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LOON LAKE NIGHT FISHING - A FISH PRINCESS ADVENTURE

The Fish Princess and I enjoyed a fun new dimension of kokanee fishing courtesy of Downriggeral on Saturday/Sunday 7/19 - 7/20.

We made the long hot trek over to Spokane and it was well worth the effort thanks to the kindness of Al and his better half. From the moment we arrived they showed us the finest hospitality welcoming us into their home. The Fish Princess and Al’s wife hit it off right away and carried on a conversation most of Saturday afternoon. Al fixed up some fantastic smoked ribs along with homemade slaw and corn on the cob.

After supper we headed outside to get our gear ready and into Al’s boat then headed for Loon Lake and our first ever kokanee overnighter. Got the boat in the water around 1930 and headed for the south end of the lake where we anchored-up in about 32’-33’ of water. There was a slight breeze so we had to reset anchor to get the bow perfectly oriented into the wind to keep the wind sway to a minimum. All the while we enjoyed a stunning sunset courtesy of all the smoke from the forest fires raging across the parts of the north and east portion of the state.

Al showed us his technique for coaxing the kokanee to bite in the dark and coached us up until we learned to recognize the subtle bite and drive home the hooks! The key to the program is a set-up that starts an automotive headlight (or two) molded into a styrofoam housing that floats. This is oriented with the light pointed toward the bottom of the lake. There are leads that connect to a 12 volt battery illuminating a broad patch of water below the boat. At first, the lights didn’t seem to be doing much of anything, but as soon as the sky darkened clouds of tiny organisms appeared first, followed by a few small sunfish. Eventually, there was a school of hundreds and maybe even thousands of various perch, bluegills, pumpkinseeds, etc. around the entire boat. We could also see a few larger fish (perhaps bass) zipping around the bottom of the school of sunfish.

We fished with Sewdish Pimples as our weight and a short leader (like 4” – 6” ) terminated in a Mack’s glow hook. This rig was tipped with live maggots and Al’s favorite corn recipe then hit with a camera strobe to charge-up the glow features of the weight and hooks. Dropped the presentation quickly through the schooled-up sunfish and down to a crank or two off bottom. From about dusk to somewhere past midnight the bite was consistent and at times on fire.

Now mind you, this overnight fishery provided the opportunity for us to catch 10 fish/person limits late on Saturday and again just after midnight on Sunday, a sort-of two-for-one special on kokanee catching!

Special thanks to Al for the invite and especially for taking the time to coach the Fish Princess on hooking and landing techniques and helping her with baiting hooks to be successful. He and I both got a kick in the pants watching her get alternatively frustrated at missing biters then elated at hook-ups and yarding fish over the gunwales and into the boat! It was a treat for for my daughter and me to spend this quality time together and with our new WA Lakes friend and it’s a fishing adventure we’ll not soon forget. We managed 58 of our 60 fish combined 2-day limit working hard to boat the last two until perhaps 0245 on Sunday morning. We probably lost 10 times the 2 we needed to close out the limit, and had a blast nevertheless!

The quiet boat ride back to the launch under wide open skies awash in bright stars and crescent moon brought a serene conclusion to a thrilling night of fishing. As we loaded-up and left the lake around 0400 Sunday morning, we passed 1 or 2 rigs from the morning crowd on their way out to the lake!

We iced the fish and spent a few hours of peaceful shuteye in Al’s camper, falling asleep to the sounds of the morning songbirds starting-up. When we awoke on Sunday, Al treated us to a fine breakfast of French toast and smoked bacon strips. Another delectable meal!

Finally, we started in on the pile of kokes. I demonstrated my butterfly filleting technique so Al could learn it and he was suitably impressed with the yield obtained by retaining the belly meat connecting the fillets off each side of the fish. In relatively short order we had all of the critters filleted and bagged.

We enjoyed a cold soda together for the road and Al gave me the 411 on all of the gear we used so we can repeat the program on our own. He even printed me a coupon good for $10 off at the Ace Hardware where we stopped to invest in a set of the floating lights to test out on our local Westside lakes (stay tuned for future reports on our local experiments).

We were honored to have the invite to join Al and learn this fishery and spoiled by the neighborly hospitality and generosity he and his family showed us. Thanks a million ‘Grandpa Al’, you’re the best! We’d be honored to return the hospitality if you want to join us for some fishing on the wet side of the hill.

afk

7/30/2014 6:39:00 AM

Hey Fish Dawg, glad to hear you had a good time. Thanks for the report.
Good job Alan!

Fish Dawg

7/30/2014 7:08:00 AM

A good job by Al, indeed!

Toni

7/30/2014 7:27:00 AM

Nice report. How big were the fish?

downriggeral

7/30/2014 9:23:00 AM

Hi Fish Dawg and Fish Princess, What fun it was to have you and your daughter come over for a kokanee night fish extravaganza! It was a hoot to say the least. I had great fun coaching you and the Fish princess on the fine art of detecting the bite, hooking the fish and finally the deft swing into the boat with the feisty kokanee jumping around and hopefully landing in the boat. A really good landing was right into the cooler and then the fish unhooking themselves.....yahooooo!

Now the Fish Princess is a little gal and getting a good hookset with the extremely light rods was tough for her. She was out- fishing her dad for a while (his lite was off; seems it came loose from the battery in the mayhem) and really rubbing it in! "Grandpa Al" really enjoyed putting on the maggots and corn for her; seems those maggots were a little squirmy for her taste.

Thanks again Brian for making the long, hot trip over. It was indeed a great time spent together.
Alan
Toni, the fish were mostly 11 to 12" and in very nice shape.

captain hook

7/30/2014 11:25:00 AM

Nice report. How about a video on the fileting technique?
Thx

Fish Dawg

7/30/2014 1:47:00 PM

Good suggestion cap'n hook. I'll create a video next time I'm filleting.

kingwoodworks

7/30/2014 2:49:00 PM

What a lot of fun to hear about your fishing trip. Looks like the Fish Princess had a good time. These are memories that last a lifetime.

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