West Side Winter Kokes

[pickardjw]

Any tips for west side winter kokes? Are they up shallow in the winter? Thinking of hitting a popular spot north of Seattle Sunday since the weather forecast looks decent.

Also hoping to stack up some perch. Any tips for them in the winter? I want to say they go deeper to spawn but can’t totally remember when.

[NRA4LIFE]

Can't help with kokes, but the perch will be DEEP.  You have to search for them.  Look for something on your chart plotter that looks like a small hump on the bottom where there shouldn't be one and mark that spot. 

[pickardjw]

Well we held out for a Koke bite until noon and it never came. Fished depths from 115'-20' with multiple setups. Marked fish and had gear going right through em, couldn't buy a bite!

Didn't even get around to dropping for perch. Lots of people on the water enjoying the sunshine though so that was good to see.

[h20hunter]

The only spot i can think of that matches your description is lake Stevens....? I've been seeing boats and a little surface activity but still a wee bit early imo.

[pickardjw]

Yep, not a secret spot by any means but trying to be respectful of the ole internet spot burn.

[metlhead]

If you can mark fish, and get no troll bites, jig for them. Swedish pimples or micro jigs tipped with a maggot. You can even drift bait at there depth. Ultra light bite. I use an old 5wt flyrod with spinning reel. You wont look cool like having riggers out with matching rods all buckled over😆 but you will get kokes.

[pickardjw]

Oh no, just what I need. More trips to the tackle store!

Man I wish I was cool and had matching rods. Currently running one decent kokanee rod I got for free on here, my old gulf redfish baitcaster with a couple busted eyes, and my 9.5' steelhead rod  .

[Jake Dogfish]

I’ve done well with a power egg and a piece of worm fishing drop offs.

[Chesterdog]

I think they shut off this time of year when trolling for them because they feed on zooplankton who feed on algae, and the algae rely on longer sunny days to bloom.  I don't think they're motivated to chase this time of year but will bite a well placed jig.  I've fished for kokanee on all of the lakes that hold them on the west side and have rarely if ever caught a koke until spring.  I know some lakes over on the east side fish differently.  I've caught 22" kokanee consistently on Roosevelt in Jan. in snow, and I know people catch them jigging through ice on other lakes, so maybe there's a trick to it, but overall you'd save a lot of gas focusing on the months that they like to bite.  Go on Northwest fishing reports, find your lake, and then you can get an overall sense of when the bite occurs based on past reports.