Northwest Reel Life April 2023 Volume 2 Issue 9 - Flipbook - Page 22
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Too many kokanee. That was the
problem. We had the cure.
As we idled away from the dock in
the Nomad's Fishing Adventures
24-foot Koffler sled, Bill Kremers
and Josh Hopkins tied up rigs. Our
guide, Damon Struble, passed out
cups of cured corn. Garlic on the
starboard side and krill-marinated
kernels on the other. Then Struble
pointed the bow up into the
narrows.
A few minutes later, when Struble
shut off the Mercury, he looked
each of us in the eye - Tim Wehde,
Kremers, Hopkins, and me. "We're
going to set the back rods at 60
feet out and the front rods at 70
feet. Put one to two kernels of corn
on each hook. Things are going to
be chaotic.
22 | NWFISHING.net
If a rod starts bouncing, don't
worry about whose rod it is. Pick it
up. If you are tying up a new bait
and see a rod with a fish, set the
first rod down and get the fish in
the boat."
Each rod was loaded with a
3-ounce weight to run the baits 30
to 40 feet down where thousands
of kokanee schooled below us.
At full pool, Green Peter covers
3,700 acres and is ten miles long,
with 38 miles of shoreline.
The water level fluctuates and
the fish move around, but some
of the best kokanee spots are by
the dam, in the Quartzville arm
(where we fished), and around the
peninsula in the main channel.
Jigging is a favorite technique
early in the year, but trollers seem
to do better in the summer.
Damon uses a Simon 4.0 kokanee
dodger on the main line with a
Gold Star micro hoochie. Another
good bet is a Kokanee Kid Super
Mysis Bug or a Mack's Lure
Double Whammy with a 10-inch
leader. Most anglers add white
corn. Damon likes to marinate the
corn overnight in Pro-Cure krill
powder and Garlic Plus.
Hopkins had brought two
prototype Lamiglas kokanee
rods, graphite/fiberglass hybrids
with slow actions. We would put
them to the test with these heavy
3-ounce weights.
For several years, ODFW found
themselves with a surplus of
sockeye smolts, Struble explained.
Those fish ended up in Green
Peter Reservoir.