Ririe 7/24

[obifishkenobi]

We put 30 kokes in the box between 7:30am and 11:30am this morning between 40-70’ down with 65’ the sweet spot going between 1-1.7mph near the Juniper ramp we caught them on pink, purple orange and watermelon RMT dodgers and squids and a pink and chartreuse kokabow set up.

[wiperhunter2]

@obifishkenobi

We put 30 kokes in the box between 7:30am and 11:30am this morning between 40-70’ down with 65’ the sweet spot going between 1-1.7mph near the Juniper ramp we caught them on pink, purple orange and watermelon RMT dodgers and squids and a pink and chartreuse kokabow set up.

Wow, nice haul, sounds like you and your family had a good day at Ririe. That one fish looks like some type of trout, is it a tiger or a brook trout?

[obifishkenobi]

@wiperhunter2

“obifishkenobi, post:1, topic:319900” wrote:

We put 30 kokes in the box between 7:30am and 11:30am this morning between 40-70’ down with 65’ the sweet spot going between 1-1.7mph near the Juniper ramp we caught them on pink, purple orange and watermelon RMT dodgers and squids and a pink and chartreuse kokabow set up.

Wow, nice haul, sounds like you and your family had a good day at Ririe. That one fish looks like some type of trout, is it a tiger or a brook trout?

We caught 1 rainbow that inhaled the hoochie deep and was not going to make it, so it ended up in the box.

[wiperhunter2]

@obifishkenobi

“wiperhunter2, post:3, topic:319900” wrote:

“obifishkenobi, post:1, topic:319900” wrote:

We put 30 kokes in the box between 7:30am and 11:30am this morning between 40-70’ down with 65’ the sweet spot going between 1-1.7mph near the Juniper ramp we caught them on pink, purple orange and watermelon RMT dodgers and squids and a pink and chartreuse kokabow set up.

Wow, nice haul, sounds like you and your family had a good day at Ririe. That one fish looks like some type of trout, is it a tiger or a brook trout?

We caught 1 rainbow that inhaled the hoochie deep and was not going to make it, so it ended up in the box.

OK, it was hard to see from your pic, it just looked like it had a different pattern than a koke does. Has that kokabow lure been working better than the squid for you?

[obifishkenobi]

@wiperhunter2

“obifishkenobi, post:4, topic:319900” wrote:

“wiperhunter2, post:3, topic:319900” wrote:

“obifishkenobi, post:1, topic:319900” wrote:

We put 30 kokes in the box between 7:30am and 11:30am this morning between 40-70’ down with 65’ the sweet spot going between 1-1.7mph near the Juniper ramp we caught them on pink, purple orange and watermelon RMT dodgers and squids and a pink and chartreuse kokabow set up.

Wow, nice haul, sounds like you and your family had a good day at Ririe. That one fish looks like some type of trout, is it a tiger or a brook trout?

We caught 1 rainbow that inhaled the hoochie deep and was not going to make it, so it ended up in the box.

OK, it was hard to see from your pic, it just looked like it had a different pattern than a koke does. Has that kokabow lure been working better than the squid for you?

The guy that came out and fished with me Thursday night at Palisades uses Kokabow tackle and gave me a pink and chartreuse dodger with a willow leaf and pink bead spinner that has been his best set up at Ririe this year so I have been running it all weekend in my spread, I can confirm it catches kokes but I caught them on my RMT set ups too I think it’s kind of a Ford, Chevy, Dodge situation everyone has there favorites I’m a Rocky Mountain Tavkle guy.

[MMDon]

@wiperhunter2

“MMDon, post:11, topic:319900” wrote:

“obifishkenobi, post:10, topic:319900” wrote:

“psanders71, post:9, topic:319900” wrote:

Hit Ririe twice in the last week… total of 37 kokanee, 8 perch and 5 trout combined. Fished between the dam structure and just South of Juniper. Morning trips on both days.

Nice, this time of year is great, when the kokes are schooled up, its easy pickings, I’ll be up there on the 15th. Harvest as many as you can, they will all be dead in a month or two.

Most of the schoolies are next year’s crop. The 3 year old fish are skulking on the bottom and hitting anything in red.

That’s an interesting thought, so are you saying they are hitting red colored squids or spinner blades? That is not a color I’ve ever used. When you say they are on the bottom, is that the bottom of the lake or the bottom or the water column?

Let’s start with the visuals. We know red turns gray at 20’ or so but what the scientists failed to mention is the spectrum of gray is quite wide. This is how fish know red from other colors at 80’ is red falls into a certain spectrum of gray as does every other color. Spawning fish are known to be territorial and during the spawn you catch the big hook nose Kokes by fishing with red whether it is red flies in spawning steams or red hoochies fished on the sandy bottoms of the lake. The fish will naturally slash at anything red just as they would slash at another red spawning Koke. It is a territorial strike and brings on a great fight though I wouldn’t recommend eating them no matter how you smoke them. Remember, smoked dog poo is still dog poo.

[wiperhunter2]

@MMDon

Let’s start with the visuals. We know red turns gray at 20’ or so but what the scientists failed to mention is the spectrum of gray is quite wide. This is how fish know red from other colors at 80’ is red falls into a certain spectrum of gray as does every other color. Spawning fish are known to be territorial and during the spawn you catch the big hook nose Kokes by fishing with red whether it is red flies in spawning steams or red hoochies fished on the sandy bottoms of the lake. The fish will naturally slash at anything red just as they would slash at another red spawning Koke. It is a territorial strike and brings on a great fight though I wouldn’t recommend eating them no matter how you smoke them. Remember, smoked dog poo is still dog poo.

That makes total sense but I’ve never heard that before. Here is a pic of some red kokes I caught on Monday, I’ve smoked them when they are more red than these and never had a problem with their taste but it really has more to do with how firm the flesh is, rather than the color, at least IMO.

Here is another one that I caught last year that is really red but it taste fine too.

[wiperhunter2]

That being said, the part about eating red kokes, I started bottling them last year and that could make a difference. I smoke them first, then bottle them.
By the way, do you fish arrow rock or lucky peak? I’m planning on making a trip up there later this fall, after the spawn, so we would be fishing for next years kokes.

[system]

How long do you keep them in the smoker before bottling them? I’d like to give it a try this weekend. Thanks

[wiperhunter2]

@Trident 13

Do you need to add any liquid or do you just pack them tight in the bottles?
Thanks for the info.

No added liquid used, just pack them tight in the bottle, leaving the required 1" head space. This process only requires you to remove the skin before bottling, bone can be left because they dissolve during the canning process.

[psanders71]

Hit Ririe this morning… Kept 8 kokes, 3 perch and 1 smallie. Fished same area near dam/Juniper. Was surprised to see that smallmouth hit a kokanee setup up which was a Slingblade and smile blade tipped with corn on a long line 120 ft out over 140 ft of water!!!

My thoughts on kokanee is that the more silver they are = the better they are, but I have no problem keeping them a little blushed! The Traeger can do magic!!!

On another note, saw some nice fish that were caught at Anderson Ranch really early this year… same guy said he only got 1 in 4 hours of trolling recently though!

[wiperhunter2]

@psanders71

Hit Ririe this morning… Kept 8 kokes, 3 perch and 1 smallie. Fished same area near dam/Juniper. Was surprised to see that smallmouth hit a kokanee setup up which was a Slingblade and smile blade tipped with corn on a long line 120 ft out over 140 ft of water!!!

My thoughts on kokanee is that the more silver they are = the better they are, but I have no problem keeping them a little blushed! The Traeger can do magic!!!

On another note, saw some nice fish that were caught at Anderson Ranch really early this year… same guy said he only got 1 in 4 hours of trolling recently though!

Nice haul, did you catch the perch and smallie trolling? Sounds like you did, that’s pretty crazy. What kind of fish was this nice fish you saw at Anderson ranch, how big was it?

[wiperhunter2]

@MMDon

“wiperhunter2, post:16, topic:319900” wrote:

That being said, the part about eating red kokes, I started bottling them last year and that could make a difference. I smoke them first, then bottle them.
By the way, do you fish arrow rock or lucky peak? I’m planning on making a trip up there later this fall, after the spawn, so we would be fishing for next years kokes.

Yeah we usually can 10 cases of pints a year. Still no red fish. LOL
The Koke fishing was so bad in the chain of lakes, Anderson, Arrow Rock and Lucky Peak we never launched the boat. Kept waiting for reports to improve and they never did so . . .

10 cases, wow, you really catch a lot of salmon, is that just in Idaho or do you fish other states? Thanks for the info on those three lakes.

[wiperhunter2]

psanders71
[/quote]Yeah… the smallie and the perch were caught trolling for kokanee. First decent smallmouth we have caught doing that, although we have picked up a few tiny ones on the same gear this year. For perch, we usually get 3 or 4 every time out while targeting kokes. Never knew perch would suspend over deep water like that until I fished at Ririe!

Saw some pics of nice catches as far back as January of this year with the biggest koke right at 20 inches in April. Like MMDon said though, not much catching going on this summer!
[/quote]

That’s pretty amazing that a perch and SM would be up that high in the water column. I’ve caught a few perch up high like that too but it’s pretty rare to see a SM caught like that, at least for me, must not be finding enough food on the bottom.

[wiperhunter2]

@MMDon

That was just Ririe. We would ice fish 5 days a week in the winter as soon as you could get on and we trolled every morning before opening the shop. We like to launch in the dark and be loaded back on the trailer about sunrise or sooner with a couple of limits. In the winter we would limit most mornings before it was barely light and head to work. I don’t like to be on the water past 9:30 am as I hate lake lice and crowds.

Wow, you fish there a lot, must be close. I don’t get more than a case a year but we only eat them once a week or so. I fish for walleye and perch more than the kokes but that’s likely because it’s an hour drive to the closest koke lake for me, around 20 min, to the closest walleye and perch lake.

[MMDon]

@wiperhunter2

“MMDon, post:27, topic:319900” wrote:

That was just Ririe. We would ice fish 5 days a week in the winter as soon as you could get on and we trolled every morning before opening the shop. We like to launch in the dark and be loaded back on the trailer about sunrise or sooner with a couple of limits. In the winter we would limit most mornings before it was barely light and head to work. I don’t like to be on the water past 9:30 am as I hate lake lice and crowds.

Wow, you fish there a lot, must be close. I don’t get more than a case a year but we only eat them once a week or so. I fish for walleye and perch more than the kokes but that’s likely because it’s an hour drive to the closest koke lake for me, around 20 min, to the closest walleye and perch lake.

21 minutes launched or drilling holes! LOL

[psanders71]

Nice mess of fish! Did you have to dodge many boats out skiing, boarding, etc on Saturday?

[MMDon]

@obifishkenobi

“psanders71, post:32, topic:319900” wrote:

Nice mess of fish! Did you have to dodge many boats out skiing, boarding, etc on Saturday?

Yes, the power squadron was out in force , The lake is there for everyone’s use and I expected a lot of traffic since I was fishing very close to the Juniper ramp, but I do take issue with the boats that thought it was necessary to drive through me and several boats that where fishing the same school, one of those big wake boats thought it would be cool to drive through between me and the bank when I was less than 100’ of the bank. I’m glad I have a stout boat that can handle the wakes I wouldn’t want to be out there in a smaller boat on the weekend.

Great catch! Thanks for the pic!