Kamloops Lake – Chironomids & Crocodiles

Kamloops Lake – March 27, 2011

I just couldn’t take another day of chasing around ice off reports on the Kamloops area lakes so the boys & I packed our packs with fishing gear and enough food to last us the day and off we went to shore fish big Kamloops lake. This was our first open water trip of 2011 and to say we were excited would be an understatement!

We got out  of the truck at about 11:30 AM and started hiking. By12:30 PM we had  reached our first “honey hole” where we unloaded the packs and decided to give it a go. The only problem was, despite a nice blue sky and warm sun, that the wind was blowing quite strongly right into our faces therefore making fly casting almost impossible. Oh well … we weren’t going to let that stop us so out came the spinning rods and shiny spoons and we were off to the races.

… fish on!!!

We didn’t really know what to expect as on our way in we met up with a few different groups of people on their way out – all of whom informed us that the fishing was very slow. I think I was on my third cast when a healthy Kamloops Rainbow trout chimed in to disprove that theory!

Wow! What a great feeling! And just as my first open water fish of the year was giving me a great run for my money,  I heard Mio yelling … “Fish On!” I remember laughing out loud … when it rains it pours and we were loving every minute of it! 😀

So fast forward a few minutes and unfortunately Mio lost his bow but I’ve got mine in hand. A quick little throat sample with the throat pump and he’s back in the water and ready to fight another day! Oh … and here’s what I found in the throat sample:

yup … them’s chironomids!

OK so now I’ve got a real dilemma!!! I know if we stick to what were doing we’ll most likely keep catching fish – and the boys really like to catch fish! Or … we could pack the gear back up and hike a bit further west in an attempt to find a spot a little more sheltered from the wind so we could try to cast some chironies out. My preference was the latter but trying to convince the kids to pack up while the fishing was good was like trying to get Oprah out of the kitchen while there was still food on the table … it just wasn’t gunna happen! So we compromised – the kids keep doing their thing while I spent the day fighting wind knots with the fly rod. 😕

Tyler with a very nice Kamloops lake Rainbow trout!

Mio with one of his silver bullet Kamloops lake bows!

Needless to say I was out fished all day but  loved every minute of it. When I did manage to get a chironomid out there for a reasonable amount of time however,  I did get some action.

Catch & Release Kamloops Lake Bow!

Hell I even got to land a couple … but they were certainly far and few between the boy’s action! I am confident though that had we had a boat we could have been into them fairly steady long lining them with tiny pupae!

For what it’s worth, the action I did get came from a #16 chromie black rib fished naked – mostly because it was almost impossible to cast through the wind with an indicator.

For those of you with a boat and  that might have the opportunity to get out fishing in the near future, I would recommend the same fished on or very near the bottom in about 25 feet of water.

OK so that’s our first open water fishing report of the new year! Fingers crossed there will be many more to come and hopefully it won’t be too much longer till we can get you one from a higher elevation Kamloops area lake! Come on ice off!!!!!

Tight lines everyone!

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