NorthWest Kayak Anglers
Regional Discussions => Washington Kayak Fishing => Topic started by: kimeun on June 18, 2018, 05:29:08 PM
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Fished Father's Day on my own at Merwin 8am-11am, since my dad is back on the East Coast. The morning fishing was great, getting 5 really fat kokanee + 1 smaller guy + 2 pikeminnow on an Arrow Flash dodger and a short leader hoochie with garlic tuna corn. Then the pleasure boaters came in droves and the chop was no joke, so I left before I could finish out the limit. Being on the water wasn't much fun after that, although it didn't seem like the fishing was slowing down any as a result. The schools looked to be about 30-40 feet deep in general.
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Sweet pink meat. Way to get out there and brave the crowds!
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Thanks for posting up the report. It is on my list for this summer! Going to try and hit it during the week if I can.
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Mersin is the best. Always launched at speelyai in my power boat, but haven’t been back in the last two years since getting on a kayak. Any idea if you can launch a kayak at lake Merwin park by the dam?
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You cant- that part of the lake is restricted to boating unfortunately. You can faintly see the buoys that cross the reservior marking the boating deadline on google maps- its different from the log boom thats closer to the dam. The public launches are at the east end of the lake. Fortunately this time of the year that seems to be where the Kokanee are too. A powerboater told me on Saturday that he didnt do well closer to the dam. That area is good in the early spring.
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Excellent photo! Thanks for posting. Great to see some size to the Merwin kokes. How were you targeting 40ft depth, did you use a lead dropper or downrigger?
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2oz-3oz lead, with playing around with speed/line length until I get the hits. I like having as little as possible on board so haven't invested in a downrigger, but I will admit that I wish I had one when I have to fight that weight. Do you use it? I'm curious how well it works off a kayak.
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Awesome report. I will be heading to Swift for trout then hit Merwin for kokes on the way home in the next week. I use a home made spectra downrigger.
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2oz-3oz lead, with playing around with speed/line length until I get the hits. I like having as little as possible on board so haven't invested in a downrigger, but I will admit that I wish I had one when I have to fight that weight. Do you use it? I'm curious how well it works off a kayak.
Yes, I use a downrigger for kokanee. It improved my catch rate immensely once I started using a DR as I would tend to lose fish with 2-3oz of weight even if i could get into the strike zone and get bites. Their mouths are just so soft. On my kayak, I currently use a short section of a stiff rod with a line counter reel containing braided line and a 2lb weight with a shasta tackle release clip as my downrigger. Works great off a kayak!!
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I also use a downrigger! I found that my longline with 2-3 oz tangled more often than I would like. But my downrigger never tangles!
Further, I honestly never new quite how deep my stuff was, and the kokanee often stratify at a certain depth (I think)
I put a generation II gear-trac on my outback, and use a scotty lake troller. I used to use a shuttlehawk, but got annoyed with it as I sometimes wasn't sure it was going all the way down.
With 2 rods, you run 1 off the DR, and one as a long line. My DR usually outfishes the longline 3:1