Trolling for Kokanee at Whiskeytown

I just visited Whiskeytown Lake for a day of non-fishing boating with the family and noticed the powerboats trolling for Kokes using downriggers. I noticed some kayaks further out on the water. What are they using to get their lures down deep enough? Can you use a sinker release like salmon in the ocean? Or just a diver?

I prefer to downrigger troll for kokanee from my kayak, because it allows me to run my lure and flasher setup at exactly the depth of schools of kokanee I see on my fish finder, and to go through those schools in figure 8 and cloverleaf patterns with the help of the GPS features of my fish finder.  But check out the many Facebook videos posted by Spilt Milt Productions (Uplandsandpiper on the NWKA Forum).  While he does a lot of downrigger trolling, he also trolls very effectively for kokanee using various non-downrigger techniques.

For suggestions about how to set up a kayak for downrigger trolling, and an explanation of how to downrigger troll from a kayak, see my post at https://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=12575.msg138905#msg138905.

If you use the SEARCH function in the upper right, you'll find some really informative recent threads about kokanee fishing.

I've only fished for kokanee once, but I followed pmmpete's suggestions and had success catching them with the DR. If you have a DR, I think it would definitely be the way to go, and if you don't, the Scotty Laketroller is cheap...

Not as effective as a downrigger but you can drop spoons to the schools. Mark them and drop straight down and jig.  Tip the hooks with some corn or Gulp maggots.

I have downriggers on my power boat but not off the kayak (good write up pmmpete). Kayak I use a slider with cannonball weights or the Davis Lake Troll.  My kayak isn’t the most stable to move around on, so I stick with simplicity. I have a hard time even trolling with two rods so maybe its just me, lol. Hard to get that perfect depth though.  You can also catch them up the streams early and late in the day. 

Split Milt Productions on YouTube as noted above, tons of info on Kokanee fishing all from a yak, highly recommend checking it out.

The KISS rule is a good one for trolling for those little tiny salmon.  Keep it simple - a banana weight or the smallest DeepSix has worked for me.

It always tripped me out to go to Tahoe in late July - having just been trolling for 20 pound kings along the Lost Coast - and seeing big boats with outriggers, trolling flashy gear at like .8 MPH going for kokes.

Someone caught a 5 pounder at Tahoe years back, but we all know most of them are like hotdog size.

Half ounce sliding sinker pulled about 50-75’ on a slow troll does it for me at Whiskeytown at a secret stretch of the lake😂

95% of the kokanee anglers I've seen at Whiskeytown troll. The times I fished there, I just jigged for them and limited out no problem. It's cheap and effective. 3/4 oz P-Line Laser Minnow in the chartreuse/prism finish gets it done at Whiskeytown. Find the school on your depthfinder, drop the jig, give it 1-foot pops. When the sun's up, the shade under the Hwy 299 bridge will often hold fish. Then you can just sit on them until you're limited out.

I used to add scented corn to my jig, but I didn't find it to make a difference, besides impeding the jig action.

Downrigger are easy to mount on a hobie. I have a 2021 outback and I run a scotty depthmaster down rigger with a 6lb fish shaped ball. Use snipe air industries armor plate to mount the downrigger… also use their Scotty mounting plate as they have the best support. On my old pa 14 I use to run a lake troller with a 4lb ball. I fish 2 rods and stack them. Super easy and very effective once you get dialed in. I Kokanee fish a lot. Especially when conditions are good out in the salt.

There are a ton of video's out there.
General, My setup is as follows;
6-10lb main. On the main line, put on one of the little red weight sliders (Sorry, I don't know what the name of them is). On the slider I use 1, 2 or 3oz torpedo's or ball weights.
Then tie on a bead/chain swivel to the main line. This is important to keep the line from twisting. From the Chain swivel add about 3-4' 6lb leader. Tie on a 4" dodger. Tie on your lure about 6-8" from dodger. Troll at 1.2 to 1.8mph depending on what the Kokes want.

Tackle- Underlined are my go to's.

 Dodgers- 4" in several color combos, Chrome/Pink, Chrome/Watermelon and Brass/Orange. Sometimes the Kokes can be skittish so that's when the Brass/Orange is used.

 Lures- Paulina Peak Micro Hootchies with double hooks in Hot Pink. Wedding Rings, Spin-n-Glows, Apex's, Brads kokanee Killers.

Bait- Shoe peg or White caned corn. I make 3 different batches. You don't need the expensive cures or scents they sell at the tackle stores!

1-put the drained corn on a paper towel and pat dry
2-place 1/3rd of corn in a zip-lock bag, 3 bags total.
Do not use iodized salt!
3- Bag 1, Add 2 teaspoons of Kosher Salt and 1 spoon full of minced garlic.  Done.
    Bag 2, add 2 teaspoons Kosher salt and 2 teaspoons Table sugar. Done.
    Bag 3, add 2 Teaspoons Kosher salt and add 6 drops of Anise extract. (You can find this in the baking section with the Vanilla and other flavors). Done
4- Close bags and mix.

That's it! Time to go fishing.

Feel free to ask any questions you have.

Kevin