We’re getting closer to spring!!  But, still not out of the woods yet.  Just when the roads were clear and the weather was mild, mother nature threw another curveball at us.

Oh well, we had a couple days of snow and then some rain.  It’s slowly transitioning into spring.

And with that, we are spending more and more time on the water.

Here’s the latest fishing reports:

Kootenay Lake:

February was a slow month for fishing, but we still got out quite a bit.  In fact, the last couple weeks have had the phone ringing fairly steady.

The Rainbow fishing has been fairly inconsistent, however the Bull Trout have made up for it.

Most days, we have been getting the odd Rainbow on the surface up to 3 Lbs and a decent Bull Trout on most trips as well.  Bulls up to 15 Lbs have been our latest catch.

On one of our trips in February, our guests managed to hook into 3 Rainbows and a couple beauty Bull Trout.  They released all but 1 fish for the bbq.  Congrats to those guys on catching our biggest fish of the season so far.  A beauty 15Lb Bull Trout that was quickly photographed and then sent back to the wild.  Congrats on the catch, and thanks for the release.

Most of the other trips have provided us with a couple fish each outing and have provided guests with a nice break from the real world.

As the weather warms in March, we look forward to the water warming up and the fish starting to wake up.

Columbia River:

A few nice days in February allowed us the chance to fish the river.  Each time out, we managed to catch a couple Rainbows.

March is usually the beginning of our river fishing, however, we are still waiting for the snowbanks to clear so we can get the jet sled out of storage.

Until then, we will continue to fish it from shore.

Walk along some of the gravel bars and cast out into the seam.  The fish seem to be hanging around the transitions.

Arrow Lake:

Upper Arrow is still providing some nice fish.  Rainbows up to 14 Lbs and Bull Trout up to 15  Lbs have been coming in lately.

Some slow days with only 1 or 2 fish, but some great days with half a dozen fish coming to the boat.  This lake may have some slow days, but the quality of the fish have made up for it.

Bucktails, plugs, and the flasher/hoochie have been the ticket.  Bull Trout seem to be scattered throughout the water column.  Catching a lot of the fish down 30 – 100ft, although some of our biggest fish have been caught on the surface.  So, make sure to mix it up a bit.

We haven’t done much on the Lower Arrow lately, however the local Scotties derby is coming up, and we look forward to seeing a bunch of boats out and getting some more reports.

Stay tuned.

What are they biting on??

On the lake it’s been a mix.  On the surface with Bucktails has provided some Rainbows on Kootenay and some Bull Trout on Arrow.  Favourite colors lately have been #202, 203, 215, 226.  (November special, grey ghost, etc)

Also getting some Rainbows on the Gibbs/Delta croc spoons.  The usual Brass/fire stripe or Brass/fire wing have been best.

And the Bull Trout have been hitting on the STS flasher or Lemon Lime followed by green oilslick hoochie or green pistachio.  On Kootenay the Bulls have been between 80 – 150ft deep.  And on Arrow, we’ve been catching between 30 – 80ft.

River’s been the same as last month.  Catching on sinking line with a streamer, or on spinning rod with a Delta tackle ‘Leader saver’ and gibbs bottom bouncer with bait.

Hope this helps with your next adventure.

 

Tight lines….

Captain Kerry