On Friday, a couple of days ago, I was lucky to get out again on my buddy Blake's fishing boat for another morning of fishing and photography. We started right at sunrise, it was more foggy out than colorful, but it still made for some nice photos.
Stampede Reservoir is about a 20 minute drive from my house and it is my favorite local lake for fishing. It might not be quite as beautiful as nearby Donner Lake or Lake Tahoe, but it is kept well stocked with Kokanee salmon and trout. Kokanee Salmon is my favorite local fish for eating. They might not be quite as big as the Rainbow Trout, Brown Trout, Cutthroat Trout or Mackinaw that are also in the lake, but the Kokanee are by far the tastiest local fish.
Of course, when I go fishing, I almost always bring my Canon 5DS R camera along for potential photos. Even though the sunrise never really exploded with color, I was very happy with some of the foggy shoreline shots.
Blake recently purchased a few of these blue Velocity fishing rods. He is currently in the process of getting his fishing guide license for Pisces Outdoors and folks will soon be able to charter his boat and guide services. If you ever get the opportunity to go fishing with Blake, I would highly recommend it! There is never a guarantee that you're going to catch fish, but it's rare to have a slow day with Blake, he knows his game. His new velocity rods were amazing. It's not that they catch more fish, but you can really tell the size of the fish you have when reeling in the line. A very sensitive rod but still great for trolling with a downrigger system.
It was a busy day on the water with many other boats and people enjoying Kokanee fishing season as well. Here's one of them.
Stampede Dam is a great spot for targeting small mouth bass. We tried casting for a few minutes but no luck with the bass this time.
And here's some of the catch!
Here's the set up we were using. A dodger, followed by a little lure. What isn't shown is that we were also putting a kernel of corn on the hooks. This is a well known technique for Kokanee fishing. But... That's not a Kokanee that Blake is holding in the photo below, it's a Cutthroat Trout. Many fish species for bite this trolling set-up. The fish I'm holding in the photo above is a Kokanee Salmon, it's more silver in color, and usually smaller.
Kokanee Salmon for dinner is the best! I love that I worked to catch dinner, and it tastes so good!
Just in case you're curious... Kokanee doesn't need much in the the way of seasoning or ingredients, but I like to coat it in olive oil and add a little bit of lemon, onion, garlic, and cilantro in the belly, then grill it. Add a little squeeze of fresh lemon when serving. Mmmmm. I'm getting hungry for Kokanee again. It's a good thing that I have two more in the freezer!
Thanks for looking and I hope you are all having a great day!
Scott Thompson
Scott Shots Photography
www.ScottShotsPhoto.com
