Still no kokanee at Ririe

[fast_randy]

Me and obifishkenobi were the first ones on the water at Juniper this morning. It sure looks like a bunch of kokes on the finder down at 75 feet. But we couldn't get them to bite. A lot a fish showing at 25 feet also, so me and Shawn had our down riggers at 75 feet and 25. We got rainbows regularly at 25. Shawn started catching them on a orange dodger and orange huchie. He asked me if I had anything orange, so I put on a small orange flatfish and started nailing the trout at 25 feet. I eventually gave up on kokanee and fished another orange with black dots flatfish and caught them on that also. Nothing big, but good 1 1/2 pounds. It was fun and kept us busy until near noon. No pictures, all fish caught and released.

[wiperhunter2]

Me and obifishkenobi were the first ones on the water at Juniper this morning. It sure looks like a bunch of kokes on the finder down at 75 feet. But we couldn't get them to bite. A lot a fish showing at 25 feet also, so me and Shawn had our down riggers at 75 feet and 25. We got rainbows regularly at 25. Shawn started catching them on a orange dodger and orange huchie. He asked me if I had anything orange, so I put on a small orange flatfish and started nailing the trout at 25 feet. I eventually gave up on kokanee and fished another orange with black dots flatfish and caught them on that also. Nothing big, but good 1 1/2 pounds. It was fun and kept us busy until near noon. No pictures, all fish caught and released.

Thanks for the report Randy, so are you saying that Shawn caught some kokes, if so how many?

[fast_randy]

No, we only got rainbows.

[meancuznalfy]

That's a big change in that fishery, wonder why?

[wiperhunter2]

That's crazy, worse than Utah koke fishing has been this year, makes me wonder what happened, you would think there would at least be some smaller ones in there. Is it possible that the high limit they have there, was too high.

[obifishkenobi]

That's crazy, worse than Utah koke fishing has been this year, makes me wonder what happened, you would think there would at least be some smaller ones in there. Is it possible that the high limit they have there, was too high.

They are there I graphed big schools they just have lock jaw.

[wiperhunter2]

Good to know there are still some in there, hopefully you guys will have better luck next time.

[kentd71]

Me and obifishkenobi were the first ones on the water at Juniper this morning. It sure looks like a bunch of kokes on the finder down at 75 feet. But we couldn't get them to bite. A lot a fish showing at 25 feet also, so me and Shawn had our down riggers at 75 feet and 25. We got rainbows regularly at 25. Shawn started catching them on a orange dodger and orange huchie. He asked me if I had anything orange, so I put on a small orange flatfish and started nailing the trout at 25 feet. I eventually gave up on kokanee and fished another orange with black dots flatfish and caught them on that also. Nothing big, but good 1 1/2 pounds. It was fun and kept us busy until near noon. No pictures, all fish caught and released.

We fished Ririe 10 or 12 days ago from 7 AM till 11 caught one rainbow but we’re trying for Kokenee.We also grafted what we thought were Kokanee  that we’re down deeper. We fished between 4 lines ,25 and 50 feet mostly.
This was our second attempt this spring and still nothing. We did catch one last fall but none through the ice this winter.

[meancuznalfy]

Wow, that's not very good news.

[wiperhunter2]

Me and obifishkenobi were the first ones on the water at Juniper this morning. It sure looks like a bunch of kokes on the finder down at 75 feet. But we couldn't get them to bite. A lot a fish showing at 25 feet also, so me and Shawn had our down riggers at 75 feet and 25. We got rainbows regularly at 25. Shawn started catching them on a orange dodger and orange huchie. He asked me if I had anything orange, so I put on a small orange flatfish and started nailing the trout at 25 feet. I eventually gave up on kokanee and fished another orange with black dots flatfish and caught them on that also. Nothing big, but good 1 1/2 pounds. It was fun and kept us busy until near noon. No pictures, all fish caught and released.

We fished Ririe 10 or 12 days ate in the Fall did you catch that last koke, was it after the spawn?

[wiperhunter2]

Me and obifishkenobi were the first ones on the water at Juniper this morning. It sure looks like a bunch of kokes on the finder down at 75 feet. But we couldn't get them to bite. A lot a fish showing at 25 feet also, so me and Shawn had our down riggers at 75 feet and 25. We got rainbows regularly at 25. Shawn started catching them on a orange dodger and orange huchie. He asked me if I had anything orange, so I put on a small orange flatfish and started nailing the trout at 25 feet. I eventually gave up on kokanee and fished another orange with black dots flatfish and caught them on that also. Nothing big, but good 1 1/2 pounds. It was fun and kept us busy until near noon. No pictures, all fish caught and released.

 This was our second attempt this spring and still nothing. We did catch one last fall but none through the ice this winter

How late last Fall, did you catch that koke, was it after the spawn?

[duksnfish]

Wow, that is unreal, if you two cant catch em, I dont think it looks very positive for anyone else It really is a state of affairs.

[meancuznalfy]

Yes it is

[obifishkenobi]

Me and obifishkenobi were the first ones on the water at Juniper this morning. It sure looks like a bunch of kokes on the finder down at 75 feet. But we couldn't get them to bite. A lot a fish showing at 25 feet also, so me and Shawn had our down riggers at 75 feet and 25. We got rainbows regularly at 25. Shawn started catching them on a orange dodger and orange huchie. He asked me if I had anything orange, so I put on a small orange flatfish and started nailing the trout at 25 feet. I eventually gave up on kokanee and fished another orange with black dots flatfish and caught them on that also. Nothing big, but good 1 1/2 pounds. It was fun and kept us busy until near noon. No pictures, all fish caught and released.

We fished Ririe 10 or 12 days ago from 7 AM till 11 caught one rainbow but we’re trying for Kokenee.We also grafted what we thought were Kokanee  that we’re down deeper. We fished between 4 lines ,25 and 50 feet mostly.
This was our second attempt this spring and still nothing. We did catch one last fall but none through the ice this winter.

This was my third trip this year after I found the rainbows I started targeting them with at least two of my 4 downriggers on the second trip and target the kokes with th same gear at those deeper marks.

[psanders71]

Figured we would give it a try yesterday... Some wind and some rain made it "fun" at times for sure. Started by trolling up near the dam and saw quite a few marks on the finder with most between 50 and 75 feet. Tried various dodger and lure combo's (hoochies, wiggle hoochies, spinners, etc) to no avail. Did pick up one bow in that part of the lake. Then ran down to the Blacktail side where we tossed jigs and cranks. Picked up 8 or 9 more rainbows and 3 tiny smallmouth bass. No Kokes and no perch in 6 hours of fishing.

[wiperhunter2]

Figured we would give it a try yesterday...  Some wind and some rain made it "fun" at times for sure.  Started by trolling up near the dam and saw quite a few marks on the finder with most between 50 and 75 feet.  Tried various dodger and lure combo's (hoochies, wiggle hoochies, spinners, etc) to no avail.  Did pick up one bow in that part of the lake.  Then ran down to the Blacktail side where we tossed jigs and cranks.  Picked up 8 or 9 more rainbows and 3 tiny smallmouth bass.  No Kokes and no perch in 6 hours of fishing.

Pretty amazing how Ririe has turned totally off on the kokes. Thanks for your report, glad you got into some bows and bass. Any size to the bows?

[duksnfish]

So what does anyone think is going to have to happen to get the Koks to start biting again? Is there such a die off that we just dont have the populations to catch any? I mean, you would think that someone would at least pick a few up here n there  But, even the off internet folks are saying very very very few koks are being caught which is just amazing. I mean the last couple of years has been in a down turn for them. Such a high 2-3 years back and then just like falling off of a cliff, they stopped. This goes for frozen lake too. What goes folks, any idea?

[wiperhunter2]

So what does anyone think is going to have to happen to get the Koks to start biting again? Is there such a die off that we just dont have the populations to catch any? I mean, you would think that someone would at least pick a few up here n there  But, even the off internet folks are saying very very very few koks are being caught which is just amazing. I mean the last couple of years has been in a down turn for them. Such a high 2-3 years back and then just like falling off of a cliff, they stopped. This goes for frozen lake too. What goes folks, any idea?

I'm blaming it on the pandemic, because this did not happen at just Ririe, lots of koke lakes are having the same problem. I think that during those two years, more people than ever went fishing and they went after the kokes, in huge numbers. During those two years I saw more people out fishing during the week than I have ever seen, it did not seems to matter what day you got out there, it was always crowded and those high numbers of people decimated the koke population, in just about every lake. There are likely other factors but the pandemic made matters worse, IMO.

[duksnfish]

So what does anyone think is going to have to happen to get the Koks to start biting again? Is there such a die off that we just dont have the populations to catch any? I mean, you would think that someone would at least pick a few up here n there  But, even the off internet folks are saying very very very few koks are being caught which is just amazing. I mean the last couple of years has been in a down turn for them. Such a high 2-3 years back and then just like falling off of a cliff, they stopped. This goes for frozen lake too. What goes folks, any idea?

I'm blaming it on the pandemic, because this did not happen at just Ririe, lots of koke lakes are having the same problem. I think that during those two years, more people than ever went fishing and they went after the kokes, in huge numbers. During those two years I saw more people out fishing during the week than I have ever seen, it did not seems to matter what day you got out there, it was always crowded and those high numbers of people decimated the koke population, in just about every lake. There are likely other factors but the pandemic made matters worse, IMO.

I guess I can see that as every time I went fishing on Ririe, it just seemed like everything, everyone was on the lake and many had not just one limit, but, it seemed like almost everyone had a limit in the boat or close to it. I'm also wondering if just the stress on the water from so many boats, fishing or not, might have had an impact to the Kokes. They just didnt get a break to settle down with all the boats fishing, skiing, wake boarding on and on. No place to hide or just settle down like they have in past years. Whatever it is/was, I sure hope that over the next several months, the kokes can get a break whatever it may be and come next year, we have a decent fishery. It's just tough plain and simple.

[MMDon]

If you were to plant a suspect bacterially challenged fish from the latest year class, due to the shoaling nature of Kokanee, that bacterial disease would spread very rapidly through 70 to 80 percent of the Kokanee in the biomass. It's happened in years past and is really common in Kokanee. This essentially wipes out 3 years worth of Kokanee in any lake a bad plant is introduced. Perhaps more studies should be done on Kokanee while they are in the tanks and prior to planting to make sure they are disease free?