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Sunshine, let’s go fishing! After a lazy morning based late start, sometime around noon we were finally on the road headed south. The problem was we still didn’t know where we were headed. What we did know was that there was a three year old in the back seat that was on a mission to catch his first fish, as the skipper I was under pressure. I had done a little research and knew that they had just released 4,800 trout at Shoecraft but I was not sure about the ramp conditions so I decided to head for Lake Stevens. Boat in the water by 1:00 we headed for the north end of the lake to fish the flats for cutthroat or rainbows. After two passes with the side scan set at 120 feet we did not see a single fish so it was time to go fish for Kokanee.

Coming off the flats and as we crossed about the 60’ depth line it was gear down and the hunt for the first kokanee of the year was on. We were running 4 rods, two on the riggers and two flat lines. The flat lines were run at 25 pulls and 35 pulls while the riggers started at 10’ and 15’. At the business end we were running a variety of dodgers, swing blades and tear drop flashers followed by custom tied lures tipped with Play Dough maggots. We saw very little surface activity and in about 3 hours of fishing we only saw 3 or 4 fish on the fish finder so we didn’t really have a target zone to focus on. We were having fairly constant action in the way of drive-bys but no hook ups and I needed a plan! I added Mikes Krill/Shrimp Gel to the surface rod lures and WHAM-O we were into a double. It was pretty awesome, first kokanee of the year, first double of the year and best of all our little man got his first fish!

Where I normally give specific lure/dodger combo information, everything we put out had some action so I am not sure what to say. The fish that volunteered to be the guest of honor for a fish taco meal happened to eat a green spin-n-glow rig and a green mini squid set-up but other than the green thing, there was no specific pattern to zero in on. Our trolling speed varied between 1.0 mph and 1.6 mph with 1.1-1.2 mph being the most productive. The surface lines were the most productive. Water temperature was as follows: Surface/45.8°, 5’/44.7°, 10’/44.2 °, 15’/44.0°, 20’/43.9°, 25’/43.9, 30’/43.7°, 35’/43.7°, 40’/43.7°, 45’/34.6° and 50’/43.6°.

It was a short but perfect first fishing trip for the little dude and he is HOOOOKED!

rseas

3/23/2013 9:56:00 PM

Strange, not exactly the version that I posted but close. It was correct when I checked the "Preview" view...

downriggeral

3/23/2013 10:53:00 PM

rseas - Great to see the kids get to catch fish. Love kokanee fishing; do you like the side finder?

MotoBoat

3/23/2013 11:06:00 PM

Randal, what are you using to determine water temp at depth?

MotoBoat

3/23/2013 11:10:00 PM

Oooops, called you Randal. My neighbor's name is Randy. But I've gotten accustomed to calling him Randal. You probably haven't been called Randal since in trouble, and living at home with Mum, and Pops.

rseas

3/24/2013 7:45:00 AM

MB; this year I am using a "Fish Hawk TD" temperature probe The way I have it set up I clip it on the downrigger cable and let it go down with the lure presentation to collect data then haul it back up, un-clip the unit from the downrigger cable and read the data. Every 5 feet it takes a temperature reading and stores it in memory. It also provides max depth info.

rseas

3/24/2013 8:05:00 AM

My Humminbird 798ci SI Combo provides side imaging, down imaging and traditional sonar. To be honest I never use the down imaging feature and rarely use the side-imaging. That said both the DI and SI work fantastic and the SI has been directly responsible for a number of large rainbow and cutthroat trout. I really like the SI feature but for my fisheries don't have the opportunity to use the SI much.

MotoBoat

3/24/2013 9:51:00 AM

I have no idea, so will ask. What are the differences between DI and Traditional sonar? Too bad the "temp probe" does not send a signal to your F.F. for real time data transfer. One day, that will be the case. What data is the probe capable of? Does the probe take a temp reading at the depth the cable is stopped, and 5 ft represents the interval you chose? Or can you send the probe from surface, non stop to 20ft and the probe will record data at 5ft intervals? Sounds like a cook feature!!

MotoBoat

3/24/2013 9:56:00 AM

What do you think of the "2013 Fish Hawk FH-X4D"?

eenakok

3/24/2013 10:45:00 AM

Canon has an itellitroll module that has a monitor that will give you temperature and speed at the lure depth. it is "only" 549.99.. yikes

eenakok

3/24/2013 10:46:00 AM

rseas -
Great report and getting the grandson hooked!! Great pics!

Mike@Bills

3/24/2013 11:02:00 AM

Glad to see the boat back in the water! Great report, hope you make it down to American soon so we can talk again you always have so much great info! PS. I am good to get into a boat now if you come down this way.

rseas

3/24/2013 2:42:00 PM

MB, it is way cool but at 600 skins it is way out of my price range.

Toni

3/25/2013 10:35:00 AM

Great report as always.

Steelheadin360

3/25/2013 10:38:00 AM

NICE CATCH!!!! i went back to work this week so i wont be back out there for two weeks!

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