Kokanee Fishing

[tkhuntsman]

I posted some pics of my son and I Kokanee fishing a few weeks ago. I figured I'd start this post to see how everyone else is doing and to see how many of you guys get into the Kokes. It's definitely one of my favorites I really enjoy Salmon fishing in General but being in the middle of the mountains in MT limits me to landlocked Salmon to get my fix. I do make a few trips a year if I can to the PNW coastal areas to catch other Salmon. I was raised in CO and Kokanee was super popular there also so I got an early start. I've been chasing the silver bullets now for over 30 years and every trip is still exciting. This year I've managed to get into some of the biggest fish I've ever seen and unfortunately they will spawn out and I'll have to start the hunt all over again.

 

[tkhuntsman]

 

[tkhuntsman]

 

[tkhuntsman]

 

[tkhuntsman]

 

[tkhuntsman]

Not very many fish come close to these guys on the table either.

 

[Bulldog0156]

Wow, those are huge. Looks like I might need to switch gears from walleye.

 

[jrabq]

Wow, never seen any that big. We have a few lakes in NM with kokanee, but most top out around 15", biggest we ever caught was 18". And the fishery in our closest lake (Heron) has really gone downhill so we rarely fish there anymore.

 

[tkhuntsman]

Yeah when I was a kid I grew up in the SLV in CO and we went down to eagles nest a few times and caught em there but same they were 12-15"

 

[Hem]

Very cool.
Great looking fish.

 

[R.K.]

Those are some giant kokanee. The only ones I've caught paled in comparison to those tanks, and I hope to get into something like that one day.

 

[Buckskinbob]

Those are some nice fish! I've been dreaming of towing in a limit of kokanee on the open water.

 

[Salmonchaser]

Those are keepers when fishing for Reds. Don't think I've ever seen Kokanee as big as those.

 

[tkhuntsman]

Yeah we've been lucky this year. It was kind of a slow start and we weren't finding many fish in a lot of the best spots but then it's turned on and we've gotten on good ones in a couple of lakes now. Probably gonna start hitting a bit of a lull with the summer pressure and warmer water but hopefully it stays good.

 

[tkhuntsman]

Got this one on the 3rd another really nice fish.

 

[Northwoods]

This thread is making me hungry!

 

[MarvB]

Those are some great sized kokes! Missed this thread the first time around. We hit the lake at sunrise the other day and were done in a couple of hours...brought forty something back for the smoker and prolly kicked another 20 loose. Not much for size but fun none the less and will make some great koke candy!

 

[Potsie]

where I grew up we called Kokanee “blue back” and there’s nothing better than smoked blue back.

 

[SD_Prairie_Goat]

Those are some great sized kokes! Missed this thread the first time around. We hit the lake at sunrise the other day and were done in a couple of hours...brought forty something back for the smoker and prolly kicked another 20 loose. Not much for size but fun none the less and will make some great koke candy!View attachment 376196
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Curious, how do you fish for them in a lake?

When they have salt run we only catch them in the rivers with flies

 

[WildWill]

Curious, how do you fish for them in a lake?

When they have salt run we only catch them in the rivers with flies

The only ones I've ever caught I caught while trolling. During the summer on a large reservoir in Wyoming.