
Usually, big spotted bass come to mind when I think about a trip to Bullards Bar Reservoir, but today, I loaded my Hobie Outback into my truck and headed to the lake in search of kokanee. I’m not much of a trout and salmon angler and would have never considered spending a late June morning trying to catch 12-inch fish on a noodle rod when there are giant bass to be had; however, the Hobie has greatly changed my perspective.
Yes, it is a fantastic bass catching machine, but it also excels at trolling, especially in lakes. Earlier this spring, I landed my first trout in the kayak at Collins Lake and have had trolling success at Folsom and Rollins. The ability to pedal comfortably all day for extended distances makes trolling much more enjoyable than my previous paddle kayaks. So, I decided to try my luck at landing my first kokanee.
With a very light tackle load of a couple of dodgers and a single small box of hoochies and Wedding Rings, I rolled off the launch at Emerald Cove towards the dam. Within a few yards of clearing the marina, I let out some line and dropped the downrigger down to 40 feet. Before I even settled into a pedal rhythm to maintain just under one MPH, the rod tip started bouncing like crazy. Cal Kellogg gave me some kokanee tips earlier in the week and mentioned that they probably wouldn’t hit hard enough to pop the release, so after waiting a few seconds to make sure the fish was really on, I pulled the rod out of the Scotty holder, reeled in some line, and set the hook as if it were an eight-pound spotted bass on a jig.
My Okuma SST Kokanee rod doubled over as I slowly reeled the fish from the depths. As the small salmon broke the surface, it put on a spectacular aerial display. I worked the spunky fish around.