kokanee beginner... Help!

[dubnvento]

Have my 86 grandfather in-town for several weeks and we wanted to try out Kokanee fishing. I know very little about these fish except what I have read on the boards. My main question is, do we need down riggers? I don't have them at the moment so I was hoping to troll with out them. And if someone could maybe post a link to a kokanee rig that would help out or any info would be appreciated.

[SlamminKokes]

Well, first of all, what lake were you planning on fishing? If the kokes are down deep and you plan on trolling, then riggers sure makes things easier. This time of year i think you can get by without downriggers in any lake. Another tactic is jigging, which is what i prefer to do. You can either vertical jig if theyre deep or you can cast and jig back to you if theyre in the top 30 feet of water! Just determine at what pace you jig and retrieve and also if you need to let the jig sink before you start jigging. Just tinker around and pay attention to what youre doing. KNOW EXACTLY what you did each cast so when that first bite does come, you can mimic it over and over! Good luck!

[dubnvento]

Well, first of all, what lake were you planning on fishing? If the kokes are down deep and you plan on trolling, then riggers sure makes things easier. This time of year i think you can get by without downriggers in any lake. Another tactic is jigging, which is what i prefer to do. You can either vertical jig if theyre deep or you can cast and jig back to you if theyre in the top 30 feet of water! Just determine at what pace you jig and retrieve and also if you need to let the jig sink before you start jigging. Just tinker around and pay attention to what youre doing. KNOW EXACTLY what you did each cast so when that first bite does come, you can mimic it over and over! Good luck!

Most likely it will be merwin and thanks for the info. Never thought about jigging

[SlamminKokes]

Most likely it will be merwin and thanks for the info. Never thought about jigging
I dont know anything about Merwin but it does sound like its a trolling show. But if you do find a school of kokes, jigging will definitely work.

[moknots]

Try the search feature. I've never seen Merwin, but there have been lots of good posts by good fishermen who fish it regularly. Have fun with your Grandpa! That's a priceless opportunity! If you see fish on the surface, you should be able to troll without downriggers and get into some fish. If you don't own any kokanee gear and want to keep it simple, I've caught a lot of early season fish trolling super dupers (white, silver and gold colors with red head) with and without a split shot, very close to the surface. The next level up in complexity would be a dodger and hootchie or wedding ring, or small ford fender with a wedding ring behind it, and crescent sinkers in the 1 to 3 oz range. Make sure you keep track of how much line you let out, so you can repeat when you get the right combination of weight and line length. My last trip out we caught just as many fish on a dodger and hootchie with no added weight (about 100' behind the boat, running about 5' deep) as we did on the downrigger. Like Slammin' says, this time of year they are often near the surface.

[hooksetter]

I haven't been up there yet but here is what I do but in July. No down riggers. I do research to find out how many pulls people are saying or start at a number and go from there. And then I go out put a bobber stop knot on my line and slide it how ever many pulls people are talking about. I then tie on flasher and put on a 2 foot leader with a wedding ring. Take cannon ball sinkers .5 to 3 oz and clip them on to the clear rudder on the fenders. Start trolling let out line slow until the bobber stop shows and put rod in holder. Oh shoe peg corn on hook of wedding ring. Again I usually go in July - august so kids can swim in swimming area. You'll see others in boats just hang out with them. I usually head to the right coming out of launch.
Hope it helps.... bobber stops help me and kids not have to count when I'm trying to keep all the lines under control stress free.