I traveled to Hayden, Idaho last week to attend a special event on behalf of Mark’s Marine with the Thunder Jet and explore a couple of the lakes in the area. Although the fishing for big kokanee on Lake Couer d’ Alene is still going great guns, I wanted to fish Hayden Lake for the first time. My fishing buddy, Tony Johnson, told me about the terrific fishing for kokanee on Couer d’ Alene, but agreed to take me to Hayden in his Thunder Jet Luxor. He said that the good fishing for kokanee may be over. It was not only over, but the kokanee seemed to have disappeared. We saw a couple of marks when we left the Honeysuckle Park launch, then they became scarce. Then the wind came up, and boat control was an issue. We battled the wind and searched a couple of different areas of the lake and couldn’t find any fish. The wind settled down but the screen remained blank. Kokanee aren’t the only species found in Hayden, there is a long list of other fish attractive to anglers, but we only had our kokanee gear along. Lesson learned—hit Hayden earlier in the season.