Northern pikeminnow; a growing concern on Kootenay Lake

There’s a growing concern from anglers that there may be another species contributing to the decline of the kokanee salmon in Kootenay Lake. 

The presence of northern pikeminnow is becoming more and more prevalent, particularly in the West Arm, and some anglers believe they are making an impact on the kokanee. 

Balfour resident Chuck Wood has been fishing the lake for 36 years, and has never seen more of the predator than he has this year. 

“The last two times I fly fished the arm there were huge schools of them coming up,” said Wood. “I caught 10 the first evening and nine the second and released one rainbow. I’m hoping to see the return of decent sized fish in the lake but so far the decision-makers haven’t had any success.” 

The BC Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development could not provide a biologist for an interview due to the ‘interregnum’ (upcoming provinical election), but did offer some data. 

According to FLNRO, “We have looked at pikeminnow diet in the west arm, and kokanee were not observed. Studies from other lakes show some kokanee in diet, but data from Kootenay Lake suggests strongly that bull trout and rainbow trout make up the majority of kokanee mortality via predation.” 

West Kootenay Fishing Report: Warm August/September weather means fishing heats up

Thanks to Kerry Reed for submitting the Kootenay Lake fishing report. And to Graham Cloutier and wesportfish.com for Columbia River and Area Lakes report. Contact Graham at chillbillycharters.com or call 250-304-4378.  Contact Reel Adventures Sportfishing at www.reeladventuresfishing.com or call 250-505-4963.

Kootenay Lake: During the month of August, the weather was scorching hot and the water temps were close to 20 degrees. That made a difference in the fishing for sure.

Our guides did a few trips very early in the morning to beat the heat and tried to be back at the dock before the temperature became too uncomfortable.

The morning trips managed to hook a few fish each day, but seemed like the rainbows headed for cover, but the bull trout were still fairly aggressive. Most trips saw a few bull trout with the odd rainbow mixed in.

With September’s arrival, the mornings were cooler, the water temp gradually dropping and the fish started to show some life again.

Everyday, we are starting to hit the water consistently again and getting better and better results.

We’ve had some decent days on the lake lately. Seems like the mornings have been better for bull trout, and the afternoons have been better for rainbows.

Looking forward to some cooler weather and expecting the fishing to pick up. October and November are usually the beginning of our prime fishing. So, stay tuned for some prime fall reports.

Columbia River: Columbia River guide Graham Cloutier from Chillbilly Charters had a good month on the water, and says it’s been particularly exceptional targeting walleye.

During the heat of August and early September, the best time for fishing was in the evening or early morning, but anglers had success targeting trout in cool riffles and runs, and walleye in deeper water during the day.

For fly fishers, drifting or trolling a streamer on a full sink line picked up both walleye and rainbow. When fishing a run, the rainbows would hit the fly on the drift, but if you let it run out and sink into the back-eddy, then start a slow retrieve, it was a walleye almost every other cast.

Great areas for walleye fishing are the Robson Reach and the Hugh Keenleyside Dam north of Castlegar and the Waneta Dam south of Trail.

Area Lakes: Local lakes and reservoirs like the Arrow, Pend d’Oreille, Rosebud, Cottonwood, Nancy Greene, Champion and Loon Lakes are also fishing well.

Some stillwater may have been a little slow in the heat of August, but lakes like Rosebud have been producing very well in September. Dangling chironomids just off the bottom is a popular method for fly fishers, but mayfly hatches have been abundant and trout were hitting nymphs just subsurface, and dry flies for consistent top-water action.

The Pend d’Oreille has been producing a lot of bass. Look for areas with structure and cast a swim bait or a jighead with worm or, for fly fishers, a sink line or sink tip with attractor pattern.

What are they biting on?

On Kootenay Lake, the most success for the bull trout was on the Lemon Lime flasher followed by the green pistachio hoochie or the spatter back. Best depths as of early September have been 80–121 feet.

For the rainbows, the best success came on the Gibbs Delta Croc spoons, although bucktail flies should take off pretty soon as the water temperature drops and more fish start heading towards the surface to feed.

On the Columbia, fly fishers have had good success fishing attractor patterns for rainbow and walleye, particularly streamers or olive/copper/brown beadhead woolly buggers and bulldog patterns. Also, large dry-fly patterns like the October caddis or hopper patterns will coax big bows to the surface.

Spincasting lures like the Len Thompson dimpled series to the slack water has resulted in many nice rainbows for Cloutier, whose go-to rig for walleye is a three-ounce bottom bouncer and a worm harness.

A slow troll using a weight and wedding ring or Mack’s spinner tipped with worm is also a local favourite.

For shore-bound walleye anglers, bottom-bouncing or casting jigheads and soft plastics like Mister Twisters have been good producers.

Find the right colour combination and/or lure and it will be a memorable day on the water.

West Kootenay Fishing Report: Winter, best time for big trout

The West Kootenay Fishing Report is provided by Reel Adventures Sport Fishing Charters in Nelson, phone 250-505-4963 or email info@reeladventuresfishing.com.

Kootenay Lake: 
January was a pleasant surprise for weather and allowed us to get out and explore on a lot of days.

The lake temperature is at its coldest and the fish are definitely a bit lazy at this time. Although, we have been getting fish on most outings. The large numbers of fish that we were catching back in December has decreased, but the size of fish has increased. So, it’s a nice trade off.

Some of our days have seen up to six or eight fish coming to the boat, with average size of rainbows being two to three pounds and bull trout ranging from three to 14 pounds. However, due to the colder water, some of our days we have had to work hard to hook into only a couple fish.

Either way, we’re still out there fishing and the scenery at this time of year is second to none. On the cold, clear days we are floating in the middle of the lake while glaring up at the snow covered mountains. Its a pretty great backyard to have.

February is typically a bit slower month, although it seems to be the month when we catch our biggest fish each year.

Arrow Lakes:  We have been also frequenting the Arrow Lakes and spent a few days fishing the Upper Arrow during their fishing derby out of Nakusp. It was great to see a good turnout for this fundraiser. Also good to see lots of familiar faces who use to fish on Kootenay.

That derby brought a lot of people to town and generated a lot of tourist dollars for just one weekend. It would be great to see that kind of life on Kootenay again.

During our weekend trip, we managed to land around 10 fish ranging from six to 10 pounds. Nothing to enter in the derby, but still some great quality fish.

Rainbows up to 14 pounds and bull trout up to 15 pounds have been caught on the upper lake in the past couple weeks. I’ve even heard about a 27-pound bull trout that was caught in early January. Trophy fishing for sure.

We are also spending a bit of time on Lower Arrow this winter. The fishing has been somewhat slow, but the quality of fish has been great. Rainbows between two to eight pounds and bull trout between six and 14 pounds have been coming in lately.

Columbia River: We did get out a few times on the river when the weather was mild. And as usual, the river produced some good fish.

Our few days out averaged four to 10 fish with some good quality in the mix. Most rainbows were two to three pounds, but we did manage to hook a beauty six-pound ‘bow on one of our trips.

Still not quite warm enough to drop the boat in the water, but the shore fishing has been great.

Looking forward to some milder weather after this cold snap and looking forward to getting back on the river.




Stay tuned …