Ben Fougere

Active Member
We have an exciting year planned. Here's what we have been up to:

 
Ben, notice you have a good distance from your dodger/sling blade to your hoochie whereas our bros to the south use quite a short lead (8-12”). What length do you use and do you feel the smile blade in front of the hoochie gives extra action, which allows the longer lead? Been a couple years but I live not too far from Monte lk, loaded w/ Tripolid kokes, And hope to hit it a bunch this spring (if the ice ever comes off!!!).

Cheers!

Ukee
 
Good Vid. I hear conflicting stories. I think it can be very water body specific with the added variables of timing/depth and fish size.

Just like salmon fishing, I go with a shorter leader on a hootchie that has no action. And a longer leader if using a spoon, spinner, wedding band, apex that has its own action. But not really a drastic difference, 12-24" either way. I don't use gang trolls at all, preferring the spoon as a flasher/dodger method.

Oftentimes, when they're biting, their biting and leader length doesn't seem to matter. I once put on a 4" coho killer and tried to get below the schools to maybe pick up a larger trout/bull, the kokes were biting it (and getting hookcd) without bait, before I could even gt it down. The hook, I thought would have been too big for the 12" kokanee to fit its mouth. It wasn't.

That said, I typically downsize my gear compared to what I see the guys using stateside. But I haven't had much of a chance to fish for kokes where the sizes get larger like Monte, Stump, Deka etc.
 
Ben, notice you have a good distance from your dodger/sling blade to your hoochie whereas our bros to the south use quite a short lead (8-12”). What length do you use and do you feel the smile blade in front of the hoochie gives extra action, which allows the longer lead? Been a couple years but I live not too far from Monte lk, loaded w/ Tripolid kokes, And hope to hit it a bunch this spring (if the ice ever comes off!!!).

Cheers!

Ukee
I used a longer leader last year. I averaged 20 inches with the smile blade and hoochie. I believe the smile blade helped draw the kokanee in. I will be doing length tests this year with our GoFish Cam to see if kokanee behavior changes with leader lengths.

Check out the GoFish Cam here:https://gofishcam.com?rfsn=928562.f8b3bc

And stay tuned to our YouTube channel for more frequent reports and videos.
Good Vid. I hear conflicting stories. I think it can be very water body specific with the added variables of timing/depth and fish size.

Just like salmon fishing, I go with a shorter leader on a hootchie that has no action. And a longer leader if using a spoon, spinner, wedding band, apex that has its own action. But not really a drastic difference, 12-24" either way. I don't use gang trolls at all, preferring the spoon as a flasher/dodger method.

Oftentimes, when they're biting, their biting and leader length doesn't seem to matter. I once put on a 4" coho killer and tried to get below the schools to maybe pick up a larger trout/bull, the kokes were biting it (and getting hookcd) without bait, before I could even gt it down. The hook, I thought would have been too big for the 12" kokanee to fit its mouth. It wasn't.

That said, I typically downsize my gear compared to what I see the guys using stateside. But I haven't had much of a chance to fish for kokes where the sizes get larger like Monte, Stump, Deka etc.

I have an exciting year planned for testing different methods to catch kokanee.

I learned a lot about kokanee fishing when ice fishing the first time this winter. Kokanee are a curious fish and I have come to believe leader lenght is not too important. I had kokanee biting my flasher swivel this winter
 
Sure looks like you guys have it dialed in. And kudos to you for keeping the kids involved.

We are having a blast. There are so many lakes to fish and not enough time.

The boys are loving it! Having our YouTube channel helps them stay interested. They love seeing how many views their videos get. Stay tuned for more of their "how to" videos coming this year. I'll be to post them here.
 
Thank you for sharing the video. Put a big smile on my face seeing you and your whole family enjoying fishing and the outdoors together. Your sons will remember these times forever.

We are very happy to share our adventures. Everyone is having fun making our videos and sharing what we learn with everyone else.
 
Looking forward to learning how catch Kokanee I've done it but only by accident (!)

Kokanee has been a lot of fun. There are so many ways to catch them. There is no "correct" way to catch kokanee. Almost anything can work.
 
Looks like a great time i've never tried Kok fishing mostly rainbow at ice off , heading to a local lake soon for kokanee
i like your trolling set up, techniques i saw were jigging shrimp and spoons.

How long are your leaders looks to be 10-20" from flasher.

Kokanee fishing is a lot of fun spring, summer, and fall. You're always chasing them around. I find the spring and the summer more challenging so far which makes it even more fun trying to figure out their behaviors. If something is not working, change something.

My leaders averaged 20" last year. This year, I will be going shorter and filming different lengths and behaviors to see if it makes a difference.
 
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