# Kokanee on the tube



## spencerD (Jan 14, 2014)

So, I wanna get into some Kokanee salmon here asap, and apparently Strawberry is doing halfway decent with the whole kokanee fishing thing right now. 

Ok, it's fabulous. 

Anyways, I don't have a boat. However, I've heard from a few people that the kokes are holding in about 25-30 feet of water. What I'm wondering is, if I got out on my float tube and kicked around with some line that deep, what are my chances of getting kokanee on? Or is doing it from a boat really the only way?


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## Packfish (Oct 30, 2007)

speed kills- it's that ability to keep at the correct speed that is one of the major factors in Kokanee fishing.


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## Dodger (Oct 20, 2009)

First, the kokanee are quite a bit deeper than 25-30 feet. You may find a straggler up higher but the bulk of the salmon are deeper than that.

You might be able to catch them from a tube if you jig for them. Some electronics would really help so you could see if there were fish underneath you.

If you are trying to troll out of your tube, it isn't going to work. Your line is just going to pull up behind you and out of the strike zone.

A boat isn't the only way. But it's definitely the easiest.


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## spencerD (Jan 14, 2014)

That's what I was thinking, but I didn't know if there was a way from a tube. 

Ah well, looks like no kokanee for me then. I'll be too poor for a boat for the next 4 years or so.


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## Dodger (Oct 20, 2009)

I'd take you but I'm running out of weekends before they are done for the year. With the archery deer hunt coming, I've got 2 weekends left and they are already booked. Maybe we can do 2015. I can show you my custom koke rods too.


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## Dunkem (May 8, 2012)

Give it a shot Spence,whats the worst you can do?,catch some bows,or cuts,or the elusive brown Ive heard people sometimes catch.I got faith in ya man>>O


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## fishnate (Sep 11, 2007)

Jigging works. A guy I was with at the Gorge was jigging them up almost as fast as we got them trolling. He just put a spoon down at the right depth when we saw fish on the Lowrance and jigged them up no sweat. It's worth a shot.


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## Packfish (Oct 30, 2007)

The Gorge is a different story


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## longbow (Mar 31, 2009)

I'd go anyway. We've caught some really nice browns on the south side by the dam just out from the cliffs. Kokanees were always up in the shallower east end in the middle. Them there Kokes are fine tastin' fichys.


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## spencerD (Jan 14, 2014)

Well, I'd need a fish finder to figure out where the kokes are at to begin with, and I don't have one. maybe I can wrangle one from someone before I head out. 

The Gorge is a trip for me, and if I go there, I'm not gonna mess around on the res when I have my fly rod and that beautiful Green River right there. 

Jigging at Strawberry on the tube for kokes, huh? Maybe I'll give it a shot. 

Best time of day to go for em? I know they take flashy lures, so spoons and the like are great. Since kokanee just feed on zooplankton you gotta find a way to make em mad to hook em, if I understand them correctly. 

Dodger - I'd love to go out, that'd be a blast. I haven't ever really done any fishing from boats, I've always been a small ponds/streams kinda guy, but this whole kokanee craze has got me interested in getting em. 

and thanks Dunk!!


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## Dodger (Oct 20, 2009)

spencerD said:


> Jigging at Strawberry on the tube for kokes, huh? Maybe I'll give it a shot.
> 
> Best time of day to go for em? I know they take flashy lures, so spoons and the like are great. Since kokanee just feed on zooplankton you gotta find a way to make em mad to hook em, if I understand them correctly.
> 
> Dodger - I'd love to go out, that'd be a blast. I haven't ever really done any fishing from boats, I've always been a small ponds/streams kinda guy, but this whole kokanee craze has got me interested in getting em.


It's a territorial response. You have to drop a jig on their nose to get in their space and make them mad enough to bite it. You don't have great odds jigging from a tube but you have odds and that's better than nothing.

I've never really jigged for them but I have some pink p-line butterfly style jigs that I've always intended to use. Flashy isn't as big of a deal. Fluorescent colors seem to provoke the best response.


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## koltraynor (Jun 16, 2014)

Wait a month and it be on fire in the bays with a tube.


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## fishnate (Sep 11, 2007)

spencerD said:


> The Gorge is a trip for me, and if I go there, I'm not gonna mess around on the res when I have my fly rod and that beautiful Green River right there.


 I used to bypass the Gorge for the Green until I moved to Vernal. Now I hardly ever fish the Green and usually go to the Gorge. Weird I know but I can catch more and often bigger fish on the lake.


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## Dodger (Oct 20, 2009)

koltraynor said:


> Wait a month and it be on fire in the bays with a tube.


If you want to snag reds, just sayin.


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## rdiddy801 (Aug 13, 2013)

Tried fishing for Kokanee last weekend from my very small boat & trolling motor. Used a diver to get my line about 30' deep, but only caught a couple cutthroats and a rainbow. Tried different combos of flashers, dodgers, wedding rings, and hoochie squid things in green and pink.


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