07-16-2017, 09:36 PM
I became a BFT member several years ago but haven't posted any reports. I really do find some very good information on this forum thanks to the good members who are willing to share. So I thought I would try sharing my reports as well, although I realize that I am not nearly as experienced as some of the other anglers on this forum.
I went to Strawberry with my wife and son Friday afternoon, spent the night and fished Saturday morning as well. I have targeted Kokanee several times before at Strawberry but have never landed one. I fish from a 14' aluminum boat. Previously I had only been able to long line with leadcore line. This trip I was set up with a small Hummingbird fish finder and Cannon Minitroll downrigger that I had just picked up a few days ago.
We fished Friday evening from about 7:00 to 9:00. We had a couple fish that got away including one that broke the second hook on my white and green squid (could have all been cutthroats). We did not land any fish. We had the downrigger set up at 30-40 feet with a pink and silver sling blade and various pink, orange and green squids. We were also long lining with the lead core lines with different colors of flashers, squids, wedding rings, etc. We didn't see many fish on the finder and those we did see were scattered. We went back to camp and decided to try again the next morning.
We got back on the water at 5:30 the next morning. Thank goodness we had some success this time after waking my wife and 8-year-old son at 5:00 am! We started right in between the Strawberry Marina boat ramp and Haws Point. Within about 20 minutes my wife caught a nice cutthroat. While netting the cutthroat I kept the boat barely moving (probably less than 1 mph) when we looked out and saw a fish repeatedly jumping about 20 yards behind the boat. Knowing that it must be hooked, we grabbed the pole from the downrigger and brought in a nice 19" kokanee! Although we were ecstatic, I was a little shocked and
because we were barley moving when we caught it. We tried trolling back though the sam area several times at different speeds with no success. We then trolled across the lake over towards the Ladders on the other corner of the Triangle. We missed a few and caught a couple more cutthroats on the leadcore lines. Around 9:00 AM we caught another kokanee with the downrigger, pink sling blade and a pink and white squid at 35 feet. We trolled until about 1:00 PM and only picked up a few more cutthroats.
Overall it was our most successful outing chasing Kokanee by far, obviously. It did seem like pink was the best color as many of the reports have suggested. I do have a couple of questions though. Is the evening a good time to target Kokanee? We only saw a couple other boats Friday afternoon. Or is early morning usually best? Does the bite taper off as it gets hotter, or do you just have to fish a little deeper? When it comes to speed, is slower sometimes more effective than the traditional 1.6 to 1.9 mph? Anyway, we had a very fun weekend and look forward to spending more time trying to figure out these fish!
I went to Strawberry with my wife and son Friday afternoon, spent the night and fished Saturday morning as well. I have targeted Kokanee several times before at Strawberry but have never landed one. I fish from a 14' aluminum boat. Previously I had only been able to long line with leadcore line. This trip I was set up with a small Hummingbird fish finder and Cannon Minitroll downrigger that I had just picked up a few days ago.
We fished Friday evening from about 7:00 to 9:00. We had a couple fish that got away including one that broke the second hook on my white and green squid (could have all been cutthroats). We did not land any fish. We had the downrigger set up at 30-40 feet with a pink and silver sling blade and various pink, orange and green squids. We were also long lining with the lead core lines with different colors of flashers, squids, wedding rings, etc. We didn't see many fish on the finder and those we did see were scattered. We went back to camp and decided to try again the next morning.
We got back on the water at 5:30 the next morning. Thank goodness we had some success this time after waking my wife and 8-year-old son at 5:00 am! We started right in between the Strawberry Marina boat ramp and Haws Point. Within about 20 minutes my wife caught a nice cutthroat. While netting the cutthroat I kept the boat barely moving (probably less than 1 mph) when we looked out and saw a fish repeatedly jumping about 20 yards behind the boat. Knowing that it must be hooked, we grabbed the pole from the downrigger and brought in a nice 19" kokanee! Although we were ecstatic, I was a little shocked and

Overall it was our most successful outing chasing Kokanee by far, obviously. It did seem like pink was the best color as many of the reports have suggested. I do have a couple of questions though. Is the evening a good time to target Kokanee? We only saw a couple other boats Friday afternoon. Or is early morning usually best? Does the bite taper off as it gets hotter, or do you just have to fish a little deeper? When it comes to speed, is slower sometimes more effective than the traditional 1.6 to 1.9 mph? Anyway, we had a very fun weekend and look forward to spending more time trying to figure out these fish!