I fished the lake on Wed. with two of my freinds and we limited out in about 9 hrs. of fishing . The Kokanee were caught using silver and red flashers , a silver & red dodger , and green wedding rings . My friend Bruce was putting out a banana weight @ about a 100 pulls and my other friend Robert and I were using downriggers betweem 30 & 50 ' Anise corn did the trick . The fish started turning on about 10 am . I don 't know why the bite has been late on the water . Last year they were feeding early in the morning . We could have slept in but it 's always good to get a decent spot in the parking lot .

[joemomma]

First attempt at uploading photos; hope it works!

Fifteen Kokanee ready for the smoker:

My favorite Merwin kokanee lure, has been responsible for the death of more than 50 kokanee in the last month.

My most productive Kokanee lures.

I like your spinners! I that upper hook free floating or tied?

[P-ride]

Hit Merwin for the first time this year with my buddy and his dad. It was the first time his dad was able to use his new downriggers and was pleased with their effectiveness. We didn't like the forecast that had a threat of rain, but we went out anyway and were rewarded with a dry, mostly cloudy day with the sun peeking out later in the afternoon.

We fished from about 7am-4pm. We tried several different spots in an attempt to find the fish. We didn't do too bad for our first time out with year with 12 fish for 3 rods. With only 2 downriggers, the one rod out the back was set up with 3oz of lead and different amounts of line out, but I never could really tell what depth it was fishing at. We found fish anywhere from 35' earlier in the day all the way down to some biggies down at 60'. We lost a few "big" fish after they did some aerial manuevers and shook the hooks. We also had one fish launch at least 3' out of the water only to be nabbed by our netman!

We did see and talk to Elktalker out there who was straight up putting on a clinic! They were limited out in short order, but were friendly enough to share info as well as some good fun! Good meeting you ET! All in all, a great day to spend on the water with friends. The kokanee dinner that followed sure was nice too! See you guys out there again next week!

[ORFishingNoob]

First attempt at uploading photos; hope it works!

Fifteen Kokanee ready for the smoker:

My favorite Merwin kokanee lure, has been responsible for the death of more than 50 kokanee in the last month.

My most productive Kokanee lures.

Wow those fish look good ! I've never had smoked koke, is it heaven sent ?

Also thanks for the heads up on those lures, gonna have to give them a shot

[HighSlacker]

From now until Sept. when the kokes are 50' or deeper do you guys use the same lures (apex, spinners, hoochie)or is there a "go to" lure or color for deep fishing?

[sucker]

I like your spinners! I that upper hook free floating or tied?

The upper hooks are free floating; when the koke starts spinning and twisting when hooked by the first hook it usually gets the other hook anchored somwere else. It's real hard for them to get loose. The hooks need to be very sharp and the correct shape; some folks bend the cheaper hooks but I buy #4 mustard ultrapoint hooks; expensive but for me they land more fish.

[sucker]

Wow those fish look good ! I've never had smoked koke, is it heaven sent ?

Also thanks for the heads up on those lures, gonna have to give them a shot
I have smoked nearly every kind of fish that swims in our northwest waters and in my opinion Sockeye are the best; some are close but none better. Very oily fish so it doesn't turn dry when smoked. The bonus is that is just chocked full of those omega #3 fatty acids that your doctor is alwayse wanting you to consume.

[magoo54]

4th day on merwin , cowbells did the trick with red wedding ring . caught my limit in about 4 hours, 14 to15 inches was the average size .

[ElkTalker]

We had a great time this last week fishing and playing with the kids on the lake.

We did manage to catch several limits every day but Monday and Thursday we really had to work for them.

They dropped the level of the lake way down; not sure how this affected the fishing, some told me it made the fishing better and some told me it completely killed the fishing. I’m sure it affected the fishery just not sure how.

If I had to pick just one lure as the best lure for the week it would be a green wedding ring. All day every day we had a green wedding ring on at least one rod.

We fished three rod from downriggers most of the time until the wind picked up then we only fished two. I also had a fourth rod at times dropped over the side with a 6# ball on a 1/8” rope set down to 25’. We did catch a few nice fish at 25’ on Monday from the rope but after several small fish Tuesday and Wednesday I pulled the rope and just used the downriggers set between 37’- 57’.

I fished all over the lake and caught fish in water from 90’ -160’

The morning bite was hit and miss but after noon was very consistent. I did very well around 1:00pm and 4:00pm.

Gulp Maggots are the only bait I have fished this year and I see no reason to change. I will say I like chartreuse or pink over white or the natural color.

It was great to meet P-ride and a few other ifishers out on the water and share a few hot spots. “Cosby” is new to ifish but has fished Merwin for years and is a really nice guy. I hope he chimes in from time to time.

Hookumhi was leaving when he came by to say hi. I was exploring new areas of the lake closer to the ramp and he pointed me in the direction of a spot he had fished before. We landed 8 big kokes in just over an hour and returned the next evening for another 5 with a friend who had left his trolling motor at home and could not troll slow enough. THANKS “Hookumhi” it was a great evening spot.

The trip went well until I left for home. Just a short ways past Amboy The toterhome blew (I think a head gasket) and left me sitting on the side of the road for hours wile “Triple A” took there time getting a tow truck. My dad came to pick up the boat and offered to stay wile I took the boat and my daughter to town. It turned out to be a 12 hour ordeal and just after midnight I picked him up from the repair shop where we left the rig. :passout:
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/6091_1023996899211_1803927450_48448_6663767_n.jpg (http://www.ifish.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/103231/size/big/cat//ppuser/15535)
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/untitled13.jpg (http://www.ifish.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/103286/size/big/cat//ppuser/15535)

I plan to be out on the lake this next week after I get some work done.:meme:
ET

[sucker]

Sorry to hear about the motor home ElkTalker. The wife and I saw you down by the last point toward the dam on monday; was going to take a picture of your boat on the water but forgot my camera. Also fished tuesday with brother and his grandson and again thursday with my wife. The water was down 9' on thursday and I think it just scattered the fish as we never caught more then one in any particular spot. Covered a lot of lake to get our limits on thursday. Didn't see you on tuesday or thursday. We did the 5:00am shift so we were done early. I had brought my camera;forgot to take picturs of the fish as usual.

[cosby]

Really nice meeting ElkTalker last Tuesday and I did manage to take a few pictures of his boat "on the water", and forwarded to him (nice boat, nice guy).
Fished Tuesday and Thursday and had exceptional days, both days. Lots of fish in the freezer so I released everything, both days. 90% of the fish were 14 inches, in 100-150 feet of water @ 47 feet deep. Was supposed to take my Grandson on Thursday, but something came up and he couldn't go, so I went anyway. Started fishing at about 7:30 and had 5 fish in the boat (released unharmed) by 8:30. The rest of the morning was very productive and probably caught 20 fish. The "bite" turned off about noon, and so did I. Going back up tomorrow and again on Wednesday (21' Green ThunderJet). Don't understand the water level thing. For the longest time Merwin was 2-3 feet below full pool, then about 1 1/2 weeks ago they (PP&L) started dropping. The low point was Friday (231'), 9 feet below full pool and yesterday and today its started to rise. I'd love to know what effect (if any) that has on "the bite"?

Cosby

[HighSlacker]

ET Do you scent your gulp maggots?

[ElkTalker]

ET Do you scent your gulp maggots?

Funny you should ask, I had a small jar that was almost completely empty and I left the lid off for a day or two. I added kok-special to revive the jar and caught several fish with it. I’m not sure if I would say it worked better the just plain maggots but it did work.

I also added anise to a few to see if I could catch fish with it and we did.

Good luck ET

[6wapiti6]

Fished Sunday am (6:30 to 11:30) managed to scratch out a limit, but it was tough. 3 in the 10- 11 range and 2 just over 15. I forgot how much different it was to fish solo, didn't have the 3 or 4 rods to experiment with that I normally do. I did best with a Green shasta scorpion spinner and sling blade dodger at 45 ft, weddings rings & flashers didn't get a bump all day unless you like pikeminnows! Here's a couple of fish with the spinner.
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/merwinkoks.JPG

[Bluknight]

[QUOTE=6wapiti6;2623704]Fished Sunday am (6:30 to 11:30) managed to scratch out a limit, but it was tough. 3 in the 10- 11 range and 2 just over 15. I forgot how much different it was to fish solo, didn't have the 3 or 4 rods to experiment with that I normally do. I did best with a Green shasta scorpion spinner and sling blade dodger at 45 ft, weddings rings & flashers didn't get a bump all day unless you like pikeminnows! Here's a couple of fish with the spinner.

Thanks for the report. I love the big fatty koke! Headed up there tomorrow (maybe Yale) will see what I can get going. You fishing any bait on the spinner?

[6wapiti6]

Shoepeg corn soaked in Procure kokanee special.

[HighSlacker]

My son and a couple of his buds fished yesterday afterrnoon (I had yardwork) in the drizzle and the bite was on. They got three limits in 4 hrs. A few 11's on up to one massive 16 incher. Anything green with anise corn worked.

[toomanydenny]

We had a great time this last week fishing and playing with the kids on the lake.

We did manage to catch several limits every day but Monday and Thursday we really had to work for them.

They dropped the level of the lake way down; not sure how this affected the fishing, some told me it made the fishing better and some told me it completely killed the fishing. I’m sure it affected the fishery just not sure how.

If I had to pick just one lure as the best lure for the week it would be a green wedding ring. All day every day we had a green wedding ring on at least one rod.

We fished three rod from downriggers most of the time until the wind picked up then we only fished two. I also had a fourth rod at times dropped over the side with a 6# ball on a 1/8” rope set down to 25’. We did catch a few nice fish at 25’ on Monday from the rope but after several small fish Tuesday and Wednesday I pulled the rope and just used the downriggers set between 37’- 57’.

I fished all over the lake and caught fish in water from 90’ -160’

The morning bite was hit and miss but after noon was very consistent. I did very well around 1:00pm and 4:00pm.

Gulp Maggots are the only bait I have fished this year and I see no reason to change. I will say I like chartreuse or pink over white or the natural color.

It was great to meet P-ride and a few other ifishers out on the water and share a few hot spots. “Cosby” is new to ifish but has fished Merwin for years and is a really nice guy. I hope he chimes in from time to time.

Hookumhi was leaving when he came by to say hi. I was exploring new areas of the lake closer to the ramp and he pointed me in the direction of a spot he had fished before. We landed 8 big kokes in just over an hour and returned the next evening for another 5 with a friend who had left his trolling motor at home and could not troll slow enough. THANKS “Hookumhi” it was a great evening spot.

The trip went well until I left for home. Just a short ways past Amboy The toterhome blew (I think a head gasket) and left me sitting on the side of the road for hours wile “Triple A” took there time getting a tow truck. My dad came to pick up the boat and offered to stay wile I took the boat and my daughter to town. It turned out to be a 12 hour ordeal and just after midnight I picked him up from the repair shop where we left the rig. :passout:
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/6091_1023996899211_1803927450_48448_6663767_n.jpg (http://www.ifish.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/103231/size/big/cat//ppuser/15535)
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/untitled13.jpg (http://www.ifish.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/103286/size/big/cat//ppuser/15535)

I plan to be out on the lake this next week after I get some work done.:meme:
ET

:D Nice boat Elk Talker ... I have an open bowed Starcraft and fish Merwin often. I will troll by and introduce sometime.. Nothing better than kids @ fishin..... Can't beat that... :applause:

[Shifty 1]

Dead today, tried several different depths and threw the box at them. Maybe I need to try some new tactics?

[Captain Pescado]

We fished Sunday the 12th from about 0630 to 1230. 3 rods with 11 fish in the boat and 4 lost at the end of the day. Fish appeared to be somewhat scattered. We did best from 35 to 55 feet in depth. Most fish were on hoochies with a few on pink and green wedding rings. Gulp maggots on all hooks. Hope that helps someone.

Captain Pescado

[honker1]

I fished Merwin from the dam to Speelyia Bay. Fished from 8:00 to 4:00 and only had one kokanee and 5 pike minnows to show for the day of fishing. I tried every color in the rainbow with wedding rings and pink hoochies. Even tried back trolling and jigging, no luck. Talked with other fisherman in the afternoon, and it seemed that most had 1 fish per pole. Maybe the people that limited went home in the morning. Did see a few nets, but not like I would like to see. I was getting so desperate I thought about hooking the tackle box to the downrigger and let the fish pick their own lurer. So get out there tomorrow morning, because the bite is overdue.:pray:

[ElkTalker]

Fished the lake today after work from 4:30pm – 8:30 pm three rods in the water 12 fish in the boat but I released two little ones. Not a real hot bite but we did double a few times.

The wind was fairly strong and it was difficult to stay on fish.

If I can make a helpful suggestion; don’t spend a lot of time trolling directly into the sun. Especially in the evening as the sun is setting. Your dodgers will reflect way less light and the fish have a hard time seeing your lure. Also when fishing in wind don’t fight it, motor up and troll with the wind. This makes it a lot easer.

Honker1, I was fishing the same area you saw me in the last time I saw you on the lake only closer towards the bank down by the last point.

Good luck ET

Nine of the twelve koks came in on this spinner http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/Wickiup_Res_June_2008_056.jpg (http://www.ifish.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/81336/size/big/cat//ppuser/15535)

[sucker]

Fished Merwin yesterday morning; a good day of fishing. Got our limits by 10:00am. All fish caught at 45 feet; water temp 68 deg at surface. Got one dink; the rest were 14" and 15". We did have a problem when we got back to the ramp; took a long time to get the boat out of the water. The lot was full of wake boarders, ski boats, and jet skis waiting to launch. Some didn't want to wait so they were just crowding in. One wake boarder just pulled in and backed down between two other rigs; nearly hitting both. Once he had his boat in the water he tied it up across the lane and began going back an fourth to his hummer and loading his coolers of beer. I was thinking why couldn't he load his beer in the boat before launching and how much beer does one need for an afternoon on the lake.

[jzell]

I would have pointed out the no alcohol rule at the lake.....

then asked him for a beer to keep quiet. :cheers:

jz

[honker1]

To back when he left that he had 4 flat tires.

[sucker]

I would have pointed out the no alcohol rule at the lake.....

then asked him for a beer to keep quiet. :cheers:

jz

Couldn't do that as I was floating around in the middle of the bay waiting for my chance to get up to the dock. It is amazing what you see watching a buisy boat ramp for 45 minutes. Not sure the coolers had beer in them; may be just the sun and me wishing for a cold beer. I am talking about 4 cool dudes (one with green and gold hair) and an 18-20 foot wake board boat; the two heavy coolers were most likely full of milk and cookies.

[Splash]

...the two heavy coolers were most likely full of milk and cookies.


:laugh::laugh::laugh:

[P-ride]

Late report. Fished Wednesday from 7:30-4:00 with my buddy Matt and his neighbor kid Brandon. Brandon has been asking to fish with us for some time, so we decided to show him what Merwin was all about.

It was one of the tougher days of fishing for me at Merwin. We never saw a decent bite for a particular area or time of day. We trolled all over from the cove, to the oppositte bank to the last point before turning towards the dam. We got the first one in the boat less than 10 minutes into our troll and thought it was be a good day, but we went through long droughts without touching fish.

One strange thing is that we had way more hits that didn't stick than I'm used to at Merwin. I always have a few that come off during the fight or whatnot, but lots of pretty good bites on the downriggers that when you pulled it off the clip, there was nothing there. In any case we ended up with 8 kokes for the day. Most fish came on a green wedding ring or all glow spinner anywhere from 35-50' on the downriggers.

Here's Brandon with his first ever kokanee:
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/00137.JPG

And the last fish of the day, which also happened to be the biggest. This guy took some line and came out of the water a few times before we got him into the net!
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/00628.JPG

See ya guys on the water!

[dbuechler]

WAY TO GO. A good looking KOK. Hope that you saved somed for me, will be out there SUNDAY

[Fourteen]

Fished the lake Fri with a friend and caught nine nice ones by noon . After that we trolled another 3 hrs. for the last quality fish which was never found . Six of the nine were caught on a dark green handmade wedding ring with a gold dodger . The other three hit a black/green wedding ring with a red & silver dodger . We were fishing in 45' range and most were caught by the dam .

[BeaverBoy]

Can anyone give me any information on the Lake Merwin Campers Hideout?

[cosby]

Here's a link to Lake Merwin Camper's Hideaway

[Raining_Kings]

Went Sunday and with three rods fishing, took 7 hours to get only 6 fish! Also lost about that many on the way to the boat. Still a nice day, and broke in a new Kokanee fisherman that hopefully got the trunk skunk off him! Good news, is they were pretty meaty for Kokanee. Compared to the Yale dinks they looked much nicer.

Lake was down about 3' from rim, still very pretty. Wind kinda sucked though. Red wedding ring was the only reliable thing that worked for us. Didn't venture more than 10 minute boat ride from bay. Probably should have moved sooner to find more schools. The one second place we did try, closer to the dam, was "unproductive" for us after a 15 minute troll - however when we pulled the 2 lines we were fishing in, we both had a whitefish on them. Hard to catch Kokanee with Whitefish for bait. We were tired by then and took it as a sign to head for the barn.

Thank goodness there was a "ranger" at the bay ramp. Lot's of newbee's launching/loading rec boats. Last time for me this summer I think, will wait till cold weather keeps the rec boaters home with their entertainment systems.

-= Scott

[sucker]

The wife and I just got back from Merwin this afternoon with ten nice kokes. Really tough day took from 5:30am to 2:00pm to get them. The biggest problem was the pikeminnows are really active now; we caught fifteen of the little buggers. Some times you couldn't even tell they were there until you decided to check bait or change gear. The water temp on the surface was 71 deg. I lowered my thermometer down on the downrigger and the water temp is 61 deg at 50 feet. I would have went down further but thats all the wire I have on my thermometer. Caught all fish at 50 feet down. Marked most fish down 70 feet or better; not much light down that low to iluminate your offering. Just trolled around until I could see a cloud of plankton that came above 50 feet and trolled back and foruth through it; this is what got us our limits.

[sucker]

We fished Merwin again this morning; much better than Monday. Water cooler at surface: 66 deg. Got a late start but still done by 11:30. The hot rig today was a 0/0 les davis nickel/brass dodger followed by a pink spin-n-glow fished at 45 and 50 feet. Three of the fish we got were over 17".

[cosby]

We fished Merwin again this morning; much better than Monday. Water cooler at surface: 66 deg. Got a late start but still done by 11:30. The hot rig today was a 0/0 les davis nickel/brass dodger followed by a pink spin-n-glow fished at 45 and 50 feet. Three of the fish we got were over 17".

Over 17"........... Congratulations!

[sucker]

Thanks for the congrats but I think the big fish will be forced down to where they are really hard to get to in the upcomming week with the hot weather. They have been dumping a lot of water into merwin from Swift and Yale; think this is the reason for lower water temps. I ordered some UV dodgers and lures hoping to get some big fish after they have been forced deeper by the temp. UV should be visible much deeper; I am not yet convinced but I am willing to try.

[adobe wall]

maybe put together an all glow wedding ring for deeper water. I've had good success with one at Merwin.

I'm still pretty skeptical of the whole UV thing too, but have definitely had success with glow wedding rings. You pretty much have to build them yourself but that's not difficult, glo beads and glo spinner blades.

aw

[sucker]

It is a fact that shorter wave length light such as blues and greens will penetrate deeper so the theroy of UV is sound. I know the human eye is most sensitive green but we can not see UV. We only know it's there by the sunburn from too much exposure. The question is can fish see UV; since I don't talk fish I cna't ask. The glow is a good idea but need to be recharged periodicly or it will soon go dark at depth below 60 feet. I use glow beads on all my home made Kokanee lures to seperate the hooks. In lite of my ignorance on fish vision I plan on trying a variety of UV dodgers/flashers/spinners and terminal lures to see if the theroy holds water.

[P-ride]

maybe put together an all glow wedding ring for deeper water. I've had good success with one at Merwin.

I'm still pretty skeptical of the whole UV thing too, but have definitely had success with glow wedding rings. You pretty much have to build them yourself but that's not difficult, glo beads and glo spinner blades.

aw

Yeah I like the all glow spinners too. One accounted for our largest fish a week ago and some big fish in the past as well. All glo blades in the small sizes can be tricky to find, but they are available online.

I am very curious about UV with all the hype it got this springer season. I think I may have to experiment with it and see what kind of results it produces. I think the theory is sound at least...

AW, when we going after them kokes??? :D

[flatfishhunter]

[QUOTE=adobe wall;2641612]maybe put together an all glow wedding ring for deeper water. I've had good success with one at Merwin.

I could use some expert advise. I'm planning on taking my daughter and her friend fishing this coming Sunday at Merwin (or possibly Yale). As I haven't fished much for Kokes, I would appreciate hearing what to use, and where to use it. We will be fishing from a boat w/ downriggers.

AW, could you please explain exactly how you build an all glow wedding ring? Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Rod

[Fourteen]

Go early and leave before noon. The pleasure craft traffic is heavy this time of year on weekends , especially taking out at the dock . The gate opens @ 5 am . If you look at the posts the last couple of weeks on the board you will get a pretty good idea of what gear to use and depth to fish at . I have had good luck with anything green on for the terminal gear. I also have been using gold dodgers . Move around the lake if you are not into fish . I usually give it 20 min. to a half hr. at one spot . If no fish , I motor to a new location . Corn laced with anise has worked well on my hooks. A rubber net with an extention on it works well in netting a fish . You will spend a lot less time getting back into the water once you have brought a fish into your boat . I did a number of trips with AW last year which helped me out quite a bit .

[adobe wall]

[QUOTE=adobe wall;2641612]

AW, could you please explain exactly how you build an all glow wedding ring? Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Rod

P-ride could probably answer it better as he had the first ones I saw used. I just started out with a two hook rig like most of us use on wedding rings. Go to Fishermen's Marine and they have glow beads and usually have some loose spinner blades in glow colors. Buy the beads in a couple graduated sizes, then one of those plastic clevises for the spinner blade, then put your blade on. You're building your own wedding ring with loose beads, that's all.

You can buy glo paint at fishermen's, also, and that will work okay on a small blade if you can't buy them prepainted. I like substituting a corky for the actual roudelle (wedding ring band) in the middle of the bead stackup. Corkies have better colors than beads- the fluorescent corkies really are bright and glo corkies glo brighter than glo beads.

You can also walk over to the walleye section, there are usually walleye worm harnesses that already have hooks and glo blades on them, then just substitute the beads to your liking.

hth, aw

[flatfishhunter]

Thank you both for your helpful responses. Looks like it's back to Fisherman's marine again.

AW, funny that you mentioned the walleye rigs. I was looking at some of mine earlier today, and was wondering why they wouldn't work. Would a size 4 hook be about right?

As far as dogers go, anyone having any luck with sling blades? Several people mentioned gold dodgers. What size or brand seem to work best?

Thanks again,
Rod

[adobe wall]

As far as dogers go, anyone having any luck with sling blades? Several people mentioned gold dodgers. What size or brand seem to work best?

Thanks again,
Rod

I bought a bunch of Sling Blades that were on closeout last year, gave away a few on this board after running them with no luck last summer. I even ran them behind the camera and they just don't swim or attract fish, at least the way I fish them. When I ran a traditional shaped dodger behind the camera it had much better action and pulled in fish.

Some folks have recommended putting more bend in them or trolling faster, but I'm thinking that if they don't work, I'm not gonna put a lot of effort into them when I have something that does.

Sep's or Gold Star dodgers are money.

aw

[Fourteen]

Thank you both for your helpful responses. Looks like it's back to Fisherman's marine again.

AW, funny that you mentioned the walleye rigs. I was looking at some of mine earlier today, and was wondering why they wouldn't work. Would a size 4 hook be about right?

As far as dogers go, anyone having any luck with sling blades? Several people mentioned gold dodgers. What size or brand seem to work best?

Thanks again,


Rod

I use 4/0 dodgers "Gold" Seps and Lure Jenson . My leaders are no longer than 10 " . I bend each end of the dodger a little more than they come from the factory . I have outfished everyone else in my boat using dodgers & green terminal gear the last two times out .

[Hookachinook]

Fished the lake today after work from 4:30pm – 8:30 pm three rods in the water 12 fish in the boat but I released two little ones. Not a real hot bite but we did double a few times.

The wind was fairly strong and it was difficult to stay on fish.

If I can make a helpful suggestion; don’t spend a lot of time trolling directly into the sun. Especially in the evening as the sun is setting. Your dodgers will reflect way less light and the fish have a hard time seeing your lure. Also when fishing in wind don’t fight it, motor up and troll with the wind. This makes it a lot easer.

Honker1, I was fishing the same area you saw me in the last time I saw you on the lake only closer towards the bank down by the last point.

Good luck ET

Nine of the twelve koks came in on this spinner http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/Wickiup_Res_June_2008_056.jpg (http://www.ifish.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/81336/size/big/cat//ppuser/15535)
Was this spinner down and dirty or did you put anything on the hook?

[P-ride]

The all glow spinner I use was shown to me by another ifisher. I just use all glow beads and spinner blade. Sometimes the smaller beads can be tough to find, but you can find them online easily. My spinner has beads in sizes 2mm,3mm,4mm,5mm,4mm,3mm,2mm.

I've also used sling blade dodgers, but for me they only produce limited success. They do seem to do a little better at the higher speeds and I like to match the color of the sling blade to the color of the lure I'm using. But just as AW and Fourteen have said, I do much better with 4/0 seps or Luhr Jensen or even Vance's tackle style dodgers(they all seem to be about the same shape and size.) My best dodger is a half/half one that is pretty money.

[Splash]

Did someone say glow?


http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/globeads.jpg (http://www.ifish.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/70680/size/big/cat//ppuser/4642)


http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/kokrig.jpg (http://www.ifish.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/71825/size/big/cat//ppuser/4642)


You can find super glow beads on line and probably in some stores. They come in colors and are much brighter/last longer than those pictured but do not come in smaller sizes as of yet (at least not that I could find). Those pictured are 3, 4, 5, 6mm and a #1 french blade.

The second pic has been a money set-up at Merwin on many previous occasions. My experience has been that the pikeminnows love white but don't bother the glow too much and kokes love glow.

[Whaler]

Fished Merwin on Sunday with a friend of mine. We were on the water at 7AM and had our limit at 12:30. Took over an hour to get that last fish but it was a nice 14" one so worth it. A quick swim at 12:35 and we were heading back to the ramp. AM set up was pink/purple flash sling blade with red wedding ring about 16" behind it. Silver blade and small glow beads on each end of the wedding ring. Hooks tipped with corn. After bite slowed down at about 11 in the AM I switched over to a 1/2 silver/brass dodger followed by a small pink hootchie to pick up the last fish. Downriggers were set at 50 to 55 feet. My friend is now a firm believer of downriggers so I'm sure that trip up to the lake cost him several hundred dollars. LOL
Next weekend we are going to chase some Coho out of Newport. Hopefully we can keep the mojo alive.

[P-ride]

I'm glad you posted those pics Splash. Thanks again for sharing. Those spinners have accounted for many good sized kokanee the past 2 years!

[flatfishhunter]

Splash, nice photos. I'd like to make some up, and am wondering what size hooks would be good, and how long of a leader to use between the dodger and spinner. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Rod

[Splash]

I'll be brief so as to not venture too far off thread topic.

Pictured spinners are #4 gami octopus hooks and roughly 28" 8lb maxima ug leader. I do vary some in hook style with the drop shot and will sometimes go to a #2 hook size. I skip the wedding band on glow spinners since the low light conditions for using glow won't result in much sparkle.

This Elk Talker spinner would look great in a super glow version.

http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/Wickiup_Res_June_2008_056.jpg (http://www.ifish.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/81336/size/big/cat//ppuser/15535)


OK sorry that wasn't so brief. :redface:

P-ride, are you sure it wasn't just some of that killer stinky corn you brew up?

[cosby]

Fished Merwin today. First boat in the lot and on the lake (5:00AM), wanted to beat the weather. Water temperature at 5:30AM was 76 degree's and when I got off the water at noon it was 79 degree's. I was surprised that the fish were at 50 feet. First two hours were hotter than a pistol, then it cooled the rest of the morning, with fish still hanging in the 45-60 degree range.

[ElkTalker]

Easy 20 fish boat limit today. Late start 10:00am and finished by 1:00pm
Green or Green and red spinners with Gulp Maggots behind dodgers or bent Sling Blades. The boys netted most of the fish so we could have been done alot sooner. One fish over 16" and a few 11" the rest 14" or so.

Go get'em ET

[P-ride]

ET-it looks like you have this kokanee thing dialed! Way to go. I hope one day to learn directly from the master...

Splash-I do like to use stinky corn, but it seems like these Gulp Maggots are becoming the hot ticket...

[lilbuddy]

Saturday and Sunday report was good. 3 to 4 hours for the boss and I to get it done. Had to do some sorting as there continues to be a bunch of dinks mixed in with the bigger ones. After a fairly good slow stretch Sunday gave up on the orange prottrolls and tied on the old green wedding rings and had one heck of a bite down by Wood Village. Most fish were 55 to 60 feet for us. Must not be useing the maggots right as stinky corn still seems to do better for us.

[Hookachinook]

Bride and I fished Merwin from 9:00 till 4:00 without much success. Only 5 total; two at 14" other 3 rinkydinks but kept them anyway.Marked lots of fish at 50-60' but few had their mouths open! Tried all the tricks; various scented corns, Pautkes, marshmellows, maggots and wedding rings. Several types of flashers. Used downriggers too. All-in-all, a sucking day, unusual for me at Merwin. Others fishing had a rough day too. I THINK they might have been screwing around with the water levels as the lake seemed lower than usual. Surface water temp at 76 degrees.

[cosby]

Bride and I fished Merwin from 9:00 till 4:00 without much success. Only 5 total; two at 14" other 3 rinkydinks but kept them anyway.Marked lots of fish at 50-60' but few had their mouths open! Tried all the tricks; various scented corns, Pautkes, marshmellows, maggots and wedding rings. Several types of flashers. Used downriggers too. All-in-all, a sucking day, unusual for me at Merwin. Others fishing had a rough day too. I THINK they might have been screwing around with the water levels as the lake seemed lower than usual. Surface water temp at 76 degrees.

This might be a helpful link, to check lake levels (Merwin, Yale and Swift) before you go. And you're right they have been dropping the lake level for about a week now.

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/productview.php?pil=RVMPQR

[Fourteen]

The wife and I fished Merwin today from 6 :30 am until about 1 pm when we limited out . Half of the fish were caught on a pink spin glow with glow beads separating the hooks . The remaining 4 fish were landed using white glow beads and blades .The last one hit a leader with colored yellow & green glow beads and a white glow spinner blade . The northern pike minnows were very active when we arrived this am . Barbara and I must have hooked two or more for every Kokanee caught . Anything green generally has worked well on the lake this year but my wife couldn 't keep the trash fish off that set up for a good part of the day when I was mostly catching Kokanne with the pink spin glow . We were trolling with plain gold & half & half dodgers along with anise corn in 50 - 55 ' of water.

I am pretty well convinced that the fish have feeding cycles after trolling the lake a # of times this year depending upon water levels , temperature & etc. etc. . Today it was hot the first 2 hrs. then steady but slow bites for the remainder of the time we were fishing . Earlier in the season the bite was intermittent throughout the day for us & it didn 't always happen early in the morning .

[ElkTalker]

Fished Merwin today from 3:PM-7:30 for a 20 fish boat limit. The cloud cover and the depth of fish around 60' made it almost mandatory to use glow or UV lures after about 4:30.

The fish are not as spread out as they were last week but in small schools. My best advice for a quick limit is to find a school and pull circle on them until you load the boat.

Last week we were seeing about a third of our fish in the 11"-12" range today it was a little better with only 4 small fish and most around 14" two that pushed 16"

I also caught a few fish on a couple R&K hoochies. I put a lime green on then I put a custom color pink UV that I had Robbie do up for me both on the line at the same time,(one right on top of the other so it looked like one big hoochie) We picked up the last two real fast with it. Next time I will start with that hoochie set up!!

ET

[2dognite]

Fished Friday 8/7 with my wife and daughter. Marked fish from 35' to 65'. Caught one at 35', 8 at 45' and one at 65'. The one at 65' was the largest koke I have ever caught. It taped out at 17 1/2". All of the fish we caught were 14" to 16". All fish were caught on wr's that I alternated chartruese and glow beads with a silver blade on a 10" leader. We used glup maggots and marinated corn. Hey ET, have you been catching any *********? We ended up catching quite a few.

2dognite

[ElkTalker]

. Hey ET, have you been catching any *********? We ended up catching quite a few.

2dognite
A few every day like 3-6 in the last few weeks.

[adobe wall]

I finally made it back up to Merwin this morning. Fished solo, ran down the lake at 0600 and had the water to myself. Stopped on top of a school and had the best koke bite I've ever experienced. Wish I'd have had a few other people in the boat.

I don't think I ever had gear in the water for more than a couple minutes without a bite, had a lot that didn't stick though.

Stopped early and put out the camera as I really wanted to get some underwater footage and this was as good as it gets. I don't know if it was the extremely clear water but I couldn't get the kokes anywhere near the camera. A couple drive by's caught on video but nothing like the mass attacks like I was able to capture last year.

Stopped when I ran the kicker out of fuel, gotta say it was a great day. Everything for me was at 48-52 feet, sometimes didn't get all the way down before the spinner got nailed.

regards, aw

[lilbuddy]

Nice reports guys. Going up Monday to fish all week. Takeing the Trager and a couple of bags of apple chips to smoke em up. Hope there are a few left for the boss and I.:)

[Raining_Kings]

Fished Merwin on Saturday. Tried lots of do-dads and baits, but in the end most fish came on a Green Wedding Ring, with Ford Fender Flasher on Downrigger at 50-60 feet. Keep trying sling blades, hoochies and other stuff, but having a hard time beating the wedding rings. Took from 7am-2pm, to get our 2 limits, ended up culling a couple of small fish, but most keepers were around 14-15 inches. Much bigger than earlier this year. Lake was only down 6', and even though it was cloudy it was very nice, and not too many PB's which was a big bonus!

-= Scott

[dbuechler]

Saturday was a good day. In at 6:30 done at 2:00 1x12", 2x14" and 2x16"
40' to 50' could of been done at noon but lost them at the boat. solo. pink WRS and then later red RWS
DB

[007SPRIG]

What's the surface water temp now?

[6wapiti6]

72.6 yesterday.

[Bluknight]

Fished from 1030 to 300PM - wife was along for the trip so it never starts as early as I would like.

Got 5 fish all in 50-60 feet of water. 2 were 14ish and the other 3 were little guys. Green wedding ring and white glow hoochie with green smile blade worked for us.

First four fish came pretty early then slowed way down. Looked like fish dropped to 80 ft of water but could not get them to hit. What hits we did get we couldn't get to stick. Hoping for a much earlier trip later in the week.

Surface temp was 73.

[ElkTalker]

Fished today from 12:00-5:00 for a 15 fish boat limit. It took a lot of looking and a lot of gear to finaly get our fish. The last six fish came in the last hour and were all landed on glow WR.

45'-55' deep for most of the fish. I used gulp Maggots but if I had some stinky corn I would have used it.

Good luck ET

[Bluknight]

ET - I thought I saw your rig heading across the water. Fished from 0730 to 2PM for 8 fish and three rods. Did a good bit of searching as well. 4 where nice big fish others just standard size. Fishing 40-60 feet with wedding rings and stinky corn.

Started out gangbusters with 4 fish in the boat for first hour of fishing and lost two. Then it slacked. Nice day on the water though

[lilbuddy]

Tuesday through Thursday report was kinda slow. 5 or 10 fish limits happened but not without a lot of work. Actually the best bite was Monday afternoon late. Most fish caught at 50 to 60 feet. Once again could not get them to go on maggots but did ok on anise corn. Once again made the same mistake of not moveing if fish were not on screen in large numbers,or should I say not moveing in a timely fashion. Never could really get them to go for an extended periode of time but had brief spurts of activity. Protrolls caught most of the fish with a few spinner fish mixed in. My opinion is that they are a lot more finiky right now than they were last year at this time. South side of lake seemed to be holding more fish than the north side. Hope when the sun comes back that fishing picks up some.....

[ElkTalker]

Fished it Sat from 0700-1300. We started out with R&K lime green glow hoochies at 50'. After 11 fish in the first few hours I switched to green spinners to finish off a 20 fish boat limit.

I never felt like I had it dialed in, we only doubled once and we never had triples.

The fish are still in small schools with a lot of space in between. A few times we found a school that was spread out a little and mark the spot W/ GPS only to have the fish move off after a few passes.

Gulp Maggots again was all I had. This makes 40 trips starting last summer that I have used gulp maggots and with the exception of my last Wickiup trip were I fished both maggots and corn at the same time, its all I have used. That makes over 600 fish with Gulp Maggots.

I'm not saying that it will always out fish stinky corn but if your presentation is right it will catch fish.:twocents:

Good luck ET

[Krome Brite]

Fished it Sat from 0700-1300. We started out with R&K lime green glow hoochies at 50'. After 11 fish in the first few hours I switched to green spinners to finish off a 20 fish boat limit.

I never felt like I had it dialed in, we only doubled once and we never had triples.

The fish are still in small schools with a lot of space in between. A few times we found a school that was spread out a little and mark the spot W/ GPS only to have the fish move off after a few passes.

Gulp Maggots again was all I had. This makes 40 trips starting last summer that I have used gulp maggots and with the exception of my last Wickiup trip were I fished both maggots and corn at the same time, its all I have used. That makes over 600 fish with Gulp Maggots.

I'm not saying that it will always out fish stinky corn but if your presentation is right it will catch fish.:twocents:

Good luck ET

Hey ET,

How do you put the gulp maggot on the hook (just poke the hook point thru the middle and leave one end of the maggot on either side of the hook or do you actually thread the maggot up the hook?). You use a double hook setup with one maggot on each? Do you typically use plain or pink maggot, etc.? Reason I ask is because I've tried the maggots a few times and always go back to shoe peg corn with pro cure or some other scent as I haven't caught any on maggots and many on corn.

[ElkTalker]

Hey ET,

How do you put the gulp maggot on the hook .

I like Chartreuse or pink the best but I ran out at Wickiup and was given a jar of natural and glow, so for the last few weeks that is what I have used.

The chartreuse and pink I had were 0.5" long I would thread it on the upper hook length wise. The glow and natural I have are almost 1" long so I fold the maggot and slip the hook through both ends so it looks like a hours shoe. Some times I pull one apart and put half on both hook. I usually pull it apart only on my 2" or 2.25" hoochies because my hooks are farther apart with that set up.

I only use one maggot at a time, my friend that turned me on to them warned me against using too many. I have tried two a few times at Merwin but have never cough a fish with two. Some lakes I have been told I need to use two like the California lakes my friend fishes. Wickiup was another lake that I was told I need two. I only fished one but added corn.

Start out with one and go from there. Also have Faith that it works, if your not catching fish with it it's probably not the bate but something els that is wrong.

My last suggestion you can take it or leave it BUT if I have multiple rods in the water I fish the same bate on all the rods and if I change I change all the rods. This help with any confusion on whether it is the bate or your a specific set up that is actually catching fish. :twocents::twocents::twocents:

Good luck ET

[Kokonuts]

Elk Talker.............Thanks for some very good reports & tips. I was also at Merwin on Sat. but could not get a bite!
I was using my usual stuff, Hoochies , Pro Troll Apex, and Wedding Rings behind dodgers at 50 to 60 feet. I was using corn & the new Fire Corn in Natural & Blue colors.
If you dont mind saying, which part of the Lake were you fishing? I was marking a LOT of fish on the south side across from Spielyai and west for about 1 mile.

Kokonuts....:applause:

[ElkTalker]

I spend most of my time down past the houses but on the south side. Thursday I fished for almost an hour right in front of Spielyai bay and picked up a few nice fish. I also caught a few on the south side across from Kokanee cove, but the morning bite in there has always been slow for me.

Speed has played a big role in the last few weeks. I wish I could say just troll slow or just troll fast but some days the bit is really hot at 1.4-1.6mph and some days its steady at 0.9-1.2mph

I always start at 1.2 and when I see a school on the fish finder I make a turn. this speeds up the outside rod and slows down the inside rod. I make a mental note on which rod gets hit and after three quick fish on the faster or slower rod I adjust my speed to match.

The speed they like usually changes through out the day, so I always pay attention to inside or outside rod.

ET

[ppbthorsen]

I spend most of my time down past the houses but on the south side. Thursday I fished for almost an hour right in front of Spielyai bay and picked up a few nice fish. I also caught a few on the south side across from Kokanee cove, but the morning bite in there has always been slow for me.

Speed has played a big role in the last few weeks. I wish I could say just troll slow or just troll fast but some days the bit is really hot at 1.4-1.6mph and some days its steady at 0.9-1.2mph

I always start at 1.2 and when I see a school on the fish finder I make a turn. this speeds up the outside rod and slows down the inside rod. I make a mental note on which rod gets hit and after three quick fish on the faster or slower rod I adjust my speed to match.

The speed they like usually changes through out the day, so I always pay attention to inside or outside rod.

ET
:yeahthat:

[Kokonuts]

Thanks E.T.!! Work is a little slow this week soooo I'll be up at my place in the Campers Hideaway on Wed. morning for the rest of the week!! Lucky Me!! :excited:

I have a Lur Jensen Speed Thing(?) that I will mount on the boat this week. I think it will give me better control over the range of speed. :)

I hope we can meet up sometime at the Lake, my boat is a 18ft. Hewes with a black top & white sides. Look for "SHES SO FINE" & give me a holler!!:meme:KOKONUTS

[FallRiverGuy]

After 11 fish in the first few hours I switched to green spinners to finish off a 20 fish boat limit.

I never felt like I had it dialed in, we only doubled once and we never had triples.


I don't know if I can speak for others but....may we all such bad fishing days!

:laugh:

[Bluknight]

I don't know if I can speak for others but....may we all such bad fishing days!

:laugh:

I was thinking the same thing. I got a double the other day for the first time and almost fell out of the boat with excitement. The good news is ElkTalker is very helpful and open with tips and info to get us on those fish that get away from him! :D

[ElkTalker]

Doubles and triples are usually a highlight of the trip, especially for the kids. My best advice for multiple rod hookups is once you have a good idea of what the fish is biting on, fish the same exact thing on multiple rods. Bait/dodger/spinner all the same. Also when the boat has a fish on grab the other rods and give a few line jerks.

Be ready, ET:excited:

[ElkTalker]

At the last minute today we decided to hit the lake, not for fishing but to let the kids play with the cousins. Of course I had my tackle box and rods in the boat and when we realized the cosines had never been fishing before we had to spend some time with the rods in the water.

Fishing started at 5:45 PM-7:30, we went 7 for 10. The cosines both caught a couple fish and when the kids were done fishing we shut it down and just swam around the boat. I really wanted to fish just a little longer but it was a great day anyway.

ET

[sucker]

The wife and I fished Merwin yesterday until we got run off the lake by boat wakes around noon. I was using my Les Davis #3 half and Half dodger with a pink spin-n-glow about 18" behind. The wife did not want to give up on here wedding ring setup and caught mostly pikeminnow. She was; however, having a lot of fun feeding the birds. I suspect she was pruposely targeting the pikeminnow so she would have something to feed the birds. She did catch one nice Koke after I convinced her to switch to a spin-n-glow.

We ended up with six nice Kokes; largest sixteen inches; all over fourteen. All of my fish were caught at fifty feet; who knows how deep the wife was fishing; alwayse raising and lowering the ball. I had been patting myself on the back for not losing many fish but lost the touch as I lost four at the boat and many more good hard strikes that did not stick more than ten of fifteen seconds.

The males are starting to get hook jaw but none of the fish showed any pink tint. Some of the fish have fairly large teeth now and marked up my spinning glow pretty good; need to make a trip to Fisherman's for replacement. The fish were absolutly violent when hooked, only one did not pop the reliese and one fish took about fifty yards of line before I could get to my pole.

For some reason the fish seem scattered; never marked any schools except pikeminnow at about thirty five feet. I think by the number of Kokes I did mark they are schooling somewhere but we never found them.
Great morning on the lake: nice weather, heavy violent fish, no equipment failures, and fat Kokanee for dinner.

[Krome Brite]

Fished it Wednesday with my dad. 6:30 am to 1:00 pm to get our 10. Lost 4 at the boat. They're hitting extra hard, fighting extra hard, and especially net shy. We fished glow in the dark beads/#4 Indiana spinner blade setup, pretty similar to the pictures posted earlier in this thread, with cured shoe peg corn and pro cure on the spinner blade and beads. Up until about 11:00 am that was the hot setup. Then they wouldn't hit it, so we switched to green stuff, which we were able to get the last few on for our limits. 3 of our fish were starting to turn red. Better get out there guys, it won't be much longer!

P.S. Didn't get around to trying maggots this time. Next time I swear!

[cosby]

Fished yesterday morning. Took me a while to "find" 'em, but once I did it was hot and heavy. Limited in about 1 1/2 hours, all large and all but one were dark (no red yet). "Krome Brite" is correct, they are hitting and fighting extra hard. UV coated spinner tipped with corn. Probably my last time at Merwin this year, gonna go catch some Salmon.

[lilbuddy]

Ditto on the good reports. Big hard fighting kokanee it really is a blast. With the new 2 pole endorsement it opened up a whole new experience as couldnt even get a cup of coffee poured before another pole would go off. Orange protrolls,anise corn 55 to 65 feet was working well.

[ElkTalker]

With work preventing me from going to the Odell lake derby this weekend I decided to fish lake Merwin for what will probably be my last kokanee trip this year.

We hit the lake some time after 10:30 and fished until 3:30. It was a very very slow. I stayed with what has work all year, green and red spinners. We managed to land 10 before pulling the tube out for the kids.

With a 30 fish boat limit possible I did not want to leave so at 6:00PM the fishing started again. This time the bit was RED HOT and by 8:00 we had our 30 fish boat limit. These fish were the fattest fish of the season and only a few had color most were bright; beautiful fish.

Pulling the boat out we almost had the place to our self. Very few people around so we stayed to watch the sunset. With the kids running around my brother and I had a moment to reflect on the last few months and how we have spent more time together this summer then in the past 10 years combined. it's funny how fishing can bring friends and family back together.

With elk hunting starting next weekend it's time to load the truck for my other passion.

Good luck, ET

[Bluknight]

Well Done ElkTalker! I was up this morning. 8AM to 12 noon and got 7 of for two rods. Lost about 4 and several squaws. Sorry to hear I missed the hot bite but had lots of fun.

You all had me very excited for this gulp maggot bait mainly because i don't like messing with the corn, but I couldn't get anything to bite on it today. Everything came on my stinky corn which I told my wife I brought on as "backup"!

I'll probably do one more Merwin trip this week (nephew coming in to town) hopefully we'll get that hot bite.

ET - thank you very much for all the help and guidance. I'm tying my own spinners already thanks to you and all my fish came on my new rigs today!

I'll get some photos up on this weeks trip.

[Bluknight]

Just thought of something else - did that wind lay down at all? It was kicking my butt out there for about an hour before I got tucked back in.

[ElkTalker]

Blunknight, you have not done bad yourself after a rough start this year.

one of my favorite things about kokanee fishing is that I can dream up a spinner, build it and then catch a fish with it the next trip. I fish new stuff all the time.

At one point last year I had over 300 spinners. Now with all the fishing and rebuilding I have just over 100 but every one is a great spinner that produces fish when I put it in the water.

just a few weeks ago I started building my own dodgers out of some sheets of brass a friend gave me. I have around 30 dodgers that I have built with four different shapes. One is the classic dodger rounded on both ends, one looks like an egg, the other two are very different then what you can find in the store or on line. We have done very well with every one.

To answer your question about the wind, it was the worst I have fished in all year. We drove way down the lake farther then I have ever fished and just trolled with the wind straight back never turning around even after doubles. Luckily it worked out for us.

Good luck with your nephew, I hope you nail'em. ET

[sucker]

Fished Merwin yesterday morning; three of our ten fish had a pink tint. They were not yet loosing their scales but it won't be long now. If you are wanting to take a last shot at the big Merwin kokanee better make soon. It has been a good season this year but looks like it is nearing it's end. My most productive setup was a six inch half and half dodger followed by a green spin-n-glow tipped with scented corn fished at sixty feet. I fished Yale last thursday and none of the fish were showing any signs of spawning changes. The fish are smaller but did catch some in the 14" range and we may have a bit longer to target them at Yale.

[hookumhi]

Fished Merwin yesterday morning; three of our ten fish had a pink tint. They were not yet loosing their scales but it won't be long now. If you are wanting to take a last shot at the big Merwin kokanee better make soon. It has been a good season this year but looks like it is nearing it's end. My most productive setup was a six inch half and half dodger followed by a green spin-n-glow tipped with scented corn fished at sixty feet. I fished Yale last thursday and none of the fish were showing any signs of spawning changes. The fish are smaller but did catch some in the 14" range and we may have a bit longer to target them at Yale.

That's been my experience on Yale too, also the fish fight is much harder on Yale and some have the size of Merwin's bigguns!!!

[sucker]

Oh, nearly forgot. I found a nice jacket floating in the water yesterday; describe it and it is yours.

[lilbuddy]

Sons and I hit Merwin today for 3 hour limit of fatties. They are definatley turning faster than last year and had to do a little more sorting. Water level was much higher than last week and fish were a bit more scattered but in same general area as last few weeks. Sure odd how kokanee cove dosent seem to be happening this year after several good years of action there. 51 feet orange protrolls and corn. Going to end soon.....

[sucker]

That's been my experience on Yale too, also the fish fight is much harder on Yale and some have the size of Merwin's bigguns!!!
They fight harder because they are all nates at Yale or I should say natural spawn.

[Bluknight]

Merwin treated us well yesterday 8-27. On the water at the crack of 1000 (nephew in town and those early teens don't wake real early apparently). My wife is pretty good at rigging up and putting her line down with the downrigger already so while I was working on the other rods she in the water and trolling. She goes fish on in the first two minutes - fire drill commences as I still don't have the other two rods in the water yet nor do I have the net out yet!

While she resets I get the other two lines on the down rigger. Before she gets back in the water my nephew's rod goes off. We did this drill two more times and then it slowed for a bit but still caught fish.

Ended up with 7 nice kokes in two hours. Some had some color to them but cut just fine. By then it was already pretty warn and everybody was ready to do some swimming and join the rest of the wake boats. Great day. My best of the year and probably last. Might as well end on a high note! I do love this lake!

By the way - I needed an extra rod so I just rigged up one of my bass baitcasters to use today. Apparently 8lb P-line does have a thinner diameter because I could not get the darn stuff to stay on the down rigger clip. Ended up just running two rods because it wasn't worth the hassle.

All fish caught on North side of the lake trolling West from the inlet to Speelyai towards the cabins in 50-60 feet of water on a green wedding ring with glow beads (tied by my caring hands thanks to Elk Talkers inspiration!)