[Big Green Machine]

Chum Chaser, The Graesy Chum and I hit Wood Lake on Sunday. We counted over 20 boats trolling - good thing there was room for everyone and plenty of kokanee showing on the sonar between 5 and 30 feet below the surface. There were also quite a few larger rainbows chasing the schools. Weather was beautiful, the wind was calm but the fishing was slow. We had several fish on but lost most of them. Our hooks were sharp but we could be losing fish simply due to the fact that the tissue around the mouth and gums of a kokanee is so soft that the hook pulls free. I think we'll use rubber snubbers next time to absorb some of the tension from the line and gear and try not to be more patient when we feel the "tap" of the bite. We were using gang trolls with a wedding band and worm or small kwikfish plugs.

 

[ty.p]

woods lake trip

i will be heading out tommorrow on woods. We have had good success last year and hope it will follow through to this year. What I am intrested in trying is to catch the Kokanee on the fly. It would be an awsome fight on my fly rod. Any sugestions on the best techinque?

 

[Big Green Machine]

Try trolling a red Doc Spratley or any other attractor pattern - dark on dark days and lighter on bright days.

 

[ty.p]

I ended up using a black beadheaded leach and I baited it with power bait maggots. Used my full sink line trolling at 1.6 Mh.
I had lots of hits but only landed one. They didnt seem to be biting hard out there yesterday. The one I got to the boat sure put up a good fight. A solid 17 inches. Good calm water out there all day, the sun was sure nice too.

 

[Big Green Machine]

That's great Ty.P! Do you think it was the pattern, the bait alone, or the combo that enticed the fish? Also, what size of leech were you using? Maybe we should be going to smaller hooks?

 

[ty.p]

I think the hook size was #8 wet fly. The leech has some flash to it so that might be the sole attactor. But on the other hand the the pink maggots seem to work on that lake through out the fishing season. i'm wondering if a maggot pattern would be successful. Or maybe a shrimp pattern would work. I had heard from another guy that you could use a small pattern with a pink body and a little white thorax works well. And that would be fished on a slow troll, very slow! Good luck.