Red Lake April 14 2010

by Mr BFSH
(Kamloops)

It was a warmer day than when Wayne and I went on Sunday but it was much windier.
I got to the lake at about 10:30am and there were a couple of boats on the water and one guy fishing from shore.

While I was on shore gearing up I talked to an older chinese man from Vancouver. His english was very spotty but I did understand that his brother was still on the water. He was cold and they had caught one fish. Before I got on the water, his brother Harry came in to warm up and he showed me his nice brook trout... I think they were using trolling gear but I'm not sure.

I headed down the bottom of the lake, just as I did the other day, using my wet line and a booby fly. Two light hits and that was it. The booby just wasn't working today. The north-west wind was blowing me all over the place.

Finding a little bit of cover from the main breeze, I anchored in front of the houses at the south east end of the lake and changed to my dry lines, one with a micro-leech and the other with a blood worm c/w strike indicator. I was retrieving the micro-leech and just lifting the line when I had a strike... but because my rod tip was already up, I had to really lift... and over I went, tipping my unsecured boat seat. I scrambled to get up, giving a little slack on my line but tightening it quickly as I stood and started bringing in the fly on the reel. As I cranked the reel I noticed that the bottom sleeve that holds the reel had slipped down and now I had a reel falling off.

And this was a big fish... it was starting to man-handle me. I hadn't seen it yet and had taken a couple of runs before the reel slipped off. So now I'm holding on with my fingers of one hand while I'm trying to re-attach my reel. Finally after getting it somewhat secured, the fish found a little slack in my line and started heading to the bullrushes. I raised my rod tip to take control and as my line grabbed a little bit of weed, the tippit snapped leaving me only to guess how big it was. With the way it had its way with me I would have to guess that it was 6lbs+. I can honestly say that I have never hooked a heavier fish in Red Lake, ever.

The rest of the afternoon was not very productive... I caught a couple of small brookies in the micro-leech and around 5:30 I thought that I would go in. I was the only person left on the lake, at least as far as I could see. As I approached the boat launch and the wind had subsided, I noticed a number of rises in the shallow water between the launch and the old beaver dam. I thought that I would give it a try and I'm glad I did. The fish were mostly small but they were active and hungry. I ended up catching on plump 2lb brook trout to take home but I didn't pull off the water until 7pm after catching a dozen or so fish to end a difficult day.

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The water in the south end of the lake was full of debris which indicated to me that lake might be turning. It was still a cool 42F for most of the day. The shallow bays were a little warmer.

NO Hatches to report although the fish were rising to something during the evening bite.

Kamloops Area Lakes

Solunar Tables for Best Fishing Times

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