With all the hunting in my spare time, I’ve been neglecting fishing and I was craving some smoked trout. My daughter was “raring” to go so we loaded up the boat and headed to the lake, leaving the other half of the family home to do house chores. It’s not often it’s just her and Dad, and I was glad to have her along.
Like a good partner, she didn’t care what we did, so we tried it all- trolling, jigging, casting, and for all species. We marked a lot of lake trout (70-100 ft), but they were tight-lipped today and we only caught two. Both were about 20-inches and came on Tubedude’s jigging spoons (chartreuse/pink) tipped with some sucker meat.
We trolled for rainbows for about an hour during a wind event, and caught several in the 12-14 inch range. All came from about 25-45 ft, using a RMT Viper spoon in Carribean Sunset running about 1.8 mph.
Finally the fun part, at least if you’re a kid that likes to just cast. We did really well casting for rainbows and caught several with the biggest approaching 20-inches.
Lots of stuff worked, including: Yamamoto IKAs in crayfish colors, Zig Jigs, single-tailed Yamamotos, and even Rapala Clacking Raps. The best offering was just a 3-inch Gulp minnow rigged on a 3/8 oz jighead. Most of the hits came on the fall, with a slow jigging retrieve back to the boat. Lots of hits, lots of fish, and lots of fun!
Water temps are finally in the upper 50s, even with these warm autumn days. Hope it helps and have a good one on the water, Ryno
Thanks for the report Ryan, has it been a good year for the kokes in the area you fish the most? It’s always good to get the kids out and get them involved with anything in the outdoors, especvially fishing with Dad. It won’t be long before her interest will shift toward boys, so enjoy your one on one time with her while you can.
Yeah, I don’t even want to think about that Curt. Her and dating makes me want to vomit…
It was a stellar year for the kokes on this end of the lake too, but the size was much more impressive on the north end. I did a few trips up there and it was a blast catching 3lbers, but I was also pretty content catching 2lbers a half hour from my front door. I can’t wait to see what next year brings, which should be really good catching for Age-4s.
Yea, I wasn’t too excited when our daughter started dating and years later when we heard about the details, it made me sick as well but kids all grow up and you got to hope the values you instill in them, will hold true.
From the sounds of it, the burbot haven’t had as much impact on the kokes as was once feared. I guess next years age-4s kokes are suppose to be a good?
Great report. I was up at the Gorge as well this weekend but didn’t do nearly as well as you guys. We jigged Linwood and got a 5 lbs first thing in the morning but then the wind picked up and made it a little tuff to keep a good presentation. Father inlaw got a nice red and we picked up a couple more 3-4 lbs lakers trolling but all in all a little slow for us. Glad someone was kicking butt on the lake. Your daughter sure looks happy, good going dad.
We had a lot of Age-3s this year as a result of great year class in 2009. Barring any “unknowns” we should have good carry over and some good fishing for Age-4s next year. We also have a good crop of Age-2s coming up which I suspect some anglers were catching this year too. There should be some good years coming.
Burbot are still utilizing kokanee, no doubt about that. How much impact they are having on the kokes is tough to know, being it’s likely more of a seasonal preference or opportunity (in the winter when there is more habitat overlap). Utah State University will be working on the reservoir this winter, looking further at burbot diet, potential competition with lake trout, and burbot movement. Anglers have waged war on the burbot in the Gorge and I wonder, would the kokanee #s be this good without that exploitation?
Great report, purty fish, lovely daughter.