I met up with my friend Colin who had
first-hand news from a friend who had been there two weeks earlier and reportedly landed a multitude of eight- to 10- pound rainbows on micro-leech patterns suspended from a strike indicator on about 20-feet of leader.
Dickens was right, it turned out to be the best of times and worst of times.
In fact, on the first day we arrived, one of the locals told us a tale of a fly angler boating a 14-pound triploid on a chironomid and 5X tippet that he played for an hour before the massive trout capitulated, so needless to say the expectations were high.
I arrived late Thursday to guarantee a camping spot before the May long weekend, and was on the water fairly early Friday
I was greeted by about a three-pound rainbow inhaling the fly and going for a good run, catapulting four feet into the air over and over again until at last the fly was tossed and the trout swam free. "Ah well that's a good sign,"
. I thought.
I was finally getting into it, landing two others and missing a couple when the wind came up sudden and fierce and literally blew me off the lake and into the trailer.
That evening and all of the next day the wind blew incessantly, and made anchoring and casting a challenge. But come Sunday, the system had blown itself out and the weather was relatively calm with sunny periods.
We relocated to a spot on the north edge of a weed bed with small rising trout, but the odd big splash made the hairs on the back of your knuckles stand up and take notice. I cast with a shortened leader towards the weeds and was rewarded almost immediately with a strike and a brief struggle that revealed a white belly about 17 or 18 inches long before the trout liberated itself.
Moments later Colin hooked into a nice 17 incher, that spent most of its time walking on the surface and wrapping itself around every externality we had on the boat - my rod, the oar, and the motor- before succumbing to the net.
I followed that up with another decent rainbow that was in full spawning mode, with crimson flanks and a noticeable kype. A quick release sent it on its way, and we resumed sinking micro leeches and chironomids in about six feet of water.
At about 2 p.m. the water was popping with emerging mayflies and the top-water action became furious. I quickly tied on an adult mayfly pattern and was into a smallish rainbow on the first cast. Rain put a bit of a damper on the hatch but we managed another before heading in for lunch.
Despite nice weather in the evening, the fishing slowed. No one was hooking up, least of all us, but Colin managed probably the biggest fish of the weekend while trolling back up the lake.
Our expectations became more realistic as the weekend wore on and reports of other fly fishers not landing any monsters became the norm. We landed a couple decent but average size trout on the last day, an apt denouement to our adventure, for the big one inariably eluded us.
It was a great trip regardless and I would definitely return to Peter Hope Lake, perhaps a week or two earlier, but nevertheless it was great company, a nice setting, decent fishing, and anything but hopeless.
Great post, thanks for sharing. I love Peterhope lake but you never know what what to expect when you get there. Moody at the best of times, but these tales of 10 lb + trout keep me going back.
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