Kokanee Snagging Line Testing

Kokanee snagging is a fun and fast method of fishing where you can bring in a lot of fish in a short amount of time. It’s not allowed everywhere, but if you live somewhere with a kokanee snagging season, you’re in luck. Having the right gear is vital though. It’s nothing like fishing for kokanee in the traditional way. When kokanee snagging you’re pulling a weighted hook with a good amount of force. Because of that, you don’t want a lightweight line. Your regular trolling or jigging line for kokanee won’t be strong enough. Knowing what size of line you want on your pole for snagging kokanee salmon is the difference between having a fun day of fishing, full of action, or a day of losing fish and relining your poles. 

I do a lot of research and testing for kokanee fishing and kokanee gear, but snagging kokanee isn’t legal where I live, so I had to travel down to New Mexico to put different fishing lines to the test. I tested both mono and braid at various weights, 15, 20, and 30 lb test for mono and 20, 30, and 50 lb test for braid. Below are my conclusions.

Testing Snagging Lines

When I first got into snagging kokanee, it was recommended to me to go with 20lb monofilament test line. This line can hold up to the beating. But it can still break if need be if you get a snag in the rocks. I loaded up my reals with it and gave it a try. It worked like a charm. It worked so well that another guy in my group replaced his line with mine there on the shore that day.

You can go to 30lb test if you’re not casting far, or if the rocks in the area are small. It’s possible to be able to turn a rock over with the heavier line and pull free, but my preference is 20 lb. The 15 just broke too often, and the 30 lb required me to pull out my knife to cut off the line when the hooks got stuck. 20 just seemed to be the sweet spot for the mono. I like the 20 lb test monofilament line from Trilene.

Berkley Trilene Monofilament Fishing Line

You’ll also want to consider how far you’ll be casting. If you’re casting far, with the potential of getting stuck more, you’ll want more line on your reel. The lighter the test weight is, the more line you can put on the reel. If they’re fairly close, your efficiency will hopefully be higher, and you can just cut your line free with less hassle if you get snagged instead of trying to pull it and snap it. You lose less line that way. 

It’s not that fishing line is expensive, but rather that you don’t want to cut off all the line on your reel. When snagging, I like to use a spinning reel. I prefer casting with that. Usually when I’m kokanee fishing, I have my nice trolling reel, which I have about 600 feet of line on. If I need to cut off 10, 20, even 50 ft of line off of that, it’s not a big deal. If I cut off 50 feet of line once or twice from my snagging set up, it’s going to be a problem and I’ll be left having to waste time putting new line onto my reel. I’d rather spend that time fishing.

For that reason, having the 20 lb test is usually my go to because it’s strong, but easy enough to snap if need be, allowing me to keep more line on my reel. I still recommend keeping some extra line on hand. I had to re-line

Monofilament Line or Braid for Snagging Kokanee

I personally prefer monofilament line for snagging kokanee because it is more abrasion resistant. Usually when you’re fishing for kokanee, you’re trolling, and you’re in deeper water. Abrasion isn’t really as much of a concern for that, and you can use braid in that instance, no problem. Snagging, you’re in the more shallow water, going along rocks. It’s a lot of casting and reeling in that environment. Your line can get roughed up doing that. 

That’s not to say that monofilament won’t get roughed up, snagged or broken, but monofilament is more resistant than braid in these instances. 

How Often Do I Replace My Line On My Snagging Rigs?

I replace my line on my snagging poles every year leading up to the season. I don’t use those specific poles for much else, and I could probably go 2-3 years in between changing out the line, as long as I haven’t had too many snags and lost too much of it to the rocks. Line is cheap though, only like $2-3 per pole. I like to start the season off with my gear in tip top shape, ready to go.