Monte Lake, Aug 28,29
by Shawn Proznick
I had the fortune of having some time to fish while camping at Heritage Campsite in the Monte Lake area this past weekend. This campsite was a treat to stay at, with lots of trees and great pull through full hook-up sites. While I had business to do at the campsite during the day on Saturday, the evening was all mine! The clock showed 17:30 and I was firing up the truck, headed for the boat launch located just south of the store, beside the house that the float plane is moored. The entrance off the highway is a bit off a drop off and I would not recommend it if you have little vehicle clearance, instead, use the launch located at the North end of the lake. It has a few picnic tables and some nice shore casting areas. OK, boat is in the water, both fly rods have sinking lines, one with a light green leech and the other with a brown leech, and away I go. I started up the East shore headed to the North end of the lake. The fish finder was going nuts, fish were showing all over the place! The only problem with that was that the area was also thick with weeds, up to 10 feet tall. The weeds made for a very frustrating evening. It was a great excercise in line in and line out after clearing the weeds off the hook. I moved out to deeper water to make life less stressful. This was both good and bad, good as there were no weeds, bad as there were less fish. There seemed to be a hatch of some kind as there were lots of fry poking up, but no fish of size that I saw. I couldn't see what if anything was getting them to show. The water was glass but no visible signs of any bug life. As I made the turn to head West, I found yet more weeds. This end of the lake seems to be very weedy for a long way out from shore. Closer to the West corner there is a weed bed that is sort of out on its own, which was nice for a few taps on the way by. The daylight was fading, a breeze had picked up and I was getting a bit cold. Time to call it a night. I slowly made my way back to the launch, dragging my lines behind me. No luck that night. The next day I was free and clear by noon and in the water by 1 o'clock. Knowing the contour of the North-east end of the lake, I started that way again, this time with only one sinking line with a darker green dragon fly on the end. I was in the water for only two minutes when I had my first hit! A quick tug on the rod and I was into my first fish of the day. The fish had some fight to it with some good head shakes, then it ran towards me a bit. I reeled in fast as I brought the rod back, trying not to let this guy go. I fear that the fish did an about face and started away from the boat for as I brought the rod back I felt his weight on the line again, this time with a lot more force then,...nothing. The line went limp. It must have been a Kokanee and I ripped the hook right through it. Damn, it would have been nice to bring one in right away. Oh well, back to searching for fish. I worked the North end again and found a nice little spot just West of the extended weed bed that I mentioned earlier that seemed to be a fine area to anchor up. I put on a bloodworm and set out a second line with a "pulsating shramsel". The fish seemed to be cruising at around to 24 foot mark in about 27 feet of water but they had no interest in what I was offering. I changed things up a few times, trying different bloodworms, chronnies, leech and dragon patterns. After an hour and a half and only 2 bumps, I decided to change things all together. Earlier in the week I picked up a laketroller downrigger. I set it up and put a line with a gang troll and weddingband at the end. I moved to deeper water, searching for fish. I got some returns at about 40 feet so that's where I targeted. I had done this type of fishing before but it was out of Campbell River for salmon so I was a little perplexed at the sound that I was hearing. At first I thought that my electric was starting to cave on me. After giving it a quick once over I found nothing wrong with the electric so I had to trace the source of this new humming sound. It turned out to be the downrigger line emitting a humming sound as it sliced through the water. The next few hours had me cruising around the lake, watching both the rod tip and the fish finder, hoping to run into a fish. I spent around 12 hours on the water in the 2 days and got into 1 fish. That's the way it goes I guess. It was great weather for the most part, no rain, just some wind now and then. I'm sure that there are some great fish in that lake and I will get into one eventually. Oh well, another day, another time. LAST CHANCE TO ENTER... CONTEST CLOSES LABOUR DAY 11:59PM Best-in-British-Columbia Fishing Vacations Blog2010 Fishing Journal.Kamloops Area LakesRoche Lake AreaFree Solunar TablesBC Fishing Resorts |
