Sunny Sandy

[Pete Collin]

Hello All,

 

I finally got into a real springtime LO brown trout jamboree like I have read about in these boards for years!

 

I arrived at the launch at sunrise, and a good sized gang had already launched by then.  It looked like most guys were circling the creek mouth.  Being one to avoid crowds, I trolled eastward in 8-10 foot water.  Good color to the water - never less than 3 feet of visibility or so.  The bite was steady on stickbaits and never let up.  Was getting juvenile salmon mixed with the browns.  Lots of little ones, but got a couple gooe 5-6 pounders that fought well.  Hooked a nice 8-10 pound chrome fish that jumped and jumped, fought real hard.  it came off just behind the boat, so i couldn't see if it was a silvery brown or a salmon.

 

Couldn't get over how placid the whole lake was.  I have fished many sunny calm days where you get an hour of action at first light then nothing.  I went several miles down the coast, catching fish along the way, then turned around and trolled right across the creek mouth, discovering why there is such a congregation there.  Every pass across the creek mouth yeilded at least one bite.  It wasn't too hard avoiding everyone's planer boards, just had to pay attention.  The floating logs were a little tougher to avoid.

 

 Well they bit all day, and were still biting when I quit at 1:00.  I went out to 60-80 foot depths to try and find the lakers that somebody else mentioned recently, but could find none.  Got to see and hear loons, mergansers, oldsquaw ducks and other waterfowl while out there. When I came back in, I made one more good pass along the shore and got a big whallop.  Took me a while to get him in on light tackle, a nice shiny 31 inch chinook salmon.  I've caught many twice as heavy, but it was a thrill, having caught only a few chinooks out of my own boat.  Different animal than what you get in the streams in the fall.

 

It seemed like everybody else was catching fish out there.  What a great day after a long winter.  I finished with 16 landed and several drop-offs.  Even had a small steelhead in the mix.  Will have to tie me over for a couple of weeks.

 

Pete Collin

 

www.pcforestry.com

Edited April 12, 2014 by Pete Collin

[Gill-T]

nice coho

[Pete Collin]

Let me get this straight for the last time.....black mouth means which?

[chucknmel]

looks like a king to me.

[Rippin'Line]

King

[Silver Fox]

Good going!

[Mortigan]

Happy to take the picture for you, Pete. Didn't know who you were when I did!

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[mhalsted]

nice spring king and great report

[Tim Bromund]

coho

[hammer's down]

Awesome !!

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[Jeremy Goodison]

Pete Great catch......... We've been killing lakers and best depth was 65' on the bottom. We caught most on dipsy out 120-150 spin doctor and fly. I usually find bland colors works best (white, light blue, etc.) And we do best between sandy and braddocks . congrats on the fishing.

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[Pete Collin]

Jeremy, did your fish show up on the sonar? I didn't spend a great deal of time searching. It was so calm that jigging would have been perfect had I found them. You were probably further east than I was.

[Pete Collin]

Mortigan, you did a fine job with the camera! Thanks again!

Edited April 13, 2014 by Pete Collin

[choo-choo]

Great Job Pete..sounds like you had a ball out there!!

[ryanrobb52]

black mouth is a king for sure

[Sk8man]

Pete they both usually have black in or near the mouth but the chinooks usually have black mouth and gums while cohos usually have some white in the mouth and gums. The problem is that some of them in the past at least were though to be crosses between the two which makes it difficult to distinguish between them based on just that. The chinooks usually have spots on the dorsal and entire tail while cohos usually have the spots on the dorsal and only the upper part of the tail. Hard to tell from the pic but looks to me like there may be some spotting on the lower part of the tail.

Edited April 13, 2014 by Sk8man

[Pete Collin]

If that is a coho, that is one of the biggest I ever got!  May have to go in the woods to examine the carcass.  Here's a closeup of the tail.

 

 

I read somewhere that a coho's tail will collapse when gripped, while a chinook has a more defined "wrist" that makes it easier to grab.  This tail looks like it will collapse.  Anyone with a verdict?

Edited April 13, 2014 by Pete Collin

[Locoman]

Coho....

[Jeremy Goodison]

Pete the sonar was blank the entire time we fish. We use a lowrance hds and always pick up bottom fish on screen. It was my buddy boat so I didn't wasn't to play with knobs. I was thinking I was on wrong settings (83 vs 200) or cold water messing with it.

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[Capt Vince Pierleoni]

That is a large Spring Coho Salmon. There is more and more evidence of natural repro on this great species, despite needing a yr in nursery streams as habitat improves around the lake.

One of the best ways to determine a King from a Coho is the anal fin. If the front wont fold past halfway it is usually a King. If it reaches halfway or more it is usually a Coho. Yes there are crosses but that looks to be a classic Coho. Congrats!

[baitrigger]

Its dinner for four