Kokanee Advanced Tackle Breakdown

Buckle up for a long one. As promised to multiple people. I would recommend watching SpiltMilt on youtube about Kokanee basics, as that's my bread and butter and most of what is preached is considered the gold standard of advice. That being said, kokanee fishing is a fishery of nuance and details. Like a best-of-7 playoff bout, or a chess match, it's a game of adjustments. Sometimes the difference between limiting and skunking is a single bead, or a single weird decision made on the water. It doesn't take fancy gear, and I've come to realize that even the cheapest of garage sale gear will more than get the job done if attention to detail is regarded. See more on that later. Disclaimer: everything I say is a generalization of the 9 lakes I've caught kokanee from all within norcal over many many sessions. As with every rule in nature, there is always exception. I will also be focusing on trolling, as jigging is another story in regards to tackle.


Bait
Corn
   I only use two brands: Del Monte and Jolly Green Giant white shoepeg corn. DO NOT attempt to use any of the larger, yellow, sweet, or creamed corn. It's not going to work. They need to be small as to not throw off the action of any lures. Straight out of the can, I will drain them in a strainer, and mix with NON-IODIZED salt, whatever I have on hand. I leave it in a strainer over a bowl in the fridge overnight to firm up a bit. This helps the corn possibly survive short strikes and drive-by's. PLAIN CORN will catch fish just like that. Sometimes on a side-by-side comparison, fishes just as well as scent-added corn. As for scents, I will sometimes use white sugar and/or MSG in the dry brine/straining process in the fridge. I have not noticed a difference, but it's just something I've always done if I had the time. Why corn? I've asked a biologist about the corn, and it is speculated that amino acids in the corn mimic some of the amino acid scents in the plankton that kokanee primarily feed on. As MSG is a salt-form of glutamic amino acid, and solubilized in water, makes sense to add. But I have not thoroughly tested this theory. Early in the kokanee season, I will tend to go lighter on additional scent. I might add anise, krill oil, shrimp paste, or vietnamese fish sauce. But as the season progresses, the fish start to (generally) prefer tuna oil from a can and garlic salt. I've not had much luck with fresh garlic. Bottled scents work great too, I just don't like to spend the extra money when I have lots of stuff on-hand to scent. When packaging corn for the season, I will make several different baggies and label them. I will also divide the canned tuna into half of the bags as scent, but also as an option to stuff inside of a brad's kokanee cut plug if I decide to run that lure. After a day of fishing, I can usually throw my corn back in the freezer and keep fishing it until gone. Sometimes they will get a little mushy, in which case I'll drain, salt, and then refreeze for like-new.
Maggots
   Will work great during the winter when it's colder and they are more lethargic. But I cannot understate how gross it is during summer heat to have runaway maggots crawling all over the area between my legs as I'm trying to bait up my lures. They can sometimes produce great on a crappie jig or small spoon with a single hook during the spring or fall schooling times. I'd much rather use:
Berkeley Gulp Maggots
   I recommend cutting them in half. These are a great fallback bait to keep in the tackle box with bottled scent (don't add scent until you're ready to fish them, as scent can cause spoilage). I will usually cut them in half as the full size can throw off action of smaller lures like wedding rings or spinners. Can also be used to soak up the previously mentioned kitchen ingredient scents, but also risk spoilage if kept too long unrefrigerated. There have been times when these saved my fishing day when I forgot my corn at home and didn't want to make the round trip back. IF YOU FORGET YOUR BAIT, YOU MIGHT AS WELL CALL A PREMATURE SKUNK SESSION (ask me how I know). Bait is critical to this fishery, and attention to it will serve you well. I never bait more than 1 per hook, and sometimes will forgo the back hook if the bite is shy. More bait is counterintuitive here, as it hurts action. When putting corn on the hook, try to make sure the core of the corn is still inside the outer husk, that you're going through the side of the corn (longwise vs. flat side), and that the open end of the corn is not front-facing. Mushy corn should be simply discarded.

Line Twist
I feel this needs its own little section. From whatever main line I'm running, I always tie 24" minimum of 12-15lb mono or fluoro on a beadchain swivel to my terminal tackle. I'll often have a pool noodle of just beadchain leaders pretied and ready to go if my line gets kinked. Doesn't happen as often as with trophy trout fishing, but for freshwater trolling THIS IS A MUST. Ball bearing swivels will still tangle your line after enough time, and have failed me in the past. Only traffic frustrates me more than line twist. Some old heads use trolling rudders, but I prefer to have as little drag on my line as possible when fighting kokanee for hookup ratio reasons.

So let's talk Terminal Tackle, the real meat and potatoes of this whole thing. It ALWAYS pays off to tie your own custom terminal tackle rather than the off-the-shelf stuff. They always cut corners somewhere and it's never the right leader length pre-tied. It's also much more expensive.
Hooks
   I used to use Gamakatsu octopus or wide-gap hooks. Then started using drop shot and even small circles. I've settled upon Owner Mosquito hooks in size 2 and 4 for both kokanee and trout and after much trial and error, have decided that these are my hook of choice. I buy them in large 40 packs or in as large of a quantity as I can get them. Depending on what lure I'm running and what grade of koke I anticipate catching, will run double 2's, double 4's, or a 4 behind a 2. The latter option is chosen when using a vibrating or wiggling lure (one with its own action). There was a time I swore by treble in the back as an adjustment to poor hookup ratios. I've since capitulated. Owner mosquitos have the best hookup ratios IN MY EXPERIENCE. However, if it's the kind of day where every single bite seems to come unpinned within seconds, NO HOOK WILL GUARANTEE YOU 100% LANDING RATE. Losing fish is part of the game some days. And that's okay.
Lure Types
   So everyone knows hoochies. I'd recommend watching SpiltMilt's video on colors at depth. I prefer pink, and always want something other than a plain solid color. Little bit of sparkle, or a gradient contrast, or SOMETHING that isn't uniform. UV/glow is a good choice especially in lowlight conditions or fishing >30ft down. In poorer clarity, these can often prevail. P-Line is my go-to, sometimes goldstar makes some good glow ones (seem to glow better than competitors), rocky mountain tackle is meh, and I'll take Paulina Peak when I can get it (not very often in CA). Make sure you trim the skirt of the hoochie so that the front hook eye is inside the skirt, but the hook is outside of it. This can be accomplished with beads. More on that below. It's also a great idea to add a small wiggle bill in front of the hoochie, with the bill tip inserted into the head of the hoochie. I like them over wiggle discs, which do more of a rotating/spinning action on the hoochie and can lead to frustrating tangles. I subtract a bead to account for the added plastic inside of the hoochie head when tying up. Another alternative to hoochies would be micro shrimps, tied the same way. I'll post the brand I use.
   Apex lures are great. I suggest retying with custom hooks and customizing leader length. A stiffer line tends to work better with apex. There are a number of knockoffs and similar styles, I don't discriminate by brand here. Solid colors over shiny ones in my book.
   I will make my own two-hook spinners, usually with 1-3 beads and a spinning apparatus placed in front. These are great low-profile choices during the early season. There are 3 main spinners I use: Colorado blades (gold or silver) on a clevice, mack's smile blades, and spin-n-glo in the mini variety. Make sure you tune your smile blades by bending them inwards or outwards to achieve a wobbling action on whatever lure you run behind it, be it wedding ring or hoochie. I DO NOT use in-line metal spinners, can't seem to get them to work right. I will also usually downsize hooks for wedding rings and spinners as these are more sensitive to the action being nerfed by big baits. If you are using a spinner in front of a hoochie or other bait, remember to add a bead between that and the bait so that it will spin properly.
   Brad's KCP's are also a great choice but I often see them tied up wrong. Tie the hooks first, add the beads (to space lure out from hooks), and thread the line through the rubber band. VOILA! no more lost rubber bands. Can't tell you how many of them I've lost until I had to borrow some from a guide on the water and he showed me what I was doing wrong. I see my local bait shops routinely sold out of extra rubber bands as people don't really seem to know this trick. I almost always thread the leader through the outermost hole of the KCP, as more action is usually better for this lure and kokanee. If you break off this lure, it tends to be the most expensive of tackle to lose.
Flies have gotten more attention in recent years, specifically trolling flies. I will note that while the flash and colors and patterns can be amazingly intricate and beautiful, big fish will really tear em up after a while and unless you tie your own, the hooks tend to suck and makes it hard to make a 2-hook rig. I'd like to see someone attempt a good one. Probably won't be me, though.
   Spent a lot of time trying to source good beads. I've come to realize that the BEADMAN in redding right next door to Headwaters Kayak shop has an amazing selection. I'll post my haul below. They have an entire section dedicated to fishing beads. Every color you'll need, glass to metal, sizes, stacker beads (which help immensely with vibrational lures vs. several loose beads), and especially egg beads for drifting. Sometimes, the color of the bead will be the singular difference in buying a bite. I will often put a single UV, gold, or silver bead as the last terminal bead in the lure and that will be what the fish key in on. No more spending a small fortune on "fishing" beads in packs from the bait shop. They also withstand the 110F+ redding heat a lot better than the "fishing" bead brands. I've noticed the latter will melt in my truckbed after a few hours in the sun. That can really hurt your lure's action depending on application.
Leader
   If the lure has no action of its own, ALWAYS less than 2 lengths of the dodger. That will depend on what kind of dodger you run. Ideally 1.25-1.5x the length. If it has its own action, 1.75-2.5x will do. You want that thing moving behind the dodger. I like to describe three types of lure action you're looking for: stop-and-go action (longest leader), walking-the-dog action (kind of resembles a good topwater action), and erratic. Wiggle bills tend to imitate erratic. As is always the rule, test your lure beside the boat at intended speed and find out for yourself. The stop-and-go is a good choice when fish are shy, or during early season, or when toplining. Sometimes erratic action can spook fish. Sometimes it weeds out the small ones. As for leader material, KOKANEE DO NOT DISCRIMINATE BETWEEN FLUORO AND MONO. However, I tie all my leaders in 10-15lb fluoro for 2 reasons: (1)It's slightly stiffer, meaning that more action is imparted to the lure from the dodger, and (2) i will use these lure for trout sometimes, and trout absolutely discriminate on leader material. To each their own.
   For dodgers, I primarily use 3.5-4.5" sling blades. IN MY EXPERIENCE, dodger color doesn't matter as much as flash and action. Gold vs. Silver, and how fast/wide that thing wags is the most critical factor. I wouldn't break the bank on a dodger collection unless you come across a garage sale and can get them for the cheap. Ford fenders have much more drag and have a surface planing problem during toplining and speed-ups. But they can be effective at depth. Gang troll flashers have too much drag and don't impart action, but they can work with lures that have their own. Not my preferred by any means. You can certainly use them to moderate success. I like willow leaf styles, but sometimes the drag can be a bit much on them. Make sure you TUNE your dodgers by bending them 2/3 down the side so that they have a wide, pronounced swing at your intended speed.


So let's talk rod and reel. That will depend on what descending tactics I'm using. I run 3 rod types: Eagle claw featherlight kokanee rod 7' for toplining. It has great action, but my complaint is that it has memory from storage if you keep the rod tip at an angle. Not ideal. Okuma SST Kokanee rod for leadcore and lead weights. Has better backbone to deal with bigger fish and heavier gear. And Ugly Stik Ultralight and med-light action rod for heavier lead weights and dipsey divers. I used to use a Cousin's tackle rod that got messed up for downrigger fishing. However, the low price of aforementioned rods and their ability to take abuse has convinced me of the former. For reels, I use linecounters for lead weight and toplining, which is critical, and cheap level wind reels for leadcore. For dipsey divers, I use a heavy duty bass reel or my bigger linecounter spooled with 30lb braid. I much prefer my Okuma Coldwater lowprofile linecounter to my daiwa lexa. Just feels much more ergonomic especially on my cork handles (I like cork as opposed to synthetics). As for cheap reels, I use a bunch of abu garcia ambassador 6000 reels i got 6 of from an old man's garage sale for $5 a pop still in the package from who-knows-how-many-decades-ago. The drag is crap and tends to slip a lot, but that's actually an advantage to landing kokanee. I spool them up with plain mono or more commonly hybrid leadcore rigs with varying topshots of mono between 5'-65' in length for various applications.
For a net, don't need to get fancy. Whatever works for you, but rubber nets are always better with salmonoids if releasing, and won't get you 2-hook rigs all tangled up in the material. I like to situate my net on the bow of the kayak.

Descending tactics
   Toplining is pretty simple stuff; pure mono, 12-15lb. Sometimes I'll splice in a 1/4 or 1/8oz sliding egg weight on a pretied section to get my stuff just below the surface if the dodger is having trouble planing at speed.
   Leadcore is my bread and butter most of the time. Look up Cal Kellog's hybrid leadcore rigs. I use 18lb suffix leadcore, and use between 3-5 colors on my hybrid rigs. I've determined true depth by accidently snagging bottom multiple times with each rig so I know pretty confidently how deep I am at varying speeds. For most typical koke speeds (1.1-1.4mph), buys me 6-7' of depth per color. It can make it difficult to deploy once you have kinks in your line, if your terminal tackle doesnt have enough drag behind the boat, or you're deploying it at too slow a speed. Usually I will speed up to 2.0-2.5mph to deploy my leadcore quickly. It takes patience. I usually change out my leadcore every season, or when the kinks in the lead line start making my rig a hot mess to deploy. But theoretically you can run these for a long time. Sometimes leadcore will get more bites at the same depth than downrigger or lead weights. Sometimes I'll get bites while I'm deploying the leadcore, more so than mid-deployment for other tactics.
   Lead weights are pretty popular with kayak anglers now, and for good reason as I've thrown out my lake troll due to downriggers just being too much of a hassle for me. Trolling tables can be found online, with varying degrees of accuracy. I use straight mono, 15lb for lead weights. Clip weights (SpiltMilt has good info on clips) are popular too but I've lost a lot of lead and clips on big fish. Once they push the 15-16" range, a swinging 3-5oz weight beside the boat while fighting a fish and trying to grab the weight has smacked me straight in the face and made me see stars. I just use the sliding rig, but I normally will tie a 15-20lb rubber snubber (or bumper). The snubber helps with hookup ratios immensely. It's an old school tactic and some see as "uncool" for some odd reason.
   I have some old posts about Dipsey Divers from a year or two back that I won't rehash here. If someone wants to link it, go ahead. Or just search for dipseys on the forum. Mostly straight braid to a clip that attaches to the dipsey. Always run a snubber after a dipsey, especially with kokanee. The advantage is that dispeys actually help me land more kokes than lead weights when they're fired up. It discourages them from jumping, they tend to swim with it more, and it helps buy bites sometimes when I pop the clip and let it slowly plane up the the surface. Dipseys take some learning curve, and the only true way to dial them in is to catch fish on it. Don't recommend you try it as a first outing for kokanee until you've started catching on other methods.

Adjustments
   Like earlier stated, a tough bite is a chess match. During full moon phase is typically very tough. As is during spawning cycles. Color, action, attractants, flash, size of lure, speed, scent/bait, depth, and variability/erraticness of trolling patterns are all factors to consider. Sometimes trolling with the wind/current is preferred over trolling against. Sometimes the opposite is true. Let the bites guide your actions. The same rules may not even apply the next day at the same lake. As a general rule, if I've been doing the same thing for 30mins, am confident I am presenting the bait to fish, and not had a hit, I make some adjustment. But one should not remain static and hope that the fish decide to change their mind. That rarely works unless you're very confidently dialed in. Most of the time, the first adjustment should be to make erratic S-weaving type turns when trolling. If the fish are following the lure (and they will very often follow but not strike for long distances), often it is a sudden slowdown that will convince them to bite.

Pictures to follow.

2 Things I haven't covered: crappie tubes and spoons
Spoons
   Only usually use these when kokes 18"+ are anticipated. Dick nite is my go to. Small needlefish or kastmasters in the right colors can do the trick. Switch out for single hooks. Expect to lose more fish.
Crappie tubes
   Highly underrated, although they melt a lot and haven't had a brand that can withstand the 110F+ redding heat with regularity. Still a solid choice for a slightly more bigger profile bait.

More pictures p.1

Pics p.2
Featured: lures glowing at night

Pics p.3

NAILED IT! Great write up. Hoping to get up there and fish with you again soon.
Kevin

I'm overwhelmed by the wealth of info you provided.
You should write a book !!

Fantastic info.

At some point, you might want to consider trying the Scotty Depthmaster downrigger.  It’s a little more work to mount it on a kayak, but I bet you’d love it.

Thank you for a great Kokanee write up. They are such a fun fish to catch.

At some point, you might want to consider trying the Scotty Depthmaster downrigger.  It’s a little more work to mount it on a kayak, but I bet you’d love it.

I’ve tried various downriggers on friends’ kayaks. I’ll look into it. My main problem with DR’s is losing so many balls on low water levels on Shasta as well as other lakes, and quickly cutting the braid out of safety concerns. Happened a half dozen too many times. Partly as a result of my own risky maneuvers. One less thing to worry about IMO. Some lakes have very complex topography that causes problems for the sometimes inattentive.

At some point, you might want to consider trying the Scotty Depthmaster downrigger.  It’s a little more work to mount it on a kayak, but I bet you’d love it.

I’ve tried various downriggers on friends’ kayaks. I’ll look into it. My main problem with DR’s is losing so many balls on low water levels on Shasta as well as other lakes, and quickly cutting the braid out of safety concerns. Happened a half dozen too many times. Partly as a result of my own risky maneuvers. One less thing to worry about IMO. Some lakes have very complex topography that causes problems for the sometimes inattentive.

I hadn't considered that, as I use my DR in the ocean almost exclusively. I've only had to cut the ball loose once, and that was due to a whale that got a little too friendly...

This is an amazingly informative post.  This makes me want to rig up and go fishing for kokes for the first time ever.  Thank you so much... you're an all-star.

Thanks for sharing this great report and educational post ST.

Money!

Thank you for all the great information. I have just started fishing Kokanee since I got my Kayak and can't get enough of it. I am trying to learn everything I can about fishing for them and  Kayak fishing in general. Totally addicted to kayak fishing. Keep the info coming, I know I will keep going back to this post and will be gleaning information out of it multiple times.
Thanks again,
Curt