Scuitto Lake - June 6

by Mr BFSH
(Kamloops, BC)

24 inch Scuitto Lake Rainbow

I had to twist KJ's arm a bit when I mentioned Scuitto Lake. It seems that he hasn't had much luck there in the past. But after he gave me his song and dance he finally agreed to try it one more time.

I got there before him, knowing how long I take to get ready. We were both on-time and anticipating the major solunar period that was to occur around 9am. I met a local guy from Kamloops (I think Dennis was his name) and he said that the fishing was good... it was his 5th time back in the last 2 weeks. I believed him, the fishing has been that good at almost any lake in the Kamloops region since the May long weekend. He gave us some info which coincided with some previous info that I got from Mike Porco of Tobiano Golf. He had shot a TV show there with the "Skins & Fins" crew including Henry Wazchuk (look for the show airing in the fall/winter).

I generally fish the SW corner, behind the big island but on this day I thought that I would fish the east side of the lake. I had never really spent time in that area and when I did, I got the big ZERO. I decided to hone in on the area where Campbell Creek comes into the lake and found a spot that I could fish the drop-off or the shoal. I particularly noticed how dark (tea-coloured) the water was... not to my surprise as Campbell Lake has the same consistency. KJ set up about 40 yards to my left.

I was into fish right away, using a chromie chironomid. They seemed to like the smaller #14 as opposed to #12 sized hook. KJ struggled, only getting into a couple of fish until he had to move (an etiquette story to be told later).

After getting into a half dozen fish or so, a guy in his pontoon parked himself a little too close to me on my right hand side but because we were fishing with the wind at our backs and casting parallel, I didn't say anything. Then a boat of 3 older guys pulled in right between KJ and I. I'm sure that they were close enough to KJ to count the hairs in his ears. Then these guys dropped their anchor with a chain made to pull trains, rubbing it along the edge of their aluminum boat... a noise that would wake the dead as well as scare the fish within a 200m radius. Neither of us caught another fish from that position and eventually we pulled up anchor and moved. The worst thing was that these guys had the right fly and were doing very well catching fish.

When I moved I did alright, catching another couple of fish. KJ talked to Dennis again as he trolled by and he took his advice by putting a large green shrimp on his sinking line and went for a troll. Fishing had slowed down enough that I thought that I would follow KJ and make my way over to the island area. Weather was starting to move in and out, including a little shower here and there.

When I caught up to KJ, he was just putting his line back in the water. Sure enough, the big shrimp attracted a big fish and Ken showed me his freshly landed 24 inch, 5.0 lb rainbow... a real beauty.

I went to the back of the island and although there were a few rainbows moving now and then, the wind was making things uncomfortable. I hung around for a half hour or so but didn't touch a fish.

I could see that my initial spot was now void of fishermen so I hot-footed it back to where I started. As soon as I got there and got my line in the water, I was into fish. And wouldn't you know it, for the 2nd time in the day, as soon as I was into fish, guess who came back to circle my wagon?... you guessed it... 2 of the 3 older guys and then a little later, the pontoon guy. The older guys did the same ritual with the chain but this time they gave me just enough space (like KJ did earlier). And sure enough, the pontoon guy set up right between us. This time he was casting directly into my water. I stayed silent for a while but then this guy started casting even closer to my boat. I sent out a cast that landed right beside his line and he gave me a look like "W-T-F" are you doing? I finally spoke up and gave them all a blurb on etiquette and let them know how pissed I was for them infringing on my space... I thought that I did it rather respectfully but to the point. The pontoon guy moved but he wouldn't talk to me for the rest of the evening. Oh well, at least now he knows what the expectation is.

It was a pretty good day... The weather deteriorated after 7pm. KJ left about a half hour before I packed it in. I only took home one fish (19") and KJ kept his 24"er.

Although the fishing was good, it is of great concern that there appears to be an ever increasing number of people coming to our lakes that either don't know the rules and regulations, have no idea of general lake etiquette or yell across the lake like hockey players speak on the ice.

What ever happened to the bit of class and respect that fly fishermen used to have amongst themselves?

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