Mack Attack Magazine

May 2024 Issue

Avoid the Crowd with Early Season Kokanee

By Jason Brooks | Mack's Lure Pro Staff

When it comes to kokanee fishing, most anglers who target the landlocked sockeye salmon hit the waters in mid-summer when kokanee are easier to find. Summer weather brings stable water temperatures and an established thermocline that makes fishing for kokanee more predicable. Bringing home some tasty early season kokanee requires an angler to have a more precise handle on where fish live and feed during the variable months of May and June. With the following tips, you will learn how to beat the crowds to catch kokanee during prime feeding conditions when plankton blooms become more common.

A Late Spring Challenge for Anglers

Late springtime weather often means cold fronts, high winds, and bright sunny, warm days followed by another cold spell. These and other factors cause instability in water temperatures. Anglers who wait for summers' warm and constant weather patterns do have an edge, but then again, waiting for such conditions also means foregoing good fishing weeks or months before everyone else. Why wait for sizzling summer days to catch some of the best-eating salmon living in lakes often far away from the ocean? The key to finding schools of kokanee while they are actively feeding to put on weight before next fall’s spawn, is understanding of how water temperature and food availability informs fish location.

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May Pro Picks

Wedding Ring® Classic Original

Original price $4.49 - Original price $4.49

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$4.49

$4.49 - $4.49

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Description Details Tips The Wedding Ring Classic Original Series, built with premium components, has been an angler favorite for over 55 y...
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Original price $4.49 - Original price $4.49

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$4.49

$4.49 - $4.49

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Cha Cha® 1.5 Kokanee

Original price $5.29 - Original price $5.29

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$5.29

$5.29 - $5.29

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Description Details Tips The Cha Cha 1.5 Kokanee is designed for the small mouths of kokanee. With its two-hook, no-gap squidder setup,...
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Original price $5.29 - Original price $5.29

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Koke-A-Nut™ Glo®

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Description Details Tips The Koke-A-Nut Glo features a glow in the dark, prismatic flash tail, a fluorescent rubber body and the tournament-pr...
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Original price $4.59 - Original price $4.59

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Sonic Baitfish™

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Description Details / Sizes Tips The Sonic BaitFish can be cast, swam, jigged or trolled and features three attachment points, enabling flu...
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Original price $5.19 - Original price $7.19

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Double D™ Dodger

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Description Details Tips The Double D Dodger not only has the proven, traditional dodger action, but it also delivers its patented stop-and...
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Original price $11.59 - Original price $17.29

Original price

$11.59 - $17.29

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