**I heerd tell that the ice was all gone from the north marina. Hoped I could do better than my last trip. And I did. I got twice as many fish. Got one catfish last time and two today. Big whoop.
Launched to open water about 7:30 am. A big ol’ moon was still hanging in the sky…over glassy smooth water. I was hoping I wouldn’t be “mooned”. Air temp was 35, water temp inside the marina was 44. But dropped to just over 42 and even just a bit under 42 outside the marina. The water didn’t warm even a teensy bit under the cloud cover. But the air temp crawled up to about 45 at noon departure.
Thought I was gonna have a bananner day. First cast inside the marina got molested…but not terminally. Then my second rod…with a chartreuse perch flig and small minnow…took a dive and I was bendo with a kitty. First fish within 15 minutes of launching. But then…
I fished another hour all around the marina without any interruptions. Saw a few fish…very few…on sonar. But they all had their little mouths tightly closed. Worked outside the marina and fished along the channel edge. Had a “perchy” inquiry on a fligged minnow and set the hook. The 14 inch walleye was evidently young and inexperienced. Didn’t know how to hang on and arranged his own early release. Was hoping he might have some eager relatives nearby. Nope.
Worked my way over to the Eagle Beach area and prospected water from 8’ out to 21’. I almost always get a few tugs in the “Kitty Condo” zone. Not today. Only saw a few isolated fishy blips on sonar and nothing on my line. Did see a few wimpy carp poking just the tip of their noses up into the cold air.
Decided to hit inside the marina again before hanging it up. Got another fligged kitty in almost the same place as the earlier one…at 10 am. But in spite of diligently working a whole lotta area inside the marina I got no more love. Did see IceJunkie paddling around in his new Togiak. And he came over to say howdy in the parking lot later. Saw a few optimistic crappie chasers chuckin’ bubbles along the east shore of the marina. Didn’t see any caught and none of them stayed very long.
Also saw a couple of boats and a pretty good sized crew from DWR heading out to do some walleye netting. Chris Penne was a part of the crowd and told me when they came back in that they weren’t seeing many walleye yet. Understandable. But
soon.**
Was going to head down today, but Truck Transfer Case took priority. Sounds like it was a good day to have my truck fixed instead of tubing. Oh well, I could have at least gave you some company. LOL
“gave a couple away to a fellow, I have met up there a couple times, he had not caught any and I was happy for him to have some fish for a dinner.” Hope you didn’t violate any rules about not “gifting” fish on the water.
Would that “older sister” be Mary? Say hi. Haven’t seen her since one of our “Gorilla Floatilla” nights at Willard.
“gave a couple away to a fellow, I have met up there a couple times, he had not caught any and I was happy for him to have some fish for a dinner.” Hope you didn’t violate any rules about not “gifting” fish on the water.
Would that “older sister” be Mary? Say hi. Haven’t seen her since one of our “Gorilla Floatilla” nights at Willard.
Great report. Beautiful brown.
He actually caught them. I may or may not have tossed them to him at the cleaning station. Nope Sister Kathy, sister Mary is an accomplished Koke fisher. I call her a Koke addict LOL
Mildog out
Fished Jordanelle 4 times from the 16 to the 25th. 24 kokes total and one close to 6 pound brown trout that’s still swimming. Lots more Kokes hooked but lost Ughhh!! It seems to run in cycles sometimes we get them all in or at least the majority of the hookups, then the gremlins hit and we lose a few that’s Koke fishing. Limited with 2 fisherman on Monday the 16th. Used the standard set up I do well with, silver flash dodgers or variations of that with pink squid. The largest was almost 19" the rest were 16 to 18 with one small one that was hooked bad and I don’t like to release any Kokes unless they are lightly hooked and its in cold water, often they don’t do well when released. Ran up again on the 21st, we limited with 2 anglers, had 3 triples and a double lost 2 out of the 3 on each triple RGHHHH! Maybe the best day yet, lost more than we landed but did get our limit. My older sister wanted to catch a Kokanee, so I ran back up the next day. We should have turned around and headed home when we got there. I think hurricane Utah was blowing in, I ventured out because I had promised to take her fishing. Waves were so big I had to troll with my large engine to control direction and try to control speed, waves were breaking over the nose at a few points in time. She hooked 3 landed 2 called it a day after a couple hours of trying to fish and fight the bad conditions. She was very excited to catch her first Kokanee and have some fresh fish for dinners.
She had no idea how tough the conditions were, but it was worth it to see her smile and have fun getting a couple fish.
Took the wife to fish and the dog to swim on Memorial day, it was not as crowded as I expected. We hooked 7 and landed 6 in a couple hours had 5 in under an hour, but getting the last couple didn’t happen before it was time to swim the dog and head home. I
gave a couple away to a fellow, I have met up there a couple times, he had not caught any and I was happy for him to have some fish for a dinner.
Looks like another good year in store at Jordanelle.
