The Best Kokanee Rigs for Trolling

Start with the Best Kokanee Dodger

Kokanee Dodger Rig Setup

Kokanee Guides, tournament anglers, and serious kokanee anglers of all stripes will agree that the most essential thing a kokanee dodger setup does is impart action to the bait or lure being towed behind it.

Color matters, too, as does flash, but the ‘kick’ puts the fish on the bite. Furthermore, the kick helps set the hook when a kokanee does take a swipe at it. 

The Challenge

The challenge is finding a kokanee dodger that can produce all the action, kick along with the flash at relatively slow speeds of 1.7 mph or less, and do so reliably every time without fidgeting and tuning the device.

And since kokanee fishing is generally done with light-action slow taper rods, the dodger mustn’t create too much drag. 

To complicate the quest a bit more, whatever the actual lure or bait behind the dodger, it has to be such that it will respond to the action intended to be imparted by the dodger.

• It won’t thrash about sufficiently if the leader is too long to induce a strike.
• If the drag of the lure is too significant, the dodger won’t kick.
• If the leader is too light on the material, the lure or bait will just tow along lifelessly, not doing much to get the fish’s attention.

In short, even with the best dodgers, if the rest of the rig isn’t correctly balanced to produce all the desired action, not much fishing will continue.

Kokanee Dodger Rig Setup – The Results

This results from input from serious kokanee anglers around the Western United States. The dodger is an Arrow Flash, and the spinner rig behind it is an Arrow Spin.

The Arrow Spin leader rig incorporates a size 4/0 Bear Valley spinner blade, placed with a few beads on a 12-pound test leader, using VMC kokanee hooks.

The leader is only about a foot long, maybe a bit less. This is the leader length we found kokanee guides and tournament anglers most often recommended to us.  

The dodger in this video is a standard-size Arrow Flash, just as it is when removed from the package.

• No tuning, bending, or other adjustments have been made.
• The trolling speed is 1.5 mph. As you can see, the dodger kicks like a mule but does not roll over.

Likewise, the Arrow Spin leader rig is dancing up a storm behind the Arrow Flash. We were looking for this in a kokanee setup based on inputs from those whose kokanee fishing is a serious matter. 

To sum it up, this sort of kokanee trolling setup addresses all the requirements of action, kick, and flash needed to satisfy the elements of successful kokanee angling. It has repeatedly proven its worth in this arena. And does so without excess drag.