trolling questions.

So im looking at getting a small manual downrigger for my kayak, and im just curious as what flashers and doggers you guys recommend for kokanee. Also how are you guys gauging your speed while trolling

I like Dick Nite Dodgers (4 3/4" x 2 3/8") in this order: Hot Head, Pink Splatter, Clown UV, and 50/50.

For speed, if you think you're trolling slow, go slower. Sweet spot for me is .8-1.2 mph. Tracking other boaters to gauge speed was very helpful before I got a GPS.

Thanks, i will probably pick up some dick nites too.  I downloaded a speedometer on my phone but not sure how accurate it will be

I am fond of the sling blades as well.  I have caught a number of fish on the pink spatter Dick Nite.  But one of the things I like about the sling blades is that they do not weigh anything.  I have seek kokanee change directions and get off because they are leveraging agains the weight of the Dick Nite.  I don't have that issue with the sling blades.  Also if you are right on the bottom you have to make allowances for the Dick Nite weight.  Sling blades seem to do better if you are going a bit fast.  So if the wind is at my back the sling blade is a good choice. 

One way you can tell your speed without electronics is that the wire on your downrigger begins to hum right around 1.2 mph.  If you switch to braid it does not hum.

I really want to try the fast limit dodgers,  heard good reviews.

Kokanee sure are a lot of fun.

Enjoy!

I second the Dick Nite pink splatter back. It accounts for roughly 90% of all my koks each season

4" dodger and the Dick Nite spoon for me. I catch them on any 4" dodger (green, UV, KoneZone, SlingBlade Shasta tackle, ProTroll etc) but I definitely seem get more fish with the spoon versus any other lure.

Thank you all, i will be giving it all a try. Anyone go to american lake recently for tbthem? If so how deep are they holding

When I troll for kokanee, I mostly use one of the following two rigs:

1.   A Macks “Flash Lite” four blade flasher, followed by a snubber, followed by about two feet of leader with a wedding ring, baited with a white Gulp maggot.  I like the Flash Lite flashers because they have very low drag.  A snubber makes it harder for kokanee to dislodge a hook.  I use wedding rings in various colors, but favor wedding rings with red beads and red or brass spinners.  White Gulp maggots work very well, and you can keep a jar of them in your fishing gear all season, so they’re a lot easier to use than white corn.  Here’s a picture which shows one of these rigs.



2.   A snubber, followed by a dodger about 5 inches long, followed by a foot of leader and a small rubber squid or hootchie, baited with a white gulp maggot.  I put the snubber above the dodger because there is so little leader behind the dodger.  I use a short leader behind the dodger so the dodger will give a lot of action to the squid.  I like squids with two hooks, as they seem to increase my hook-up and retention percentages.  Here’s a picture of one of those rigs.



It’s interesting how fisherman in different parts of the country use different kinds of rigs for the same fish.  I suspect it’s partly local tradition, and partly based on the kind of gear which is carried in local sporting goods stores, which is partly based on what local fishermen like to use, which is partly tradition.  I’m going to try some of the kokanee rigs suggested by other people in this thread to see how well they work.

The first downrigger I mounted on a kayak was a Scotty Laketroller I mounted on my 13’ Trident.  This got me into downrigger trolling.  I posted a description of that setup at http://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=11486.msg128141#msg128141 .  Then I first mounted a Scotty Depthmaster, and later mounted a Cannon Lake-Troll , on my 13’ Revolution.  The Cannon-Lake-Troll is definitely my favorite downrigger setup.  I posted a description of that setup at http://www.yakfisher.net/smffiles/index.php?topic=9918.0 , which is a spiffed-up version of an earlier posting I did on this forum.  If you have a pedal kayak, I recommend that you get a Cannon Lake-Troll rather than a smaller and more primitive downrigger like the Scotty Laketroller, as it's way easier to operate, and can handle a bigger weight.  Here's a lake trout I caught a couple weeks ago while downrigger trolling.



A fish finder with GPS has two big advantages when trolling for kokanee, or any other fish for that matter.  First, you can tell your speed.  I tend to troll from about .9 to 1.4 mph for kokanee.  Second, when you encounter a school of kokanee, you can do figure 8 and cloverleaf patterns through the same spot with the help of the GPS.

Fish finder is vital to fishing for Kokanee.  Otherwise you are in the dark,  sometimes (often) a foot or two makes the difference between hits and no hits.  I got mine for 50 bucks on craigslist, great investment.

I use a Okuma SST kokanee rod instead of a snubber. That helps keep these soft mouthed critters on.

I also use just about an 8" or smaller leader between the flasher and the lure.  That way the flasher can impart some action to the lure.  If your leader is longer than that your lure has to provide its own action.  Hoochies have no action so you have to have that short leader.  You can get away with longer on the wedding ring style, but I typically stay at 8".

If you are going to fish American without a down rigger.  I would probably start at 17 and then move to 20,  then 24 and see if you can't find some.

Good luck.

I agree that location probably has a lot to do with what is used for varying reasons. Not that there is anything wrong with any of them as they are proven to work elsewhere. I usually just stick to what I know works for me that I am comfortable with. Kokanee are a good case in point!

first off, I never use a downrigger for kokanee. Using leaded line and/or adding weight is all I've found to be necessary.

pmmpets #1 on his list is my go-to set-up, but I do tip the wedding ring with worm and corn. I personally have never had any luck with a dodger over using a lake flasher. I like the Flash lite for kayak fishing but prefer the standard ones such as a Jack-o-Diamonds, Willow Leaf or Cow Bell. Each one has a different size blade that I will use for trolling faster or slower.

I like to switch out the hooks to treble hooks where possible and has increased my hookup and landing rate immensely.

I have used worm/corn tipped Dick Nites with success, but Super Dupers are another one I started using that has outfished when everything else was dead.

Definitely using a fish finder is the way to find them. Back in the day we would just troll for hours until you found them and then stayed and continued to troll in that area. Once you get to know a lake there just seems to be "go-to" spots. But once you find them, you don't even need to troll. Get out your light spinning gear and use Nordic Jigs or buzz bombs or weighted hootchies and start jigging at the depth you found them. That can be non-stop action and F-U-N!

Yeah corn is vital.  I use the Jolly Green Giant Shoepeg corn.  Some fellows will put garlic in it, or tuna oil.  I just stick with corn only.

This summer I converted a couple of motor boating friends to downrigger fishing for kokanee.  I was fishing from my kayak with a downrigger, and they were fishing from their motor boat with leaded line.  Week after week I would catch 2-4 times as many kokanee as they were catching, and would often limit out well before noon.  They owned downriggers, but didn't like using them, and didn't have them mounted on their boats. I told them that if they wanted to catch more kokes, they should (a) start using downriggers, and (b) get fish finders with GPS. A couple weeks ago they were having a slow day using leaded line, and one of the guys dug out his downrigger and started using it, and immediately started catching way more fish than the other guy.  This appears to have persuaded them of the advantages of downrigger trolling when fishing for kokanee, and they both have switched to using downriggers.

Fishing for kokanee has improved the way I use the drag on my reels.  I used to haul fish of all kinds into my net without a lot of finesse.  Because kokanee have soft mouths, this resulted in a lot of lost fish.  I began setting my drag real low as soon as I got  a hookup, which let the kokes pull out line easily when they started jumping around and generally going spastic.  This better use of my drag improved my fish retention rate, both for kokanee and for bigger and tougher fish, like lake trout.

I never use a downrigger for kokanee. Using leaded line and/or adding weight is all I've found to be necessary.

Agreed. I don't use a downrigger for any of my fishing. Leadcore works quite well for kokes.

Plus you get to reel your fish in for a long time!  (that is what I remember from fishing with Grandpa) Brings back memories,  "How many colors are you out?"  When you are fishing 30+ feet that gets real fun.  Seems like you either love down riggers or hate them.

More than one way to skin a cat or catch a kokanee!  Once you get on them they are very addicting.

I don't hate downriggers. I just find them unnecessary for kayak fishing..