Simtustus this weekend...Any Koke tips?

[West Linn Wader]

Hey IFishers,

Am joining the In-Laws at Simtustus this weekend for an annual gathering. They've been there all week fishing for Kokes but haven't had much luck aside from one Koke and a few trout. They troll, and their typical rig is the Ford Fender w/Wedding Ring tipped with corn. I'd like to come prepared with some alternative techniques and/or rigs to try since their customary methods do not seem to be working very well. Any tips will be much appreciated.

TIA!

WLW

[ 06-19-2003, 09:42 AM: Message edited by: West Linn Wader ]

[Pete]

gesundheit

Saline spray? :grin:

[Pete]

All kidding aside, I'd love to give a shot at some of the new bait putty stuff on the market. We've heard of the success of power-bait for springers ... but the glow-in-the-dark, floating, pheromone based baits are really intriguing. Tried some for summer chinook and it didn't work, but I don't think there were any fish there.

[AtWorkALot]

I stopped using the Ford Fender type flashers and switched to a 000 Luhr Jensen dodger (silver) with a red wedding ring spinner, with a snubber in between the two. We troll really slow, and add a 1oz banana weight to get some depth. I change the hooks on the spinner to red #4 Gamakatsus and tie a fixed double rig. We also put out a buffet, worm, red or orange berkely power egg, and white corn soaked in anise.

You should be fishing at the upper end of the lake near Round Butte Dam in the "narrows". I usually start fishing just below the rock slide on the south side of the lake, about about 1/4 (?) mile below the dam. You'll catch rainbows and kokanee in this area.

You can also tie up the the log boom and jig for kokes at first light with the standard jigs, blue seems to be a preferred color. They were catching some piggish kokes up there.

Take your time reeling the fish in, or you'll lose a lot of them... Loose drags, avoid setting the hook.

I was just up there last weekend and we had no trouble catching fish. Early and late are the best bets of course. It does get chilly up in the narrows.

Good Luck,
Jim

[TinyWonder]

West Linn Wader,

Just got back on Monday evening from Lake Billy Chinook and Lake Simtustus. Billy Chinook was ok but we did AWESOME at Lake Simtustus. 6 of us in the boat (I know it was crowded)but in 3 1/2 hours we got 29 rainbows. Nothing very big but it sure was fun. Send me a private email and I will let you know the details tonight when I get home.

[FallRiverGuy]

If wedding rings don't work, try an Apex. Some times corn colored with double neon red helps. The fish will be moving deeper now so you have to get down to them. Fish also seem to hang out around the unimproved campground just before you get to the slide.

[Kaptn Ken]

BEER CANS

Really! Luhr-Jensen "Beer Cans!" 4-Blade, Either Color~Green Wedding Ring with or without White Corn...Worked either way!


We've been up there, on weekends and mid-week, from opening day 'til a week ago. We caught our limits the first 4 weekends we were there and they were 15" - 16" "Hawgs!" It's really slowed down lately, for Kokes, and that's a "Mother Nature" thing. They're also, or were, hovering around 30-40 feet. We set our downriggers to 35' and BAM BAM BAM! 2 hours+/-, total fish time. We did also jig at the Log Jam near the dam...We used 2 oz Pink & White BuzzBombs but we saw lot's of colors and everyone was catchin' fish. At about 9am-9:30am, the bite stopped, for the most part, for the trollin' action but you could still jig at about 35'-40' and catch a few fish...If the Log Jam is full, which it usually is, just drop anchor 30'-40' below the logs, or just about anywhere in that area and start jigging. FISH ON! (I'm just upset now that my "Secret Fishin' Spot" is getting so dang popular!!! Therre's HUGE FISH in ther too! Like 10-15 pound trout. One weekend we were there this 14-15 year old kid showed us a 3+ pound Smallmouth he caught on a jig in the brush up near the dam after they had caught their limit of Kokes trollin' around.

[img]graemlins/berry.gif[/img] But really folks...The fishing is TERRIBLE up there, otherwise!!! I really don't know why anyone would waste their time even going there!!! Try Lake Billy Chinook....You get 25 Koke's there instead of a lousy 5!!!

See: Lake Simtustus RV Website for additional info...There's a PGE park up there too for camping and RV'ng!!!

PL Ken


[ 06-20-2003, 06:27 AM: Message edited by: PegLeg Ken ]