My friend Mark asked for a re-match to go to Hayden and give the Kokanee a whirl. I watched the weather reports for Saturday and they did not look too good. Rain and wind in the AM with wind increasing to 30 plus around noon.
Met Mark and Leroy at the appointed time and location (alarm worked this time). We had to stop at the Walmart in Hayden to get Leroy license. They had to find someone who knew how to write it and then get a manager to collect the money. Arrived at the lake in a howling rain storm. Put the boat in and fired up the heater; sure glad for the top and heat on days like this!
We ran down to the middle of the lake and there were a couple of other hardy souls fishing in the wind and waves. Did I mention waves....white caps and rollers; too much fun. Got the boat headed down wind and put Mark to driving while I prepped the tackle. Three colors lead and 25 on the downriggers for a start. Mark got the first fish on a fluorescent orange Apex off the leaded line. Then a while later we had a triple and got them all in the boat in spite of the bad weather. Caught them on a variety of dodgers and "home brewed" wedding rings with custom UV treatment. Died purple shoepeg corn and pink maggots were the bait of choice.
Sonared some nice schools in the 50 to 60' range but could not stay on them; did I mention WIND? It finally got so bad around noon we had to quit....BIG waves!!
The fish are beauties thick and fat 13 to 14" with the beautiful bright red flesh.
Stay safe out there in the blustery weather - Alan