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JoAnn and I made our annual trip down to Merwin to target the kokanee this weekend. We fished from Saturday to Monday morning. The weather started out rainy on Saturday , improved on Sunday, and was beautiful on Monday. Regardless of rain or sun, Merwin is a beautiful place to visit and fish.
Saturday we had lines in by 8am after driving from Redmond at 4am. We started across from the boat launch and it was a slow first two hours, hitting a couple pike minnows. We were fishing four rods, running the starboard side with mealworms and the port side with small pieces of shrimp. Initially we ran hoochies and wedding rings and simple sling blades or dodgers. On the outside rods we ran Luhr Jensen Double D dodgers, the smaller ones.
After having little success we ran up to the dam and started fishing this area, working back down lake. We started hitting fish on a consistent pace at the dam. For the next couple hours we worked the dam area and had eight nice fish. The fish this year come in two classes, 10-11” and 13-14”. Running four rods allowed us to cover prime water column spots. Most fish I saw were 25-60 feet deep. Our best success were with the Double D’s at 25-35 feet and a pink mini hoochie at 40 feet. Also, I rigged up a bit more bling on my inside deep rods, running a sling blade slightly bent for extra action, then two feet to a small hammered thin blade salmon lure, then 8-10” to a hoochie. I notice a lot of guys use cow bells on this lake. I am loath to use cow bells. I know they catch fish, but I enjoy having some sport and will sacrifice numbers for enjoyment. That said, on our second day I compared our catch to someone running cow bells, and we compared much better, the other person had a bunch of 9-10” fish and we had a 60/40 ratio of 13-14” to 10-11”. Anyway, day one we called it a day around 4pm, and had 13 nice bright kokanee in the boat, mostly the bigger 13-14” fish.
Sunday dawned less rainy and I ran us right up the dam at 6am, lines down and gear fishing. To my dismay, my kicker motor started running rough, which improved when I opened the choke, but still the motor just kept dying until – it was gone. Great, now I have only one option, to troll with my main motor, which I hate doing for salmon and already know I will really hate for kokanee. Getting a 120hp motor to troll down to 1.2 mph is impossible. I threw out a sea anchor and managed to get us to 1.5-1.9. I don’t know but maybe the kokanee liked the faster troll, at least, they certainly didn’t mind. We started hitting fish very consistently at 7am and had a super bite that lasted an hour and a half, boating nine fish. The golden depth was the 40 foot deep rod running my homemade micro pink hoochie/spinner. That rod had steady action. The rod I ran at 50-55 feet, even though there were fish marking, got just one fish. The Double D rods I switched to a small thin blade lure I got at the Portland show, a “Baby Simon”. I ran these with one piece of corn and both rods produced well. The Baby Simons were pink, and the second was a yellow/ornage. The pink was the better of the two lures.
One thing I want to mention - we got a lot of fish this trip on the retrieve. When it was time to check/change bait I would release the line and let the gear slowly drift up. I would say we got at least ten fish this way. I am so sold on NEVER reeling in a kokanee rig, let it drift up. You’ll be pleased with the results!
Day two ended again around 4pm, this time we caught 16 fish. Again, probably 60/40 big fish versus small guys. At this point we are up to 29 fish over our first two days, well within sight of a possession limit of forty fish for two anglers (WDFW allow you to have a two days’ worth of limits in your possession). We retired to our RV spot, watch a movie in our cuddy and asleep by ten. Monday morning here we come!
OK, 11 fish to go. Back up to the dam and I figure if we have another bite like yesterday we’ll be done and on the road by noon. Funny how fishing can humble us all. The fishing today was slower and started a bit later, but by 8am we started (slowly) hitting fish. A fish here, a fish there, and I’m watching my fuel gauge as it hits under a quarter tank. Dang, gotta start working back to the launch! We catch 6 fish in the dam area, 5-6 are the bigger fish, with the biggest running 15 ½ inches. I should mention, by today I have stopped using shrimp. The mealworms are flat out producing, as is the plain corn. Keep it simple!
I decide to run us down and fish close to the boat launch as my eyes nervously check the fuel gauge. We arrive at our final spot and the gauge shows a 1/16 of a tank, plenty of fuel, right? Wrong! The motor dies and JoAnn says to me “don’t you have spare fuel”? Well, yes, but it’s for the kicker and has oil mixed in. So I figure I’m going to have to wave someone down. I decide to try the kicker motor, figuring it’s futile, thinking something like the fuel pump died, otherwise why would it run so rough and then stop and not turn over the other day? Open the choke, pull, pull, pull, the motor turns over, this is hopeful… pull, pull… it fires up. I open the throttle and decide best to just head in. The motor is running fine, smooth as silk in fact. Weird. Bad gas? Water in the line? What do you think?
Anyway, our trip ended up with 35 shinny kokanee soon to be processed for smoking and dinners. I have lot’s of relatives willing to trade homemade beer and Montana beef for kokanee and salmon. Life is good. If you get a chance do be sure to fish Merwin. The limit is ten a day and the lake is fishing very good right now.
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