Green Peter 07/30/11 “What is going on?”
So I headed to Green Peter on the 30th of July in hopes of some nice fish. I hit the lake at 6:30am and there was only a few parking places left. I was thinking, “Maybe people are really starting to pick up some fish…YES”. Since I’m the captain of my boat and get to pick what direction I get to start fishing in I headed off towards the dam… There are a few inlets on the right hand side that I like to check out on the way to the dam so I normally stop in the middle of the lake to give myself time to rig up before I make it to the first inlet. Like almost every trip I take to Green Peter the first inlet produced a nice 13 incher on a Glow R & K hoochie with a chartreuse tips on the tail.
Side note to all kokanee fishermen… Glow works really well first thing in the morning…
If I pick up a nice kok my rule of thumb is to go back over the same location, but the next three trips into the inlet produced 3 really small one, 9 and 10 inches… I was thinking to myself man I hate catching next year’s fish so if they weren’t hook to bad I released them. After we picked a few smaller kok’s in the next inlet I just headed straight to the dam. We picked up a really nice 15 incher on a silver Apex in the middle of the lake about ½ mile before you reach the dam. Now that is more like it, so I started fishing the middle of the lake thinking maybe the bigger fish had moved in that direction, Just then we got a triple… WOW but they were all small I hooked one to bad so I started to fill the cooler up with some of the smallest kok’s I’ve caught all season. After we fished the dam my crew wanted to check out the Island instead of flying my way down there we fished our way in that direction picking up small kok after small kok all the way down. Once we reached the island I like to fish right up next to the drop off of what most people in Sweet Home call the Stump flats. Picked up one nice 14incher and about 6 small ones again releasing the ones I didn’t hook to bad and again putting the bleeders in the cooler. After I felt we had fished out the Island I headed further east thinking maybe the big ones were bunched up somewhere. I hit another great spot on the right hand side of the lake that I normally can pick up a pig or two, but again just small ones. At this point I was thinking maybe I should have fished Detroit, at least they are all about the same size and I’m pretty confident we could have picked up 15 of them. At this point I released another small one that I had just hooked in the lip. When I release any fish I carefully put them in the water and make sure they are going to make it before I let them go. This one took off right away, but a few seconds later it floated to the top, then took off and again floated to the top. I was just about to turn my boat around to net it and put it in my cooler with the rest of the dinks when a bald eagle came out of nowhere and snatched up an easy meal. I sure the bird was thinking to itself, “What stupid fisherman puts sockeye salmon back in the lake maybe I should follow this retard around the lake”. After that point I kept all the rest of the small fish we boated. When we got to the cleaning station I was surprised to see that all but two of the small fish had sex organs. WHAT IS GOING ON? Did ODFW put two different types of kok’s in Green Peter or does this weather have something to do with the difference in size. Where is a fish biologist when you need one?
Look at the difference in size!
Wish they were all like this…
You can expect 5 to one running this size if you fish Green Peter..
Ok here you go we took home 17 kok’s and release another 14 or so, R & K glow hoochies worked great in the morning, along with silver apexs and a homemade wedding ring I made along with UV sling blades. I was using an 18’ set back trolling @ 1.5pmh and the fish preferred plain corn over anything I had mixed up. I had even made a pink, and orange flavored corn that I was excited about putting in the water but NCS, New Can Smell, seemed to be the winning flavor for the day.
I think this was my last trip to Green Peter for the year if I’m going to fish a lake close to home I think I’ll hit Detroit. Even though the fish are in great shape and the small ones will be great to deep fat fry I would rather pick up more consistently big fish like at Detroit. I also need to fish Odell Lake since I have a derby coming up on August 20th. Like always if you have any question feel free to contact me. If you see me on the lake you can always drop it to find out what is fishing well or maybe if I don’t have it figured out I can tell you what isn’t fishing well. All you have to do is yell at me, “Hey KID what are you picking them up on”… If I look at you with a strange smile it’s not me… I can’t tell you how many people think they have seen me, but it’s not me. I have also been known to give out my phone number to people if they are fishing the same lake to exchange fishing information during the day. I’m always willing to help my fellow fishermen/women pick up a limit or two. I’m here to turn everyone into a kokanee addict one fish at a time. Soon you’ll be as sick as me thinking about kokanee fishing 24/7. I can’t stop by a bead store without checking it out, I have a hard time staying off the computer, and I have the visions of kokanee tackle dancing in my head. Man I love kokanee fishing!
Make sure you get out and catch some kokanee. The season is still in full swing and there are lots of lakes with plenty of kokanee to be had. I’ll see you on the lake…
Fish On kokaneekid.