devil creek

[PineviewFisher]

hello idaho. i drive to idaho at least once a week delivering lumber. i always wondered if there is kokes in devil creek. thinking about fishing there soon what would be the best thing to use and what depth. if there are how big do they get? what other game fish r there in devil creek is there any other lakes to fish around there that would be good to fish with kokes in them. any info would be very good. thanks for all the info
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[wiperhunter2]

I haven't caught any kokes there lately but there have been kokanee in there in the past. You never know where you might find the kokanee but you will know it when you do. When they come through, the screen on your fish finder can go black if it is a big school. I usually fish 10 to 20 ft deep for them depending how deep of water you are in. I have never caught any kokes over 12 or 13 inches in there. There are rainbows and cutts and there use to be lake trout in there years ago but I think they are gone now. I'm sure Brian or one of the other guys can give you some better info but I hope this helps. WH2
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[OvidCreek]

There are Kokes in Devil Creek, and there sure has been an effort to get them going by Fish and Game. I caught one over a week ago in the 15-16' range, and I believe BrianID caught a couple last year. I heard a rumor last year that if you go at night with a lantern you stand a better chance getting Kokes--just a rumor though. Wiperhunter2 is right they do feed in the 10-20ft depths and if a school comes by its fast action. Ririe is the best bet when it freezes. The other waters of East Idaho that I am aware of for Kokes are: Montpelier, Island Park, and Palies. Pink jigs is what I usually catch them on. If you fish Devil Creek for Kokes your big problem will be the large amount of rainbows you catch; I guess that is not really a problem?

OvidCreek
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[BrianID]

Devil Creek Kokanee aren't all that common to catch but they show up every now and then. I’ve never heard of anyone catching a limit (6) of kokanee at Devil Creek. Most of the time people only catch one. Don’t forget the limit of six is an aggregation of kokanee and trout. Also you may only keep two cutthroat at Devil Creek. There are a couple different age classes of kokanee in Devil Creek. The ones planted this spring would be 8”-12” and the ones planted last spring would be about 14”-16”. There might be a few larger ones that have been in there for 2 1/2 years but they wouldn’t be very common. Keep in mind these sizes are only rough guesses made by me who has little experience catching kokanee out of Devil Creek.

For the last several years the F&G has been planting about 7000-9000 fingerling kokanee in Devil Creek Reservoir. These kokanee are planted in the spring and many probably don't survive in this little reservoir more than a couple months. These fingerling kokanee would be a perfect sized meal for the growing LMB population in Devil Creek. Another part of the reason the kokanee fishing isn't better at Devil Creek is all of the competition from rainbow trout. The last few years the F&G have been planting about 30,000-60,000 catchable sized rainbows in Devil Creek.

As far as I know Devil Creek currently has rainbows, kokanee, largemouth bass, cutthroat and cuttbows. The cutthroat and cuttbows are not very common. Rainbows are by far the most common species in Devil Creek. In the past splake, lake trout and brooke trout have been in Devil Creek but I would be very surprised to find any of those on the end of my line at Devil Creek.

Montpelier and Devil Creek are the only reservoirs in the SE region that I can think of at the moment that currently have kokanee. Ovid Creek gave you some ideas for areas in the Upper Snake Region. There are several guys that post on this board from the SW part of the state who have a few places they do well for kokanee. They might be able to give you a few ideas as well.

If I were to target kokanee at Devil Creek I would fish somewhere on the South half of the reservoir in deeper water. I would use small ice flies tipped with bait. If I wanted to fish more than 10 feet below the surface I would place a jigging rapala or other heavy lure to help my ice fly get down to the fish sooner. I would also use five poles. The only problem would be keeping the rainbows off your hooks. A flasher or good depth finder should help you locate what level the fish are at.

The picture below shows a kokanee I pulled through the ice at Devil Creek last winter. It doesn’t look very large in the picture but if I remember correctly it measured close to 16”.

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