West Kootenay Fishing Report

By Jim Bailey - Trail Daily Times
Published: May 09, 2013 1:00 PM
Updated: May 09, 2013 1:22 PM
The West Kootenay Fishing Report is back with reports and tips on how to catch fish on local lakes and streams. The Kootenay Lake submission is courtesy of Reel Adventure Fishing Charters’ Kerry Reed. www.reeladventuresfishing.com


Rossland fly angler Garry Gill put on a chironomid clinic last week
 at one of the local West Kootenay lakes.

Kootenay Lake: It’s that time of year. The weather has warmed up to the balmy spring-like conditions we’ve all been waiting for and with that, the water will warm and the fish will start to get more active. My favourite time of year is coming.
April saw some good and bad days on the water. Still had to be patient, but we were normally rewarded. The creeks started to flow a bit in the past few weeks and that has brought out some bugs and debris on the water. This has also brought out the small, insect eating fish. So, we have been hooking into a lot of shakers lately. At least it keeps us running for the rods.

Kootenay Lake Gerrard rainbow in the net

One of our best days last week saw us hooking into 12 Rainbows. The first few were only small and had us wondering if we would find a big one. But after catching half a dozen little guys, we finally hooked into a hog. The fish ran the counter out to over 500 feet of line, and jumped about six times, before making a mad run towards the boat when it spit the hook. Heart breaker.
However, the day got better as the boat landed a 14, 14.5, and 12 pound Gerrards in addition to some smaller rainbows.
Temperature: The water temperature hasn’t quite reached our prime number yet, but when it does, these fish are going to go wild. Also, with the hot weather, keep an eye open for the famous flying-ant hatch. They will get blown into the water by the thousands and that’s when every fish in the lake will finally come to the surface and put the feed on.
Lures and flies: We’ve been catching a lot of fish on bucktail flies. Lots of shakers at this time of year, but always a few big ones mixed in. Favourite colors so far have been: black/white, grey/white, and still purple/white. The lucky numbers being: 210, 215, 222, 228
Apex lures are working well also. Similar colors as the flies. Black/white, Silver, or blue/green has been working as well.
And my favorite Lyman plugs have also been producing some fish. Lucky numbers: 10, 16, 55, 69.
Prime time is coming, so Let’s get out there.
Columbia River: The Columbia has been nothing short of spectacular this month. With unseasonably hot weather bringing out a variety of hatches for the fly fisher and spincaster including caddis, baetis mayflies, stoneflies, salmonflies, cicadas, and flying black ants, not to mention midges and mosquitoes (chironomids).
Size 6-8 golden stonefly nymphs or size 4-6 salmonfly (pteronarcys californica) nymphs fished on a full-sink or sink-tip line worked great in April and continue to produce in early May.
After landing a half dozen rainbows on nymphs, I changed to the dry line in the afternoon and also had success on an adult stonefly pattern.

Columbia River rainbow

But May is the month of the dog-day cicada and flying black ant. Columbia rainbows go crazy over these terrestrial treats at this time of year.
Flies: Any cicada size 6-8 or black ant pattern, size 8-10 golden stonefly, or size 4-6 salmonfly nymph patterns, also orange or yellow stimulators or skwalas, size 8-12. See Fly of the Month on Page 12.

Local Lakes have been producing well. Fly fishers have had good success fishing chironomids on Rosebud, Box, and Summit Lakes since early April, while Champion Lakes is just recently ice free and ready to fish.
I had great results on Box Lake a few weeks ago, casting a six-foot sink tip and a 3X long size-12, bead-head prince nymph. Landing a good number of rainbows and brook trout.
A friend and I found out how key depth can be on a recent outing to a local stillwater. We only managed a couple hits, while another chironomid angler was landing trout after wary trout. It was only later that we both agreed we’d been fishing too deep.
Always smart to start the chironomid about a foot of the bottom where cruising trout are inhaling this vast source of protein. Measure the depth with either a marked anchor rope, or by clamping your forceps to the end of your line and dropping it until it hits bottom. Set your indicator about a foot below this. Adjust depending on whether you are anchored on a drop off or on relatively even bottom.
Size and colour are also key variables in the chironomid game. Observe the hatch to figure out size, and a stomach pump used on your first trout will help identify colour and size
Lardeau River: It’s that time of year when the big Gerrard Rainbows make their journey up the river to spawn. The numbers have been good so far and should continue until the second week of May. For anyone that hasn’t seen this, it’s something to experience. Right now there is over 700 rainbow trout under the bridge. Hopefully we see a few more show up over the next week or so.
You can check the ministry website for current counts. Check out this site: www.env.gov.bc.ca/kootenay/fsh/main/mainfish.htm

Lakes and River report courtesy of Jim Bailey and other anonymous sources.