I was blessed to have the dean of Washington saltwater fishing with me on Saturday. Tom Nelson of Salmon University brought his son and grandson out to fish with me. He wanted to get a taste of what the kokanee fishing is all about here. We worked hard for a couple of long line releases then got 3 in the boat with a couple other of those long line releases in about a 15 minute period.

We pulled up and headed above the Yacht Club to get some lakers. Mike Nelson Jr. got to catch both Kokanee and lake trout and we got back in in time for the 3 generations of Nelson's to get a late breakfast.

The Kokanee bit Mack's Lures mini Cha Cha Squidders on 16" leaders behind the small Double D Dodger. We baited the squidders with Pautzke's Fire Corn in Yellow. We mostly trolled from 1.2 to 1.4 mph. However, the difference between this day and the week or so previous to this was the fish bit in water that was in the 40's and 50's deep with lines set between 30 and 35 feet deep.

The best lure for me for the Mack's was Worden Lures T4 Purple Glow Flatfish, with Mack's Cha Cha baited with a chunk of Northern Pikeminnow a close second.

Jeff, being smarter than me took the Abel Family up above to fish Mack's for the entire morning. Both of us got our lakers from 250 to 310 feet deep. He used a combination of Silver Horde's Ace Hi's and Mack's Cha Cha's baited with a hunk of Northern Pikeminnow and Worden's Flatfish to get his Mack's. As always we were fishing within 5 feet of the bottom whenever possible. 1.4 to 1.6 mph seemed to trigger the most bites. What a glorious morning to fish!

Anton Jones - Darrell and Dad's Family Guide Service
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