by James Cummings, September 22, 2015

My idea is that technique and terminal tackle that work for catching Sockeye should work for catching Kokanee. I set out to test that theory.

When I first fished lakes Washington and Wenatchee for Sockeye, ages ago it seems, the terminal tackle favorite was big flashers or dodgers, short metal leaders and big flatfish. I favored the silver U-20 with pink dots. The next big improvement was red and then blue bare hooks behind the flasher/dodger.

Three years ago I was privileged to fish with professional guide Don Talbot on Lake Wenatchee. He used a squid with a Macks smile blade in front and two pink glo hooks trailing, 6 inches from the dodger. Three of us limited on Sockeye very quickly.





I acquired two of those lures to fish for Sockeye on my own. Then I wondered, would they work for Kokanee? I asked Don if he would add a stinger treble to my two lures, which he did. I used these lures, baited with red corn on the treble hooks with great success in Deep Lake. The lure was six inches behind Pro-Lite flashers. I did much better at getting bites than my wife did fishing a K-fly tipped with corn behind the same flasher set up.



This year I read a report on Northwest Fishing Reports from Lake Wenatchee. Don Talbot stated that he was running additional flashers behind the downrigger ball while fishing for Sockeye. Well, if it works for Sockeye, why not Kokanee. Switching to a single Pro-Lite on my fishing line, I used a tandem set from the downrigger ball. I gave that a try in Deep lake. I had five bites and caught five fish. My wife, using the set up described above had a couple of bites and no fish. We trolled between 1.2 and 1.3 mph. Maybe not scientific but I believe technique and terminal tackle that work for catching Sockeye works for catching Kokanee!





Author's note: Pro-Lites are no longer available but Sling Blades are very similar and dodgers would work as well. Comments would be welcome email [email protected]

Be sure to look at my reports for Deep Lake on Northwest Fishing Reports.