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Ha, what a funny day of fishing. Had work done by 11 so I packed the gear up and headed on down to Stevens. Good 35 min drive. Same ol setup as the previous trips this time using Kokanee special oil scented corn. I dragged around the gear near 25ft on the wire. Had two fish in 20 min and then NOTHING for hours. My biggest mistake was not paying attention to what the fish were telling me. Splashes everywhere at all depth indicate that fish are on the surface. DUHHHH!! After wasting so much time I finally got the lines off the downrigger and onto the surface and trolled as I was heading back to the boat launch. Knocked out 5 more fish in a very short period before packing it up and heading home. Lesson learned, now I know!

I'm noticing either the fish are getting really big really fast or different schools of fish have bigger kokes in them. Today's biggest was 15 and some change with the smallest being 12. The meat is outstanding and they are chunky in the shoulders. I think I found my new favorite lake! Tight Lines!

Dj

JoshH

4/26/2016 10:06:00 PM

a 15 in Koke is a nice fish anywhere. Nice work!

livingston12

4/26/2016 10:43:00 PM

Yes Josh, a 15" koke is a nice fish, but come over to Roosevelt and try the 18-20", 3-4# on for size. Have caught sockeye smaller than that. They are nice fish. Well worth your drive

Bryce

4/27/2016 12:22:00 AM

Nice job! I can't wait to get out there again.

DjButler

4/27/2016 5:23:00 AM

Livingston12- there is absolutely no comparing Any of these western lakes to Roosevelt. Completely different fisheries. Less competition means those fish don't have to fight over food. This equates to LARGER fish. Stevens gets planted with 200,000 Koke Fry a year. It's only 1,003 acres big. You get the math. Anyways, you are right, it's definitely worth the drive and sure is a nice treat to land an 18-19 inch Koke. I just don't have a big enough boat to fish it.

jd39

4/27/2016 6:50:00 AM

Nice work DJ

DjButler

4/27/2016 6:56:00 AM

JD, where have you been brotha?? havnt seen a report from you in a VERY long time. Hope all is well with you.

cobrar543

4/27/2016 8:58:00 AM

Zack has the scoop on why the Kokes are getting so big this year. And if Fish and Game keep doing things the same way, they are going to stay this way and just get bigger due to the over abundance of food supply that Stevens has. Not the normal Mysis Shrimp like other place but a sort of fresh water version of sea lice. Check the gills of the ones you are pulling out. they eat so many they are getting stuck in the gills and other places.

DjButler

4/27/2016 11:15:00 AM

Cobrar- Thanks for that. I did notice last night that there were a large number of those lice on my kokes. Very interesting. But i did not see any in their digestive system. It was all green gunk.

RL44

4/27/2016 6:14:00 PM

was that tuna oil

jonb

4/27/2016 9:32:00 PM

Nice report mr. Butler!

riverhunter

4/27/2016 9:37:00 PM

Those sea lice you see on the gills might just be gill louse. Not sure if that would be part of their diet

the doc'

5/1/2016 7:48:00 AM

warm winters, means plankton dont die out. just multiply, and feed the kokes. feed is the whole thing. and, not a koke in roosevelt, is planted, i hear. all wild. my boat is a 14' polarkraft. i think it would be fine, on a decent day. must be like 5 hours or so, from tacoma, to get the roosevelt. whats the limit there? five?

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