Kokanee Dodgers

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A kokanee dodger is designed to show color, light, and movement ahead of your presentation, as well as making a sound, either a thumping or whirring in the water which also catches the attention of kokanee. It also creates action or movement for your lure. A dodger is the staple attractor for kokanee fishing. Having a few types of kokanee dodgers in you tackle box can have you prepared for whatever the fish are biting on that day.

Best Selling Kokanee Dodgers

About Kokanee Salmon

Kokanee salmon are landlocked sockeye salmon, which means they don’t return to the ocean and live their entire lives in lakes or reservoirs before spawning in rivers, streams, or gravel close to lakeshores. These salmon are delicious and are really strong fighters, making them a prime target for anglers, and the popularity of this fish is growing. Kokanee are a schooling fish that feed on zooplankton in the water. They tend to find where these plankton are at and then they congregate and feed all in that one area. These plankton, and the kokanee that feed on them, like to hang in water that is around 50-55 degrees, so these salmon are usually only able to survive in deep alpine lakes and reservoirs, and can be found from depths of 10 feet, all the way down to over 100 feet deep.

How To Rig Up a Dodger For Kokanee

Different Types of Dodgers

There are a few different types of dodgers which can be differentiated by their different shapes. Here are the main shapes for kokanee dodgers:

• Skateboard Dodgers
• Sling Blades
• Double D Dodgers
• Teardrop Dodgers
• Other

Each different type of dodger has a different action in the water which interacts with different lures differently and sends different vibration patterns and sounds through the water to attract kokanee.

Kokanee Dodgers For Sale

Best Kokanee Dodger

The best kokanee dodger varies by the lake, and the taste of the fish that day. Sometimes it feels like there isn’t much of a rhyme or reason to what a kokanee likes best. They can respond to a particular type, action, color, or pattern. Sometimes they’re picky, and sometimes they’ll take anything. There are a few commonalities though. They like action and movement, they like shiny, and generally speaking, they seem to like pink more than other colors. If I had to award one dodger the title of the very best kokanee dodger, I would have to probably go with the Double D Dodger from Mack’s Lures. It just performs so well, has good flash, and is pink. It also has a distinct pattern in the water where it speeds up and slows down which can often entice even stubborn kokanee to bite.

Double D Dodger, Mack’s Lure

Most Popular Colors for Kokanee Dodgers or Lures

Notice how the different colors react in the deeper water. There isn’t anything special about the different types of plastics. Pay special attention to the pink, orange, chartreuse, and purple. Those colors did the best at extreme depths. Red, which is commonly thought to be good for kokanee, wasn’t good at all at depth. Kokanee hang from 20-80 generally, so watch the colors at those depths.

From this video, its pretty easy to see why pinks, orange, and green are the most popular colors for kokanee dodgers.

Pink Kokanee Dodgers

Orange Kokanee Dodgers

Green Kokanee Dodgers

Color Combinations and Other Popular Dodgers

Fast Limit Kokanee Dodgers

UV and Kokanee

Ultra Violet light is a color spectrum that is beyond the human vision. UV is different than glow in the dark type material, but does have a certain shine to it, and luckily, kokanee salmon can see UV colors and light. UV light especially stands out at deeper depths where there is less natural light and can help draw the attention of kokanee salmon.

Best Kokanee Dodger for Deep Fishing

You want pink, orange, green, or purple, you want UV, and you want something with some shine or sparkle to it. The deeper you go, the more these colors are able to stand out. Then you just need to see what the deeper fish are biting on. I’ve had days where there are schools of kokanee at 30-40 that are biting on pinks, but the schools at 60-80 won’t touch pink. You’ve got to be ready for trial and error. The quicker you can respond, the quicker you can start to catch the salmon down deep.

Flash, Shine and Sparkle in Your Dodger

Any light it can catch and reflect in those deeper fishing situations can make the difference. As you get deeper, there is less light so any light you can catch and reflect will help your rig stand out, and will hopefully help you land more fish. This shine is done through different metals, contours in the metals, glitter, stickers, artificial eyeballs, and more.

Selecting the Right Dodger When Kokanee Salmon Fishing

When I go to the lake I run multiple types of dodgers. I try to figure out if there’s one that is having more success than the others. Then I adjust my gear until I find what’s hot. Kokanee can be temperamental, and I feel like it always takes some trial and error.

What Size Dodger for Kokanee?

There are a lot of dodgers on the market and a lot of different sizes. Some are built for kokanee, and some SAY they’re built for kokanee. I’ve seen dodgers ranging in size from 1.5″ to 5″. For me, the sweet spot has always been around 4″ in length. I’m usually targeting kokanee that range from 18-22″ in length. If you’re fishing for smaller kokanee, you may want to size down. I personally have a lot of dodgers in the boat, and I like to tweak and adjust to what the fish are responding to.

How to Store Your Kokanee Dodgers and Flashers

Making Your Own Dodgers for Kokanee Fishing