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Finally! My first ever kokanee, for real this time. My brother and I decided to take out my dad, and he lives in Olympia, so we went down after work, picked him up and took him out in the raft with Jack Bauer, the dog.

We got to the lake at about 6, were in the water with the boat pumped up by 630. We put in at the Party Rocks at the north end of the lake to warm weather and warm water. We rowed against the wind trolling Hildebrant flashers and spoons and I fished with my UV flashing thingy with a white wedding ring with one of those fancy helicopter blades. There was a great sale on them at Cabela's, so I'd picked them up earlier that day.

We started trolling accross the lake, with short strikes. A lot of them, but they were sluggish, hitting like sleepy rainbows and I was rowing, and holding the pole with my feet, so I missed them. My dad was still trying to figure out what a strike was going to feel like, nah, that's the bottom he says and reeled up higher. The bottom was more than 80 feet down, and he was only out 30 pulls, but I could see stumps sticking up in places, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Although I'm certain that they were lazy fish bites not stumps, since I could see about thirty feet down with my polorized glasses and could see the stumps sticking up when we passed them.

No fish on until we got to the other side, where we took a break and saw this really cool creek with some campsites by it, we went to check it out. So we anchored by the shore and walked on a trail up it to try to catch something at the mouth. So as I was standing on this little cliff by the river, with Jack, the mosquitos decended upon us. It was like that scene in Hitchcock's The Birds, except the mosquitos were a hundred times smaller and a thousand times more numerous. They swarmed, I've never been attacked so much by them before. About everyother square inch of me was bitten at the same time. It was so bad that they were biting straight through Jack's fluffy fur, eating his poor puppy blood to the point that he was growling and snapping at thin air. We stayed on shore for less than two minutes, because I'd left my bug spray in my other tackle box, and we ran for dear life from the shore. Seriously. We ran. But the bugs still followed us accross the water. I made Jack swim to 1) free him from mosquitos and 2) pull us faster as he swam as fast as he could back towards the other side of the lake.

But as it turns out, my super awesome all-purpose fishing knife, the Buck Pro-Line fold back knife had been in the front top pocket of my fishing vest, with it's lanyard hanging out, and in the frantic retreat from the bugs must have snagged on a branch and been pulled out to the ground unnoticed. This was not okay, and to the dismay of all on board, especially JB, we returned to the hellish shore, where I waded to shore from ten feet out because my father and brother refused to get out the boat. I ran around in circles, retracing my steps looking fast and frantic for the knife, taking care that none of me stood still for the slightest second because the evil little bastards hovered around Jack and I. It probably took longer to find the knife this way, which I did find in about 15 minutes of non stop running.

Apparently, my father and brother decided that the shore was too dangerous, and decided to continue fishing without me. The were casting a Kastmaster and a small Blue Fox at the log jam and caught about a 2 pound largemouth bass and some other dinks. Which frankly annoyed me, because I had to swim back to the boat, because I could stand the mosquitos no longer. Jack had abandoned me and was hopping logs in a desperate attempt to get back on the boat. Finally, they came and picked me up, which was ridiculously too late. My whole body had been pillaged by the stupid bloodsuckers. Worst mosquitos EVER.

Anyways, as we were trolling back, my brother had decided there were no fish, and was just rowing. I was fishing at about fifteen pulls, my dad at 25 or so when we disturbed about a thousand fish just sitting at the surface. They started jumping all over the place around the boat. It was like in the movies when the dolphins follow the boats and jump all around them. So we quickly raised up our gear and my father consistently missed a bunch of strikes. Apparently his reflexes weren't as good as they used to be. By this time it was sunset, and we were on our way back to the car, actually only about ten feet from pulling out when the fish started freaking out again and I had fish on. Unfortunately I was the only one with the line in the water, so I was the only one that got a fish.

It fought really hard, which was a pain, because I had made up my rig too long for my pole, and everytime I would get it reeled up to the swivel the fish got a look at the net and would run all the way back to the bottom. It didn't help that by this time we were fishing by the light of a head lamp, and my leader was too long for my seven foot pole, which doubled over gave the fish ample room to evade the net. Anyways, fun times, got it in the boat. My brother was like, it's gotta be a Kokanee, but it's big. I'd been fooled before, so I didn't admit that's what it was until I saw it in the light of the car. It was a Kokanee, and 14 inches long.

Anyways, the weather was awesome all day, no jet skiers and the folks at the party rocks had left about a half hour after we got there. The river across the way was super cool, and I caught my first Kokanee and Jack Bauer got to chase it all over the bottom of the raft. Except for the nasty mosquitos straight outta a John Carpenter film, great couple of hours on the water. And now we know that there are tons of fish there, probably would have caught more if we had got there earlier.

Mike Carey

8/2/2010 5:26:00 PM

what a great report and story! thanks for sharing it with us.

Nepcobob

8/2/2010 5:59:00 PM

Great report! Good looking fish. That is larger than the usual Cushman Koke.

Were you using snubbers on your line or did you have a real light action rod like a fly rod? Those Lake Cushman Kokanee have very soft mouths. If you try to set the hook like you have to on trout, you will pull it right out. many times the bite is so soft with the snubber, I can't tell anything is on the line.

I've got a place at Cushman and will let you know when I'm headed up there. I need some ballast in my fishing boat to keep the front end down when I sit on the swivel seat in the back. it would be fun to join you.

nickbell

8/2/2010 7:22:00 PM

You always have a great story to tell, not just a report.

fishnislife

8/2/2010 8:28:00 PM

Sweet report man. Keep'em coming.

natetreat

8/2/2010 8:35:00 PM

No, I'm new to trolling for kokes, so I don't really know how to use a snubber. But that sounds about right, maybe that's why we missed so many hits. I'll definitely have to try that. I don't know how often I'm going to be able to come back though, my dad lives in Olympia and I'm in Seattle, so it was a big drive for a one nighter. Think we'll probably camp there next time, on account of the drive. Always glad to tell the story, one of these days I'll make a normal trip with not that much to tell. Heheh.

urbanangler

8/2/2010 9:49:00 PM

those swarming mosquitos sounded horrible! Great story, gorgeous fish. Con

urbanangler

8/2/2010 9:50:00 PM

...gratulations on your first koke! I have yet to catch one.

natetreat

8/2/2010 10:43:00 PM

No, I'm new to trolling for kokes, so I don't really know how to use a snubber. But that sounds about right, maybe that's why we missed so many hits. I'll definitely have to try that. I don't know how often I'm going to be able to come back though, my dad lives in Olympia and I'm in Seattle, so it was a big drive for a one nighter. Think we'll probably camp there next time, on account of the drive. Always glad to tell the story, one of these days I'll make a normal trip with not that much to tell. Heheh.

Anonymous

8/3/2010 3:20:00 PM

im starting to look forward to your posts nate you'd make a good author!

bluegrouse bill

8/4/2010 12:55:00 PM

I hate to burst your bubble but thats a hatchery Rainbow.

oneifisher

1/20/2011 1:49:00 AM

Hilarious story...next time make sure that Jack Bauer is armed...tight lines!

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