Kootenay Lake Fishing Report
By Contributor
May is here, and so are the fish says Kerry Reed of Reel Adventures Sportfishing. The weather has been awesome for the past couple weeks and the waters are coming to life. So Kerry & Company have been on the water on a regular basis and things are looking up.
April was a fun month for fishing on the lake. We had a lot of young families join us throughout the Easter weekend and a bunch more groups in the past couple weeks. It’s been fun entertaining the youngsters and showing them what fishing is all about. The fish have been cooperating nicely and we’ve managed to keep everyone busy. Check out this cool video of a Beauty Bull Trout our client released last month.
And now, the water temp has reached the high 40’s and on some days it’s over 50 degrees. This is the magic number we’ve been waiting for. Our days have been consistent and the fish are now feeding steadily. And with the latest warm spell, we have also noticed the hatch we’ve been waiting for as well. The flying ants have been everywhere lately and the water is covered with them. The fish are gorging on them and its now that time that every fish will be looking up. So, surface fishing is hot!
Some of our latest trips have had non stop action on the surface with Rainbows. A few trips have hooked into more than 20 fish each day, and our latest trip hooked 30. So, its time to get out there. With the abundance of ants, the fish are in a frenzy, although they will be full at some point, so there will be some slower fishing days as well. But this is definitely the time of year when it all begins.
Most of our Rainbows have been between 2 – 3 pounds, however we have seen a few approaching 5 Lbs this spring. If these fish can find some more food, i.e. Kokanee, we just might see some larger ones this fall. Stay tuned.
Bull Trout this last month have been fewer and far between. But, the ones we have caught have been larger. Lately we’ve seen some Bulls into the teens, which is a nice reward. Average size Bulls of late have been between 3 – 7 pounds, but we have caught them up to 15 Lbs. Look for more Bulls to be caught as the water warms a couple degrees.
This is our favourite time of the year, so stay tuned…
Arrow Lake:
Lower Arrow is still a bit cool, however the latest ant hatch will be starting to get the fish excited. We managed a couple trips out there this past month and have had some mixed reports.
The Rainbows have been starting to surface as the ants fall. We have been hooking into a few smaller ones each day and also getting into some nice Bull Trout in the mix.
Look for some great days to come as the weather is looking perfect. Expect to be catching some bigger Rainbows and Bull Trout throughout the month of May.
Columbia River:
Just like the lakes, it seems that the river is turning on as well. April has always been a good month to fish the river and last month was no exception. Some bigger Rainbows up to 6 Lbs were taken on the fly and we managed to get into some decent Walleye fishing as well.
Now that the ants are out, the surface fishing should pick up too. We noticed a lot of fish rising yesterday and its time to break out the dry lines. This is the exciting time.
Most Rainbows lately have been between 2 – 3 pounds and the Walleye have been similar in size.
Looking forward to more sunny days on the river.
What are they biting on?
On the lake its been surface, surface, surface! Lots of Rainbows coming in on our favorite buck tail flies, as well as our crocodile spoons. Favourite fly patterns on the lake lately have been #210, 215, 221, & 226. Our best spoons for the Rainbows have been the Gibbs/Delta crocs in the brass/fire wing or brass/ fire stripe pattern.
Bull Trout have still been a bit less consistent, although we have been hooking into one or two each day. My favorite flasher / hoochie combo has been working. The lemon lime flasher with the green spatter back hoochie has been good, as well as the STS flasher with the ‘no bananas’ spoon. Most of the Bulls we have caught lately have been between 60 – 80 ft.
On the river, its been a mix of spin casting or fly fishing. Running a nymph below an indicator has been pretty consistent throughout the month, although we have been starting to get some great action on the dry flies the last few days due to the ant hatch.
As far as spin casting goes, the usual 3-way rig on the bottom with bait has been working for Rainbows and Walleye. We’ve also been casting some green or yellow jig heads with Gibbs/Delta curly tails and have produced a few good walleye as well.
Stay tuned, its getting better every day!
Tight lines!
Kerry Reed
Reel Adventures Sportfishing
