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What to do when the chinook are not cooperating at Brewster? How about a little kokanee fishing at a seldom reported kokanee lake just a few miles away?

Alta Lake is a 200 acre lake that is planted with trout and kokanee. Like fishing Brewster for chinook, it is best done first thing in the morning, not because the bite is better (although it is) but, rather, because by 10am you’ll begin to do a slow roast as temps climb higher and higher. Throw in the fact that at 9am the water skiers come out and turn this tiny lake into a rocking wave filled body of water and you’ll see why we called it a day at 10am.

I fished with JoAnn and my two dogs, starting around 6am lines in the water. Last year my friend Robbie and I fished Alta in the evening (another good time to go) and we did very well on 11-12” fish. Nice fish, but not exactly what I was hoping for.

This year is different.

The first fish we caught was a beautiful, feisty 14” kokanee. Fat, shiny, and full of fight, he came into the boat and signaled a good morning ahead of us.

We ran four lines and I noted that all the fish were in the top 10-30 feet of the water column. I really wished that I had brought my leaded line rods! Instead, I adjusted my downriggers accordingly, fishing from 10 to 27 feet deep. We used standard kokanee gear, including the Arctic Fox Trolling Flies that I have really taken a shine to. Once again these lures were getting the lion’s share of the action. Honorable mention goes to a pink homemade hoochie with a Moneymaker shaker wing.

Although we caught fish throughout the 10-30 foot depth range, for sure the best action was off of the two shallow lines down 10-20 feet deep .

The early bite was sporadic, picking off a fish here and there. We found the best action at the far end of the lake. We also stayed on the east side of the lake to keep out of the sun as long as possible. Around 8am we had a flurry of action, and again at 8:50. At 9am the first waterskiers came out and the fish went away. I’m sure if we had pounded it out we’d have got boat limits. We decided to call it a day at 7, releasing one nice 16” rainbow. Final tally was four 13-14” kokanee and three in the 11” class.

This lake is a nice side trip that’s just a couple miles from Pateros. Come end of August I bet it will be fishing really good for 14-15” koks.

cobrar543

7/24/2017 3:46:50 PM

We are going in September to camp for a week. Look forward to it even more now

Mike Carey

7/24/2017 4:00:55 PM

that should be perfect. I'll be interested to see how you do!

AJ's Dad

7/25/2017 5:41:00 AM

Which phone app is that? Looks handy

Mike10gs

7/25/2017 7:17:07 AM

Looks like someone beat me to the question. Phone app does look handy. Need something to tell me speed.

Mike Carey

7/25/2017 7:34:53 AM

The phone app is Navionics on an Android phone. There is a free trial and then it's pricey - $44. But if I read the description right once you download the maps they are yours to use even when the yearly sub runs out. We'll see in a year how it works out. I am very impressed by what they have available, including some reservoirs I fished in Montana that I had no hope of finding a contour map for. My only negative so far on the app is it's a battery drainer.

atroutfisherman

7/25/2017 8:53:18 AM

I think that looks more like a Bluetooth connection to the fish finder than an app!

atroutfisherman

7/25/2017 8:55:39 AM

Guess I should have read the comments before commenting!

uplandsandpiper

7/26/2017 8:30:48 AM

Great report! This lake is also home to an excellent Largemouth Bass fishery if you tire of the chromy critters,

Mike Carey

7/26/2017 10:46:58 AM

I'll bet right around the boat launch, and some of those rocky shorelines looked good as well.

Busterdog3!

7/27/2017 7:42:05 AM

i was there last year fished the west side because an old timer said it was best couldnt keep the trout off thanks for the report should do beetter this year because of it

Bent hook pontoon

7/27/2017 4:14:34 PM

Thanks for the report Mike

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