Jigging vs Trolling for Kokanee

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There are two primary way to catch Kokanee. The first is jigging and the other is trolling. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. In this video I discuss some of these differences and explain why I generally prefer to troll for Kokanee. For this video I fished Lake Chelan targeting waters in the lower basin during mid-June.
Jigging tackle featured in this video:
- Major Craft Jigpara Kokanee Jig 10 gram: amzn.to/3La4AIi
- 13 Fishing Defy 7'1" Med-light Spinning Rod: amzn.to/3DvB0uW
- Daiwa Revro LT 2500: amzn.to/3RSlhdU
- 15 lb Powerpro: amzn.to/3QNCXpA
- Seaguar 6 lb Fluoro STS: amzn.to/3eWGd4Q
Trolling tackle featured in this video:
- Paulina Peak Big I Gold Pink Crush Dodger: paulinapeaktackle.com/shop/ol...
- Paulina Peak Red Microhoochie: paulinapeaktackle.com/shop/ol...
- Paulina Peak Kokanee Rod: paulinapeaktackle.com/shop/ol...
- Daiwa Lexa 100LC: amzn.to/36zef7W
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[@loganfishbeard]

You forgot one important detail. Hooking up on a jig is way more fun😋 As for the snack thing, I've seen my dad put out two rods with jigs, one on each side of the boat, and then literally rock the boat and get hooked up. It was one of the funniest things I've seen fishing. P.S. Stopped at Bonneville last week and the sockeye looked chunky this year. Hope to see you at the brewster party.

[@chubbrock659]

I watch a KZbinr named Don Allphin, he jigs with kokanators on flaming gorge and consistently catches kokes on his boat. I was out there this last weekend and couldn’t find them, but if I was able to go as often as he does I’m sure I’d do better. I did catch about 100 small rainbows so it was still a fun trip.

[@roberturen1772]

I have started fishing for Kokanee her in western Washington in my new sportsman PDL 120 with good results just trolling,need to try jigging,great content!

[@NorthwestOpenSeason]

Great information. Me personally, I’d rather catch 5 fish jigging than 10 fish trolling.

[@thecount1001]

new kok test fishery just announced at a lake nearby. never caught one or seen one and the lake is now chock full of them. hopefully this weekend i'll land a couple and see what the hype is all about.

[@Dahbz14]

This is the first year I’ve been able to take limits of Kokanee, finally got things dialed in. 🤙🎣

[@davids7943]

Love your content! I've been using your trolling techniques here in Colorado with my sons. Thank you for your work in this area!

[@wreck96]

I’ve yet to catch one in Colorado

[@dougsparks66]

LOL TYLER...I can't tell if the croak you did with a mouthfull of food was planned or a gaffe, but either way you made Foster Brooks proud 🤣🤣 Seriously, my crew is still trying to master Merwin...several times earlier in the year we found tight schools but I've never got around to jigging because we'd all have to still fish and we do really well trolling. The past few jig vids you've listed Japanese jigs that may or may not be available to us...is there a US equivalent? Of course I could investigate, but you could save me some effort... 😉😉 Thanks for your priceless efforts...you make us all want to be better fisherpeople.

[@spiltmilt]

I have a video on some of my favorite jigs aside from the Major Craft jigs. Major Craft has US distribution and are actually more affordable than some of the more locally common jigs.

[@youraveragefishkeeper]

Love the content as always Tyler! There is a lake near by me has Kokanee. I’ve fished it twice earlier this year trying to target them and failed both times. So I gave up because stocker trout started coming in and I went to a lake much closer to my home. Because the lake down the street I normally fish was so hot and bite extremely slow(71 degrees Fahrenheit) I decided to go back to that lake I struck out to try and target trout there. After the second trout I got into a nice 13in Koke that was double wide of the size of the trout. That same day I got into 2 more smaller ones about 9 inches. I’m extremely happy on that days catch. I smoked them a day or so later and I discovered that Kokanee is incredibly tasty. I went back today and left with 4 in The 8-9inch range and I had to go through 7 trout to get to them. I seriously couldn’t not have done this without you. Once again thanks!

[@robbysmusic8507]

Thank you i need all the help i can get.....Thank you!

[@fishwhistle9666]

Casting into rising kokanee sounds fun

[@coyakbrian3411]

Always try to use my second rod as a dead stick when jigging. Usually pretty effective. Thanks for sharing

[@spiltmilt]

I’ve tried that but never have much luck

[@PaleHorseFishing]

Could you do an episode on how much or how little to set your downrigger. I feel that I lose kokanee if I'm too loaded up and the strike triggers the release.

[@ezbake11791]

Always love the videos! Can you show us the screen and what your looking for? I am struggling with fishing puget sound because i dont have electronics yet...

[@spiltmilt]

Spend $120 and get a Garmin Striker 4, its worth it. amzn.to/44sWUcH

[@janetmeyer7406]

We just finished 10 days at Flaming Gorge, our favorite kokanee spot. Sorry to say the fishing was terrible for the 1st time in 5 years coming here. Not sure what is going on, but not finding many kokanee on the WY side. The water is clear, and the few we caught were fat and healthy. Just not schooled up and not biting. Some are saying it is because there are too many lake trout eating the kokanee, but we didn't catch many of those either. Maybe due to the drawdown? Some tournaments were even canceled. We are now moving on to Fontanelle to find some KOUS, hopefully. Love your videos!

[@spiltmilt]

Yeah I've heard the same but I do hear the fishing is better on the Utah side. Good luck at Fontanelle, watch those winds!

[@janetmeyer7406]

@spiltmilt The wind can be scary bad at FG too. Even wind apps can be deceiving and unreliable. Easy to get into trouble. You do the best planning, but you can get caught out suddenly (especially on these big lakes in the wide open). I think we all get a little too secure in our kayak and our abilities. Wind rules however. You lose your steering capability when you can't outrun the wind. Also, that 4 lb trolling weight can act as a swinging pendulum when you are sideways to the wind and 2 ft waves, next thing you know your are in the water. Always wear your life vest and know where to seek shelter, even if you may not get back to your launch for hours. Maybe a topic for a future video?

[@justinbuckley1944]

LOVE jigging kokes!

[@tbone6924]

You should hit up Idaho again...Anderson Ranch Reservoir is producing some BIG fish this year.

[@spiltmilt]

It was producing big ones last year too but probably won’t have time to fish. We will see

[@ryanpeterson5344]

Love your content. Very informative, I use your information when fishing for kokanee here in BC. When will you heading north of the border for fishing?

[@spiltmilt]

Headed up that way in July

[@ryanpeterson5344]

@spiltmilt oh awesome. What lakes are you going to try out? My main lakes I love to fish are Monte Lake (fish are getting to be a nice size) and Stump Lake. I would fish Paul Lake more, but with a hard to access lake for a trailered boat, I only ice fish it.

[@spiltmilt]

Monte, Stump, Peter Hope, Ruth, Sulpherous, Bridge, Hathaway, and Wood are all possibilities

[@MrAnchetaa]

Maybe a silly question, but can you troll with a buzz bomb for kokanee?

[@jonlewis7140]

I'm still on the fence about buying the downrigger as I'm playing the odds with clip weights. I've been coming up with more rainbows than kokanee though, so I need to get better at guesstimating. I've found some charts about "weight to line out to speed" = "X depth", but when you say you're going 30' back and 50' out after clipping in, what's your best guess of how deep you're running at 1.5(ish) MPH? Thanks again for all the videos and information! I'm starting to fish smarter!! 😁

[@ericward6919]

For me, when I run a clip weight, if I turn my sonar to 83kHz, I can see the depth of a 3oz. snap weight traveling about 1.5 SOG down to roughly 60'. Use that visual data coupled with your line counter to give you a better guestimation. I know for me running 3oz snap weight, traveling 1.3 with 50' back, dropping down until my line counter says 105', I know I am at +/-1, 30'. Try changing sonar to 83kHz next time youre out there. This definitely works with my Lowrance, havent tested it with anything else. Tight lines!

[@jasonkorneychuk1193]

I’ve always wondered if you could get sockeye jigging

[@spiltmilt]

Me too

[@paulproios3433]

How do you know they’re schools of Kokanee on the finder vs trout or other species?

[@spiltmilt]

Guess based on behavior and depth but not always possible to know

[@cyclecrater6760]

When jigging with a spinning real how do you know when you are at the same depth as the fish?

[@spiltmilt]

I can see the jig on the fishfinder

[@cyclecrater6760]

Thanks, I’ll give that a try.

[@Pfenzer]

I wonder why Oregon Kokanee are so much smaller than WA Kokanee this year. My usual haunts are producing...but they're dinks.

[@dougsparks66]

Oregon overstocks...more fish=less food=smaller fish.

[@spiltmilt]

A lot of Oregon Kokanee fisheries are wild spawn based which is more prone to stunting than stocked fisheries. Where they do stock they seem to overstock as Doug points out.

[@JJ-tf2qs]

Hi Tyler, going to Brewster for the first time this year. Do you use the same snap on weight for sockeye that you do for Kokanee?

[@spiltmilt]

No I use slider because I am trying to minimize the amount of line out since it is a combat fishery and I don't want to tangle with other anglers

[@JJ-tf2qs]

@@spiltmilt thanks for all the great information! Are you hitting the bottom with that weight for the sockeye or just up off the bottom

[@jessetharp6319]

Have you ever jigged on a lake where you can chum? I haven’t tried it myself but if you care to try I could point you to a couple lakes where it’s allowed in on the western side of WA.

[@spiltmilt]

I’ve not

[@randygarrard7585]

Im a retired person thinking about fishing for kokanee. Can you tell me what kind of drop weight you use. I just did purchased 2 Downriggers, but thinking i might would try the drop weight also. My brother-in-law started fishing for Kokanee 2 years ago and he loves it, so im going to try. I been fishing fore years, bank and trowling but not Kokanee. Any info would be help full

[@spiltmilt]

Check out this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/p3-0nGCKZcaJpsk

[@randygarrard7585]

Thanks

[@saltywalrusfishingcompany]

What are your go to jigging spoons?

[@spiltmilt]

Linked in the description but the 10 and 15 gram Majorcraft jigpara are money

[@Stevefor1776]

@@spiltmilt 🤣Money as in productive or money as in EXPENSIVE?!? $27 for the lure you're using hurts!!!

[@albehere2798]

When jigging how do you determine if it’s a Kokanee from a Rainbow on your graph

[@spiltmilt]

You can't

[@RIngels15248]

Can you do a video on using electronics and what your looking for

[@spiltmilt]

Here you go kzbin.info/www/bejne/l3jdkKF3a6qSn80

[@spiltmilt]

Here too. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hJKuaomvncSkrq8

[@albehere2798]

When jiggling how are you determining the difference between the Kokanee and rainbow

[@chriskennedy5726]

What oz weight and depth are you typically using

[@spiltmilt]

Anywhere from 1 to 5 oz and from the surface to 100’ or more depends on the fishery and lake

[@Mexicanjedi3429]

Have you fished lake sawyer

[@spiltmilt]

Not yet

[@Mexicanjedi3429]

@spiltmilt I'm hoping to go there and give it a try. I got a 10ft livingston but it's a little crazy on that lake some times

[@Newtrous]

Shouldn’t a group of fish under 10 be called a class?! 😀