Campbell Lake - Chironomid Heaven
May 28, 2009

by BFSH
(Kamloops)

The early bite was quiet at "Campbell Lake" (well known in the "Kamloops Area Lakes") this morning. I hit the water about 10am with a plan to work the north shore starting directly across the lake. It didn't quite work as planned as an easterly breeze came up so I chose to drag a booby fly on my deep sinking line for an hour and had no luck.

There were some chironomid casings on the water, brown and gold in color. The fish finder was locating fish at 12'-13' in 15'-16' of water. I geared up with both of my dry lines, adding a strike indicator to one of the setups. It was to be a chironomid on each line, a black/gold and a brown/red.

I had the occasional tap while drifting the chironies but there were no fatal commitments from the fish. I moved closer to shore where I heard the occasional rise of smaller rainbow trout. While drifting I discovered a shelf that dropped from 7'/8' to 14'/16' and the fish finder started picking up more fish. This seemed like a good place to anchor so I found a spot near some weeds. I hit my first fish 5 minutes later.

Soon there was another strike, on both lines. A "double header"! They were smaller than the first fish. One fish was allowed the courtesy of a 10-foot-release and the other one was released once it got it to the boat. The excitement level was climbing. And there was nobody else around.

Between 12noon and 12:45 I landed 3 fish and missed a few more. They were about 13" each. I knew I wanted to take some fish home today so I kept 2 for dinner.
One boat trolled by and they had 2 fish, again, on the small side.

Just before 1:00pm there was increase in activity right along the weeds about 100' west of where I was sitting. The breeze had shifted from an easterly to a westerly so I pulled up anchor and moved. It would be the last time I had to move for the rest of the day.

Using 2 dry lines, with and without a strike indicator I prepared for battle. I cast the strike indicator line with a small #14 brown and red chironie set at about 5'below the surface. I put a black and gold (fine rib) with a black head on the naked line. Before it could settle, I was into a nice fish on the strike indicator. 18" and about 2 1/2lbs. Finally a nice fish. I kept this one too as it was the biggest fish seen this day.

The 2nd double header struck before 1:30pm. This time I had 2 larger fish, 15"/16". The action was getting delirious. Every cast produced a hit on either line. And the bigger fish were starting to show. I kept a 22" and a 19" fish to complete my limit. While I continued to fish I still managed to release a few 20" fish and quite a few in the 15"/17" range.

By 3:30pm things were starting to slow down, only 3 fish to 4:00 pm. Then, it started picking up again! It wasn't long that I hooked into a beauty while a boat of trollers went by. I took a few minutes to get it in and it ended up being a whopping 23" fish that I weighed in at 4lbs 12oz. It was my biggest fish of the day so far.

I caught fish until 5pm when I pulled up my anchors to head home (I had promised the Princess that I would be home for supper). As I drifted I made one last cast toward the weeds and yep, you guessed it... another one, about 19" long and about 3lbs.

Great day. I seem to get at least one or two of them each year, usually between the middle of May and mid-June. This certainly qualified. I suspect I managed to get 30+ fish to the boat, 4 double-headers and 2 break-offs on solid strikes.

I'm sure that I was lucky to be in the right spot at the right time with the right flies. The fish were not picky as to what colour the chironomids were, just that they were the right size. I caught twice as many fish on the neat line as opposed to the indicator line but it was the indicator line that won the "size award" for the day as it was responsible for most of the fish over 20".

On May 28th, it was Chironomid Heaven on Campbell Lake for me.