Wickiup 5/19-22...slow but big kokes!

Dullhook · 05-22-2009, 05:41 PM

Just got back from Wickiup today after taking a shot at those big kokes the guys have been reporting about on this board. Arrived at Reservoir CG Monday afternoon in time to set up camp and get the boat in the water. The campground was just about full, but managed to get a pretty good spot at #7. The spots at Reservoir are really nice and big, with a lot of pull-arounds which offer space and some privacy. Not too many lake fronts though and these are usually full. The weather was beautiful Monday but the bad weather that was forecasted for Tuesday was spot on. By 9AM all of us were blown of the lake! I managed to nail a couple of nice ones before that, and spent the rest of the day just shooting the breeze with the neighbors.

Wednesday and the rest of the week were much better, and except for the East wind was absolutely beautiful weather. The fishing was far from red hot (maybe the Eastern flow?) and figured that it wound up being about 1 koke (or strike) per 2 hours trolling. I usually jig for Kokanee 95% of the time but couldn't touch a single fish on this trip. I ran into some jiggers I know from previous trips and they had no luck either. Despite being one of the least scientific trollers on this board, I did manage to luck into some really primo kokes though! The tackle was a 5 weight graphite fly rod loaded with lead line. Started out with a pink squid behind a 4/0 dodger and did nail a couple the first morning. Wednesday it wasn't doing much so I switched to a hand tied, half chartreuse/half red Wedding Ring behind some small Lure Jensen spinners and things picked up. With either lure, trolling with one color out in water 17-30' deep, and going to 2 colors in water up to 45' deep worked best. Staying in the deep part of the channel didn't work worth a nickel...but crossing from shallower to deeper and then back again got strikes. The water from about 17' to 30' deep seemed to have the most biters. I tipped the lure hook with a Gulp maggot slid over the shank with a kernel of red Fire Corn covering the tip. The best fishing was off the Davis channel out towards Goose Island.

For anybody who hasn't had a chance to fish for these big Wickiup kokes...please try too get over there! These are some big prime Kokanee. The smallest one I caught was just over 15" and the biggest just under 17" and big-bodied. The average size was 16"! And believe me, I'm far from an expert at trolling. Using a 5wt fly rod, when the fish hit they'll immediately strip off one color of line and then go airborne. Usually they'll jump 4 or five times and about all you can do is hope they're hooked good. Me trying to net them using a 9 1/2 foot rod would make good comedy material for U-tube, but fortunately only one fish was lost at the boat.

My neighbors who are more dedicated than myself, heading out Wednesday morning in 22 degree weather. Now doubt the heater was going full bore. It was thick fog almost every morning and poor visability. Having an open boat, and giving up the "dark 0'thirty" stuff after retiring, kept me in camp until the sun hit the water. After getting up at 4AM most of my work career, the thrill is gone.

Any of you who are willing to brave the elements by going out early might be rewarded with some extra fish. The morning and before lunch bite was definitely better than the afternoon.

Now this looks more like it...sun burning off the fog. Took this pic seated in my 'fat boy' chair while scarfing down a breakfast platter.

Here are a few of those Wickiup beauties. Took these pics out in the boat. 16"; 16 1/2"; and the last one just under 17". Every inch in length seemed to add another inch in width.

B33R · 05-22-2009, 06:27 PM

Awesome report and great pics!

twisted lines · 05-22-2009, 06:28 PM

Thanks for the details & Pictures, I have a hard time climbing out when its in the 20s as well, good timing as I am tying wedding rings as I found your post. Guess I will crank the drag down! I have two colors of lead on and not much past that....TL

TakeEm · 05-22-2009, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twisted lines

Thanks for the details & Pictures, I have a hard time climbing out when its in the 20s as well, good timing as I am tying wedding rings as I found your post. Guess I will crank the drag down! I have two colors of lead on and not much past that....TL

Man thanks for the report, I have been waiting all day to hear from someone who has been up there. Ill be up there first thing sunday morning!

Aufish101 · 05-22-2009, 07:09 PM

Dh,

Great pictures and post! Might have to make another trip there too! Gotta love that fly rod even though they are harder to net that way!

Aufish101

wanafish · 05-22-2009, 08:35 PM

Nice report and pics! Always appreciate your posts.

fish-on-bend · 05-23-2009, 05:05 AM

Beautiful pics Dennis.

We got skunked out there Friday morning.

lost_sailor · 05-23-2009, 06:52 AM

Same fish we got a week ago. Getting fatter by the minute I'll bet. They are FUN to try to get in the boat, mon.

I've found that getting up at 4:30 for fishing and getting up at 4:30 for work are entirely different experiences!

(Never caught a kokanee before 6:00 that I can recall)

FallRiverGuy · 05-26-2009, 10:07 AM

Good job on the fish Denis. The fishing has slowed way down from a week ago. Nice pictures. I love being on Wickiup at first light.

My fishing partner (Moknots) and I were there Friday at the crack of dawn. The first thing I noticed was the water temp in the Davis arm and down towards the dam was 10 degrees warmer than a week ago. There was a mini-bite a first light, then it sloooowed down. The other thing we noticed were the bugs. Never have I seen a midge hatch at Wickiup like that. It was either Diamond lake like, or of biblical proportions. For hours there must have been over a 1,000 bugs at any one time on my boat. I think the fish were a little preoccupied and checking the stomach contents of the fish comfirmed this.

We caught 14 fish in as many hours on the water. We left before finding out if there would be an eveing bite. Most fish came on some type of chartreuse hoochies. One ore two on spinners. Most of the fish were taken in less than 30 feet of water.

Dullhook · 05-26-2009, 01:49 PM

Quote:

Never have I seen a midge hatch at Wickiup like that. It was either Diamond lake like, or of biblical proportions. There must have been over a 1,000 bugs at any one time on my boat for hours. I think the fish were a little preoccupied and checking the stomach contents of the fish comfirmed this.

Thanks for your analysis about the slow-down Brian. It makes a lot more sense than my theory about the eastern flow. Yes sir, those bugs were thicker than thieves. No committed vegetarian would have dared to yawn! When the wind was died down during the afternoons there were some Mayflies visible on the surface too. At least all of us can be assured that we were holding our mouths right. What a super rich reservoir Wickiup is, and how fortunate we are to have it. When all is said and done for most of us koke fanatics, it's not really about big numbers anyway. Just the enjoyment of pursuing our favorite fish along with all of the good pleasures that come along with them.