Kokanee Hunt at Jordanelle

06-27-19 Shifty wanted to go after Kokes at Jordanelle so we headed to the Nelle.  We actually were going for the quadfecta of fishing; Kokanee, Trout (Rainbow, Brown), Smallmouth bass and Wipers.  We made it to the lake at sunrise and were on the water quickly.  We were on Shifty's boat today and he was in charge of the helm.  I was happy about that.

We went to the deepest part of the lake and started trolling for Kokanee.  Not really set up for Kokanee fishing I didn't have much confidence in getting one. Most Kokanee setups are downrigger equipped. We were running lead and divers to get down 30 feet. We trolled through the main body and really didn't get any indication of fish in the area so we made our way to the bank hoping they might be in shallower water.

We fished into the mouth of Rock Cliffs and found some fish on the finder. We fished for a couple hours changing colors speed and other presentations to try and coax anything to hit our lines. Finally, about 9 am I got a hit on a rainbow daredevil spoon on the diver at 30 feet.  It was a decent Brown trout. Got a pic and put it in the live well, it tore a gill when it hooked up.  I changed my top line to a crappie crankbait that went about 6 feet deep.  Reset my diver pole and bang the crappie lure got hit.  Reeled it in and low and behold it was a Kokanee Salmon.  Who would have thought that a Kokanee would hit a crankbait!  It was decent Kokanee going about 2 lbs.  We continued to troll and Shifty finally gave up on trying to navigate the wind and waves. This is why I was happy he was in the helm today!

We stowed the trolling motor and went to find some Wipers, but the wind was so bad that Shifty didn't think we could stay stationary long enough to jig for them. I agreed.  We made our way back into some of the bay on the north end and started casting crankbaits for smallmouth bass.  Shifty got on board with a smallie and then another.  I finally ended up with a couple smallies myself, and another Brown. Giving me the Trifecta of species. We didn't reach our goal of 4 species but still had fun fishing.