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I took my father in law and nephew to chase Kokanee today. We where the first people in the gate at Black Tail at 6:00 am, after launching we ran to my favorite spot where the lake turns north past the power lines going towards Juniper. We caught 6 there in the first hour, the largest of the day 18” and the smallest 5” then the bite died and we went searching, we ran back to the power lines and didn’t mark any fish so on a hunch I ran towards the Juniper boat ramp where we came across a giant school of fish, where we started hammering the kokes at 70’ going 1.1 mph on pink RMT sling blades and pink hoochies with and without blades tipped with corn soaked in garlic and anise. Final count for the day, 44 Kokanee, we could have caught more but we had to go to a family reunion and we where nearly limited out.
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Wow, glad I am the first to be able to post after that catch. OMG, what a load. Haven't seen that in a very long time. You just opened the flood gates to every person that owns a boat. Katie bar the door. And with the forecast for cooler weather this week, that should really bring people out and coat the water. Again, what a great catch, I guess the Kokes are still there.
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Great report and pic, after all the poor reports this year from Ririe, it's good to finally read a good one, thanks for sharing with us. That is a long drive up to Ririe from here, how many hours did it take you to make it up there?
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My in laws live in Idaho Falls, I fish Ririe several times a year, we attended a family reunion at the day use area at Black Tail yesterday. Going the speed limit Ririe is less than 3 hours from Ogden. If anybody is interested in harvesting some of the kokes while they are still edible you can send me a pm and I would be willing to give you the exact location of the school I was hammering.
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3 hours isn't bad. How far is Ririe from Idaho Falls?
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The Black Tail launch At Ririe is 10 miles east of Idaho Falls and the Juniper Launch is 22 miles east of town they are at opposite ends of the reservoir. It takes 2 hours 15 minutes to travel from my house in Roy to Idaho Falls.
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Really, for some reason I thought it was farther East. I guess the area around the
Black Tail launch hasn't been fishing as well?
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Black Tail is the shallower end of the lake most Kokanee fishermen fish towards the north or Juniper end of the lake and until this last winter the Black Tail end of the lake was closed to fishing and access in the winter because elk and dear use that area for winter range. I’ve been reading the same post as you and other boards my take is that with fewer fish in this year class they have been more scattered making it harder to catch but they are fat and larger this year. But now that they are getting towards the spawn they are schooling up near where they where planted at the Juniper launch ramp because there are no suitable spawning areas at Ririe so they will probably swim around the ramp area until they die.
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That is the best I've ever seen the fish at Ririe look by the second week of August. Usually they would have turned in a lot greater numbers by now. I wonder if it's because of lack of competition of sheer numbers of Kokes vs. other years?
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Well that's too bad about them having no place to spawn and it's kind of surprising they would even stock them in a lake with no suitable spawning areas. My guess is the lake is deep enough on the Juniper for them to do well but how shallow is the Black Tail end of the lake?
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The Juniper end is around150' and the Blacktail end is Around 50'. It is strictly a put and take fishery for the kokanee, that is why I'm not worried about hot spotting the school I found over the weekend, the more that get harvested the better.
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Went out Monday with a friend and found a large group south of the Juniper dock. We ended up with 15 nice heavy fish. Sorry we didn't take a picture. We caught one red koke and just returned it to the water. The kokes are definitely schooling. Pink hoochies were the ticket.
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All I can say is WOW!!! What an awesome day for you! Agree with MMDon... Have not seen a haul like that this late in the season! Thanks for sharing!!!
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Wow, that is a big difference in depth.
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[quote wiperhunter2]Wow, that is a big difference in depth.[/quote]
Over 5 miles difference.
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Hey Don, I know you fish a lot, have you ever caught any kokes on the Blacktail end of the lake? I know I've caught kokes in less than 50 ft of water, so it seems to me in the Spring or early Summer they might be on that end of the lake but I don't have any first hand experience on Ririe.
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Quite a few years we follow the ice melt up the canyon and fish for Kokes next to the sheet ice. When the water is cold for most of the spring we run our lines on the DR at 5' and 95' back. The fish will be all the way up to the boat ramp on the upper end. Most people fish the dam end because there is a lot less debris in the water but the fish will be along the entire lake.
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That makes sense, thanks for the info Don.
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We have caught slot of Kokes on the Blacktail end of the lake.
[bobsuspicious]
!
We have caught alot just north of Meadow Creek.
The dam is good as they go back to where they were released attempting to spawn. That is why Blacktail is as they release a bunch there .
.[fishon].[fishon]
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Thanks for the info, good to hear other are catching them on the Blacktail end of the lake. Is it earlier in the Summer or Spring when you catching them there?
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