Fall Frenzy

The last couple weekends have been busy, the weather is cooling off and the leaves are starting to drop. School is back in meaning I am up to my neck in paperwork and my little bit of spare time I find on the weekend has been spent hunting. Well this weekend I decided to get out fishing despite the forcast of rain (which ended up only being a few drops here and there)

I went to a local lake that I had fished once before in August. The results were good and I was hoping for a similar day... which did not happen. However, contrary to what you may now be assuming I had an even better day.

It didnt take me long, maybe five minutes, and I found fish. I had rowed the shoreline in my pontoon and hooked up trolling a red ad black mohair leech pattern. I unbuttoned the rainbow and anchored up. Fanning my casts out in a circular pattern around me I was picking up a fish every three casts or less! There was no pattern to it, just fly in water time. Some were hooked on a fast retrieve, some on a slow and some on the drop after the fly hit the water. I even had a few hook ups where the fly had barely hit the water and the fish smashed it. I pumped one fish and there really wasnt much on the menu to imitate with a fly (see picture), but the leech was working so why change up?

I would fish that anchored spot until the action "died" down (meaning I went ten or so casts without a fish), pull anchor and anchor up just outside my casting radius from my last drop. This would put me back into the three cast or less ratio.
Long story short. The fish shredded a number of flies, I landed 40+ fish (I really tried to keep count but lost count in the 30's) and lost who knows how many. The fish were all rainbows and averaging 16" with some pushing 20". Many were acrobatic giving flying leaps, hurtling through the air, contorting and cartwheeling in an attempt to escape. Others bull dogged and tried to go deep. All were a good fight and I went home with a sore wrist.

It was a fantastic fall feeding frenzy.

Spawning

This weekend was a long weekend and I decided to brave a local lake. As I suspected the lake was busy with a full campsite and lots of boats on the water. Not my favorite way to fish but the weather was great and it was nice just to be out on the water.

Beyond the happiness of just being out there was some frustration. It's spawning time for the rainbows in the lake so the fishing was slow. Not only that it was disapointing to see crowds of people trying to catch the rainbows in the shallow water as they did their procreation dances. The optimist in me hopes they just didn't know any better.

On a comical note, when I was taking my pontoon out of the water at the boat launch there was a big "tough" guy swearing up a storm, acting all macho until I pointed out a little garter snake swimming eight feet off shore. Well, he started swearing, cursing and threatening the little snake with a look of fear in his eyes. He backed up the bank and nervously watched as it swam by praying it would not go in his boat, with a paddle in handready to give it a whack if it came too close. I just smiled and tried to contain my amusement.

Weekend Pictures

As promised here are a few pictures from this weekends excursions to Sawmill Lake (rainbows) and Vaseux Lake (smallmouth bass).

Hot sun and wind on Vaseux Lake

Yesterday brought me some excellent trout fishing so today I tried something a little different. I went bass fishing on the fly.
I drove out to Vaseux lake in Oliver from where I was staying in Osoyoos. It only took about half an hour to get there and the drive was an easy one.
When I arrived i loaded up my pontoon and set out on to the calm lake. I went straight for an island at the south end of the lake hoping to find some structure.
Now let me begin with this, I am not a bass fisherman. I very rarely target them and I don't have a lot of experience fishing for them. Today I decided to try a nice big black wooly bugger with a bit of flash on the sides and a gold bead head. Upon arriving at the island and finding some over hanging trees I began casting. About five casts in and I had a bass slam my bugger. The bass put up a decent fight, I snapped a couple of quick pictures and it was on my way. I believe (and again I dont fish bass often) it was a smallmouth bass, and it was a solid 12" long. A personal best when it comes to smallmouth  bass.
I continued to work my way down the island and ended up hooking into and landing a few more and loosing a couple as well. Unfortunately the wind began to pick up and there were whitecaps forming on the lake. I fished my way back down the island towards the car, allowing the wind to drift me along. Fortunately the car was in the direction the wind was blowing or I would be too tired to be writing this blog post.

I also saw a few nice looking carp cruising the shallows. The looked to be easily in the double digits. Unfortunately they didnt want to play with me and my fly. Although probably for the best as it would have most likely broken my rod or at very least broken the leader and stolen my fly.

The day ended with a half dozen fish to hand and a few long line releases. Again, not a bad day to be out.
Pictures will be up when I get back to Coquitlam.

May long at Sawmill

It's May long weekend and I am in Osoyoos. We drove up Friday after work and I couldn't leave my fly rod at home, it would have got lonely. Despite the long drive and lack of sleep last night I was up early to try out a new lake. With my pontoon strapped to the roof I was on my way to Sawmill lake. I heard there were some good size rainbows in the lake and that spring is a good time to fish it. The road up to the lake is a little rough and I wouldnt want to drive a car up it but i made it up with no problems in my SUV. Upon arriving I took a look around. There is a rustic campsite up there and some beautiful scenery. Standing on the shore looking out over the lake I see what I came here to find. A rotund, good size rainbow launched itself up out of the water  right out in front of me. I was getting even more excited and quickly returned to my vehicle to gear up and get on the water.
I had never fished Sawmill before so my first order of business was to tour the lake to look for fishy spot sporting structure and dropoffs. The lake is a small lake and quite shallow for the most part. I rowed around and trolled a black leech paying attention to what was under the water.
After about a half hour of putting around I found myself a nice shoal on the edge of deeper water where there was plenty of surface action. I anchored up and continued to cast my black leech pattern. No takers, knowing that there were fish feeding in the area I changed patterns to a green sparkle leech with a gold bead head. Two casts later I felt the familiar tug of a rainbow devouring my offering and I set the hook. By setting the hook I mean I simply lifted the rod as the fish had absolutely hammered the fly. A couple jumps and a great fight later I had my fist Sawmill rainbow to hand. Just a note, to anyone wanting to fish the lake it is currently artificial fly, barbless hooks and catch and release only (but don't take my word for it, check the regulations before you go).
As the day progressed the swallows began to show up. They must have known there was a hatch about to happen. Soon after they arrived mayflies began to hatch and the fish responded by sipping them off the surface. I was cursing myself for forgetting to bring mayfly dries. It would have been amazing to watch the trout rise in the clear water to a mayfly dry sitting on the surface. Fortunately, the trout continued to enjoy the tantalizing green sparkle leech I had on and I continued to catch many more rainbows, none of which were under 16" and many much larger ones.
Sawmill is now on my list of lakes to revist and fish again in the future. It was a successful day full of big rainbows and good times. On a side note, due to the warm climate in the area and the shallow lake, this lake is probably best fished in the spring and the fall  before and after the hot summer weather.

Pictures to come, when I get home.

Wind on the lake

A late start today, after my daughter's lacrosse game, saw me heading to Whonnock Lake in Maple Ridge. It took me a while to get everything loaded up as this was my first day out on my new pontoon boat. I was very excited and took my time setting it up and strapping it down to my roof rack.
When I arrived at the lake I filled my pontoon's carry bags with the various flies, tools and accessories I woukd need for my time on the water. It wasnt long and I was on my inaugural row out onto the lake. It had been many many years since I had rowed anything other than a kayak or a canoe so the two paddle thing was giving me a bit of grief. After a couple of minutes of zig zagging back and forth I began to ge lt the hang of it. Then probably one of the worst things a rookie rower would want to deal with happened... the wind picked up. It wasn't long before the wind was howling across the lake and my rowing skills, or lack there of, were inhibiting me from doing any effective fishing.
The wind was fairly continuous for the time I was out there, with brief respites here and there. I did manage to hook three fish while I was there but lost them part way in, likely due to fumbling around in the u familiar setting on the pontoon. Note to self, the "rod holder" that comes with the pontoon is not a good rod holder and needs to be replaced with an effective one.
Despite not landing any fish, I did manage to hook 3 and I did learn a little about the pontoon. I now have a better idea of what kinds of things I want to add and do to the pontoon.
Next time I will be paying more attention to fishing and I will land the fish. ;)