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Our first time to Osoyoos lake to fish for the Okanagan Sockeye Salmon run. This is a recent re established run that has been open to public harvest again the last few years. Hundreds or thousands of fish swim up through the lake and stage before going on to spawn in the Okanagan river. The fish all seem to hang out at the North End of the lake and are usually caught 50-60 feet down. We were using Les Davis size 0 dodgers with a 13 inch leader, 15 pound fluorocarbon and a pink UV hoochie with a red 3/0 barbless hook. We added Pro Cure Krill and Shrimp scent to the bait and trolled with downriggers very slowly. Most strikes came when slowing to a stop or starting from a stop. These are great tasting fish as well so go give it a try.
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Nice video as always and thanks for sharing with us. I thing I can tell you that should increase you catch rate when using those squid or hoochie lures is to shorten your leader. This give more action to the lure which drives the fish crazy, it also works well when fishing for trout.
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[quote wiperhunter2]Nice video as always and thanks for sharing with us. I thing I can tell you that should increase you catch rate when using those squid or hoochie lures is to shorten your leader. This give more action to the lure which drives the fish crazy, it also works well when fishing for trout.[/quote]
Thanks, yeah we do vary leader length which seems to help like you said. With the kokanee I was using a 8-11 inch leader. With these sockeye they've already swam hundreds of miles and now hanging out in the lake before heading into the stream again. They are a little lazy and the longer slower moving presentation seems to work better for them.
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Well thats some good info and it makes sense, thanks for sharing that with us. So, do you think the shorter leader would work if they were not spawning? So it sounds like these are not land locked sockeye. We use leaders as short as 6 to 8 inches to get the most amount of action from the dodger.
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[quote wiperhunter2]Well thats some good info and it makes sense, thanks for sharing that with us. So, do you think the shorter leader would work if they were not spawning? So it sounds like these are not land locked sockeye. We use leaders as short as 6 to 8 inches to get the most amount of action from the dodger.[/quote]
No these are not land locked sockeye, they are Columbia river Sockeye, came up from the ocean. I think when they are out on the salt water prior to starting the spawn you can go with a shorter leader. The Kokanee or otherwise land locked sockeye sure do like the short leader. Check out this big kokanee chasing down and hitting a hoochie on a shorter leader. This is also an 8 inch Dodger. What size do you use?
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I use 5 to 6" dodgers but I recently started using an 4" oval hammered half silver, half blue dodger and that has really changed my success rate for the better. Works great for trout and kokanee.
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