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The 2016 Lake Stevens Kokanee derby has come and gone. On my boat were last year’s winner and Bassplayer17 (Tony). Between the two of them I figured that we would kick fish booty and make a solid showing. But as kokanee luck has it, our boat struggled a bit and it was not meant to be. We struggled but we were able to scratch out 22 fish with Tony having both our big fish and the boats heaviest bag limit. Tony’ big fish was .96, Karen’s .93 and my big fish was .96. The derby winner’s first place fish was 1.10 pounds.

Tony had the hot stick on our boat. He brought one set-up, a silver Dick Night dodger and a home tied spinner. The spinner blade was a smaller pearl and chartreuse colarado blade and swinging on a series of translucent green beads with some green crystal flash tied in at the pointy end of things. Tony’s lone rig out fished our offerings 2 to 1. I violated one of my first Kokanee 101 rules and got stubborn. I ran a single type of lure, my kokanee flies behind a variety of dodgers and did not change things to match what was working. As it turned out, in talking with people at the derby awards event small spinner blades were the way to go.

We left the dock around 4:00 am and headed for the drop off just outside the bay the city launch is on. After some fiddling around we had steady action most of the day but were plagued by long releases. Not sure what was up with that but we must have lost 30+ fish. Another error on my part was our starting location. I made the decision to fish where we did and avoid the crowd fishing the aerator. It was not until we made a potty stop that we decided to change locations. We had heard that there was a seriously hot bite by the aerator but apparently we showed up at the party late. Me badddd… I was over confident and figured we would just clobber the fish, and then hit Buzz Inn for breakfast and bloody marys before the awards ceremony and just stuck with my plan (another Kokanee 101 violation).

Running a 30’ setback, most of our fish were at 28-48 feet on the riggers while trolling at 1.4 mph. All but a couple of our fish were off of meter marks and for the most part when we found them we would get bit. Although we ran pink, orange and purple the color of the day was chartreuse/green. The hot bait was tuna corn but most anything got bit.

The companionship, fishing and the derby awards event made for good times. It did seen that there were fewer participants this year and maybe reduced sponsor involvement but probably not measurable. As always the event was well run with minimal launch delays and everyone I talked to had an enjoyable kokantastic time.

A final note: Luck didn’t completely sidestep us, Karen got the Cannon Magnum 5 ST electric down-rigger raffle grand prize.

Toni

5/23/2016 5:40:00 PM

Nice report as always. 2 errors Randy? Is that going to happen next time?

afk

5/23/2016 6:20:00 PM

Those are some unique flies Randy. I like the looks of them. Getting out fished by Tony just means that the Captain kept him in fish. LOL Congrats to Lady luck on the Mag 5. Thanks for the report and pics. Andy

Mike Carey

5/23/2016 8:30:00 PM

congrats on the downrigger!

Sergiu.Antoci

5/24/2016 7:35:00 AM

Nice report. Even though I was waiting patiently & anxiously All yr for the Derby, I didn't make it out do to weather was supposed to be Crappy & I have No cover on my boat yet. You all woud've had some competition.. :) That Koke meat looks real Nice & Red like. On your fish-finder, Why is/do u like your Sensitivity so High/Cluttered?? Just wondering..

rseas

5/24/2016 9:07:00 AM

I always run the sensitivity on the higher side. The increased clutter is really more information. More often then not the increased sensitivity allows me to see the thermocline, identify differnt species and see fish that may be on the ragged edge of the transducer signal cone.

I know that a lot of people like a nice clear screen with an occaisional fish arch but I take a differnt approach. I often chase meter marks and I need to be able to target given meter marks and know where my gear is in relation to the various meter marks. I know that not everybody likes the clutter but it works for me.

salmonbarry

5/24/2016 7:46:00 PM

Great report as always Randy and glad to see you were able to hook up with Tony! Congrats to Karen on the raffle prize too!

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