Kokanee: The Basics

Kokanee salmon are more popular these days than Lindsey Lohan. They’re abundant, fun to catch, taste great on the grill (and never need to go to rehab!)…what’s not to love? You just need a few basics to get you started…and then you’ll be off and running.
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Striper for Dinner!

Stripers are damn tasty! Here’s how to cook ‘em up right:

Striped bass have firm, white flesh that’s mild in flavor and extremely versatile. My favorite is fish tacos followed grilled with garlic butter…Yum! However, I decided it was time for a little change. Time to go with something a bit more interesting.

That, of course, led me to Scott “The Sporting Chef” Leysath (www.sportingchef.com) who shared with me his poached striper and peppercorn vinaigrette recipe, which I once cooked with him on his show (but of course have long since forgotten).

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Small Plugs for Spring Chinook

If you’ve ever fished for spring Chinook, you know that they’re straight-up kookey. Sometimes, they’ll bite like piranhas and other times…you can’t buy a bite to save your life.
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Spring Shad Fishing

Spring’s here and that means it’s time for American Shad!
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Catching Bass on New Water

How do you catch bass on a lake you’ve never fished before?

I posed that very question to our intrepid bass expert, Big Fred Contaoi the other day. A valid topic, I figured, as he has been fishing a bunch of new waters in his first two seasons as a pro on the FLW Wal-Mart Tour for Orange County Choppers.

Many of the tournaments he’s been fishing have been on bodies of water that Fred had never laid eyes on before. Most have been quite unlike the lakes of the West that he has cut his teeth on. So, what the heck do you do in that situation?

In Fred’s case, he can only practice for a short time on a tournament lake. So, he often practices on other lakes in the area when the one that the tournament will be held on is off-limits.

“For example, my first-ever tournament on Tour was at Florida’s Lake Okeechobee,” he says. “The first thing I did was fish a nearby lake — Lake Toho — so I could get a feel for the fish in this general area,” he said (he caught a nice 8-pound largemouth that day). “Then, I drove my truck around Lake Okeechobee for a couple days to just check things out and talked to people at local tackle shops, etc.”

Fred says that, when you’re chatting up the local experts, ask them about the size and color of the forage that the fish are on and what sort of cover they like in the lake.

When it was finally legal for him to begin pre-fishing, Fred simply got out on the water and started sniffing around.

“You have to remember that bass are still bass no matter where they live and they all have the same basic needs like food and shelter,” he says. “Once you figure out what they like to eat and where they like to live, you can set up a game plan.”

It’s not a bad idea to also try to set up a couple “emergency plans” in case you get a sudden change in weather between the time you’re practicing and tournament day. For example, poll the locals about stuff like where the area’s bass go when a sudden cold front moves through (think deep water) or what happens when the north wind blows on that particular lake.

When you’re going to try a new water for the first time, hiring a guide isn’t a bad idea. You can learn more in a day with a guide than you could in weeks of doing it on your own. Depending on what part of the country you’re in, a guided bass trip can run you $125 to $250 per person…money well spent, to be sure.

The Best Bait for Spring Steelhead

If I could use only one bait for spring steelhead, it would be, without question, a big, juicy nightcrawler.

‘Crawlers are the perfect choice this time of year. Think about it – the high flows of spring often wash a good smorgasboard of goodies (including worms) into the water, which steelhead, of course, key in on. Rivers also run pretty cold in the spring, so the fish will be more lethargic and a big meaty hunk of garden hackle is often the only thing that will get them excited. In addition, nightcrawlers also give you a nice “changeup” bait to use on streams that receive lots of angling pressure.

Furthermore, I’ve found spring steelhead act a lot more like resident trout than their winter cousins. They’ll spend more time in a river and, eventually, start to revert back to their old ways of eating invertebrates like nymphs — and worms.

And we can’t overlook the fact that ‘crawlers stay on the hook way better than eggs and shrimp. In reality, it’s the only steelhead bait that can “die of old age” before it falls off the hook. Less time spent rebaiting means…yep, more time in the water and, hopefully, more steelhead.

Technique
The cool thing about using worms is they’ll fit right into most styles of fishing you’re into. ‘Crawlers can be side-drifted or boondogged from a boat just as if you were using roe; they can be drift-fished from shore, suspended under floats or backtrolled behind a diver.

You really don’t need to alter your techniques when fishing with nightcrawlers and only need to make a slight adjustment or two to your tackle.

Rigging Up
For this article, let’s take a look at basic side-drifting or bank fishing. Either way, I’ll attach a Slinky-style sinker via a slider rig to my main line and then run an 18- to 36-inch leader down to the hook. Now, here’s the only area where rigging up for worm fishing is any different than fishing eggs – the hook. Instead of the classic octopus style hook, you’re going to want to run a baitholder like a size No. 2 to 1/0 Gamakatsu. The barbs on the shank will help keep the bait from sliding down around the hook, which is key because you want your ‘crawler to look as straight as possible in the water and the bronze color will blend in with the bait.

Baiting Up
With a bait threader, slide the worm over the hook and up the leader. Traditional drift bobbers like Corkies, Cheaters and Spin-N-Glos don’t work all that well for this technique because they ride on the leader above the bait and push down on it, causing the worm to bunch up. To that end, I’ve found that foam “puffballs” like Fish Pills work best. After the worm is threaded and the hook is situated just beyond the head, I’ll slide a puffball onto the hook and let the barbs on the hook shank hold it in place. You can also run a Fish Pill on the leader above the hook instead if you prefer.

Downriggers: Precision Depth Fishing…Or?

When downrigger fishing, do you really know exactly how deep you are fishing?

Despite the fact that downrigging is called “controlled depth fishing,” there’s some room for error here.

Say you’re out on some large reservoir chasing kokanee. You’re dragging a chartreuse Needlefish behind a 4/0 dodger. The whole rig’s running 35 feet behind the downrigger ball. On your graph, you notice a school of fish at 50 feet and you drop your weight down to 48 feet so you’ll be just above the fish and in their collective window of vision.

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Glide Your Way to More Steelhead

Looking for a new technique to help you put more steelhead in the boat — especially in clear, snaggy rivers? Give side gliding a try! A modified form of side-drifting, side gliding allows baits to be presented to steelhead quickly and naturally with minimal bottom contact by keeping the lines slightly downstream of the boat. Here’s a mini lesson:
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Swimbaits for BIG bass

They’re big, realistic and expensive, but big bass truly love swimbaits. If you’re looking to get into this ever-growing craze, here’s a partial list of top baits to get you started…
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Fiberglass Fish Mounts

By having a fiberglass fish mount made of your trophy catch, you can have the best of both worlds: a fish for the wall that you didn’t have to kill!

A mounted trophy from a past trip is an awesome addition to an office, sports room or den – and they’re not as expensive as you’d think. Now before I go on here, guys, I know what you’re thinking – you’d love to have a fish mount in the house, but your wife would sooner let you buy another boat than have you hang a dead fish on the wall. And you know what, she’s right! I’m not too into the concept of having a dead critter hanging in the house, either. Just seems kinda weird…
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