I would like to start by saying I was not expecting a mid day fishing trip to be this successful, let alone catching my targeted species for the first time.

Majority of the time I am chasing monster Cutthroat on Lake Wa but I decided to do a little exploring on the Kokanee side. I usually catch them here and there far and few apart on accident when targeting cutthroat. Today that was not the case.

I started my troll just outside of the Juanita Bay in about 60 FOW and noticed a bunch of small marks. I started shallow 10ft on the wire which produced a quick drive by. After about 20 mins there wasn’t any action. It wasn’t until I dropped my line down to 25-30 and the action was almost instant. I netted my first fish which was a plump 16 incher and back in I went with the same technique and same depth.

Over the course of 2 hours I ended up losing 5, released a small chinook along with 2 adult sockeye, and finally capped off my afternoon with the last Kokanee. The lake was calm as could be, no boaters, and perfect weather. I am extremely excited to have figured the Kokanee fishing out on my home lake. If these Kokanee are this big in June, they are going to be gigantic come spawning time.

Gear: dick nite moon jelly dodger, Gods tooth spoon

Bait: tuna oil soaked corn

Scent: krill anise

Speed: 1.4-1.7 mph

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