Tried Hayden yesterday in with a buddy. First boat at the launch but we were just the first of MANY. Fished until around 4 and over the course of the day there was at least 40 boats on the water and more were coming in as we pulled out. We went the first 3 hours with only 1 bite and then started getting some action. We caught fish all over the lake in deeper water ending the day going 17 of 25 (ish) We had 3 or 4 doubles and 2 triples. We couldn't get a bite on anything green as was said to be the popular color by other posts recently, we ended up doing all our damage with dodgers and sling blades with a 10-12" leader to a micro red or pink trolling fly. Caught fish from 110 all the way up to 35'. Talked one guy who has been fishing it all week and he said there was 30+ boats on Friday so the lake is getting hammered pretty hard and the fish are all alot smaller than the ones I have caught there the last couple years. It is no longer the hidden gem Kokanee fishery it was but it is still fun and the meat is a deep red and delicious.

Jipper

3/9/2015 7:29:00 PM

do you think the kokanee will get bigger as the year goes on?

CoyoteCrazy

3/9/2015 8:10:00 PM

I hope so, this time last year I caught more than a couple of fish that were already 17+. As hard as that lake gets hammered now a days and with a very liberal limit of 15 fish per angler I think the chances of catching the bigger ones will be rare.

Jipper

3/9/2015 8:17:00 PM

that to bad.

bevens64608

3/11/2015 8:42:00 PM

I started fishing earlier this year at Hayden than ever due to the favorable weather. F and G put 159,000 fry in last yr. previously they have been stocking 100000 or ye. the real question is this. If they increase the stocks seeking more limits per fisherman, will this just lessen the size of the fish? The draw to hayden has been a hopefully not once in a lifetime chance to catch LARGE Kokes locally. The difference at Hayden is the lack of main lake predation of these Kokes, unlike most Koke stocking programs designed to provide feed for larger fish like Kings in CDA or Kams in Ponderay. I certainly hope the increase in stocks is just the beginning of a downhill slide on size at Hayden. I figure with that many fish in the lake (two yr life cycle less predation and anglers taken from the current 250000 present) that our job is to freeze, smoke grill or dry as many as we can while we have a great fishery for outsized Kokes?? this leaving more food to fatten the remaining silver bounty in my most favorite of such waters.

bevens64608

3/11/2015 9:58:00 PM

Correction: I hope the increased stock are NOT going to decrease their size...

CoyoteCrazy

3/11/2015 11:23:00 PM

I is hard to find a good balance I am sure. But if it was the lack of predation on the Kokes that held the size down due to the massive numbers then why does F&G proceed to kill off all the predators in Pend Oriele and Priest, but the size in both those lakes of Kokes is pathetic (atleast the last time I was there) I don't know just asking the question. They killed off (netted/bountied) both lakes to bring back Kokanee, when people primarily went to those respective lakes because of the big predatory fish. Now with Hayden they had big Kokanee, but are either making changes to try and keep up with fishing pressure or maybe throwing a dart in the dark. Who knows.

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