First time venturing out to lake Stevens for some kokes on my inflatable. Raft in the water by 730am with lines out, starting later then I anticipated. One was rigged with 1 oz banana weight sling blade, red wedding ring, hootchie and brass blade and out about 70 pulls other was rigged with a 40' jet diver, 50/50 dodger, green wedding ring, brass blade both baited with corn and scented with krill/herring mix. Seen a good number of boats out but not very many nets being deployed or maybe just not paying to close attention as I was focused on targeting this new species for me. Motored over to the aerotor and around 830 hooked up with my first kokanee ever on the sling blade. Netted him and into the boat. Dropped the gear down again and made another pass and at 845 bam another was being brought into the boat. By now the fishing boats were few but the pleasure boaters were out in force. Figured might be an awesome day. Made a few passes with nothing, went out to the middle, went closer to shore but that was it for me. Not a bad day being my first time targeting kokanee with no riggers or radar. Went 2/4 but would have liked a few more as I got home and fired up the grill. They were really good eating and will now invest some time and money to target these tasty little guys!

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