Leader Lengths for Kokanee Fishing

By Danny Coyne, BCFishn.com  

Having the right leader length for Kokanee fishing is critical! Kokanee can be somewhat fickle on when and why they strike your lure. Long story short having the right leader between your dodger and lure will help improve your results.

Here’s a simple formula to help you choose the correct leader length when fishing behind a dodger. This formula is used for lures that don’t have their own (side to side) action such as Hoochies, Spinners and Spin & Glos.

Late Winter & Early Spring:

The fish are not as active and slow trolling with slower action lures is usually the key in getting these lethargic Kokanee to strike. Since we want to slow down the action of the lure you will want to run a bit longer leaders than you would in the late spring and summer periods.

Leader Formula for Late Winter & Early Spring: 2.5 to 3 times the length of the dodger.

Late Spring & Summer:

As the warmer weather rolls in and the water temps jump up the Kokanee will become more active and will strike a more aggressive moving lure. This is the time of year we shorten our leaders up so that the action from the dodger can really transfer to the lure.

Leader Formula for Late Spring & Summer: 2 to 2.5 times the length of the dodger.

For lures that have their own action such as a small plug, Apex or spoon; we run longer leaders so that the dodger doesn’t interrupt the lures own action.

Leader Formula for using a lure with it’s own action: 4 to 5.5 times the length of the dodger.

If running lures behind a set of gang troll or lake troll flashers, leader lengths from 24’ to 30 inches can be effective.

Originally published here.