Catching kokanee that are getting ready to spawn?

[Kent]

Saturday, while fishing at Strawberry, especially early, we saw many red colored kokanee jumping near the shoreline. I would love to catch some of them to take a picture and then release them. Can they be caught, and if so, how does one go about it?
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[Bmarsh]

[quote kentofnsl]Saturday, while fishing at Strawberry, especially early, we saw many red colored kokanee jumping near the shoreline. I would love to catch some of them to take a picture and then release them. Can they be caught, and if so, how does one go about it?[/quote]

Haven't caught them at the Berry this way but I have out in Colorado.

Standard Nymph Rig with a Indicator, about 6 feet below the indicator use a pegged egg and then 18 inches below that hang a red san juan worm with the ends trimmed back. Majority of the hits will come on the san jaun.
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[TheWeekender]

I know this may sound crazy but I've heard of a handful of people catching them on powerbait while trout fishing!
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[Chuuk]

I have always done well sight fishing them with a fly rid this time of year. When they school up like that, I throw a bid streamer or even a mouse pattern in front of the school. Seems like there is always one that wants to come kill whatever is in their way. My best luck is in the back bays.
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[Kent]

Thanks for the replies. I don't own a fly rod, but I could rig up a spinning rod with a clear bubble and a fly.
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[Bmarsh]

[quote kentofnsl]Thanks for the replies. I don't own a fly rod, but I could rig up a spinning rod with a clear bubble and a fly.[/quote]

You can do the setup I described with a bubble on a spinning rod. 5-6' of leader below the bubble to a egg fly or peg an egg then 18" below that tie on a red san juan or chrinomid pattern.
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]Kokes are landlocked versions of Pacific sockeye salmon. They are legendary for hitting flies when up in the rivers to spawn...all colored up. They especially love hot pink, hot red and those colors with white in them

I make jigs and tie flies for a few folks that fish the kokes at Da Gorge. The hot pink works well for them over there when they are in spawn mode.

And yes, fishing flies with a bubble does work on them. You can also just pinch on a split shot a couple of feet ahead of the fly and work it faster. Or you can trail the fly behind a spoon or spinner...just like fishing a dodger and squid.

With the jigs you can cast and retrieve of hang them under a bobber and do the wiggle retrieve, just like fishing for crappies.
[/#0000FF]
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[ducksfresh]

I fish the Gorge all year and when the fish start to school around the spawning beds I start to jig for them. This year I removed my Cannon electric downriggers and trolling motor by July 24th. I will jig using Buzz Bombs until the fish start turning red. I don't like to eat the fish after they start turning red, and even the picture of the hen I attached here had its meat degraded. Since I don't like to release Kokanee I quit fishing for them right when they school the heaviest. This is a picture of my last Kokanee of the season and the school under my boat at the time was 10' thick and covered a 50 yard square area. It took us almost an hour to get 6 nice Kokanee.

The fish will usually feed early then head to the spawning beds late morning so I don't have to get up early and some times I have to search for them and then when I find them, look out it is the funnest fishing ever. On July 19th of this year I was on the water by 5:30 am trolling by 7:30 am three of us had 6 nice Kokanee. We decided to sonar one of the beds close to where were fishing. (The Ranch at FG) We found a big school of 3 to 4 lb fish and in 10 min we had 3 nice Kokanee and had lost several others. If anyone wants additional information on my jigging techniques PM me and I will be glad to help.

I have never fished for them on top when they are surfacing near the spawning beds. I see them a lot and they look like smaller fish that are surfacing. And given the fact that the larger schooling Kokanee are in 55 to 65 feet of water I would not suspect they are the ones surfacing.

But what the heck the other anglers have given some great advice here so let us know what happens!!
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[ducksfresh]

This is a pic of what we caught jigging on the south point at the Ranch on 7/20/15. 3 nice Kokanee, one rainbow and 2 macks. We were surrounded by people trolling and some of them were making fun of us with comments like look they are sword fighting. LOL Got to love opinionated anglers.

Mike
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[utahgolf]

we caught some years ago when they were spawning along the rocks of soldier creek dam. Just a worm and mallow below a bubble.
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[TT600]

Of all the salmon sockeyes last the longest in fresh water. Even when red on the outside they still are better than other species to eat. That said, it seems the kokanees decay a lot faster than sockeyes. Probably because they only travel a short distance upstream to spawn. I caught bright silver kokes in electric lake in late Aug. and their meat was no better than trout. Not near as good as a sockeye.
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[ducksfresh]

All fish suffer from protein degradation of their flesh as they produce eggs or sperm. You can't tell me you have not noticed a Rainbow Trout fillet go from a beautiful reddish orange to a gray the last few weeks of egg building.

Kokanee Salmon are no different. I can lots of fish. Mostly Kokanee these days. Although Rainbow Trout can be a close second nothing is as good as smoked canned Kokanee or regular jalapeno canned Kokanee.

Mmmmmmmmmm

LOL
Mike Fresh
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[Littlebuck3333]

Great info mike and du bob appreciate it lots
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