Morgan Lake near Tobiano BC Sept 25, 2009
by Mr BFSH
A Double Header - Mine is the Big One - Kylee
Kylee's First Fish!My great-niece and her family from St Albert were at Tobiano, BC this past week and we had a chance to get up to Morgan Lake on Friday. Kylee fished for the first time with me earlier this year at Leighton Lake where she learned how to net fish but came up short on catching one. I was bound and determined to see her catch her first fish. We arrived just before 3pm and there was an east breeze blowing, perfect to launch from the east end boat launch. While we were gearing up, another man (Al was his name) arrived with his beautiful golden retriever. He was going to fly fish from shore. We were both ready about the same time and he volunteered to push up off through the pond scum at the launch. It was real nice of him. As we started to head out into more open water, Al walked around to the side of the lake, spotted a rainbow cruising the shore and cast a bloodworm underneath a strike indicator. It wasn't 2 minutes and he was into a fish... I thought... this was going to be a good day. Kylee is only 7 years old so, as you can quite imagine, casting could be a potential disaster. I decided that today would be a good trolling day and I hooked her up with a black speckled Apex lure (like a flatfish)on her Princess Spinning Rod. It only took a few minutes before I got into my first fish. I was using a TypeIII sinking line with a #12 holo-red Booby Fly pattern with white boobies. The fish was about 14" long and Kylee, drawing from her past experience, netted the fish with the proficiency of seasoned fisherperson. After we netted and released the fish we continued drifting west with the wind. About 7 minutes later it was Kylee who had one on. She recognized it right away and started reeling. Her reel was set up with some slack so she didn't horse the fish in or rip the hook from it's mouth. It was a nice fish, close to 18" or 45cm. Just as I got the net in the boat to un-hook it, BANG, my line started running. I got Kylee to keep her fish (hook and all) in the net and hang it over the side in the water to keep the fish healthy and breathing while I got mine in. I took over the netting duties as I got my fish to the boat and before you knew it, there were 2 fish in the net... Kylee's was at least an inch or 2 bigger. It took a minute to take the pictures and then both fish were revived and released, unharmed. The wind died not long after and we trolled around the west end (usually my favorite) without much luck, a couple of tugs, that's it. We headed back to mid-lake where Kylee latched on to another... this time on a yellow/red-spoted apex. It put up a good fight, going down deep and running toward the boat. Kylee had to really crank the reel to catch up with the fish... for a moment she thought that she had lost it. When she finally got the line tightened, the fish was still there. Following my instructions, she was able to pull the fish to the surface and drop it into the net. Wow, another nice fish, just a bit smaller than her first fish and about the same size as my second fish. The fishing was spotty and we went quite awhile without a bite. Kylee was getting a little bored and wanted to go in until she saw this other fellow (in a boat) hit a few fish. This got her interest up again in a hurry. This pleased me. We set an on-going agreement that we would go in after the next fish. Can you imagine, me, mr BFSH, under the gun to not only catch the next fish, but also the biggest fish to save face with a 7 year old fish slayer (she didn't feel the pressure at all)? We both got a couple of good hits... I lost one then she lost one. Finally, with some luck from above, I hit one that stayed on. It was a nice one that pulled my line under the boat and then bolted into the air on the other side. I managed to get my line on the correct side, pulled the fish to the surface and had Kylee do the expert netting job. As we trolled back to the launch we both had a couple of smaller hits but nothing came to the boat. The sun had dropped behind the hills and there was a nip in the air. It was time to go. We passed the other fisherman in his boat as we drifted in and watched him pick up a couple of small fish near the east end. It was a great day... awesome weather, decent fishing, one happy kid and one relieved mentor. I'm looking forward to next season when Kylee and her family come back to Tobiano to enjoy the great lifestyle, including fishing the Kamloops Area Lakes, that it offers. Looking to move to Tobiano or the Kamloops Area?The Doyle Group offers over 25 years of residential and commercial real estate experience in the Kamloops area. Kamloops Real Estate
|
