I recently began a 9 week holiday - purposefully timed to coincide with some of the best of our early summer trout fishing.
Unfortunately, though its early on - I have been swamped with guests, a thousand things that need doing, and the schedule of my girlfriend who has an upcoming wedding to prepare for, in which she will be the maid-of-honor.
However - I did manage to squeeze in a couple of days, up in the local hills - and found the fishing to be all I expected!
The first lake I visited was a Rainbow trout lake, on private logging land, and is gated - with public access only on weekends. Its a lake that is very fertile (large littoral and shoal areas), but hasn't been stocked since 2005.
I expected it to be a bit of a gong-show, with the onset of beautiful weather - but was pleasantly surprised to find I had the lake to myself. I rowed my pontoon boat slowly across the southern shoals, looking for signs of fish or insect activity - but saw nothing moving. Reaching the point that marks the end of the shoal, I anchored up in about 25' of water and cast a Chironomid pupae under an indicator to the shoal/deep water transition.
Two trout in quick succession attacked the red and yellow indicator, as it bobbed on the ripples - cluing me in to the fact that the fish were obviously looking up - despite the fact that there was no hatch coming off.
I rigged up the Elkhorn 2wt and terminated with a #12 Elk Hair Caddis.
That did the trick - and the next few hours were a flurry of activity, as trout were apparently cruising the transition zone. I didn't keep track of numbers - and took no pictures of fish, as they were strong and energetic - and rather than stress them further than the fight required, I went with a quick clean release (no net) rather than trying to get pictures. I didn't manage to bring to hand any large ones - though I had a shot at a couple that were in the lower 20'' range - and most ran between 10'' - 17''.
At one point, a huge heli-logging chopper used a clearing beside the lake to practice crash decents from about four thousand feet. It was quite a show and I was sure it wasn't going to be able to stop before plowing into the ground a couple of times - but those guys are gooood - ha ha!
The next day I opted for a remote and seldom visited lake, well into the interior of the Island. Its the headwaters of my favorite steelhead river - and begins with a series of three lakes about 120km from tidewater.
There are no Rainbows here - just wild and native Cutthroat of startling beauty. I began by trolling a Muddler on a deep line, from the cozy confines of my V-boat - but found no takers. Reaching the inflow creek at the far end of the lake, I switched to a black bead-head bugger and cast into the current - finding willing trout on nearly every cast.
When it slowed at the creek mouth, I kicked slowly along the shore - casting to shore and stripping the bugger fairly rapidly - which seemed to be exactly what they were looking for. I didn't leave until the sun had fallen behind the hill at about 2000hrs - and again, I didn't keep track of numbers - but I know my shoulder was feeling the effects of a few thousand casts and the playing of many, many beautiful Cutties - some of whom jumped five or six times in rapid succession.
It was an interesting day in another way. Stopping at the creek mouth for a sun soaked lunch break - I poked around the creeks lower reaches. In the gravel fan of the outflow, I found a number of Lake Lampreys of about 6''-8'' long, holding in the current and preparing to spawn.
Lake Lampreys
The really cool part, is that previously they have only been found in two lakes on Vancouver Island - both well to the South (about 200km) - so this is an entirely new discovery! I sure wished I had remembered to bring my underwater camera to get a shot of them.
It was an outstanding couple of days in the hills - and it appears that the hey-days of trout fishing are upon us, in this part of the world - however it will be a week or two before I get back up there.
The wedding we are attending is in the Provinces' interior - and after dropping my girlfriend in Kamloops to attend to her appointments (bridal shower, cake making, rehersal, etc) I am released from service and have 6 days to camp and fish to my hearts content.
A little birdy told me about a remote lake north of Williams Lake (about 600km north of Kamloops) that holds some big Rainbows (measured more often in pounds than inches) and should be at the height of the Chironomid hatches and the beginning of the Traveler Sedge hatch about the time I arrive!
Stand by for a report on how that Elkhorn 2wt handles multi-pound trout!
Unfortunately, though its early on - I have been swamped with guests, a thousand things that need doing, and the schedule of my girlfriend who has an upcoming wedding to prepare for, in which she will be the maid-of-honor.
However - I did manage to squeeze in a couple of days, up in the local hills - and found the fishing to be all I expected!
The first lake I visited was a Rainbow trout lake, on private logging land, and is gated - with public access only on weekends. Its a lake that is very fertile (large littoral and shoal areas), but hasn't been stocked since 2005.
I expected it to be a bit of a gong-show, with the onset of beautiful weather - but was pleasantly surprised to find I had the lake to myself. I rowed my pontoon boat slowly across the southern shoals, looking for signs of fish or insect activity - but saw nothing moving. Reaching the point that marks the end of the shoal, I anchored up in about 25' of water and cast a Chironomid pupae under an indicator to the shoal/deep water transition.
Two trout in quick succession attacked the red and yellow indicator, as it bobbed on the ripples - cluing me in to the fact that the fish were obviously looking up - despite the fact that there was no hatch coming off.
I rigged up the Elkhorn 2wt and terminated with a #12 Elk Hair Caddis.
That did the trick - and the next few hours were a flurry of activity, as trout were apparently cruising the transition zone. I didn't keep track of numbers - and took no pictures of fish, as they were strong and energetic - and rather than stress them further than the fight required, I went with a quick clean release (no net) rather than trying to get pictures. I didn't manage to bring to hand any large ones - though I had a shot at a couple that were in the lower 20'' range - and most ran between 10'' - 17''.
At one point, a huge heli-logging chopper used a clearing beside the lake to practice crash decents from about four thousand feet. It was quite a show and I was sure it wasn't going to be able to stop before plowing into the ground a couple of times - but those guys are gooood - ha ha!
The next day I opted for a remote and seldom visited lake, well into the interior of the Island. Its the headwaters of my favorite steelhead river - and begins with a series of three lakes about 120km from tidewater.
There are no Rainbows here - just wild and native Cutthroat of startling beauty. I began by trolling a Muddler on a deep line, from the cozy confines of my V-boat - but found no takers. Reaching the inflow creek at the far end of the lake, I switched to a black bead-head bugger and cast into the current - finding willing trout on nearly every cast.
When it slowed at the creek mouth, I kicked slowly along the shore - casting to shore and stripping the bugger fairly rapidly - which seemed to be exactly what they were looking for. I didn't leave until the sun had fallen behind the hill at about 2000hrs - and again, I didn't keep track of numbers - but I know my shoulder was feeling the effects of a few thousand casts and the playing of many, many beautiful Cutties - some of whom jumped five or six times in rapid succession.
It was an interesting day in another way. Stopping at the creek mouth for a sun soaked lunch break - I poked around the creeks lower reaches. In the gravel fan of the outflow, I found a number of Lake Lampreys of about 6''-8'' long, holding in the current and preparing to spawn.
Lake Lampreys
The really cool part, is that previously they have only been found in two lakes on Vancouver Island - both well to the South (about 200km) - so this is an entirely new discovery! I sure wished I had remembered to bring my underwater camera to get a shot of them.
It was an outstanding couple of days in the hills - and it appears that the hey-days of trout fishing are upon us, in this part of the world - however it will be a week or two before I get back up there.
The wedding we are attending is in the Provinces' interior - and after dropping my girlfriend in Kamloops to attend to her appointments (bridal shower, cake making, rehersal, etc) I am released from service and have 6 days to camp and fish to my hearts content.
A little birdy told me about a remote lake north of Williams Lake (about 600km north of Kamloops) that holds some big Rainbows (measured more often in pounds than inches) and should be at the height of the Chironomid hatches and the beginning of the Traveler Sedge hatch about the time I arrive!
Stand by for a report on how that Elkhorn 2wt handles multi-pound trout!
