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Super fun day with a nice bonus.

I went out with Northwest Fishing Reports newest Guide Sponsor; Captain Dave of Captain Dave's Guide Service and the notorious NWFR member Downrigger Al. I was supposed to golf, when Dave offered for me to fish with him. No brainer. These guys have fished Loon for years and I hoped to learn some things. We were on the water by 8:30 or so. Fishing by nine.

We started trolling in front of the launch, along the north shore in 40-50 feet of water. The target speed was 1.5. Dave & Al told me the kokanee in loon are picky. So we used light gear, and pretty streamlined offering. But a variety of them. The key combination was a flasher/dodger and then a variety of flies & lures. All tipped with Al's special recipe corn. Some with maggots, some not.

We got into a couple kokes right away on that north shore. Little buggers in 9-11" range. The guys tell me they get bigger as the year goes on - but these were smaller than usual. Apparently not what we were looking for - we wanted the "schools" that produce multiple hook-ups. We decided to make one more pass than look for hotter action. I hadn't seen anything on my rod yet.

We made the turn and were puttering along - with a couple hits but no more landed when - BAM - my rod buried! It had to be snag, I grabbed the rod - and that was not the bottom. This was no Kokanee! This hook-up was on the lightest rod we were running and it I nearly got spooled on the first run. That's when I realized we forgot the net. We swapped out the salmon net and forgot to throw in the kokanee net. Up until now - no problem. But how were we going to get this in the boat? Dave assured me, if we got it to the boat, he'd get it in.

We were in about fifty feet of water. After crazy fight, a good 15 minutes foot-by-foot, we saw the brute. He was tired. Dave reached over and...we got him! A 13 pound mackinaw! A real nice surprise for the day! My adrenaline was zinging.

Dave and Al told me that's one of the cool things about fishing Loon. At one point the state record Laker was out of Loon, and every year somebody seems to pull up a 20 pounder. I had heard they aren't great fighters but I tell you what this one was stubborn. Interesting, it was hooked on a custom fly Dave ties for Loon.

When we got back to fishing, Dave worked a couple spots - one on the east side, and a couple on the west. We boated a Koke here and there and missed quite a few. Both Al & Dave weren't happy with our production however. Than around 11:30 or noon it picked up again and it seemed that everything we threw out was working. We even trolled just corn behind a Mack's Double D dodger and watched it go off several times. Again the keys seemed to be 20-30 feet off the downrigger - no deeper than 30 feet deep - a Dodger to flies, Mack's Wedding Ring's or ChaCha or some of Dave's custom built gear, and tipped with corn. The special event Heavy Bead "kokabow" lure from the NWFR Lake Chelan Gathering was a solid producer as well.

At about 2:30 we had to call it. The action was good and we were marking more fish than the rest of the day but duty called. We ended up with 20 kokes in the boat, another 20 plus got off. (They'd zip in and steal the corn and be off.) None of them were bigger than 13". Most 10-12". Capt Dave really worked the fish. He's as hard a working guide as I've ever fished with and I picked up some great pointers from him and Al. These guys love fishing! I'm looking forward to fishing Loon with him and Downrigger Al again when these fish are little fatter!

Mike Carey

5/24/2015 6:27:00 AM

I've anchored up in that first hotspot location years ago when I liver in Spokane. Nice trout spot. Never did get any kokanee back then, didn't even know what they were. Nice laker!

Harrye

5/24/2015 11:06:00 AM

Nice laker. Looks like about 4 nice chunks for the barbie and some candy kokes for the smoker. Enjoyed your report. Thanks for sharing.

downriggeral

5/24/2015 2:07:00 PM

Thanks for the report Rob. Fishing with you and Captian Dave was great fun for sure. We did have a blast and really did put that kokanee rod and Shimano Cardiff 100 to the test! At 13# that is a new record for that kokanee rod of mine.
I have fished with Captain Dave several times and he is always working hard to get a fish. He loves to experiment (a fisherman after my own heart) and come up with new ways to get the "fish". He is a really great salmon fishermen too. Give him a call if you would like to get some of those Brewster Sockeye in July.
I am really looking forward to the night fishing at Loon soon and taking you out to catch some of those "silver ghosts"

Tight lines - Alan

robholman

5/26/2015 10:26:00 AM

Couple other "hot spots" on teh lake I hear but can't give away the "secret spots". Well, maybe to you mike...after the secret handshake.

Thanks - baked it with my special sauce. It was really good. Not too big - not too fatty.

Al, it was fun. Thanks for bringing all the rods, corn & gear. That 13 pounder was a blast on your kokanee rod. I've got a trip to Brewster planned already but Dave & I have cooked up a couple more ideas. IT's nice that you guys are close. Very cool to meet some "local" anglers after 5 years over here!

the doc

5/28/2015 11:14:00 AM

i have not as yet, fished for lakers. how are they eating? i have heard they have pale meat. but oily. perhaps a decent smoker?

mooseboy

5/30/2015 8:29:00 PM

Yep 13# on that gear is awesome...Congrats.

robholman

6/1/2015 10:21:00 AM

This was very red - and baked great. Thanks!

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