Battled the wind yesterday morning while looking for some Kokanee. Had a hard time finding them. Only landed two and missed one. Caught both fish at 16’ on green spinner squid and green dodger. Very strange yesterday. We went up last Friday and marked a lot of fish but yesterday didn’t even mark many. Fished the same places where we’d had success the other day and saw nothing. Trolled all over the lake looking with not much luck. Kind of a rough day overall, but of course it was good to go fishing.
I will give you a hint. I was up there on the 8th and again yesterday. We hooked 12 Kokes in about 4 hours of fishing. Jordanelle Kokanee don’t follow the same pattern as in many other lakes. I fish there a lot. I fished totally different area, yesterday. I fished an area I have never tried before,just to experiment a bit. We caught 5 and lost one in about 2 hours of fisihing in the middle of the day, fighting boat chop and a bit of wind. All about the same size with biggest 17", nice size for this early.
Clue: if you are not marking Kokanee, but you think/know they are there, where are they? They follwed this pattern all year for me, clear through the summer and into August.
Mildog Out
I fished on may 1st and it was the pits! Marked quite a few schools on the Provo River side in the narrows from 15-25 feet. We were there by 1:00 alond with others. Battled a little bit of wind but not bad since it was comming out of the North. Saw a lot of fishermen pick up and go home. Talked to one other and he said he had not had any bites either. The water was rougher when we left around 3:30.
Saw a doe mule deer swim from the south to the north side of the lake.
It would have to be a time of year. The surface temps get way to warm for Kokanee in the summer time.
Where could you find the trout at? Ive never been there and like to go
Kokes prefer low 50s temps but if the food source isn’t there they will spend time shallow chasing the food. They will get shallow for awhile if the food is there but then drop down to cool off. I catch them all year anywhere from 15 to 40 ft down on the Nelle.
Just an FYI In Mid July from my notes, last year the temperature at 25 Feet at Jordanelle was 67.1 degrees, Surface temp was 68.4 degrees at 40 feet it was 57.2 degrees. So the fish you were catching were in the high 50’s to 60 degree temps if you were fishing in July. I can tell you that out of over 90 Kokes last year at Jordanelle only a handful that I caught were deeper than 15 feet. The bigest temp drop was between 40 and 50 feet, 5 degrees cooler at 50 than at 40. I never caught a fish there or even marked many if any. That is warm temps for Kokanee but it held up for me all year and the year before. If you are above them a bit they will often come up, “usually” they don’t go down much to chase a lure, but never say never. So if you are below them you are most likely missing a bunch, if above them, more likely they will come up and hit your set up.
I’m just saying don’t overlook trying shallow. We usually fished for less than 3 hours to limit 3 or 4 of us in the boat and often under 2 hours.
That is interesting.
one thing this post shows us is you can catch kokanee alot of ways and if it works keep doing it if not change
what works for me may not work for you.
I do not fish Jordanelle a lot but the main thing like any lake is finding the kokanee
most of the time when I go there I do OK and I fish Jordanelle, the same way I do Strawberry, Flaming gorge fish lake
and like Stan said kokes will go to the food
Water Temp. I’m a big beliver in this, but this time of year it does not work because the water temp is the same all the way to the bottom
and by the way I have fishfinders that will show me fish on top.
If kokanee could live in 70 deg. water they would be in every lake in Utah
Targeted Depth - Proper TemperatureThe single best predictor of kokanee location is temperature. I am not talking surface water temperature, but rather the correct temperature down in the water column, or temperature at depth. For kokanee, the preferred temperature is close to 54 degrees. It is true that they can be found at temperatures between 44 and 59 degrees. Below 54 degrees the kokanee are less active. Much above 54°, any extended stay will have detrimental or even lethal effects. Kokanee biology functions best at 54 degrees, and they will seek it out if it is available.That temperature provides the most efficient growth from feeding. That temperature also allows for the least amount of energy to be consumed for swimming and generally being in the business of being a kokanee. Wherever that 54 degrees is in the water column, that is your target depth. Early season temperatures may not be as high as 54°, which accounts for sometimes slower fishing.
Is it fair to say that Kokes want to be in the right temperature but also need to go where the food supply is? Are plankton distributed evenly through the water column or do they also have a preferred temperature range?
Say for example in Jordanelle the plankton is at 10 to 15 feet in 65 degree water, is it possible you would mark fish at 54 but then catch them at the higher elevation because that’s where they feed?
I humbly disagree, This biggest predictor for ME of where Kokanee are is where I catch them.
For the last two seasons up at Jordanelle, the Kokanee all season except for early when the water temps were close at much of the water column, were in much warmer water than they are supposed to prefer and for extended periods of time. When I surveyed the water column and found the ideal water temp, I did not find or catch kokanee at that depth. Im just saying don’t get stuck in a pattern and miss-out on catching lots of fish. Just an example Late July last year surface water temp was 68.7 degrees early in the day, even warmer later, I was surprised to find it still 63.1 degrees at 30 feet. To find 54.5 degrees I had to go to 45 feet, no fish showing there. I tried many times for curiosity, never caught a koke that deep there. Caught lots of limits fishing way shallower than that. The main reason that Kokes are where they are right now is due to where UDWR has put them. Some of the newer locations that they are doing well in are not as traditional as in the past, some are warmer on average than you would expect Kokes to do well in, they seem to adapt to the habitat as long as the food is there for them.
Tight lines and good luck.
Great information , Interesting in the difference in behavior between Jordanelle and the Berry.
thanks so much for posting