May was a busy month for us on the water, and June has started out with a bang. Still lots of inconsistent weather, but we’ve managed to fish through it all. Here’s the latest reports:
Kootenay Lake:
The month of May was a good month on Kootenay for fish numbers. We had lots of days with 10 – 20 fish coming to the boat. There was even some nice weather to enjoy for a while. And while the hot weather was happening, we also witnessed the annual flying ant hatch. And that is usually the beginning of good fishing. All the fish in the lake are now into a regular feeding pattern. In fact, the ant hatch creates a frenzy. It was an exciting couple weeks while the ants were floating on the surface. And hopefully the fishing remains steady from here on.
Rainbows between 2 – 5 Lbs have been coming in daily and I heard about a couple bigger fish caught over 12 Lbs as well, so there’s still some bigger fish around. Bull trout have been getting more aggressive lately as well. Bulls up to 12 Lbs have been caught, with the average being between 3 – 7 Lbs.
And last week we had our limited Kokanee fishery for the month of June. It proved to be a great couple of days. The Kokanee have been packing on the weight since last month. These fish were averaging 15 – 20 inches, with some up and over 2 Lbs. That will make a meal. On day 1, we had our limit within the first half hour. Thats some great fishing! And on the next day it took a bit longer, but still managed 3 peoples limits within an hour. Got to love it when the fish cooperate. Looking forward to the next opening in July. Fish should be even bigger. Stay tuned…….
Arrow Lake:
We headed over to Arrow Lake for a few trips last week also, and it was a nice change of scenery. The fishing was pretty good as well. Rainbows up to 12 Lbs and Bull Trout up to 12 Lbs were caught recently. I marked a lot of schools of kokanee over there also, which is a good sign that there is some food for our bigger fish. Arrow Lake could be on an upward trend. We’ll see.
On our last trip there, we managed to land 1 big Rainbow, 1 big Bull Trout, and about 8 more smaller Rainbows. So, it was definitely worth the trip. Looking forward to some more trips over there this year.
Columbia River:
The river has been producing well lately. Even with the high water, the fish are still feeding and the fishing has been fun. Although, when the foul weather was passing through, the fish seemed to shut down a bit. But, on the good days we were averaging 15 – 20 fish all between 16 – 20 inches. Quality fishing on the river for sure. Both techniques of flyfishing or spin casting were working.
Looking forward to some consistent weather and some consistent water levels to help make the fishing even better. This next couple of months should be a blast on the river.
What are they biting on ????
On Kootenay Lake, we have been catching most of our Rainbows on the surface. Bucktail flies in my favourite colors have been working best. Lucky numbers: 210, 214, 215, 222, & 226 have been producing the best for me. Also a mix of spoons and hockey sticks have been producing some good Rainbows. Gibbs Delta hockey sticks in black/grey, Blue s/Uv, and even the orange TKO’s have caught a few. Also still catching a few on the Skinny G in the ‘No Bananas’ pattern.
Bull trout have been coming in on the usual Highliner flasher in the Lemon lime color with g-force spoons or green spatter back hoochies. The Bulls have been getting closer to the surface lately and we have been catching more and more above the 50ft mark.
On the Arrow Lake it was similar. Most of our Rainbows were caught on the same color bucktails, but our Bulls were more attracted to our 4″ and 5″ plugs. Same as Kootenay, the fish were mostly on the surface and down to about 50ft.
And finally on the Columbia, our favourite technique has been fly fishing. Floating lines with indicators has worked well in the eddies. And sinking lines with wooly buggers has been producing in the tail outs. Also still catching on the spinning gear as well. The usual 3-way set-up on the bottom has produced some nice fish lately.
That should cover it for now.
We will be dividing our fleet of boats up in the next couple of weeks to cover all the aspects. We will have 1 boat heading to Ucluelet for Salmon and Halibut as of July 1, and we will still have a couple boats on Kootenay for the summer months, as well as our jet boat on the Columbia for some fast paced fly fishing.
Drop us a line if you’d like us to help plan your next adventure.
Tight lines……………………………..
