2010.08.30 Big Bloodworm and Llama leech lure Bleeker beauties

by Ron W
(Kamloops)

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I arrived at Bleeker Lake around 8:30am after dodging deer along the Roche Lake Road and bouncing through the mud puddles along the last stretch of rough road. The mist was rising in the crisp morning air and fish were rising just off the launch area. I saw a few silver 2-3 pounders jumping so my hopes were raised as I set off.

The water was still and I could see aquatic life buzzing along the weeds and the muddy bottom. Bleeker is so shallow and weedy in spots that it resembles a swamp more than a lake. I've never seen bigger freshwater scuds in any lake around Kamloops and the bottom was covered with large white snails. Big black leeches were undulating in the shallows and dragonflies were buzzing above the surface.

Because it is so shallow, Bleeker is subject to winterkill and it killed two winters ago. It was restocked and although the fish are only 2 years old they would grow fast with the rich smorgasbord to dine on. I was hoping to find out how big they had grown.

I started out with a small shrimp on one floating line and a big minty green bloodworm on the other. I don't normally have a lot of confidence in the bloodworm but this one was tied by Mr BFSH with stretch tubing and looked so succulent that I had a good feeling about it. It was so big that it could also pass as a monster legless shrimp.

I had let out the small shrimp and was just letting out the bloodworm when I had a strike on the shrimp. Since I wasn't holding the rod I couldn't get a good hook set and the fish got away. I took this as a good sign of things to come and let out the bloodworm. I slowly kicked over to where I could see rings from rising fish and had a solid hit on the bloodworm. After a spirited fight, I landed a chunky 17 inch fish. I let the bloodworm back out and repeated a very slow troll/drift occasionally just pausing to let the fly bounce along the bottom. The bloodworm worked again and this fish was larger than the first.


I wanted to check if it was 20 inches or not so I went back in to shore to measure and clean the fish and take a photo. It turned out to be 19 inches was was stuffed to the gills with large black leeches. Normally I see fish eating small leeches around an inch long but these were much bigger. I took the shrimp off and put on a leech tied with black llama hair. About a half hour later my luscious Llama leech was rewarded with another nice 19 inch fish that was a twin of the one I caught on the bloodworm.

Around 11:00 am the clouds started to form and a breeze picked up so I decided to leave while conditions were still good. I didn't see evidence of any monster sized fish, but if the fish survive this winter there should be some really big ones by next year.

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