New to Kokanee// help with no down rigger

[duckonthewater]

Recently moved to North Idaho from South Florida and before that Ohio. The fishing here is very different for me. We live close to Lake Pend Oreille but also have a smaller lake called Spirit Lake that has some really good Kokanee fishing....or so they say. We bought a "family" Crestliner Pontoon last year but I do not have a downrigger. Is it possible to fish for Kokanee this way? I do have a fish/depth finder. Any feedback would be greatly appriciated. Also about the Shoepeg white corn.......I have read that Kokanee like red or pink colors ....what if I put shrimp oil or an Anise/Crawdad oil and then added some red food coloring?
Also anyone familiar with any lakes in Kootenai and Bonner county that can give me direction....thanks .
ps Promise my next post will not be so long!!

[FallRiverGuy]

Good to have to on board duckonthewater. I think you can find a wealth of information buy using the search function to address all those questions. Those topics have been covered before with lots of great replies.

To answer your first question, yes, you can fish for kokanee without downriggers. It is more challenging when trolling, but not impossible. In the spring when the surface water temperatures are below 65ish, you can get them long lining your gear. But as the surface temperatures warm the fish will go deeper.

One option is to jig for them. With a jig you can easily fish for them at almost any depth.

[SilverBullets]

Without dowriggers your options are jigging, or trolling with leaded line or a inline weight to get down to them. Early season their up high, then head down as the water warms. Food coloring should work. Also try Wizard Kokanee Killer Korn Dye or Pautzke's Nectar (for a lighter shade of pink).

[duckonthewater]

Originally Posted by Silver Bullets

Without dowriggers your options are jigging, or trolling with leaded line or a inline weight to get down to them. Early season their up high, then head down as the water warms. Food coloring should work. Also try Wizard Kokanee Killer Korn Dye or Pautzke's Nectar (for a lighter shade of pink).

Thanks very much for the quick response!! I am looking forward to getting on the water and trying some new techniques here. I will look into the killer korn dye.........guess I am not onto something new with the coloring of the corn!!
Thanks again

[moknots]

Welcome! I guess you didn't get the word yet, but it's tradition for new iFishers to introduce themselves with a story (search the posts by DirtyBird for an excellent example).

I've caught hundreds of N Idaho kokanee trolling without downriggers. The trick is to spend some time developing depth tables by dragging over known depths (try to pick a sandy bottom) and letting out line until you are just dragging bottom with your full presentation (2 to 3 oz crescent or "banana" trolling weight plus flashers or dodger with wedding ring, for example). You can use a line counter reel or just count 18 or 24" (always the same! whichever you pick) "pulls" from the reel up to the first guide. In the spring you can get away with lighter weights, but be prepared to learn to get to 60' in the summer if you can. You'll need thin line, and don't forget to spool all reels with the same diameter line.

[benny boy]

Good luck, and you definitely can catch fish without downriggers, we always used more weight but my preference is still fishing or jigging. Buzz bombs, nordics, etc.... and when still fishing worm, corn, red egg, and shrimp smelly jelly gets them every time!!!

[ElkTalker]

Welcome to Ifish. I'm sure you can find answers to any questions you have about kokanee fishing here.

I look forward to hearing the reports from Idaho.

Good luck, ET

[King13fisher]

Absolutely you can troll for the kokes without a downrigger...I posted earlier that I fish with both downriggers and no downriggers at the same time...I run the front two rods with downriggers and the back two rods without...use heavier line so that you don't lose your gear...I run 15lb ultra green to a ford fender...switch the colors of blades to find what's hot...at the top of the ford fender is a red fin with a hole in it, use a double snap lock to attach lead to the fin...or use a banana weight in front of the fender...I also like to put a school of minnows directly behind the ford fender, then my leader to the lure...change the amount of lead and/or amount of line you let out to find the depth the fish are at...believe it or not, but I have fished this method with up to 8oz of lead with lots of line out with success...I like the ugly stick rod as it is very flexable and shows the bite well as with this much gear the drag pulls the rod substantially....let the gear out slowly.

As I said earlier, I run both methods at the same time with great success, sometimes the riggers are going off and other times the long lines...when it's really hot both

[Aufish101]

What I did before I got a down rigger was load a single action fly reel with lead core line and used a 6 weight fly rod. This set-up was good when the fish were 35' or shallower. It seemed after 3 1/2 colors of line out, there was too much drag.

I ran a fly rod set-up and a down rigger at the same time(two people in the boat of course!) and they both preformed about the the same. I actually think the fly rod got one more fish than the down rigger that day. It was up at Paulina.

Aufish101

[adobe wall]

Go to Joe's or Fishermen's and buy a $20 Shakespeare sturdy stick boat rod. Cut it off at the first guide and put a sturgeon reel on it (something like a Penn320 or 330.

Hang a 32 ounce cannonball on the line, just above it put a 3 way swivel and a light duty downrigger clip. Put it in a rodholder. Set a noodle rod in the closest rod holder, let out a 30-50 feet of line and clip in the release. Let the whole rig down.

You now have a downrigger. Place it so the lead is near enough to the depthfinder transducer to give you a line so you can track the depth.

Works great, and if I'm solo that's how I fish.

regards, aw

[Kokonuts]

Originally Posted by adobe wall

Go to Joe's or Fishermen's and buy a $20 Shakespeare sturdy stick boat rod. Cut it off at the first guide and put a sturgeon reel on it (something like a Penn320 or 330.

Hang a 32 ounce cannonball on the line, just above it put a 3 way swivel and a light duty downrigger clip. Put it in a rodholder. Set a noodle rod in the closest rod holder, let out a 30-50 feet of line and clip in the release. Let the whole rig down.

You now have a downrigger. Place it so the lead is near enough to the depthfinder transducer to give you a line so you can track the depth.

Works great, and if I'm solo that's how I fish.

regards, aw

Thats Good advice AW !
I made up my poors mans downrigger the same way a couple of years ago. I picked up a rod & reel at a garage sale for about $15 & used it for a long time!
.......Kokonuts

[Kokonuts]

Another thing for you to check out is :
www.sinker-dropper.com

They make a little clip that holds a weight. You can hook a release to one end & a weight hangs on the clip. When the fish strikes the clip opens & drops the weight so you have just the fish & the clip on the line. You can use just about anything for the weight.

....Kokonuts

[stayer]

Originally Posted by Kokonuts

Another thing for you to check out is :
www.sinker-dropper.com

They make a little clip that holds a weight. You can hook a release to one end & a weight hangs on the clip. When the fish strikes the clip opens & drops the weight so you have just the fish & the clip on the line. You can use just about anything for the weight.

....Kokonuts

I like this....I am going to get one....then check out the hardware store for cheap weights.

[pathfinder]

welcome aboard DOTW ,,,,
You can make a down rigger with ocean reel, cut down ocean rod w/ rollor added to tip , cable ,and cannon balls an clips.
Or run some 6,8,10 oz banana weights

[MattPark]

I use the clamp on line counters on my heavy ugly stiks when they are on downrigger duty.