Congrats on the first fish! Were you using a double hook or single hook on the wedding rings? I find that I get more hook ups if i use a double hook rig, I know I've said it before on here, but when you get bumped, kill the motor and wait a few seconds, then gas it. The fish thinks it wounded the prey and then it's getting away, seems to trigger them to bite. Again, great work getting the skunk off the boat and good luck with future trips and thanks for posting!

Thanks docshane! They were home made double hook wedding rings, i think i need t leave the trail hook further back for cutts. I started tying wedding rings for kokanee and haven't tweaked for cutts properly quite yet. I think bigger hooks and a longer trailer hook will help those strikes turn into hookups, that's the theory i'm going with for next time anyway! Thanks again!

I think you're wise to go with a wider spacing between hooks for the cutts. It'll cut down on the missed fish due to short strikes. My understanding on why the hooks are so close on Kokanee rigs is you want the lead hook in the mouth and the second hook to stick in the gill plate since they have soft mouths. Sadly, I've had "big setters" on my boat many times and a couple times they have reeled in a mouth part. A little modification and instruction and no more mutilated fish, but I'm pretty sure it was a Kokanee that got mutilated. I use size 4 red hooks to tie up double snelled rigs for cutts with about 2-3 inches between hooks.

I mainly use size 6 for my kokanee wedding rings, hoochies, etc but bought some size 4 for cutts and to try them out for kokanee too (read an article that advised upping hook size to lose fewer kokes, figured I'd give it a try, article even recommended size 2 for the top hook and size 4 for the trail hook, I'm not there yet). My biggest problem with kokanne fishing so far is that they don't hit hard enough to pop the line out of the downrigger clip and in the process of yanking the line out of the downrigger clip the hook(s) gets yanked out of the kokanee mouth, frustrating. Another thing I thought of is that even if they're still on after getting the line out of the clip the drag is set too tight so it will load up on the downrigger and we lose fish on the way to the boat because of that. Will have to start loosening the drag after getting the line out of the clip if the fish is still on. I use lamiglass kokanee rods mainly, I think their flexibility has saved my skin A LOT otherwise I may not have boated a single kokanee last season!

I use pretty heavy rods because it's what I have and I'm cheap. Snubbers might not be a bad idea for myself. I almost never have releases from my downrigger clips. I lose fish, but we lose fewer fish when we take the rod out of the holder, reel down to the water and give a gentle but firm tug on the rod to release the clip. Then no hook sets, as the fish has already hooked itself, reel up any slack quickly but smooth and it should be game on. Curious to hear other guys techniques.

If I'm fishing Lake Sammamish, I use a single hook on my gear as they are easier on the kokes and you have have to release them anyway. Most kokanee hooked with a double rig are going to die after being released as they thrash and roll around so much they inevitably get both hooks worked well into their head, mouth and/or eyes. A single number 2 or 3 siwash hook is all you need for cutts and you can still tip it with a bit of bait if needed. Put a barrel swivel in the eye of the hook and you'll have plenty of "drop back" to pick up the short strikers. I run braid on my rigs and a 30' leader of 8lb or 10lb Maxima Ultragreen, it serves as a bit of a shock absorber if the fish can't release itself from the clip right away. Also, I run 5' leads on my downrigger clips along with my ultralight rods. This also provides a bit of a cushioning effect as well and the setup works well on cutts and kokes alike. During the winter months the fish aren't nearly as aggressive and active as the rest of the year and don't seem to care to run off with your gear. I'll usually wait for several head shakes to ensure the fish is on and then pretty much follow what docshane does. I also tend to keep the motor in gear until the fish is near the boat, but I will reduce it to min idle speed. One last note, I add a bit of protection to my tandem rigs when fishing for cutts by using a couple of beads between the hooks. The teeth on the cutts can make short work of exposed line and I've retrieved my fair share of rigs in which the trailing hook was missing.

So far i've had pretty good luck not hooking kokanee on Sammamish. Hooked one for sure and released easy at side of boat. One other fish was iffy, almost looked like a koke/ bow hybrid but I don't think that's possible, maybe it was one of those cohos, we released it just to be safe. Everything else we caught were cutts, perch and one catfish trolling. The catfish was a surprise, never caught one trolling high in the water column before! Thanks for the tips on a better way to get the line out of the clip and protect the trail hook!