Merwin Question

[ttjln]

I was invited to camp there this weekend for the first time.

Is the kokanee fishery pretty much over?
Are there other fish to target?
Any help with general gear and maybe water depths to look for?

I have a 16 foot boat with no downriggers. I have never targeted kokanee, are downriggers needed?

Thanks,
Tracy, Teri, Justin, Lucas, Nathan

[jzell]

No it's not over.

Tigermuskey is the other species along with your garden variety pikeminnow.

W/o downriggers you'll use an inline weight of 2 to 3 ounces.

This time of the year they are 50-60+ feet down.

Look back thru a few pages here for info on what lures to use.

(Like the 2008 Merwin report below)

Good Luck,

jz

[ttjln]

Originally Posted by jzell

No it's not over.

Tigermuskey is the other species along with your garden variety pikeminnow.

W/o downriggers you'll use an inline weight of 2 to 3 ounces.

This time of the year they are 50-60+ feet down.

Look back thru a few pages here for info on what lures to use.

(Like the 2008 Merwin report below)

Good Luck,

jz

Thank you. Hopefully I will have something to report back.

[Hunter56787]

Before we sold the place at Campers H. we could catch Trout (not Kokes) with trolls and a worm, wedding ring or a firestripe behind the trolls with 1/2 - 1,1/2oz just ahead of the Jack Of Diamonds. 50 - 150' behind the boat with just enough speed to make the trolls roll over to start with and then speed up until you get the bite. Please note that I haven't been fishing at Merwin for a long time.

[adobe wall]

You could take a salmon sized planer, put a downrigger release on it, and run it behind a heavy rod to make an improvised downrigger. Or use a sturgeon rod with a heavy cannonball weight on it (32 ounces will work, or 48) and a downrigger release.

good luck.

Regards, aw

[ttjln]

Thanks for the info guys.
I used what I had on hand here. I did the modified downrigger and drug around a little of everything I had in my trout tackle box. Ended up with one trout and my son got a 15 inch kokanee.

Not an exceptional trip but my son was happy to catch his first kokanee.

It did appear there was a good bite Saturday morning. I was able to spot schools of fish on the finder Saturday but they seemed to have moved elswhere on Sunday.

[jzell]

Glad you had fun!