Larger Kokanee!

[yankemnbankem]

I am doing some research on the larger kokanee for the fact that ..... I gotta get some! Kinda like hunting for bigfoot. You see, 6 weeks ago as a friend and I were fishing lake Merwin, his rod goes down and goes down somemore and when he finally got it out of the holder the fight was on. It lasted only a few seconds but not before we got a look at the giant of a kokanee. It jumped quite a ways out of the water and looked to be in excess of 20 inches and counting, bright chrome, and full of fight. There was no way the hook would have stayed in his soft mouth with that much head shake. I had rigged up my buddies pole with a light green spin glow with green mylar wings. It was his choice to fish at around 90 pulls. He hooked three fish that day. two of the fish he hooked into were at the 20 inch+ range, the other which he caught, was at 16 inches and fat. I on the other hand was using my usual, a red spin glow, and caught only regular Merwin kokes... 12-14 inch and was fishing at 45 pulls.
So my question is this---> I am sure some of you have tried targeting these larger fish and have been sucessfull and I am interested in your setups... especially ones that have worked in Merwin. Remember, I am not looking for the regular fish.... just the big uns between 16" and bigger.
And one other question: Merwin seems to have larger fish this year earlier than previous years. Does this mean we will be fishing for monster kokanee in the end of summer... I mean if they are already reaching 14-17 inches in april/may what will they be in july/august? or are they going to spawn earlier seeing how the weather has seemingly affected their depths they like to school in at different times of the seasons?

[Time Off]

I'm new to this fishery but would like to know more about it. I found this article online that may help.

Catching Large Kokanee

[jzell]

Troy,

1:15 am! Can't sleep? Kokanee keepin you awake? I had a couple of HARD rod pulsing hook-ups on Sunday that had to be larger fish....unfortunately they came off before we could see um. I've been talkin to and bought some stuff from a guy who fishes kokanee tournaments in California. Been pickin his brain some. Got some different stuff to try. We need to go together sometime.

Also for you Kokanee guys out there: Diawa has a new version of the 7' Spinmatic-X rod that many of you love....it's 7'6" now. Just got one and love it.
You can compare the 7' and 7'6" at FM if they are in stock.

Sorry I don't have the answer for the larger fish....just yet, but I got some good stuff in the box to throw at um.

John

[bassin]

Time off, good read. Thank you for the link.

[FallRiverGuy]

I found that the fish in the high lakes in Central Oregon can grow 1.5 to 2 inches between now and late summer. Those 14 to 17 inch fish may be 16 to 19 by late summer.

A guide at Wallowa lake uses Apex lures to target the larger fish when the lake was putting out 20+ inch kokanee. If you don't already, try using bigger hooks in a mooching style. I use size 2 and 4s and loose few fish most days. Flashers and weights cause lots of extra drag for the fish to pull against. One trick I learned for the bigger fish is to free spool using your thumb for the drag when the fish runs. Free spooling will often stop a jumping fish too.

Those are some very fine fish indeed.

[yankemnbankem]

Ive read the Big Kokanee article several times over but my pallet aint sachiated enough yet.
Jon, as far as the 1:00 late night thing.....im still awake! pulled an all nighter. I just had to turn down some work that was very promising because I just cant do it all. On the Diawa 7.5 ft rod.... got one! I ve
used it twice now. Ive only hooked up a few kokes with it. Im beginning to think rod action has also a factor in attracting kokes too. It may just have the new rod stink on it though. My lucky Shakespear uglystick is my bread winner. I actually have ran same set up on both rods and the smaller rod does better....wierd? Im going to be wiping the stink off it this weekend though. The Diawa 7.5 combined with a down rigger is a blast. Now if only I could single out the whopper kokes.

[Heatmiser]

You mean a fish like this!?



What a lucky kid! I've never caught one this big. Although this might be the year of the giants at Merwin.
I've caught my biggest kokes on the Apex lure, as mentioned in the article. It does seem that the bigger fish are found about 10-15 feet deeper than the schools of kokes, though.

[yankemnbankem]

yup thats the one!!! Ive looked at that picture dozens of times. The one I saw jump out the water was even a little bigger looking than that one.

[Splash]

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[FallRiverGuy]

Just another link to large kokanee. I did not look to see if you could get a copy of this show.

Kokanee eye candy

[lost_sailor]

[luguando]

Thanks for the link to that great article Time Off. I've never specifically targeted kokanee - just incidental catch while trout fishing. I need to broaden my horizons on fishing and pursue other species other than salmon and steelhead.