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You are here: Home / Techniques / Trout & Kokanee / Jigging for Kokanee

Jigging for Kokanee

August 8, 2006 By JD 24 Comments

Jigging for Kokanee

Late in summer, kokanee salmon start to get edgy. With spawning season not too far off, the fish get all bunched up into tightly-packed schools, and in those close quarters, the salmon become aggressive. And, that, my friends makes them particularly susceptible to one of my favorite kokanee techniques: jigging.

While trolling is, bar-none, the most popular way to catch kokanee, there are times when jigging is the way to go – especially in late summer.

To jig kokes, I like to rig up with a light jigging stick and conventional reel spooled up with 8-pound braided line. With a Double Uni Knot, I’ll attach a 6-foot section of 8-pound fluorocarbon leader to the end of the braid and then a jig to the end.

Check out my favorite Kokanee Gear Picks here

As far as lures go, I’ll drop ½- to 2-ounce spoons like Crippled Herring, Buzz Bombs, Revenge Spoons, Bomber Slabs and Hopkins Smoothies. Fluorescent colors like flame red, orange, chartreuse and chartreuse/lime green seem to be best but I’ll also carry some silver/orange and silver/chartreuse as well.

The trick to this whole game is to locate the big schools of fish. Good places to begin your quest are the faces of dams, river channels and major points. The fish will be suspended – usually 40 to 100 feet down this time of year — depending on the lake and time of day. Sometimes an armada of boats will gather in areas where the fish are concentrated and you can also find salmon schools that way.

Once you’ve found a big pod of salmon, get on top of them and try to stay there. Electric motors are handy for this and so is a GPS unit. When I spot a big school, I’ll mark their location with a waypoint. The schools are always moving, but if you mark them every time you see them on the fish finder, a pattern will often develop.

Note the depth at which the salmon are holding and drop your jig down to them. Line counter reels are very useful here, but you can also chart your progress by releasing 1-foot “pulls” of line off the reel until you get into the strike zone.

It’s important to try to maintain as much of a vertical angle to your lines as possible. If you’re drifting too quickly, the lines will sweep out behind the boat (and they’ll rise in the water column) and it becomes very difficult to keep track of how deep you’re fishing.

Keep the lures just above the school — due to the locations of their eyes, salmon see things above their position much better than below, so you want your jigs to dance in an area where they have the best chance of being noticed. Plus, if you drop your lure below the fish, there’s a much higher probability that you’ll foul hook them.

Proper Technique

With bad technique, you’ll end up snagging more fish than you hook in the mouth. The proper jigging method involves keeping the rod tip pointed towards the water and imparting very subtle lifts of the wrist. You don’t want your tip to move upward more than about 6 or 8 inches. Any greater swing of the rod than that is going to cause you to snag too many fish.

After you lift the lure, let it fall at a controlled rate. Most strikes occur as the spoon is fluttering back down, so it’s extremely important to keep the line tight on the drop so you can feel it when a fish sucks up your jig.

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Filed Under: Trout & Kokanee Tagged With: jigging, kokanee salmon

Comments

  1. Wally J Taubenkrau says

    July 13, 2016 at 5:32 pm

    Odell lake in Oregon the best for kokanee

    Reply
  2. Will Trump says

    December 22, 2012 at 7:07 am

    I’ve searched the internet for 1.5 oz. glow-in-the-dark Crippled Herring in solid colors of chartreuse and white. Do you know where I can find these particular jigs?

    Reply
    • JD says

      December 22, 2012 at 7:32 am

      My first stop would be the Luhr Jensen website. If it’s not there, it probably doesn’t exist…

      Reply
      • Capt Pete Rosko says

        August 28, 2016 at 4:32 pm

        Regarding the 1 1/2 oz Crippled Herring, download the Rapala website since Luhr Jensen is now carried by Rapala after its sale in 2005. Then, scroll down to the Luhr Jensen site and click on “spoons”. The glow-in-the-dark is available in most sizes but the 1 1/2 oz size. I love the 1 oz size and it has the glow finish. You can also try Cabelas. Hope this helps…Pete ([email protected])

        Reply
        • Capt Pete Rosko says

          August 28, 2016 at 4:36 pm

          You may also contact Mack’s Lure in Wenatchee, WA. It carries the Sonic BaitFish that is deadly on kokanee. The glow-orange, and glow-chartreuse, are very productive kokanee finishes.

          Reply
  3. Tyler says

    February 11, 2012 at 8:39 am

    Here in Montana we would be caught dead using buzz bombs for our main jig. Maybe as a flasher with a rat finkie tied below it about 6 inches. Usually glow in the dark Swedish pimple with a glow on the dark rat finkie tied below it 4 to 6 inches. I also have used diffrent color variations tear drop jigs ( the size of rat finks) yellow and orange or pink and yellow, usually I do great with those set ups.

    Reply
    • JD says

      February 11, 2012 at 8:41 am

      Why wouldn’t you be caught dead using BuzzBombs?

      Reply
      • Tyler says

        February 11, 2012 at 10:26 am

        There is nothing wrong with buzz bombs they are very picky though thru the ice. They also have extremely soft mouths (meaning soft bites). Plus they really don’t get huge. So the smaller the hook the better.

        Reply
        • sean says

          June 11, 2012 at 4:27 pm

          i think the grammar correction was missed jd lol

          Reply
  4. whit says

    July 27, 2010 at 8:39 pm

    hey were can i find some monsters

    Reply
    • JD says

      July 27, 2010 at 9:11 pm

      Flaming Gorge or Wallowa Lake

      Reply
  5. garrett says

    June 28, 2010 at 6:25 pm

    hi so how do you set up line to jig? just a buzz bomb and jig it up and down? also how do you chum and use a hook and shoe peg corn?

    Reply
  6. devon brown says

    February 22, 2010 at 3:03 pm

    what kind of reel do you use

    Reply
    • JD says

      February 22, 2010 at 3:11 pm

      Shimano Curado 101

      Reply
  7. Tim says

    January 11, 2010 at 7:11 pm

    what lake produce big kokanee in Washington?

    Reply
    • JD says

      January 11, 2010 at 9:36 pm

      Wallowa Lake in Oregon has got monsters!

      Reply
  8. JD says

    July 29, 2008 at 9:24 pm

    Unfortunately, nobody makes a true light tackle koke jigging stick…yet. Try light bass rods like Shimano’s Clarus CSC60MLA or GLoomis’ CR722C

    Reply
  9. george says

    July 29, 2008 at 1:07 pm

    can you tell me which rod is the best for light jigging?

    Reply
  10. JD says

    June 20, 2008 at 8:37 pm

    Yep….Buzz Bombs. The concept is the same as when you fished in the Sound…just the fish are smaller…

    Reply
  11. Dave says

    June 20, 2008 at 6:19 am

    Buzz Bombs? Seriously? I used to throw those at kings and cohos when I was kid up in Puget Sound. I never associated those slabs of metal with a dainty fish like the koke. Interesting.

    Reply
  12. Wes says

    January 8, 2008 at 12:46 pm

    Hey JD. I was wondering what type of rod you are using in regards to power and action. Thanks!

    Reply
  13. Wes says

    January 8, 2008 at 12:45 pm

    Hey JD. Great article. I just stumbled upon your website. I’ve jigged for Kokanee before with average success at Stampede when the trolling bite isn’t on. I was wondering what type of rods you are using in regards to power and action. Thanks!

    Reply
  14. fishwithjd says

    June 13, 2007 at 4:40 pm

    Hmmmmm….

    Reply
  15. rudy says

    June 12, 2007 at 8:24 pm

    I like the jigging technique on the Feather River for salmon as it is VERY productive. The only odd thing is that most of the salmon try to spawn with the jig as they come in backwards being hooked in the butt.

    Rudy

    Reply

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