FISHING

Hoochies are outstanding kokanee lures when teamed with dodgers. You’ll want to run your hoochie two to three dodger lengths behind the blade on a double-hook rig to maximize its action. (CAL KELLOGG) put up a thrilling fight. If the fish in a given lake average under 13 inches, I’ll typically pass on targeting them, preferring to do something more exciting – like raking leaves or watching paint dry.

The fight a decent-sized kokanee puts up is only part of the attraction of catching them. Kokanee offer exceptional table fare. Ask a native Alaskan what type of salmon they prefer to eat, and the answer is sockeye most of the time.

Kokanee offer bright-red, finetextured sweet meat. You can fry, barbecue, bake or smoke them, and the results are typically amazing.

Bagging Your First Kokanee

If you are just starting out, the very best time to target kokanee is during the spring – say, in April and May. Kokanee prefer cold water, so in the middle of a hot summer at a lowelevation lake, you may have to go down 60 or more feet to hook up.

While reaching into the depths with a downrigger offers a certain type of satisfaction, it’s not my favorite thing to do. I much prefer targeting fish near the top of the water column – say, in the top 20 feet – and that’s exactly where you’ll find early-season kokanee.

Before you set out on your first kokanee fishing adventure, do a little research and identify a lake or two in your region that offers decent-sized fish, and then you can plan your trip. There is no sense in chasing dinks when you could be battling high-flying 14- to 16-inchers!

Last spring, I caught dozens of fat kokanee from my kayak, and with the exception of a trip in early June, I got most of my fish on topline and hybrid leadcore rigs; no downrigger required!

You’ve probably never heard of a hybrid leadcore rig; that’s because I was one of the guys who perfected the rig and I coined the term. I won’t explain it here, but if you are interested in running a light, responsive leadcore rig, type “hybrid leadcore rig” into a Google search and a long list of videos with me explaining what the rig is and how to set it up will fill your screen. Or see the January issue of this magazine.

The Gear

Light, soft rods are the way to go for kokanee fishing. If you troll for trout already, run with whatever rods you currently use.

End tackle is where things get fun when it comes to kokanee fishing. To new anglers I often describe kokanee fishing as crappie fishing for coldwater trollers, which means the fish are typically small, feisty, great to eat and you get to play with a bunch of colorful lures when targeting them.

With so many lure and dodger choices in the kokanee fishing world, it’s easy to go overboard. Indeed, if you become a kokanee junky, you will accumulate mountains of dodgers and lures, but you don’t really need a ton of gear to get started.

As I said above, kokanee are not predators in the sense of running down a minnow, so you aren’t going to pull lures to spark a predatory response. Instead, you are trying to draw strikes out of a sense of aggression or curiosity. I’m not really sure which, since I’ve yet to catch a kokanee willing to talk about motivation.

Kokanee can be very color sensitive. A color that captures their curiosity or triggers their aggression now may quit working in an hour, so you’ll have to change colors to draw more strikes. The same is true in terms of the vibration and flash created by your lures, dodgers and flashers.

When starting out, you’ll need three basic lures: snelled spinners, hoochies and small spoons. You’ll need these lures in a few basic colors such as orange, pink, green, white and metallics like chrome and gold.

There are times when you can catch kokanee with naked lures, but you’ll be best served running with a dodger or flasher about 90 percent of the time. When using dodgers, you’ll want your lure two to three dodger lengths behind the blade.

Many kokanee guys stopped using flashers long ago and, truth be told, I don’t run the big strings of metal blades anymore either, but I still use flashers. I like modern low-drag flashers. Mack’s Lure’s mylar Hot Wings-style flashers are excellent, as are my Turbo Flashers (Google Turbo Flasher). Both of these products put out a ton of flash and vibration without adding fight-deadening drag to your rigs.

Pay attention; in the next few lines I’m going to break down the basic progression of kokanee fishing in terms of flash and vibration.

Early in the morning, when the light level is low, start out with maximum flash and vibration. Color is a moving target you’ll have to play with, but first thing in the morning is the time to run your spinners and 4-inch chrome dodgers.

Very likely this flashy and loud gear will produce strikes for a while, but as the sun climbs your bites will taper off. The fish have stopped biting because your gear is now scaring them with too much flash and vibration.

As the sun climbs in the sky, your offerings should get quieter and more subtle. Get the chrome out of your spread and break out your small dodgers and small flashers.