With the Lake Stevens kokanee derby happening and my desire to get some rest and relaxation fishing, lake Stevens seemed a poor choice. This was confirmed when I spoke with rseas and he indicated "around a hundred boats" on the water. Meanwhile, my destination had exactly zero kokanee anglers on it and I was having good success.

If you didn't know, Lake Roesiger has kokanee. It's listed in the WDFW lake information page write up, but you won's see it in any stocking reports. That's because the lake has a naturally reproducing kokanee population. Before you start freaking and predicting the skies will fall with this report, consider this - the odds of this lake becoming inundated with kokanee anglers is very low. There are some barriers to fishing here. First, the launch is small and there is very limited parking. As in, maybe a half dozen rigs. If you're lucky. Getting in to the launch area itself is a challenge due to a fence on either side of the entrance. I made it with my 20 foot Thunderjet, but just barely. Then, there's the lake itself. The first, lower section is more of a trout type lake. Yes, it has a deep area, but very little size for trolling kokanee. Moving on to the center section, you'll run into a shallow, weedy pond-like setting that will have you nervously watching your depth finder drop to two feet deep. Who knows how deep it will be in a few months? Finally, in order to get to the large, north end segment you get to again run through a narrow passageway which in the past had a rather ominous pipe sticking up, waiting to punch a hole in your hull or wreck a prop. I didn't see the pipe so maybe some kind soul removed it.

Once you run these gauntlets and make it to the far north end of the lake you'll be rewarded with a nice size lake (the majority of the 384 acre lake is this section). You'll find deep holes and drop-offs that will have you salivating and rigging up your kokanee gear in pleasant anticipation.

I hit my first fish coming into this section of the lake and finding a drop-off of 50 feet deep. The fishfinder screen lit up and a few seconds later my deep rod was bouncing with what turned out to be a very respectable 13" fish. Ah, if only that size class continued, I would have been thrilled! Instead, working my way around the northeast shoreline I ran into fish in the 11" range. I'm not a kokanee snob and since I was using bait I gratefully took these fish home with me. The last fish of the day hit hard, releasing the downrigger clip and giving me several nice pulls. It turned out to be a beautiful 15" cutthroat! Too nice a fish not to keep, in the cooler he went for my day's limit.

I had my success running one downrigger at 25-35 feet and the other at 30-40 feet and chasing meter marks, which was quite effective. Trolling speed 1.3 to 1.4 and did a fair number of twists and turns to keep them interested. Standard gear as you can see in the picks. Bite enhancer scent out-fished garlic 4-1.

The Cascade mountain range to the north was peaking out of the clouds and the sun was shining down on me. I looked around and saw one bass boat working the shores and one kayaker long-lining a fly rod. No other kokanee anglers and another beautiful Pacific Northwest kokanee lake left un-touched. Proof that those willing to explore a bit can find peaceful quality fishing. Meanwhile just seven miles away as the crow flies a hundred boats and several hundred anglers played bumper-boats. I know the derby is a very popular event, but I'll take the peaceful solitude every time.

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