We are back !!!
Our West-coast adventures have ended for this year and we now have all boats back on the Kootenay Lake for our Fall fishery.
It’s been a busy summer for all of our guides, so here’s a summary of what you’ve missed and what is yet to come.
Kootenay Lake:
Our lake trips throughout August and early September have provided guests with some good outings. Some days slower than others.
The water temperature was the warmest we’ve seen in years and the fishing was as to be expected. Usually warm water temps will make the fish lethargic in the summer, so there’s always some slow days, but then there’s always a feeding day mixed in. You just have to be on the water.
The Rainbows seemed to have gone into hiding during August, however have started making an appearance now that the temperatures are cooling.
Most trips during August saw our guests hooking into the odd Bull Trout on the downriggers and quite a few incidental Kokanee, which had to release.
And so far, in September, the water is cooling and we are starting to get a few Rainbows mixed in with the Bull Trout.
Expecting things to pick up as the water cools even more.
Stay tuned….
West Coast Salmon/Halibut:
What a season it was!! July turned out to be our best July in history. There was bait, and fish, and whales everywhere.
It was nice to have a lot of options on where to fish. And even nicer having lots of fish close to shore. Some days we were only 10 minutes from the dock. Gotta love that.
Then August hit and the fish spread out a bit. But, we still had a lot of options. A bit more offshore fishing, but still lots of different locations which held fish.
We did have to contend with some not so great weather for a lot of the time. The southeast fog wind was present on a lot of our days, but it was not overly strong winds. Just awkward wind.
On most of our days, we managed to find limits of Salmon and Halibut.
Halibut seemed plentiful, but smaller than usual years. Lots of 10 – 15 pounders, although we managed to weed through a bunch and find some of the bigger ones on most days.
Salmon were abundant and ranged from 12 – 25 Lbs, with a few over 30 Lbs.
The Coho were thick for a while near shore and then, later in August, they took over the banks. Some days out on the big bank we had to weed through 50 plus fish in order to retain our limits of hatchery Coho. It also made it a bit of work trying to get down to the Chinook, but we managed on most days to get a bit of everything.
Tough problems to have when there’s too many fish. But a lot of fun!
The Ling cod fishing was not as good as last year, but still offered some decent ones when we got the
chance to fish for them. Also, catching tons of rock cod on the spinning rod was a blast.
Mixed reviews from a lot of fishermen out there this year, however most of our guests stated that this was their best year. And, since we have mostly return customers, they should know.
Thanks everyone who joined us this year on the west coast. Already planning next season..
What are they biting on???
On the coast, our top producers were: Oki Big Shooter flashers in the Blue Footloose color, followed by our favourite spoons (kingfisher: herring aid, maverick, killy magee, as well as Skinny G: no bananas, tailspin, herring aid)
And for the Ling cod and Rock cod, it was our favourite ‘Jumbo Anchovy’ jigged on the spinning rods.
For Halibut we used the Gibbs spreader bars with either the Hali Hawg, or Lighthouse squid. Both rigs tipped with salmon belly seemed to work great.
And now, back on Kootenay Lake, we are starting to catch a few fish on the surface using the Gibbs Croc or the odd one on our bucktails. However, more fish so far on the down riggers using STS flasher w/green oil slick or green spatter back hoochie.
Looking forward to the lake temperature cooling off a bit later this month and the fish will start to come to life again. Our favourite time of year is coming up.
Stay tuned…..
Hope this helps with your next adventure
Tight lines…..
Captain Kerry