Well, the warm weather is upon us, and the water temperatures have warmed up and the fish have become aggressive! Here’s the latest reports:
Kootenay Lake:
The Lake has been super productive for the last month. Water temp has finally jumped above 50 degrees, and the fish are feeding. We saw a pretty good flying ant hatch earlier in the month, and that got everything started. The fish are now all looking up. Surface fishing seems to be the best technique now.
We’ve had some crazy days with 20 to 30 fish striking our lures. The latest trip was one of the most memorable. We had a couple boats out with a large family and a bunch of kids. The day started with Grandpa catching his biggest trout, then continued with Grandma catching her first ever fish, and then every young child got the opportunity to catch a couple fish each as well.
It’s always a rewarding feeling when you get to see the smiles of these young up and comers. One of the photos during the day even shows a small tear running down the childs face as she holds her fish for a photo. 
Exciting, emotional, and rewarding. That’s why we love our job.
Lately our Rainbows have been the usual 2 -3 Lbs, however we have been catching a few that seem to be feeding well. The odd one up to 5 Lbs has been caught lately. Bull Trout have been averaging 3 – 8 Lbs.
June should continue to be consistent fishing on the lake and we look forward to more fun days with fun groups.
Also, if you haven’t seen it yet, here’s a great video that we filmed on our amazing lake. You have to see the beauty.
Arrow Lake:
The Arrow’s are starting to warm up as well. Not quite the same action as on Kootenay, but the quality is there. We’ve been managing to hook into 6 – 10 fish most days out there.
Rainbows and Bull Trout up to 10 Lbs have been coming in lately, and a bunch of smaller ones as well to keep us entertained.
June can be one of the best months on Arrow, so we’ll keep plugging away.
Columbia River:
The river has been fairly consistent. It all depends on the water levels since they fluctuate so much. When the level stays consistent, the fishing stays consistent. The water temp as of yesterday was running around 52 degrees. This is prime conditions for Rainbows and they have been feeding fairly well lately.
We’ve been catching Rainbows between 2 – 4 Lbs most days on a mix of flies and or spoons. Also managing to hook into a few Walleye on most trips as well to make it interesting. The Walleye fishing usually picks up later in the summer and fall, but the Rainbow fishing should be consistent from here on in.
The warm weather is bringing some good hatches on the river as well. Lately its been mayflies and even a small caddis hatch one day, which is a bit early. Looking forward to the full caddis hatch which usually begins a bit later in June. This should create a feeding frenzy, so stay tuned.
What are they biting on ?
Kootenay Lake has been a mix of everything. Our favourite Gibbs/Delta croc spoons in Brass/firestripe have been doing the best for us on the calm days. And on the choppy days, our Buck tail flies have been killing it. Hot colors for the past few trips have been lucky numbers 210, 221, and 226.
Our latest hot lure has been a new plug designed by a local buddy. The Limon plug by ‘Epic Lures’ has been drawing a lot of attention lately. We’ve been running it both on the surface and down 30 – 50ft on the rigger. Both presentations have produced a fair number of fish. So, it just goes to show you that you need to mix it up a bit.
On Arrow Lake, it’s been a mix of Hockey sticks, plugs, and a bit of hair. Best producers on Arrow lake have been Gibbs/Delta hockey sticks in Ultra violet blue, army truck, and rainbow trout, as well as an assortment of blue & green plugs. Surface down to about 40ft has been best.
And finally, on the Columbia its been a good assortment as well. When we’re Walleye fishing, we have been using the Gibbs/Delta leader saver with a bottom bouncing weight, followed by either a wedding band or a bling blade in chartreuse or green beads. Also have been catching a few on jig heads with curly tails in white or yellow.
And Rainbows have been hitting on the fly rods. We’ve been bringing 4 different set-ups with us lately to accommodate for changing conditions throughout the day. Full sink lines with large streamers have been woking well in the faster water. Our sink tip lines with large nymphs have been working good in some of the runs as well. And finally, our floating lines with and indicator and nymph have been working well in the eddies. Also have managed to land a few on the dry fly lately as well. Mayflies, flying ants, pmd’s, and the odd caddis pattern have been working.
That should cover it for now until the next report.
Tight lines…
Kerry Reed
Reel Adventures Sportfishing
