Trolling for Land locked Salmon

[chartreuse moose]

One thing has confused me for years is the fresh water salmon fisherman.
Why is it the Sockeye ( kokanee ) King and Coho fishermen has changed the way they salmon fish in freshwater. It's the same fish, you can not change the genetics of a fish, yes his environment can be changed. He only has the brain the size of a BB. and knows two things , eat and breed .

I myself have better luck using the same tactics I use in salt water as I do in fresh. I use the same tackle ,methods and trolling speed to fill the box.

Is it because there not as large as there salt water cousins, people think there more fragile, slower maybe. Or have the freshwater tackle guys sold some a bill of goods?

To the life of me , I don't ever remember seeing anyone troll or jig for Sockeye with white shoepeg corn in my life while on saltwater.

So please could some one enlighten me, why is it done on fresh water ?

[BrushApe]

No expert here and that is for sure, LOL. Open their guts up and full of small freshwater shrimp and bugs. IMHO Corn and maggots just resembles something they feed on. Jigs and everything else just a delivery system. I am probably wrong, won't be the first time today.

BA

[lost_sailor]

I'm pretty much doing exactly what I did fishing with my dad 45 years ago, 'cause ... it works ??

[Wingmaster]

Whats wrong with trying new methods, especially if they work? Who cares if its different from saltwater methods (maybe there's news methods yet to be tried that might work out in the ocean too??)? Corn works. And it sounds like your salt water methods work well too and that's awesome!

If jigging and white shoe peg corn didn't work, there's no way they would be so popular.:flowered:

[BigSteelyHead123]

One thing has confused me for years is the fresh water salmon fisherman.
Why is it the Sockeye ( kokanee ) King and Coho fishermen has changed the way they salmon fish in freshwater. It's the same fish, you can not change the genetics of a fish, yes his environment can be changed. He only has the brain the size of a BB. and knows two things , eat and breed .

I myself have better luck using the same tactics I use in salt water as I do in fresh. I use the same tackle ,methods and trolling speed to fill the box.

Is it because there not as large as there salt water cousins, people think there more fragile, slower maybe. Or have the freshwater tackle guys sold some a bill of goods?

To the life of me , I don't ever remember seeing anyone troll or jig for Sockeye with white shoepeg corn in my life while on saltwater.

So please could some one enlighten me, why is it done on fresh water ?

I agree.. Just use the same set-ups only slightly smaller.

No expert here and that is for sure, LOL. Open their guts up and full of small freshwater shrimp and bugs. IMHO Corn and maggots just resembles something they feed on. Jigs and everything else just a delivery system. I am probably wrong, won't be the first time today.

BA

Sockeye(Kokanee), are almost exclusively plankton feeders from what I have read. I don't think they really eat a whole lot of bugs, though Im sure they eat freshwater shrimp. I've never really found anything in their stomachs though.

[Dullhook]

To the life of me , I don't ever remember seeing anyone troll or jig for Sockeye with white shoepeg corn in my life while on saltwater.

So please could some one enlighten me, why is it done on fresh water ?

I use jigs to catch Kokanee because they're effective and fun to fish with. Never bait the hooks or use any type of scent. Why a koke would strike a jig which doesn't even remotely resemble its food source is anybody's guess...but thankfully they do. :wink:

[Cannon]

Koke's are plankton feeders but in keeping with fish psychology, most vegetarian fish are very aggressive. Some of the most aggressive fish in the world are vegetarians take the (cichlids of Africa and south america for instance) and so it is with Kokanee; they are notorious fin nippers. The strikes that you do get are aggression strikes. Have you ever seen a hawk or an eagle being pestered by a bunch of small birds? So it is with Kokanee.

As far as corn goes, many fish are attracted to the scent that corn gives off. But, by the same token Kokanee are also attracted to scents that work for other fish. Some of my favorites are: crawdad oil, anise, krill, garlic, and predator. More educated people start talking about pheromones and stuff like that, but that is way over my head. It just works for me. I use scent whether or not I am using a dodger. When the fish are gun shy, no dodger seems to work for me.

I have never been much of a jigger, but when it works, it works and it cannot be debated. I have caught many silvers jigging off the coast out of depot bay. It is not a normal way to fish for them but it works never the less. :twocents:

[marshworm]

Good post Cannon:applause:

In your words "you might not be much of a jigger" but take it from someone who is strictly a jigger you have what it takes to be an accomplished jigger. I can tell that just by your comments. Especially the one about "not being the normal way to fish".

When jigging gets really tough I always stray out of the area called normal. Opps! there I went and let the first of the two ingredients needed for successful koke jigging out of the bag:whistle:

Good luck to you

[skaha]

--when I first moved from the coast of bc to the interior I started using my salmon gear, dodgers, plugs etc in mid 80's

--started getting larger kokanee than my buddies fishing the same area.

--so I switched to their methods small hooks behind trolls with bait and was able to fit in catching as many small fish as they were.

--they felt good for helping me out.

[trollin4trout]

:)that hilarious- and point taken!

[Hookachinook]

Can anyone tell me where to purchase whiteshoe peg corn? I've heard that Winco may have it. Thanks in advance.:anyone:

[Meridian]

Most all grocery stores will have shoepeg corn. It comes in cans.

[Raining_Kings]

Can anyone tell me where to purchase whiteshoe peg corn? I've heard that Winco may have it. Thanks in advance.:anyone:

Safeway - It's Green Giant brand, Shoepeg corn. Looks like any old canned corn to me, but smaller and "white". Actually pretty tasty stuff, ended up eating a can or two when I buy in bulk.

[marthagofish]

I agree.. Just use the same set-ups only slightly smaller.



Sockeye(Kokanee), are almost exclusively plankton feeders from what I have read. I don't think they really eat a whole lot of bugs, though Im sure they eat freshwater shrimp. I've never really found anything in their stomachs though.

Acouple years back we were fishing Yale and the fat Kok's we caught were absolutely stuffed with flying black ants and one had a whole shrew in it's belly. I always cut open the belly of a couple to see what their feeding on.:twocents:

[skaha]

Acouple years back we were fishing Yale and the fat Kok's we caught were absolutely stuffed with flying black ants and one had a whole shrew in it's belly. I always cut open the belly of a couple to see what their feeding on.:twocents:

--I think as they get larger they will venture to other food sources although the muck in their stomach is usually plankton.

--for the most part they are either protecting their territory or reaction striking thus are not line shy so can use short leaders behind dodgers with no problem

[codeman]

hey guys for what its worth, i don't have a boat so i wait until they are running up rivers and creeks in the fall to target them. I catch several thousand fish each year so it doesn't really bother me to catch and release fish anyways. I just throw panther martins and kastmasters at em and they hammer em. Probably just a reaction strike but still fun. We fish the upper north fork clearwater and all the tributaries. Haven't been in a few years but we already have a 2 week trip planned for the end of aug. Last time there it was fairly easy to catch a couple hundred a day and most were over 20 inches, some pushing 4 -5 pounds. They are a little sluggish (at least compared to the cutthroat and bulls) and are failry similar to catching the large white fish. Plus its kinda a cool to catch a brick red fish.

[skaha]

hey guys for what its worth, i don't have a boat so i wait until they are running up rivers and creeks in the fall to target them. I catch several thousand fish each year so it doesn't really bother me to catch and release fish anyways. I just throw panther martins and kastmasters at em and they hammer em. Probably just a reaction strike but still fun. We fish the upper north fork clearwater and all the tributaries. Haven't been in a few years but we already have a 2 week trip planned for the end of aug. Last time there it was fairly easy to catch a couple hundred a day and most were over 20 inches, some pushing 4 -5 pounds. They are a little sluggish (at least compared to the cutthroat and bulls) and are failry similar to catching the large white fish. Plus its kinda a cool to catch a brick red fish.

--will have to take a look but I think we cant fish rivers for kokanee in BC
--we do fish for trout in rivers using egg pattern when sockeye are running.

[JDS]

Can anyone tell me where to purchase whiteshoe peg corn? I've heard that Winco may have it. Thanks in advance.:anyone:

I've had great luck with the Gulp Maggots.... they seem to work as well as the corn, and you can get them at Bi-mart, or Wallmart..