02.21.2010
Cooney Bay - Kamloops Lake

by Mr BFSH
(Kamloops)

After almost 3 months of not casting a rod I decided to give Cooney Bay on Kamloops Lake a try shore fishing with my spinning gear.

I was in browsing at Surplus Herbys in North Kamloops a couple of days earlier and was talking to Darren, the nice young guy working in the fishing department. He showed me some pictures of some nice fish caught out on Kamloops Lake, including large bull trout and rainbow trout. He told me that he usually uses a Len Thompson 5-of-Diamonds and is usually successful. A few days earlier I had a chat with local fishing icon, Brian Chan, and he recommended buzz bombs.

I had a couple Len Thompsons and Buzz Bombs in my many tackle boxes so I grabbed the ol' steelhead rod and large spinning reel and headed out. You can take the access road at Tranquille between 8am and dusk and drive to the end where there is a parking lot. From there, it's a 10-30 minute walk out to the bay, depending on where you want to go fishing.

The mouth of the Tranquille River was my first destination. At this time of the year the river is more like a tiny creek as the upper elevation snow pack is still solid. After about a dozen casts with a smaller Five-of-Diamonds and no luck I decided to take the stroll out to the rock on the other side of the bay. That was at least a 20 minute walk... I'm glad I wore my hiking boots instead of my high top runners... the rocks would have ruined my shoes and my poor feet.

When I arrive at the spot that I thought was "the spot" I upped the size of my Len Thompson and fished that for a while. A family group that had a few rods with them came through and decided to climb over the rock outcrop and fish the other side. Then a second group of young adults came through and had stories of some big fish caught in the past week. They too climbed over the rock. I thought about climbing over but it looked a little challenging to me (this time anyway) so I stayed where I was.

I stayed put for about 3 hours. I used a couple of other different Buzz Bombs, a White/Red Len Thompson and some rubber minnow baits. I lost my big 5-of-Diamonds in the rocks and broke my line casting a Buzz Bomb. That was the best action I had all day. However, while I was glued to my spot, a couple of the small groups of people that has ventured to the "other side" of the rock brought back tales of fish and some visible proof. One family had 4 nice fish in the bag, including one that was likely well over 3lbs. The word was that a small Buzz Bomb was doing the trick.

As the sun started to swing further to he west and behind the rock shadowing my fishing spot, the late winter evening chill followed and it was time to head home. While I walked back to my vehicle along the shores I could see and hear a couple of fishermen still hooking a few at the rock.

I think that I will be back in the near future. It has a promising feel to it.

Cooney Bay appears to be a lot busier than I every thought. When I arrived back at the parking lot there were 17 vehicles parked. Only a few of them were fishing but other activities like dog walking, picnicking and bonfires were the activities of the bulk of the visitors.

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