KOKANEE: Hmm. So what wisdom do you now possess after tempering theory with experience?
DUDE: I would say the most important thing is that I have a lot more to learn.
KOKANEE: Then you really have spent a lot of time on the water. My buds and I get a kick out of all the experts out there who spend fortunes on all of the most expensive boats, the highest-priced electronics, sometimes all for naught. Well, at least they get a nice boat ride.
DUDE: I admit I don’t have the fanciest of boats, but it is adequate. My sonar is color, and it is dialed in. I do have reliable downriggers, proper releases, and a trolling motor. I did spend the dollars on getting quality reels to match the ultralight rods. I can measure water temperature at depth. Got the rubber net, so the trailing hooks don’t break off anymore.
KOKANEE: And what did having the proper equipment do for your success?
DUDE: Well, I sure eat a lot more kokanee than before. Using a very short leader behind the dodger really helped, as did using only minimum drag – letting my rod and reel work together.
KOKANEE: So, did you figure out why many kokanee fishermen lose their fish during the fight?
DUDE: I learned early. There is no “try” – only “do.”
KOKANEE: OK, Yoda – explain yourself.
DUDE: What seemed apparent to me is that the average fisherman, once a kokanee is hooked, makes several mistakes trying to get the fish to the boat. First, they do not take the slack out of the line as soon as possible. They don’t reel fast enough to get the tension back to the rod. And some don’t stop reeling fast once that point is reached and jerk the hooks out of the fish’s mouth. So, lack of tension and too much tension will result in that dreaded long-distance release.
KOKANEE: What is the second thing?
DUDE: Many of these long-distance release failures seem to be caused by the fisherman trying to pull the fish out of the water. They have their rods pointed to the sky at about 11 o’clock, and then put the tension on the rod. I figured out that the very last thing you want to do is get that attracting dodger to the surface.
KOKANEE: Why is that?
DUDE: The surface of the dodger interacts with the surface of the water, and that can become a significant point of resistance, allowing the fish to escape the hooks – something like too much tension when you are reeling in.
KOKANEE: So what is it you do?
DUDE: Once I get hooked up and eliminate the line slack, I turn sideways to the fish, forming a 90-degree angle between the fish and my rod. I then lower my rod tip to the water and work the fish by applying and keeping sideways pressure on the fish at all times. When I bend the rod away from the fish, I know what the fish is doing as I can feel it. As the fish gives way, I continue taking in line but keeping that rod bent a bit, keeping that line pressure on.
KOKANEE: Do you adjust the drag during the fight?
DUDE: Not ever.
KOKANEE: How much drag is correct?
DUDE: Just enough drag to keep the rod properly loaded in the downrigger without the line going out of the reel.
KOKANEE: What about if the koke is really taking line?
DUDE: Excellent. Big fish. That’s why I have the ultralight rod. It allows me to exert proper pressure on the fish with my sideways approach, regardless of the size of the fish. The trick with the big fish is to know when the fish is heading back to you. Make sure you take in that line to keep that tension in the line. Keep bending the rod away from the fish, then reel in the slack. Learning just how much pressure to exert is the trick. Only experience can perfect the technique. However, once you get it, it becomes second nature.
KOKANEE: Sounds like you have really learned a lot.
DUDE: Learning how to properly fight the fish made fishing way more enjoyable. And it resulted in way more fish in the boat. Making the rod and reel work together works on all species of fish — not just kokanee. So if I’m out on the ocean after big salmon, I use the same methods. If I am combat fishing along the river, the same technique.
KOKANEE: Sounds like you have really come a long way. But are you ready to take your learning to the next level?
DUDE: Let’s get ‘er done.
KOKANEE: As I take you through all this new stuff, the best way to orient yourself is to reflect on each concept as it applies to what you have already learned.
DUDE: I have been reading all I can. But there is a lot of bad information out there that is passed off as expert. The one person who really seems to give reliable information is that Fish With Gary guy.
KOKANEE: I would agree with you on that. He gives it to you straight. But consider this: he is really smart, but he is no kokanee.
DUDE: So for trolling, the standard setup is using a dodger as an attractor with a lure attached a short distance behind it – really short. Of course, the exception is the apex type lure, which needs room to move – so more like 18-20 inches. Some kind of scent is applied to the lure. This setup is unknown in nature, so why does it work to catch kokanee?
KOKANEE: For that, I need to take you back in history to the time of King Nerca. He was the originator of “not in my neighborhood.” Essentially, anything that invaded Nerka’s space was run out of Dodge. His aggression became both a rallying cry and a lifestyle for the entire species ever since.
DUDE: Really?
KOKANEE: To us, lo these many generations later, it is not fake news. And getting run out of Dodge is how the “dodger” was named.
DUDE: I don’t have to believe that, do I? No need to answer. Coming to the attracting dodger for a look see is a far cry from actually biting the lure.
KOKANEE: Glad you are staying focused. Technically, the dodger’s disturbance action provokes that attraction response. Getting the fish to react to bite stimulants is the trick. Notice I said stimulants – plural. You want the fish to have a biting response to the bite stimulants.
DUDE: So break it down for me, please.
KOKANEE: For kokanee, the first real bite stimulant is scent. And not just any scent. It has to be the kind of scent that is both compatible with the kokanee’s natural biting response and sufficient on the other hand to overcome that initial attraction response. While you may be 100% successful in attracting the fish, you still don’t eat dinner if the fish does not bite. And you need that biting response to be so powerful that it becomes to main focus for the fish.
DUDE: So what is the second bite stimulant?
KOKANEE: The second is visible, contrasting color.
DUDE: So why is scent first?
KOKANEE: Scent is dispersed into the water. We salmon species are known for our exceptional scent detection – measured in parts per million. Visible, contrasting color is visual for the fish at only about 20 inches or so. Scent is detectible over a far greater distance than 20 inches.
DUDE: Since the scent has a source, and if that source coincides with the visible, contrasting color, that is why they work together.
KOKANEE: Exactly.
DUDE: Remind me again about the 20 inches.
KOKANEE: It is often a challenge to get humans to accept that the human eye is vastly different than the kokanee eye. We simply cannot focus. We see near and far at the same time. We kokanee have relatively good contrast vision for dark and light, but very limited vision for color. We have to be about 20 inches from a target to discern its colors other than light and dark.
And that color has to be right in front of our snoot. So, as we approach a target, there reaches a finite point where the vision for light and dark suddenly flashes to color – and we could be talking about a distance of a quarter inch. Within that 20 inches – color; outside that 20 inches – shades of dark and light. Just barely inside those 20 inches is suddenly an explosion of color that a quarter inch before was only light and dark. That color flash, working with scent, creates its own biting response.
DUDE: You said visible, contrasting color more than once.
KOKANEE: Indeed, I did. On purpose. If the color is not visible, there is no color flash, no matter how close the fish gets to the target. We know that ordinary colors turn black at some point down the water column. However, as you recall from our last session, fluorescent colors do not fade provided there is some light to act on them
DUDE: Right. So even if there is only green, blue, indigo, and violet light left at that particular depth, a fluorescent orange with still be bright orange, even though there is no orange light to act on it.
KOKANEE: Don’t get me wrong. Black is a good fishing color if it contrasts with a fluorescent white or natural glow. Remember too that black will contrast with the color of the water except at deeper depths.
DUDE: And I do recall from our last discussion that the term “UV” is marketing speak for fluorescent. I also recall that UV light technically does not penetrate the water column more than just a few inches. So it is not UV light reacting with the lure colors. Visible light penetrates the water column, but is absorbed in stages as you go deeper in the water column. It is visible light that reacts with the lure colors.
KOKANEE: Exactly. Contrast is necessary because it makes the color easier to see. Not for humans, but for us fish.
DUDE: So, in tackle presentation, it is more important to understand how kokanee will actually see the presentation, rather than to evaluate it from a human perspective.
KOKANEE: But the one thing I can’t tell you is why a color or color combination works so well one day and not the next. It can even change hour to hour. I just know that it does. And most kokanee get the color change memo all at once.
DUDE: Sorta like getting a text?
KOKANEE: It is against the law to swim and use our cell phones at the same time.
DUDE: So to sum up this bite stimulant concept, we need our presentation to have abundant scent and bright, contrasting visible colors to be the most effective. For scent, most people use corn, or corn soaked in some kind of scent. From my view, adding corn to my lure makes the lure droop and interferes with its action. From your view, is this what is happening?
KOKANEE: You are correct. Weighing down an ultralight lure with corn does indeed interfere with the lure’s action, and it also acts as a drag. This is particularly true with the slow speeds that kokanee fishermen are fond of using. White shoepeg corn does work because it contains a particular enzyme that acts as a bite stimulant. So is it the corn or the enzyme in the corn that works? It’s the enzyme. So if you can deliver the bite stimulant enzyme without having the weight of the corn, you keep the action of the lure intact.
DUDE: How is that accomplished?
KOKANEE: In the past few years, there have been some significant industry efforts put into the science of scents. The results have been amazing. Scents now come in liquids and gels. You may want to try the gels on beaded spinners, simply putting the gel on the beads only – leaving the hooks bare. For the squids – hoochies. Try using only the liquid stuff. Simply dip the whole rigged up squid into the liquid, shake off a little of the excess, and you are ready to go. Again, leave the hooks bare. On spinner bugs, use a bit of gel on the body segments. Leave the hooks bare.
DUDE: Let me guess. Leaving the hooks bare eliminates the short bite. The fish is concentrating on the color and scent, and when the fish strikes the lure, the hooks have already done the deed.
KOKANEE: A year ago, you would not have gotten that.
DUDE: I guess there might be another good reason to use the gels and liquids. If there is a short bite, you don’t have to bring everything up to check and see if you still have corn, because you are not using corn.
KOKANEE: And using the scents instead of corn puts way more attractive scent on your lure.
DUDE: I don’t suppose you would mind telling me which scents are the most effective?
KOKANEE: That’s right. Don’t suppose.
DUDE: C’mon. I have been working so hard at getting better. Cut me some slack.
KOKANEE: Does your tackle box contain just one dodger and one lure?
DUDE: No. I have a lot of stuff to throw at them. I call it my arsenal.
KOKANEE: And the reason why you have an arsenal?
DUDE: Because I can’t tell from one day to the next which is going to be the most effective.
KOKANEE: Same with the scents.
DUDE: Oh.
KOKANEE: Here is a sampling of what my rivals have fallen on: Bloody Tuna, Tuna Garlic, Garlic, Kokanee Special, Mike’s Glo-Scent, and anything with anise. I’m not saying these are exclusive. Make sure you have an arsenal of scents. And the favorite scent for one body of water may not work very well in another body of water. Be sure and record your notes so you have a good record.
DUDE: I am faithful to my collection of 3×5 note cards. I record everything I can data-wise. Here is an example. I found out that pink, as a color, has a lighter, more natural version as well as the hot pink “in your face” kind of color. One day, the hot pink is tops, and on another day, the lighter pink rules. The pink stuff works pretty well earlier in the season, and then tapers off a bit. Then, toward the later part of the season, it seems to pick up again. Do you know why that is?
KOKANEE: I subscribe to several audio journals, and that concept has been explored. While there appear to be opposing camps, the best explanation for me is that, later in the season, maturing kokanee are undergoing hormonal changes, which makes the cones in their eyes more sensitive to pink. See my kype? Since I got this kype thing going on, pink seems a bit more intense.
DUDE: So, no help on the early season?
KOKANEE: Sounds like you don’t need any help.
DUDE: I guess that is a compliment. One thing I have found is pretty consistent. If I’m out later in the afternoon, using chartreuse works pretty well down to about 35 feet.
KOKANEE: Well enough about color, let’s move on.
To Be Continued…
