Stampede Kokanee report 8/13 + 8/14

Got an early start and found good fishing right off the launch ramp. They’ve been dropping deeper, but started out biting at 45’. Last fish came at 70’. They like the watermelon colored stuff this morning. 8 so far with one big one lost boat side. Most are about 16” and a few are sporting early stage hook jaw.

Bite just shutdown. Making a move to the dam and creek arm

Nice. Thanks for the report. Might have to take one more run at em before spawning starts.

Thanks for the live report and bummer bout the boat side lost!

Two more out by the dam. Total of 10 landed 4 retained. Will post a bit more shortly

Woah! Beautiful Koke! I want to go up there soon.

What is the Kokanee limit per day? Is it 5 or 10?

Woah! Beautiful Koke! I want to go up there soon.

+1

More pictures!

I have not fished for Kokanee from my kayak in a couple of years. Having chosen to fish the coast for pretty much every single trip I’ve been able to take for the last year or so, I had almost forgotten how much fun Kokanee fishing can be.

Thankfully, Plug and Jug has kept us pretty up to speed with the action at Stampede. His reports, and the Ace Hardware lake report made me feel optimistic Stampede was a better choice than Boca, at least for targeting Kokanee.

I stayed up a bit too late re-tying a few new spinner setups in pink, green, and watermelon patterns, and finally sacked out at 11 for 2 1/2 hours of sleep. I was shocked at the number of boats already on the water and readying to launch when I arrived at the ramp around 4:45.

Launching with the light of the full moon and a headlamp, I started heading out towards the constellation of lights that was the fleet bunched up in the river channel just south of the island. I didn’t want to insert myself into that tightly packed group of boaters, so I started searching for a lone school of Kokanee away from the masses.

It took all of about 3 minutes to mark a nice grouping of fish a few football fields to the west of the growing fleet. I sent down a watermelon spinner behind a large Mack’s sling blade in chrome/pink on a 50’ setback and started trolling between .9-1.2 MPH.

First bite came within 5 minutes of working that group of fish. The light was still pretty dim, and I had to squint to see the erratic but modest bouncing of the rod tip as the first grab of the day unfolded. The releases were still a little too tight since they had previously been tuned up for these little sockeyes larger ocean going cousin, so I had to pop it off and make a mental note to adjust the clips before redeploying.

The first fish was a bit pink, had a little hook to it’s jaw, and was a skinny 15”. I was super excited and quickly threw it into the cooler without trying to snap a pick, I wanted to get right back into the water since I suspected the bite would be over shortly after the sun hit the water. I sent two rods down to 60’ after putting on new corn with tuna oil/bloody tuna garlic scent.

The bite was pretty steady up u til about 7:30, at which point I had landed 8 fish releasing 4 of them. I had one really strong fish on all the way up to the point that I could see my flasher, but it popped off before I got a look at the fish. Based on the weight and how hard it fought, I’d guess I had a mackinaw of about 4 lbs on.

When the bite died, I looked around to see the fleet clustered at the dam doing the circle the wagons thing, so I again stayed away and worked the channel going up the creek arm. This area was loaded with fish, and I saw a few nets fly. After downsizing my dodgers a bit, I was able to land two more fish. By 9, I was totally satisfied and ready to head in. There was no wind to speak of, water temps around 70 degrees.

Had fun with the buddies oldest kid making gyotaku prints out of one of the fish when I got over to his place in Truckee. I’ll post the remaining photos I took, which weren’t many. After speaking to a DFW census taker at the ramp, it sounded like a hit and miss day for most. I felt super satisfied with my results after such a long time away from the fishery. I think I’ll hit it again for a few hours on my way out of town in the morning.

Thanks for the report. Looks like a great day. I thought I had every color Kokanee lure there was, but that spinner sure takes the cake!

Nice read. Thnx. for the report and pics

Sorry, lost cell signal and wasn’t able to post anything live.

The fishing was better today, instead of 15-16” fish, almost everything was 17-18”. Same location, depth, speed, etc. A green wedding ring with a fire tiger spinner blade got a fair share of grabs too. Left them biting at 9:30 after boating 15 or so. My friend who joined me today did equally well.

Also, got to see a Bald Eagle showdown when one of my released fish floated. Pretty cool to be 50 feet away from them as they did their thing.

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Woah! Beautiful Koke! I want to go up there soon.

What is the Kokanee limit per day? Is it 5 or 10?

5

Those are some nice Kokes. I may have to head back up there.

Thanks for the mention Sea-bree. I haven't been up there for 3 weeks now. After reading you reports, I may head up there this weekend. You are just like me, get away from the crowds and find your own school. It's so much more enjoyable when you can just kick back and fish rather than dodge all the other boats/kayaks. Glad you got into them. Well done!

Kevin