Fly the Team Iceshanty Flag! Iceshanty Proshop
I’d use a very slow rod other wise I’d think it would pull the hook out of them?
I have caught kokes on jackers but only within 4-6' foot radius of my jigging pole.
I'd argue jawjackers work better for kokanee than any other fish species. I catch hundreds of kokanee through the ice each winter and I'd say 30-40% are on the jawjacker. I jig one hole that bring them in, and most days they like a deadstick, have it set for a light trigger but not that lite. Kokanee hammer jigs! I've rarely had the jawjacker go off without a hooked fish, I'd say >90% hooking and landing efficiency. There are some days I limit out where I caught none on the jawjacker, but other days were I caught nearly ALL of them on the jawjacker (makes me feel like a pathetic fisherman, but hey at least I caught fish). An absolute must have for kokanee fishing.
Gastriclavage, on what lakes are you catching a lot of kokanee with Jawjackers, and what techniques and equipment do you recommend to catch kokanee with Jawjackers? For example, what kind of rods do you recommend when Jawjacker fishing for kokanee, and how much tension do you put on the rods?When jigging for kokanee at Georgetown Lake, I have frequently set up a jawjacker a few feet away at the depth at which I can see kokanee (2'-10' down), or deeper where I can seen them on my fish finder. I catch lots of kokanee by jigging, particularly when I can see the kokanee nipping at my lure, but I haven't caught a single kokanee with a jawjacker. What am I doing wrong?
I fish mainly at Helena Valley Reg Res. My go to for the jawjacker set is a green glo ratfinkee tipped with a maggot (key is to have a horizontal jig), and use a medium-light rod, but set at max tension with a light trigger set. I usually have an attractor (like a cast-master or Northland glo-shot) 10-12 inches above it.
I love those Helena Valley Regulating Reservoir kokanee! They are the biggest kokanee I know of in the state of Montana. How big are the typical kokanee you catch on the HVRR with Jawjackers? Have you been catching small kokanee with Jawjackers, or do they tend to be bigger fish? I suspect the reason Jawjackers haven't worked for me on Georgetown Lake is because the kokanee are generally small on that lake, and I've been using pretty stiff rods in my Jawjackers. Those rods may be putting enough tension on the trigger mechanism that light nipping by a small kokanee isn't enough to trigger the Jawjacker.