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JoAnn and I got to spend another Memorial Day weekend at Liar’s Cove in Conconully. We came here last year and had such a good time we decided to return. That and the kokanee fishing on the upper lake continue to be outstanding.

We fished a leisurely 8am start time using Arctic Fox Trolling Flies. They just came out with a kokanee series and we were given several to tackle test. We started off running four rods, two leaded line and two off the downriggers. We used dodgers and on some of the flies I added a small spinner blade or Mack’s smile blade, on some just the fly. Left side of the boat had tuna flavored corn with pink dye, right side had garlic flavored corn with orange dye.

The action started a bit slow but picked up stream. This year’s fish are once again a plump and healthy 14-15”. Come August I bet they will be pushing 16-18”! Of interest, one hen was busting with mature eggs.

It didn’t take too long to see that the leaded line was vastly outperforming the downriggers. We ended up fishing just two leaded line rods. There was no reason to be running downriggers. We kept plenty busy with two rods. By noon we had nine fish in the boat but had to struggle another hour to get the final fish. Best trolling speed seem to be 1.2 to 1.4, they liked it a bit faster and slammed the flies on turns.

Ten beautiful kokanee, what a great fishery this upper lake is! If you have the chance to come out to Conconully I highly recommend the trip. Be sure to get some ribs at the Salmon Creek Bistro and BBQ. Amazing ribs and food! We had another great Memorial Day weekend of fishing. Day Two we traveled to Spectacle Lake. Report to follow…

Toni

5/30/2017 6:35:12 AM

Thanks Mike. One day...

cobrar543

5/30/2017 8:32:04 AM

How were the roads to the lake? I heard they had some damage from water?

Mike Carey

5/30/2017 10:01:18 AM

The roads were fine. The salmon creek was running over it's banks, parts of the state park were not useable.

SnoKing

5/30/2017 9:06:35 AM

Thanks Mike! Did you happen to notice if the upper lake resort was reopened? It's got a small RV park, a store, and a dock. Great place to stay while accessing the upper lake.

Mike Carey

5/30/2017 10:01:55 AM

Nothing that I saw.

SnoKing

5/31/2017 9:19:42 AM

There's a really sad political situation revolving around the upper lake's old rv resort. The Bureau of Reclamation fairly well threw the guy out who managed/leased the property for the last 10 or 15 years. Very little notice...of course all legal...but still the guy was trashed. All of this due to an individual inside the City of Conconully that wanted the lease. I tried to help out but legal assistance was too late in arriving. I'll be anxious to see what the BOR does in its attempt to "update" the resort.

downriggeral

5/30/2017 9:43:31 AM

Nice Kokes Mike! We may have to find some time to spend a couple of days up there. Looks like fun. Glad uoy guys were able to get out for some R& R
Tight lines - Alan

Mike Carey

5/30/2017 10:02:46 AM

Thanks Alan. The itroll triggered a few vites, pretty cool.

CaptainDavesGS

5/30/2017 12:04:43 PM

Arctic fox has a beautiful color selection for their koke flies. I think they nailed it. Nice fish Mike and JoAnn. Looks like you also had awesome weather.

Mike Carey

5/30/2017 7:51:43 PM

It was incredibly weather this weekend! One for the memory book.

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