Fly fish BC goes in pursuit of Kootenay Rainbows

Perfect conditions on Kootenay Lake

The mighty Gerrard Rainbow is the largest species of rainbow trout in the world, with leviathons occasionally topping 30 pounds. So it was with excitement and a great deal of anticipation that I hit the water of Kootenay Lake Wednesday, a fortunate guest of father and son team, Rudy and Dave.



Dave ties on one of his hand-tied flies



We climbed aboard their comfortable 22-foot Trophy trawler (which is for sale by the way) fairly bright and fairly early but not too early, as local informants indicated the bite would not kick in until about 10 a.m.

Rudy is a retired doctor and his son Dave, a school teacher, who have lived on the lake off-and-on for the past 40 years. So their combined experience and a ton of fish landed over the years made this a promising venture.



Fly fish BC lands mighty
Gerrard on Kootenay Lake



Still, the first three hours on the water vetted nary a nibble. The "Bill Normans" and Rudy's personal favourite, the "Silver King" seemed to have lost their expected magic for winter trawling at an excruciatingly slow pace. 

At 11:30 Dave decided to change it up and replaced one impotent lure with a hand-tied-polar-bear hair fly, lovely creations, that seemed somehow indignant at being passed over by the more unwieldy and ineffectual plugs. 

As if to say, "I told you so" the fly was not in the water for more than five minutes when the rod bucked and line screamed. 

I fought and landed a beautiful eight-pound rainbow, shiny and thick - a harbinger of more good things to come. 

Rudy's 20-lb rainbow from Kootenay Lk.


Soon we had all three rods pulling hair, and again, just minutes after the first fish, another one was on.
I grabbed the  pulsing rod as line tore off the reel for what seemed like minutes. I passed it off to Rudy who played the massive rainbow like a pro, patient but intent on  keeping the line tight and the hook set. Dave netted the 20-pound trout, with wild exclamations and hardy congratulations all around.

In the next three hours we released five more Gerrards ranging from two to six pounds. It was a rare day for a lake that can be unforgivingly slow at times.

Perhaps it was the alignment of the stars, perfect conditions, good flies, experience and expertise, or a combination of the lot - I find on days when I catch more fish than expected, I don't question it, I just thank the fish gods and the men who made it so.

Thanks guys for a great day.

For more fishing adventures go to fly-fish-bc.com

http://www.fly-fish-bc.com/

Back to fly-fish-BC

Cougar photo irks hunter

Jay Mykietyn holds the 160-pound cougar a friend of his shot in the Pend d'Oreille last month.

By Jim Bailey - Trail Daily Times
Published: February 14, 2011 5:00 PM

The photo of a Trail hunter straining to lift a massive cougar has generated controversy and as the photo spiders its way through cyberspace, heated debate follows, which is the last thing the man holding the cat was looking for.

The photo was taken after local cougar hunters tracked and shot a 160-pound cougar in the Pend d’Oreille and was subsequently posted online by a friend of one of the hunters. Media soon reported that the man holding the seven-foot two-inch cat, Trail resident Jay Mykietyn, had also shot the animal.

“They didn’t even have the courtesy to phone me,” said Mykietyn.

“It’s my picture with a cougar that I didn’t shoot.”

Mykietyn had already filled his cougar tag so it would have been illegal for him to shoot another cat, however, hunting partner Gerry Merlo was perfectly within his rights to harvest the animal and apply his own tag.

“It’s all part of game management and cougar hunting is here to stay, they kill lots of deer, elk, and moose – we have to have a balance and Mother Nature doesn’t take care of things like that,” said Mykietyn.

But there are detractors. Rossland city councilor Jill Spearn wondered online how “cougar hunting could be considered sport in the 21st century,” suggesting that it should be “outlawed.”

Pronouncements like these have made many hunters defensive but Mykietyn and others remain undeterred. Hunting is a precious and vital part of their heritage, something woven into the fabric of Canadian rural living and they mean to defend and preserve it.

Area cat hunters are a small fraternity. They share hounds and work together to exercise and train dogs.

The task is not an easy one, hunting cougars is difficult and expensive, but the few who do raise dogs are committed, spend hundreds of hours training, and at times are faced with unavoidable risk.

Mykietyn has been hunting all his life, tracking cats for 16 years and training his own hounds for 11, during which time he has lost one dog to a cougar.

When dogs are killed, “we feel sad and we have a little tear, but they’re soldiers, they are bred to do that, there is nothing that they’d rather do,” he said.

During last month’s hunt, one of the three hounds on the chase, a young pup named Rocky, was severely mauled by the cat. Mykietyn revived the dog, and after a pricey visit to a vet in Pullman, Washington, “the dog will make a full recovery.”

Because of the elusive nature of cougars, the Ministry of Environment has been unable to field an accurate study to determine populations. Nevertheless, hunting regulations put strict quotas on the cat harvest.

In Trail area management units 4-8 and 4-9, hunters are limited to one tag per year and each cougar killed must be reported and inspected. Once 10 female cougars are harvested and reported, hunters can no longer hunt in the area. But in the eight years a Fruitvale reporting and inspection station has operated, that quota has yet to be reached.

“Cats are almost impossible to hunt without dogs; a cat won’t tree because there’s a person following it, you have to have dogs, you have to have noise, and cougar hunters are selective with what they shoot - they don’t shoot every cat they put in a tree,” said Larry Hill, a Fruitvale hunter who has been scoring trophy animals for the West Kootenay Big Game Club for 28 years.

Hill says that most cougar hunters will tree cats, take a picture and let them go, doing so for training purposes and the thrill of the chase. And while he admits this particular cat is large, Hill has definitely seen bigger. Even Mykietyn acknowledges that he has come nose-to-nose with over a half-dozen larger cats and was with his father when he bagged the world-record, a seven-foot eleven-inch lion.

Responsible cat hunters try to avoid the spotlight as much as cougars avoid being spotted.

“Advertising like that (photo), it takes a long time to get straightened out . . . with cougar hunting, we keep a low profile, we don’t rub it in anybody’s face.”

Bighorn sheep photos

Click to go back to Fly Fish BC

Sorry, I've been a little negligent towards my fishing website lately been too busy with work and holidays. The last time I was fishing was over a month ago and that was cut short when I discovered ice-cold water leaking into my right toe. Anyway, I've finally fixed my waders so a little winter fly fishing is imminent. I have hit the bench and tied up some killer flies for full-sinking fly-fishing - rainbows beware.

In the meantime, I took a hike up the Salmo-Creston and hung out with some bighorn sheep. I got a few good shots and was surprised at how tolerant they were of my presence.