I have started my annual trek to the Leighton / Tunkwa area to do sport with the rainbows with "bomber" size chironomids. "Bombers" tend to be the biggest chironomids of the season, often reaching 2cm in length.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

On July 17th I had the honour of taking out my great-niece, Kylie (age7), for her first fishing trip and she had been excited about going for weeks. We armed her with a cool spinning rod for girls (purchased from Surplus Herby's)and a bobber/worm set-up. My intentions were to just cast from shore but that was not working because the wind was blowing straight at us. After about 1/2 hour Kylie talked me into taking her in the boat.

We rowed out to the north-east corner of the lake. Even though it was windy, the fish were flying out of the water on a regular basis. We anchored in about 12 ft of water and started fishing. I would bait her hook and cast it out while she retrieved. In between her casts, I worked a dry line with a strike indicator and a #12 black chironomid with a green rib.

I was into fish right away. Kylie kept losing her worm so I put on a chironomid but I could only comfortably position it about 6ft under the bobber because of the difficulty to cast. Kylie did however offer to net my fish and with a little experience she excelled quickly.

I was into about my 3rd fish when it took a wild run and crossed Kylie's line. I eased the fish around and got it untangled while still fighting it. Kylie's line sat about 5ft from the boat and just as I was she was netting my fish, she had a hit on her line. By the time we got the rod in her hands, her fish got caught around the anchor rope and popped off. I felt for her but I told her to shake it off and we would try for another. She took it with a smile of optimism.

A few more fish on my trusty chironomid and Kylie got another fish on. This time she was closer to the rod and was able to get it into her hands and start reeling. The fish jumped once as it got close to the boat and it shook the hook. This time Kylie took it in stride and just wanted to get her line back out there.

The bite slowed as the afternoon passed. I asked Kylie a couple of times if she wanted to go (some of the best patience that I have ever seen of a kid in a boat) and she kept resisting... even when she decided to lay down across the seat. I took the hint and headed in. We kept 4 fish of the 8 caught. She was so proud to be able to bring some fish home for her sister on her birthday.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Returned to Leighton on July 19 with fishing buddy KJ. We got on the water at about 10:30am. The weather was warm but there was a stiff north breeze. We anchored again in the north-east end and both of us were into fish on our first cast. In fact, I was into fish on my first 3 casts, landing 2 on the trusty black and green chironomid. I pumped a fish and found very little in it's stomach. There were a lot of chironomid casings in the water, varying in size from tiny #18's to good sized bombers to #10 size 9672 Mustad. I also tried a brown body/gold rib with white bead head and a brown body/copper rib with copper head that worked very well until it got thrashed by a couple of violent rainbows.

The north-east end slowed about 3pm so we wandered around the point on the north side of the lake. Both of us had a few hits and caught 1 more fish before we headed back in by 6pm. It was a good day with both of us catching an ample number of fish.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

The heat continued in the Kamloops Area (mid to high 30C's). On Friday, July 25, long time friend, Paul Patterson invited me to go out to Leighton. We had been talking about it earlier in the week and that's when he had told me that he had never fished Leighton before. We both had tied a few flies and were anxious to try them.
(Paul is a very experience chironomid fisherman and ties immaculate flies).

Paul hit the water first, about 3:15pm and I followed shortly after. We headed to the north-east corner. Again, there was a stiff breeze blowing in from the north. It seemed like we caught the end of the bite. We both got into a couple of fish early, as were a few other guys and ladies fishing the area. By 4pm it was very quiet and most of the boats left. By 5pm we were the only 2 boats on the lake.

The action was streaky. First Paul would be into a few, then I would take my turn. By 8pm I had landed 7 fish and Paul had about a dozen. I took a few on mayfly nymphs for about an hour and various chironomids had brought in one or two, here and there.

The other fishermen started migrating into the area for the evening bite. I repositioned myself in my "lucky spot" for the final fling. And bite it did.

The bigger fish started to move in and I tied on my trusty black and green chironomid. As the sun disappeared behind the hills, I was into fish almost every cast. I lost a few, broke off a big one and ended up with another 5 fish before heading to shore about 9pm (while the bite was still on).

Another good day on Leighton, even in the very hot weather.