Non-Fly Dirtbag kokanee

I had the best day kokanee fishing on Tuesday I've ever had.
Solo trip on Lake Samish went very well. It started slow with only 3 out of 6 landed between 5:45 and 11:00. I was seriously considering going home like the other 4 boats did but instead made12:00 my departure time.
Then things changed. I picked up a couple more by noon. I thought oh what the hell, I don't have anywhere to be anytime soon.
I kept plugging away then it got hot in a hurry. They started biting my setup so I put the same rig on the other rod and put 5 out of the next 7 fish in the boat by 1:00 including a double header. I was as giddy as a kid catching his first limit of trout.
I tell you it never gets old for me.
I'll be 70 in 11 days and living the lifetime dream I thought about all those years I put in working for the man.
The koks were nice sized with several 13 to 14 inchers that were frisky as heck.1000004839.jpg1000004836.jpg1000004837.jpg
This my fishing buddy. He follows me around hoping for snacks.
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curious - how do Kokanee taste, and how best prepared? The fisherman on Paulina, who launch well before dawn, hoover up some really nice Koke's, and I occasionally pick up a bigger one on a soaked chromie chironomid.
 
SurfnFish said:
curious - how do Kokanee taste, and how best prepared? The fisherman on Paulina, who launch well before dawn, hoover up some really nice Koke's, and I occasionally pick up a bigger one on a soaked chromie chironomid.
Click to expand...
In my opinion they are the finest tasting landlocked salmonid on earth. Fantastic eating either with seasoned flour fried in butter or lightly smoked then canned in the pressure cooker. Also smoked with alder chips until done and enjoy that way.
FYI they make a great chip dip too with equal parts sour cream and mayo.
Add chopped green onions a dash of worcestershire sauce, a little
Black pepper and garlic powder.
Mix with cream cheese for a great cracker spread.😋
 
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Here is a question for you seasoned kokanee experts:

This is my second kokanee season. Last year I visited a lake a few times that afforded me fish from a variety of age classes. However, I revisited the lake last week and while the fish were willing to bite, they all seemed to be of only one age class, around 6 inches or so. I was mostly flat lining. Is there anything I can do to target older fish, or is it simply the luck of which fish of the bunch hits?
 
I had a decent day catching kokanee Wednesday on a solo outing at Lake Samish. I brought 7 kokanee home with a couple pushing 13.5 inches. I lost a couple decent sized kokanee at the boat as well.
Hitting it tomorrow with a buddy. 1000006262.jpg1000006259.jpg
 
Flashback to Rinrock Lake in the early to mid 60’s. Fishing May to early July was out of an anchored boat or off one of the pay-to-fish rafts at Chris’s Cove or Hart Creek (50 cents/day). Techniques was monofilaments maybe 6lb test, a needle float to set the depth, a red whitefish fly and live fly maggots available for 50 cents a pill bottle. Fish chum was thrown in the water to attract fish... supposedly.

The fish were eight to ten inches long and the limit, as I remember it, was 12/day for kids, 15/day for adults.

When lake discharges jumped in July the schools of fish dispersed requiring slow trolling with pop gear and whitefish fly on 12 leader. inch leader, tipped with a maggot or two. If I remember correctly a one ounce sinker got to rig down to the fish. This was way before electronics including depth sounders.Fish were located by trolling the lake, adjusting trolled line length to get the depth right and very close eyes on the rode tip to see a “.strike “ (bump). The rod tip barely wiggled fighting those 10 inch fish! A rubber band was a good snubber so jerking the rod wouldn’t jerk to set the hook wouldn’t rip the kok’s mouth.

They were great eating, though, better than the 8” stocked rainbows in all the other lakes.
 
I got back from camping in lake Chelan this past week. It was my first time ever targeting Kokanee, and it took a bit to figure it out. Ended up with two limits over 3 days, the third day the fish were really spread out and not in their usual locale after it blowed the day before.

I might be starting to understand the hype behind these guys. They are tasty little buggers.

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