Northwest Fishing Reports

is there any good kokanee lakes in snohomish or skagit counties besides lk stevens prefably a non water ski lake i have a small boat an it is summer and i am tired of drunkin water skier and boaters at 8 am any help needed

Silver Lake and I think Baker and Shannon have them too.

Yep, you'll find 'em at baker and shannon. Chumming is also permitted.

you'll likely run into drunken 20-somethings at the baker lake campground, and a good amount of waterskiers...not sure how shannon is--I haven't fished it in YEARS.

roesiger is a pretty good lake for kokanee. ive fished there and have had pretty good luck. getting to the bigger ones is kinda tricky and havent really figured it out yet. roesiger is a water ski lake but if you get there at sunrise and get off before 10 am you should be fine. water skiers cant start before 10 am on that lake. i havent been to baker or shannon but have herad the kokes in thee are pretty decent size. i had no idea that silver lake had kokes but i guess ill have to try for them in there aswell.
hanapaa

baker has some huge kokanee but watch out for stumps

thanks guys i like stevens but it is to un fishable last sunday it was 5 30 am and one boat used me and 3 other boats as road cones to gone and out of thair boat came so close i could have touched it with the trout net. i mean they have the whole lake they dont have to show off i dont care that they have dadys boat and money then when i left they picked up thair buddies at the luanch with two 18 packs of beer its 6 am i mean if you whant to have a good time thats cool but dont try to kill me with the recklessness

Well, tech. Baker is in Whatcom, but yes, kokanee. I haven't seen a water skier on baker the times I've been there, but then again I go mid week in the spring/fall. Also, if you go to Whatcom it has decent kokanee, but once again, you have to go mid week in october (very few skiers/jet ski's), that's when the kokanee start biting again..... About 40-50ft down on the down rigger over 50-90ft with a wee dick nite I heard works......

Mmmm....salmon burgers.

The last time I was a Shannon was two summers ago. We picked up kokanee and trout on the same gear, pop gear and spinners tipped with bait. As with most any deep water reservoir you'll need to watch you fish finder carefully to avoid hanging up your gear in a submerged tree. My first time out there I couldn't figure out what was hitting my lure in 150' of water when I was only about 60' down. Once I upgraded from my nasty old Garmin fish finder everything became much more clear. If you fish it early in the morning you can catch fish in the top 30' of water. Once you locate a school in the middle part of the lake it's easier to just jig for them. Don't bother running way up the North end of the Lake for Kokanee, we found that most of the action is in the lower half of the lake. There is sort of a natural demarcation point that separates the two sections, you'll know it when you come to it. Also, the boat ramp is not paved and may pose some trouble depending on the water level and your rig. If you take a 2WD pickup, you may want to put some weight in the back, just in case.

im not familiar with shannon lake. about how long would it take to get there from lake stevens? i heard that you can chum that lake with corn? is that true? thanks

It's probably about 1 1/2 hours to lake Shannon from Lake Stevens, it's just a bit North of Concrete. Check the regs on chumming. If it says chumming permitted go for it, though I'd use chopped shrimp.

thanks g-man. i hope to go and check out that lake soon. besides the kokes, what else is there to catch there? im guessing the normal wedding ring would work there fine. do you suggest trolling or still fishing? thanks, oh yeah whats the average size koke in there?

The kokes are normally around 12" and if you get something that really tugs hard its most likely a bow. There is a slot limit on trout, I think it is 6" to 18" so the big ones need to go back in. On rare occasions you'll hook into a bull trout (dolly varden) which you need to release regardless of size. I troll mostly, using a wedding ring style spinner behind pop gear or a small dodger. Small spoons also work as do kokanee killers just depends on the flavor of the day and what you feel most comfortable with. If you want to jig bring along some corn or maggots and a few small Swedish Pimples, you'll be good to go as long as the wind isn't blowing.

Lake Samish is also in Whatcom, but not too far from Skagit County and probably a lot closer than Baker/Shannon (water skiers aren't too bad in the morning). I haven't fished it in 2 weeks but got our limits last time and the also time before. Dodger, wedding ring, and fire corn about 25'-40'.

spoon, thanks for the info. im trying to see where the bigger kokes are in washington. whats the average size kokes you caught in samish? has anyone fished palmer lake? ive been told the kokes in there are 14"-16" on the average. that lake is just to far to travel. (south canada) lol. ive done good on roesiger with the average of 10"-12". I normally release kokes 12" and below. So does lake samish have bigger kokes?

lake stevens has some 18 inchers but the lake is boates heaven

curado, thats the truth. it wouldnt be so bad if the guys on play boats had a little respect for others on the lake. ive only used wedding rings for the kokes in there and had little luck. i was running my downriggers at around 40' and only caught the same 8-12 inch kokes. whens a good time of the year to hit it up?

spoon wrote:Lake Samish is also in Whatcom, but not too far from Skagit County and probably a lot closer than Baker/Shannon (water skiers aren't too bad in the morning). I haven't fished it in 2 weeks but got our limits last time and the also time before. Dodger, wedding ring, and fire corn about 25'-40'.

??? What do you mean not that bad?? They have the whole flippin lake, but at about 8 am every Sat, they have to come around right by all us fisherman. Maybe the guys with the little bigger boats it isn't that bad, but we have a little 12' Flat bottom. One of these days I am going to try a FULLY AUTOMATIC PAINT BALL GUN, and see if that doesn't get their attention.

hanapaa808 wrote:spoon, thanks for the info. I'm trying to see where the bigger kokes are in Washington. whats the average size kokes you caught in samish? has anyone fished palmer lake? Ive been told the kokes in there are 14"-16" on the average. that lake is just to far to travel. (south canada) lol. ive done good on roesiger with the average of 10"-12". I normally release kokes 12" and below. So does lake samish have bigger kokes?

Well not that I can tell. The average I have been catching is around 10", I am a little disappointed, I read about all these of people having much better fishing lakes then we have here. So far as I can tell there are fish in Whatcom County, but nothing to write home about.

Someone mentioned about Baker having big Kok's, well when I have bigger boat I will try Baker Lake, and see what it has.

??? What do you mean not that bad?? They have the whole flippin lake, but at about 8 am every Sat, they have to come around right by all us fisherman. Maybe the guys with the little bigger boats it isn't that bad, but we have a little 12' Flat bottom. One of these days I am going to try a FULLY AUTOMATIC PAINT BALL GUN, and see if that doesn't get their attention.[/quote]

The days I went this year (4 times on weekdays) were just fine. Maybe different crowds on the weekends, but I do feel your pain.

hanapa those fish we caught were all 11-13". Small but tasty.