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My wife JoAnn and I owe thanks to the sun and the moon for this awesome fishing report and adventure!

On Monday I realized that our planned weekend trip to Lake Merwin would put us smack dab in the middle of the Eclipse traffic madness both going down and returning. The prospect of sitting still in traffic with two dogs whining to go to the bathroom did not sound inviting. So we cancelled the trip and instead found a spot at Conconully State Park. End of the summer kokanee in this lake have been reported to be running 15-18” and traveling east/west would keep use away from the madness so off we went.

We arrived Sunday late afternoon and after setting up camp in a half full State Park (nice!) we went over to the lake to see what was cooking. We went to the north end of the lake since that was where the fish were in the spring and put our gear down. I decided to run a couple downrigger rods and a couple leaded lines to start. The mystery came as soon as we started fishing. My fish finder was strangely absent of any fish marks. We trolled and eventually hooked a fish at 30 feet, a very nice 16 inch bright kokanee. Another boat was also fishing and had similar poor luck.

The next morning I got up at 5:30 and went out on my own for a few hours. I decided to put away the leaded line and focused on the downrigger rods, running two rods in the 30-50 foot depth ranges. I used a variety of gear. Again, precious few marks. I did catch a nice 17 inch fish and a 13 incher. I returned to the campsite at 9am and JoAnn and I walked the dogs over to an eclipse viewing party the park ranger had set up. He had a binocular set up with white board to watch that way, and the dozen or so campers willingly shared glasses with those of us that didn’t have any. What a cool event! The temperature dropped noticeably and the leaves in the trees reflected the crescent sun. There was a spontaneous community of sun gazers formed by the event. We had 93ish percent coverage. Not the full deal but plenty cool. Hats off to the park ranger for setting the event up.

After the eclipse JoAnn made sandwiches and we returned to the upper lake. I decided after talking to a fellow angler in the morning who reported catching one kokanee near the dam but also reporting clearer water and more fish marks to give this end a try. It turned out to be a good decision.

Armed with four downrigger rods my plan was to run depths of 30-50 feet. Complicating the situation was a fishfinder that had decided to turn itself off at random intervals. Fishing uncharted and unfamiliar water with downriggers meant I had to lay off the deep trolling. It turned out to be not important…

Within a minute of dropping the first gear down to 30 feet the rod started bouncing like crazy. “Huh”, I thought, 11:30am, sunny, and a kok at 30 feet deep, weird. In came our first fish, a feisty 16 inch shiny kokanee caught on a Reli wedding ring and wobbler dodger. Second line down – repeat, this time on an Arctic Fox Trolling Fly kokanee fly in purple. “Interesting”, I thought. Eventually I had all four rods running, and over the next hour every single caught at least one kokanee. By 1pm we were done. An amazing eight kokanee in the boat, added to my two from the morning gave our day’s limit. It reminded me of a couple very important points about fishing. #1, fish where the fish are! #2, be prepared and flexible to change a plan. If we had run back to the north end perhaps we would have scratched out 1-2 fish, but we would have missed this incredible action and bite.

The next morning I again woke up early and asked JoAnn if she’d like to go fishing? She decided the sleeping bag was too comfortable to leave so I drove the one mile to the upper lake and put my boat in. I ran over to the south end of the lake and had gear in the water by 5:50am. I was curious to see if the previous day was a fluke or the real deal. It took exactly 30 seconds to answer the question as rod number one started bouncing before I even had rod number two in the water. I grabbed the fishing pole and had fish #1 of the morning in the boat, another cookie cutter 16 inch kokanee!

So it continued over the next 30 minutes. No soon than one rod would be lowered and the second rod would go off. I seldom had two rods in the water at the same time. The depth to fish was 30-35 feet on the downrigger. The gear that worked was – whatever I put down! A couple pieces of garlic scented corn and it was just way too easy. Drop gear down to depth, wait a couple minutes, net another chunky kokanee. 25 feet back from the clip if your wondering.

It was just me and a guide boat, Jerrod Gibbons from Okanogan Valley Guide Service on the water. I leisurely put away my gear while I watched Jerrod’s clients having similar success. What an amazing fishery, totally not being used by the general public. I’m going to editorialize for a moment…

For those of you reading this report and stressing out that I’m giving away some secret, maybe “your secret” lake, shame on you. JoAnn and I visited the eateries and talked with the business owners. It’s been a tough year for them this summer. Tourism is down due to the earlier smoke issues and the heat. Conconully businesses depend on our tourism dollars. These fish are stocked specifically to be caught by anglers. They are still in good shape, but only for a few more weeks. If you want to catch easy limits of 15-18 inch fat kokanee now is the time to go! The State Park has lots of camping available, as do the resorts. The businesses would love to see you come up and spend a few days. We also got some great freshly picked fruit from local small fruit stands and the fruit is delicious!

So help out some small businesses and get yourself some tasty, fat, BIG kokanee. The tourists are gone and the scenery and ambiance is fantastic!

Have fun and enjoy a true Pacific Northwest Gem, Conconully.

salmonbarry

8/22/2017 9:22:56 PM

Wow! Great report Mike and cool pictures too! Good decision as I talked to a few people that got stuck in that madness and you made the right choice! Love the pictures of Diesel on the boat and checking out the eclipse shadows- and wow about the fishing!! Great news on a fishery I have yet to enjoy and will definitely make some plans to hit it if not this year next for sure when I am on the east side for my yearly pilgrimage!

Mike Carey

8/22/2017 9:24:15 PM

thanks salmonbarry. Yup, it was the right call!

bugle1

8/22/2017 9:48:46 PM

Great report mike will visit the area next week

Dark Tuna

8/22/2017 10:38:38 PM

Great report! Concunully is a gem, for certain. The last time I was there the "locals" were startled to catch a kokanee. This year I'd promised myself to make a trip but never had the long weekend or days off to pull it off.

Mauk Fishing Stuff

8/22/2017 10:47:40 PM

Thanks for a very nice report. As I find it usually happens I was looking for another place to try fishing and here comes this great report on Conconully Lake

Mike Carey

8/23/2017 6:34:57 AM

you'll have a blast Mike! Bring sunscreen. :-)

atroutfisherman

8/23/2017 7:12:03 AM

Is there a dock at the launch on the upper lake? You must have a lowrance! Mine has the same disease! Nice report!

Mike Carey

8/23/2017 10:10:31 AM

yes, two lane launch, good dock, ample parking.

cobrar543

8/23/2017 8:16:00 AM

I will preach with you Brother Mike! This area is outstanding. The people, the deer walking thru your campsite, the state park AND the two private camp sites are second to NONE> The fishing is out standing. You can't beat it. The upper lake has Small mouth in it as well. Catch your HUGE Kokanee and run to the top and have fun catching pound smallmouth cast after cast. This town needs the tourism and in all the times I have been there I have never heard a bad word from any of them. Always welcome. And highway 20 east is open again.

Mike Carey

8/23/2017 10:11:29 AM

Can I get an "amen"? Yes! I'll have to go after the smallmouth next time I go, thanks for the heads up.

hewesfisher

8/23/2017 8:19:21 AM

Great report Mike and nice fat kokanee too!

Billm

8/23/2017 9:44:41 PM

Mike, Every angler has learned "secrets" from another angler willing to share their experiences, techniques, and favorite locations. I appreciate your willingness to do the same. Unfortunately too many anglers are not willing to do the same. Thank you.

fishin4funn

8/24/2017 10:46:00 AM

Mike, way to go, you definitely did better than we did, we didn't venture down to the Dam side...big mistake apparently, but hey that's fishin. Nice to meet and chat with you over the weekend. We will definitely be going back to Conconully!

Mike Carey

8/24/2017 7:21:21 PM

likewise, nice chatting with you. JoAnn and I were saying when you read this report your jaw might drop since both you and I had such poor luck on the north end of the lake. Sorry we didn't figure it out sooner. I would have sent you down there.

Rusticedgegallery

8/26/2017 11:14:09 AM

Somehow we missed your report before going over. Fished all the spots that worked earlier with little success.mostly trout. Finally got dialed in. Easy limits very nice fish. Required faster speeds and flasher more active gear. Also when I knew I was over fish a few tugs on the line or jogging the downrigger worked a number of times all our fish were at 30-34 ft.

Mike Carey

8/26/2017 4:30:55 PM

good deal! yup, the depth adjustment thing works very well when they are so aggressive.

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