Suttle Question

[El Wapo]

I have fished Suttle over the years and even when it is slow have been able to scratch out a little koke action for the kids. This last weekend was the slowest I've seen there and most of the boats I spoke to were doing as bad our worse than us.

I saw some amazing posts on the lake a few weeks back with pictures of limits and nice sized (for Suttle) fish and I'm wondering if this was just a slow weekend because of weird weather, or is there something else going on. I know most of the fish had been packed in the NE corner of the lake after the ice was off and that area got hammered. Also, the lake got more early pressure than normal because other options were snowed in. Is it possible that the lake got over fished, or was the bite just off.

We fished 3 to 4 rods for @ 12 hours spread over 3 days with only 4 fish to show for it.

[dlm]

I don't know if you have a fishfinder or not but there are plenty of fish in the lake. I anchored over some very large schools and could not get them to bite. They are there, just stubborn.

[joemomma]

I think a weather change will change the fishing!

[moknots]

Ah the nature of the beast! Danged sockeyes. Moodiest of the salmon. In my experience, this would have been bait week, though I wouldn't know because I was fishing for tuna and mahi mahi in the Caribbean. First they turn on to jigs, then bait, then as the water warms and the fish scatter and become more active in daily feeding, trolling becomes the go-to method. What were you trying?

As for fished out ..... no way. There's a reason for the 25 fish limits. Actually, two very good reasons. 1) the place is choked with kokes, and 2) they very seldom cooperate like they did the first week in May this year (hence all the celebrating!). The truest and most hated saying in all of fishing comes to mind ... "you should have been here yesterday, last week, last month...", sorry, but you should have been here.... a while back. Don't give up though. We still need some fish pulled from the system so the rest can go into growth overdrive in June and July.

[marshworm]

I only fish Suttle for kokes and at Suttle I CAN ALWAYS count on the following on any given day!

The NERKA"S are there...lots of them .....however...

they MIGHT be caught trollin' or jiggin' or with bait
they ALMOST never will hit the same thing all day
they MOST LIKELY will change their preference for color and scent without notice
they SOMETIMES won't hit anything
they MAYBE will put on a bite early and late
they COULD just want to be caught around mid day
they PROBABLY just quit biting when you put your boat in
they POSSIBLY are biting on the one color, scent or bait you don't have

but the NERKA'S are there.....lots of them!

I have been told by other koke heads who fish for them in Wickiup, Odell, Paulina, etc. that the Suttle lake kokes are extremely finicky once you move past those insane early weeks so patience and being in a "suttle" mood always as helped me. And remember it's called fishing not catching!
Fishing is food for the mind....catching is food for the body!!

[moknots]

That's what I like. Stuff you can count on! Thanks for the painful truth Marshworm.

[FallRiverGuy]

Originally Posted by moknots

That's what I like. Stuff you can count on! Thanks for the painful truth Marshworm.

Great summary of kokanee fishing in general.

[joemomma]

Originally Posted by marshworm

I only fish Suttle for kokes and at Suttle I CAN ALWAYS count on the following on any given day!

The NERKA"S are there...lots of them .....however...

they MIGHT be caught trollin' or jiggin' or with bait
they ALMOST never will hit the same thing all day
they MOST LIKELY will change their preference for color and scent without notice
they SOMETIMES won't hit anything
they MAYBE will put on a bite early and late
they COULD just want to be caught around mid day
they PROBABLY just quit biting when you put your boat in
they POSSIBLY are biting on the one color, scent or bait you don't have

but the NERKA'S are there.....lots of them!

I have been told by other koke heads who fish for them in Wickiup, Odell, Paulina, etc. that the Suttle lake kokes are extremely finicky once you move past those insane early weeks so patience and being in a "suttle" mood always as helped me. And remember it's called fishing not catching!
Fishing is food for the mind....catching is food for the body!!

Marshworm, you are a kokanee guru!

[SilverBullets]

Sounds like a good excuse to buy more lures! Thanks a lot!

[BalouSC]

Man I miss kokanee fishhing!!!! Balou

[newbergfishjunkie]

Formula for Suttle Lake kokenee... single egg hook, 20 - 30 feet and one periwinkle. Jig about 6 inch strokes. Link Creek is full of periwinkles.

[FallRiverGuy]

Great tip...thanks.