Lakes Green Peter Reservoir Fishing Reports

Another place to go (boat access only) is up the Santiam arm, left hand side going east. Look for the shorline to change color (redder brown), and flatter beach. There is an area there people have camped at that we explored 2 days ago. Spots for several tents all ready with a central area for a nice camp fire and food prep.
 
We got on the water early and had a takedown within 10 seconds of the first rod being set. It was one of those fill the cooler up days! Water temp is already 54°. Fish came on green, pink, orange and purple hoochies with sling blades from 10'-50'. 4 hours later we had 35 kokanee in the boat but we wanted to find something that would put up a fight. We fished for bass the next 2 hours and landed a dozen using tubes. Many of the smallies were bigger than the kokanee. I think Ive seen a few people say the kokanee are a "good size" but it seems like they have been getting smaller for the last few years. Mine were 9-11".
 
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Good report. I'm still waiting for a day like that. I ran into some smallmouth bass up there last year, little ones. Do you fish the shallow water for those or can they be anywhere? I tried a couple of hours last week and did not find them.
 
I usually just target shallow stumps. If I can see em, I cast at them. So ... 2-20'??? If you know the structure, you can catch them deeper.
 
Nice work. Took the scouts up on Saturday. Got skunked. Best we heard anyone did was 5.
 
Combat Chuck said:
I usually just target shallow stumps. If I can see em, I cast at them. So ... 2-20'??? If you know the structure, you can catch them deeper.
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Do you have any luck with anything besides tubes? I've always been skunked on tubes. Never tried at GP, but yeah.
 
This is more like it...Limited

This is more like it...Limited

Everything finally came together yesterday. I changed up a few things with my landing/netting procedure and filed every hook until they were dangerously super sharp, even the new ones and that seemed to make a difference. Plus, the kokes were quite cooperative throughout most of the day with a very hot bite at dusk.

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OK, there are 24 in the picture but I had released a dink and three plump rainbows also.
Here is what I used all day.

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My year-old Fire Corn still worked last week but I was losing faith in it since it had been out of the fridge so many times and seemed mushy. I made up my own using the recipe in this month's STS plus Krill-Xtra Smelly Jelly. It didn't seem to hurt anything. The small dodger is a K-lure wobbler, like for salmon fishing, minus the hook. They loved that one in the afternoon. The two pink ones I got a Tom's Garden Center in Albany, can't remember the names. The green one I concocted myself and caught a few on it but the pink was the hot item yesterday.

Rogerdodger, we'll have to have kayak day up there this summer. I think I'm done for now...gutting fish until late...too tired and I got enough to smoke a batch now. Whew.
 
Right on CRun!!! WOOT WOOT!

BTW, thanks for supporting the locally-owned Tom's Garden Center.
 
C_Run said:
Rogerdodger, we'll have to have kayak day up there this summer. I think I'm done for now...gutting fish until late...too tired and I got enough to smoke a batch now. Whew.
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wow, nice job, have you ever tried a smoke/canning process on Kokes? Last year I followed the one that Eugene1 posted and it worked great for king/coho trimmings, planning to try it on Kokes/trout this year...

we will be at GP July 21-24 to load up with big kokes, camping at Whitcomb Creek Park...hopefully you can make it over for a kayak day...roger
 
Nice work C Run!
 
Thanks for the nice words and thanks to all who put useful information on this forum and answer questions. I didn't know anything about kokanee a year ago and this is the first time I have limited on anything in about a year. Got to get that smoker going!
 
C_Run said:
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the center pink one, with the "smile" blade, we did real good with those blades last year at GP- pink and purple, good enough that I wanted to make more.

Mack's Lures sells the blades them in several sizes, finishes, and a bunch of colors, including combo boxes (I got some at BiMart, noticed them at Cabela's also):

https://www.mackslure.com/index.php?c_ref=9

nothing to it- tie up a double hook leader, add a hootchie and a few beads, smile blade......
 
Tubes are my go to for almost any water. I have also caught GP bass on spinnerbaits, senkos and small worms.
 
6/2 Skimpy catch and lessons learned

6/2 Skimpy catch and lessons learned

I thought I was done with kokanee fishing for now but ended up going back one more time. Just to back up a bit, this past year I bought two more used kayaks so I would have an "open seat" for family and friends and one to leave at our place at the coast. So, I have been gradually outfitting them with anchors and fish finders. My son's friend has worked for Garmin a few years and got me a good deal on a couple of Echo 500c fish finders so this was a shakedown run to fish and learn how to use the finders. My son went with me and usually he is not that interested in fishing but consented to go, especially after I told him how many I got last trip. I was a bit worried , though, because I remember from last year that the kokes were too deep in early June and out of range of my trolling setup. This ended up being the case again and now, with two years of experience, I'll just count on trolling only in April and May. We did end up with four fish total but boy was it slow. The good thing was that the finders revealed the schools of fish once we figured out what we were seeing and got the finders adjusted so they didn't show every piece of suspended junk in the lake. I did bring some jigs but it was kind of like the blind leading the blind since I had never had any success jigging before but did end up getting some bites and fish on but none caught with the jigs. I definitely have to learn how to jig. That's going to be my new challenge. Here is my son's first blinding kokanee.


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Then the total catch for the day.

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One thing I"ll say is that the fish sure have porked up in the last month. They are definitely getting plump.

OK, all you other guys fishing kokes a Green Peter, it's your turn to post up a report so we son't need to lurk that other forum. I'll be glad to hear any advice on jigging. Tight lines.

C
 
Dont give up

Dont give up

Don't give up this early in the year, you have many options, down rigger, lead core line see how many colors to get to the depth you want, or 2 1/2 to 3 oz inline trolling sinkers ( banana type ) start out at 75-100 feet of line if you are 6-10 # test maintain the same speed & adjust line in or out until you start getting bites. Good luck
 
oraca said:
Don't give up this early in the year, you have many options, down rigger, lead core line see how many colors to get to the depth you want, or 2 1/2 to 3 oz inline trolling sinkers ( banana type ) start out at 75-100 feet of line if you are 6-10 # test maintain the same speed & adjust line in or out until you start getting bites. Good luck
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I thought about adding weight and it looks like that's what was called for. Might need a heavier rod If I use 3 oz. I'm reluctant to get a downrigger for the kayak even though some folks do. It just seems kind of cumbersome- everything is kind of cumbersome already in tight quarters. I just read the article on jigging kokanee in this month's STS and them went out and bought an arsenal of different jigs so I might try an all-jigging trip sometime. We really love the culinary side of this fishery.
 
C_Run said:
We really love the culinary side of this fishery.
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About the only thing better than eating Kokes...is smoking them (not in a pipe, of course).
 
troutdude said:
About the only thing better than eating Kokes...is smoking them (not in a pipe, of course).
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I'm going to smoke them but not in a pipe , of course. I'm keeping my smoking kokes in the reefer.


Of course , I meant to say "freezer".
 
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Alarm sounded at 4am! and I slowly rolled out of bed. I'm not much of an early person anymore but today was an exception! I had been invited out on a Kokanee trip...

The morning started off bad, sadly I was suffering from a gal bladder attack but I fought through it. We made it to the dock around 8ish? and the water was calm! We fished down by the dam for about a half an hour with no luck so we moved back up to the middle I assume and he got 3 in the boat than I caught my very first Kokanee! It was a nice day on the water and so his friend told us to come back down to the dam and it took a few trolls but we finally found them! We lost probably more than we actually caught sometimes we had 3 to 4 rods popping at once! It was crazy fun!

Needless to say with all the gal bladder issues in the morning this was by far my greatest outdoor experience since I have lived in Oregon! Words can not express the gratitude for being asked along on this trip!

Here are some pictures of the day and the combined fish we caught! I am totally hooked on Kokanee fishing now! And such a beautiful country side!
We caught 21 Kokanee all in all. I think I will be throwing my wife a very nice late birthday BBQ with some smoked Kokanee and a ham! In July when she returns from annual training!
 
Well done. How deep were they?
 
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