Woke up late....2nd day in a row.... but was determined to get on the water showed up at the north end of lake stevens about 6am to discover the boat launch is closed due to a fair or something, idk. So i decided to hit up the other boat launch on the west side of the lake. Thankfully it was open a little earlier than its marked time. Got in the water around 6:30am began trolling along in 30-40ft of water. Got a nice hit on one of the poles around 7am. Excited i may have my first kok on i reeled it in to find it was a tiny perch :l. Threw him back began going around the lake looking for 50ft+ of water that i was markin fish in. Finally found a nice spot and at 9am. I got a nice little hit. No big hit, not really jerking i could have easily mistook it for the boat hitting a wave. But i grabbed hold of the rod, set the hook and began reeling. All i felt was weight, not really fighting, wasnt even sure if i had anything and then she surfaced and was jumpin out and fighting on the water. Thankully i netted her and landed my first kokanee ! I tried for another 3 hours and endes up calling it. But im happy as it was my first kokanee and first time on lake stevens! There were a few of those parasites on its gills but not a ton like other members reported also the meat was very orange a clean :). Any tips for cooking or smoking these guys would be wonderful thanks!!

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