I love Merwin Kokanee

I've really come to love Lake Merwin kokanee fishing. With exception of a couple weeks late March and early April the kokanee bite has been fantastic since January 1. I hit Merwin on May 4th for my last spring kokanee trip.

I was the second boat on the water this morning. As soon as I left Speelyai I was marking large numbers of fish in the 40' range with scattered individuals up to the surface. I ran one surface rig a 100' back using a Fast Limit dodger and my homemade hoochie spinner. On the other rod I ran a 1/2 oz 70' back Big-I gold dodger and a purple/pink microhoochie made by Paulina Peak. Action was fast and furious right up until 7:30 AM and put 6 fish in the box with most action coming on the surface rod.

I've never seen the bite drop off like it did today. I started cycling thru various flashers, lures, depth, setbacks, and lead nothing seemed to work. I remember I'd thrown in a new pink/orange lure called Free Drifter fly its made out of a variety of UV material and very vibrant. I tossed this on behind the Big-I and a few minutes later fish on! I dropped it in again and got another 10 minutes later.



I'd been marking non-biting fish all day and I was curious if it was the lure or just the locale so I switched back to other lures and got nothing for 30 minutes. After being satisfied I put the Free Drifter back on and started trolling back through where I had just been. I got the Free Drifter back 9' and got hit! I couldn't believe it. Craziest kokanee catch I've ever had. I ended up leaving it on and limited out shortly afterwards.



One thing I've learned thru experimentation this year is that you never really know what going to be the "hot ticket" with kokanee fishing. There are so many variables at play color, lure, flasher, corn, troll speed, depth that it can take time to figure out what to use. At a minimum its important to change things up if you are not getting any action after 30-45 minutes and to have a variety of tackle on hand.

Great post, and love seeing all the fish you are catching on this lake!  Your posts have made it so tempting.  It is 2 hours and 39 min. from my house, but I still find it tempting!  I will have to get down that way sometime and fish it. 

(video request)  I think we need more water wolf kokanee action!

Thanks for the report and video, I'm heading up at the end of the week