Montana Woods N Water July 2016 Print Edition | Page 13

MONTANA DAN

Time to Fish
by Dan Helterline

June was a great month to grab a rod and reel and hit the water, not being tied to
the Government mule this year I had more time to sample some of the local
waters so to speak. This year's spring seemed to be a couple weeks ahead of
schedule so by the time June rolled around the fishing opportunities locally were
endless.
Alexis and I spent Memorial Day weekend camped at Lake Mary Ronan fishing for
perch and Kokanee salmon. The perch seemed to be the only fish we could get to
bite during the daytime and we caught a good mess of them that we fried up right
in camp, man there isn't too many fish that can trump freshly fried perch! The
Kokanee on the other hand seemed reluctant to bite during daylight hours and we
had our best luck jigging for them at night. The buddy I was fishing with had
several floating lights that we would deploy off each side of the boat, this
supposedly attracts the bait that the salmon feed on, and will help keep them
under your boat once they move in to feed. It seemed to work fairly well and once
the bite started we had consistent action for several hours. The salmon were
running ten to twelve inches and if there is a better fish smoked I've yet to discover
it. A small piece of shrimp on a glow hook below a Swedish Pimple was the set up
we were having the most luck with. Starting last season I started jigging with the
same rod and reel that I use in the winter through the ice. Jigging over the side of
the boat
Alexis and Dan with Father’s Day supper!
eliminates
the need for
a longer rod. I've started using a 42” Perch Assault rod built by Mike
Howe and I've become very fond of them. They have a ultra
sensitive tip that is required to catch light biting kokanees and are
very reasonably priced for a custom built ice fishing rod.
The next hot fishing tip I got came from Cougar Ray Baenen of Libby,
he had been doing exceptionally well on very large Kokanee at an
undisclosed lake west of Kalispell. This is Ray's favorite salmon spot
so he swore me to secrecy, the only clue I can give you to its
location is it lies somewhere between Upper and Lower Thompson
Lakes. The salmon Ray had been catchin were pushing two pounds
so I was eager to get up with him and catch some of these hawg
Kokanees. Ray was right on the mark and I spent Father's Day with
him and Alexis reeling in 12” to 16” salmon, these were definitely
the biggest kokanees I've caught to date. Unlike Lake Mary Ronan
we caught these salmon trolling a variety of dodgers ahead of
several different wedding ring type spinners that were tipped with
White Shoepeg corn for bait. We used downriggers to get our lures
and bait down to thirty feet were the salmon were suspended, and
had a fairly steady bite all day. I will have to admit that was a pretty
good Fathers Day hanging out with Ray and Alexis catching a limit of
tasty Kokanees!
Continued on page 12.

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