Large Kokanee!!

[partner]

We caught this last week in Okanagan Lake BC. Thought I would share.
16945

[nwsoftball]

we caught this last week in okanagan lake bc. Thought i would share.
16945

wow!!!

[Klamanite]

Holy Moly :passout::passout::passout:

That's a flippin' huuuuuuge koke :applause::applause:

If Oregon had kokes like that I would cetainly be spending a little more time targeting them.

Awesome fish....... Weight??

[moknots]

Wow. Reminds me of my jump shot vs. Lebron's. Let's see, jealous, inadequate, and of course, very happy for you! What a fish!

[marshworm]

And of course we all being way down here we can assume this is just an "average" koke for up there?

Or is it a bad year and they are a little stunted?

Wonder if something like that would take a jig softly .......................
.......and on 4 lb P-line......:passout:.

[Kokanee Slow]

Super fish! Bet that was a blast. Thanks for sharing with us. :applause:

[SilverBullets]

Good Grief!!! That's one BIG:thisbig:Koke!!! Congratulations!:applause:

[Don Fischer]

I was thinking that when a fish, kokanee or otherwise, get's that large it must come from a very fertile lake and fish count's must be relatively small. Where we might be catching 25 a day at 14 to 17 inch's, I wonder how many of those a day could you count on? Remember the photo's from Flaming Gourge, big fish but not big stringers. Fish that size it wouldn't matter if you only caught a few a day.

[joemomma]

Holy cow! That is a fish of a lifetime ! Please describe the fight for us!

[eric71m]

Nice job, well done...

[FallRiverGuy]

Very nice fish. What kind of gear do you use to target those big fish?

[sparse gray hackle]

WOW!!! beautiful Fish. i am with FRG What type of gear do you use to target Koke's that size and is that the norm? Please tell us more.

[Pelhament]

That thing is about the size of small sockeye!!! You sure those things are landlocked, its huge! Nice fish!

[Dullhook]

That's quite a Kokanee! Although many of us will never have the pleasure of fishing that great lake, some details about your catch would be appreciated. We can dream about it anyway...can't we! :bowdown: :wink:

[hookumhi]

WOW!!!! thats impressive:cheers:

[partner]

Kevin (The guy in the photo) posted on a different website, he was looking for someone to show him how to fish! He had only fished from shore on Great Slave Lake and caught many pike, no other fish!
He has a float plane and was looking for someone to teach him how to fish for different species. I offered to show him a few things. We wen out in his plane and cast a bit from the pontoons, with no results. I told him I had a boat and when I got a chance and the weather wasn't bad we would go out. He only had a light rod with minimal tackle that he had bought at Canadian Tire. Nothing I would use, so I suggested a small gang troll with a small apex with a little chunk of worm. He had a hit and lost the worm. I showed him how to feed the worm up the hook so he wouldn't lose the worm so fast. Next strike was that monster. With me coaching with things like, "Keep the rod tip up" "let him go if he wants" we got him to the net after about 10 minutes. Couple quick picks and that was all she wrote! A bit of beginners luck I suppose!:thisbig::thisbig:

[partner]

And yes it looked just like a sockeye!

[ElkTalker]

Very nice fish!!! well done:applause:

ET

[jzell]

When you stretch your arms out and hold the fish closer to the camera it looks bigger. I think they used one of those "fish eye" lens.

Nice fish, though......

jz

[partner]

When you stretch your arms out and hold the fish closer to the camera it looks bigger. I think they used one of those "fish eye" lens.

Nice fish, though......

jz
Yes and if you squish your hands and fingers while holding a fish it makes it look even biggger!:meme::meme:

[pathfinder]

WOW what a WHOPPER.:applause:

[SteelTrain]

Holy jumpin johosive!!

[BigSteelyHead123]

When they're that big you have to just call it a Sockeye! haha :D

[Larry G]

That is an AWESOME fish!!!!! :thisbig:

[partner]

Nice weather permitting I am going back out and try to catch another one!:wink:

[Bait Girl]

WOW! that's bigger than a couple of springer jacks I caught this year. What a fight on light gear:applause: Fish of a lifetime, get that picture printed and framed.

[GasMoney]

What did that monster weigh? The records 6lb 12oz out of Wallowa.

[partner]

Largest Kokanee caught was 9lbs 6 ounces caught in the same lake. Here is the link to it. http://www.hotspotlures.com/graphics/promo_photos/record2.jpg
It was caught during a fishing derby. The organizers paid to have it mounted and it sits on the wall in his rec room. The picture is deceiving, my wifes Uncle knows Norm and said "He is a large man over 6 feet and at the time, was over 200 lbs. He is now in his 80's".

We never weighed or measured the fish. Should of, could of, would of, didn't. I am heading out this morning to go fishing!

[partner]

Here is a fish my son caught the week before using the same gear, only he had pink maggots on the apex. It is amazing the different species of fish that will all hit the same lure. This rainbow weighed 10lbs on our scale.
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[skaha]

Largest Kokanee caught was 9lbs 6 ounces caught in the same lake. Here is the link to it. http://www.hotspotlures.com/graphics/promo_photos/record2.jpg
It was caught during a fishing derby. The organizers paid to have it mounted and it sits on the wall in his rec room. The picture is deceiving, my wifes Uncle knows Norm and said "He is a large man over 6 feet and at the time, was over 200 lbs. He is now in his 80's".

We never weighed or measured the fish. Should of, could of, would of, didn't. I am heading out this morning to do it again!

--Please read fishing regs: as far as I am aware kokanee fishing in okanagan lake is closed at this time. It has been closed for several years however the last two years there have been limited openings during the summer which are posted on the fisheries web site.

--In mid 80's fish in the 5 lb+ range were often caught and many in the 3-5lbs.

--Woods lk near kelowna: two fish limit but still 2lbs +
--Skaha lk largest I've caught 3 lbs but as is only a few km down stream from okanagan expect there are some larger.
--fisheries had started a program to stalk sockeye in skaha tributaries as all drain into columbia system.

--If you take a look at the kokanee spawn areas of okanagan lk... antlers beach, penticton creek and mission cr...main areas with enhanced spawn beds you will see some large fish.

--since flood control.. lake level changes have been better timed the shore spawn kokanee population has really rebounded and is in part the reason for some limited opening of kokanee fishery.

--there have been many studies and measures including harvest of mysis shrimp in an effort to bring back this premier kokanee fishery in Canada as at least 3 of largest recorded kokanee have come from this lake some relatively recent.

--in time of short money we need kokanee fishers to keep the pressure on to bring this fishery back.

--Our local flyfishing club maintains the spawn beds on Penticton creek.

--There are also large rainbows 10 lbs plus that like to eat our kokanee as well.
--I sometimes fish for the rainbows to protect our kokanee.

--We are expecting that kokanee fishing will be allowed for some portion of this season. Note: when closed it is not catch and release it is no fishing for kokes.

[partner]

I am sorry if you misread what I was saying. I am targeting Rainbows not KOKANEE. You should teach your kokanee not to go after my lures.
If you catch a kokanee you must release it correct? So although there is no fishing for them, is it still not considered catch and release? Sorry for any confusion I might have caused!

[czechmate]

I guess it's true that things are bigger up North.

[partner]

Hope this isn't going to turn into a head hunt here, as it appears to be on another forum.

[skaha]

Hope this isn't going to turn into a head hunt here, as it appears to be on another forum.

--thanks for note that you released the fish and were targeting trout.

--we really need to work on getting this great fishery back to what it was in the mid to late 80's. with a full open season. Looks promising for another opening this year, I didn't get out on the one last year.

[Dullhook]

Brothers...would you please let this disagreement go? This may sound selfish, and it probably is, but the trout forum has been one of the very few ifish boards that has been mostly free from fish politics and bickering since its inception. Thank you so much Jennie for providing it for us. It's been a place where personal beliefs can be laid aside just to share and enjoy our common passion of trout and koke fishing. This, which is the newest ifish board, has always been a very friendly laid-back forum of just sharing fishing information and good times while leaving the other stuff behind. Lately, a 'couple' of threads have gone in a direction that some of us would have preferred to have been posted elsewhere :twocents:.

There are a couple of ifish forums that I no longer visit because my personal faith-based beliefs and past posts have not been in accordance with the ifish majority or AUP rules. So be it. We are all entitled to our own beliefs and it will all wash out in the end. Rather than argue (while never hiding or compromising my faith) I've found it's better to have some fun and just discuss what we all share common ground in...fishing and hunting! Please help us keep the peace my friends. :flowered:

[joemomma]

Brothers...would you please let this disagreement go? This may sound selfish, and it probably is, but the trout forum has been one of the very few ifish boards that has been mostly free from fish politics and bickering since its inception. Thank you so much Jennie for providing it for us. It's been a place where personal beliefs can be laid aside just to share and enjoy our common passion of trout and koke fishing. This, which is the newest ifish board, has always been a very friendly laid-back forum of just sharing fishing information and good times while leaving the other stuff behind. Lately, a 'couple' of threads have gone in a direction that some of us would have preferred to have been posted elsewhere :twocents:.

There are a couple of ifish forums that I no longer visit because my personal faith-based beliefs and past posts have not been in accordance with the ifish majority or AUP rules. So be it. We are all entitled to our own beliefs and it will all wash out in the end. Rather than argue (while never hiding or compromising my faith) I've found it's better to have some fun and just discuss what we all share common ground in...fishing and hunting! Please help us keep the peace my friends. :flowered:

Very well said! There are forums, I stay out of too! Yes please keep the peace here!

[skaha]

--Great News: Kokanee test fishery has been approved for Okanagan, Starting Sunday May 31 until September. It is a quota based fishery so if the quota is reached prior to close date the fishery will be stopped.

--This is longest season in years and should produce some good fishing.

--If you have a trip planned to the area check the local regs area 8 on the BC government web site it will have the opening notice. Also if the quota is reached closure notice.

--I don't think quota has been reached in other test fisheries which were only two months each and not during prime fishing dates.

--I do not know what the quota number is, however we have had very few people fishing Okanagan compared to the 80's-90's when most of the boats in the marinas were fishing craft. Also huge side industry, fishing boat servicing, tackles stores, guides etc.

--For sure I hope to get out early next week and try to find the old spots we fished in the 80's. Hopefully the big fish will be there.

--Thought I should ad that I did send a PM to Partner about the fish caught earlier and I believe that he did release the fish and was targeting rainbows at the time as he said.

--Hope he will not be shy in sharing pictures starting Sunday, will try to ad some myself.

--Skaha is much more shallow than Okanagan so water temp is rising quickly, about 58 at surface. I was marking fish at 24 ft on Skaha (and catching) so expect fish still feeding in upper levels.

--We should get a couple of weeks before we have to hit the downriggers.

--Okanagan Lk is about 85 miles long so don't expect us to get dialed in for a few days on where the big fellows are. We're not holding out on you, (really).

--If you come up here local guides will probably still take you to Woods lk, two fish limit, just north of kelowna for sure thing, decent size.
--Same reason will take a while to find the Okanagan fish.

[chartreuse moose]

If you going to fish for the silver bullet , might as well go big.

Great Job

[BarroomHero]

I have a relative that caught a 5.2 oz. on Wallowa. Incredible fish!:applause: