White Lake BC 2010.04.05

by Mr BFSH
(Kamloops)

KJ and I went east today and targeted White Lake, in the Shuswap. KJ had been there earlier this year and I haven't been at White since around 1998.

We pulled into the Provincial Park on the north side of the the lake at around 9:30am. There were a few boats on the lake and one guy was fishing from shore. The water was nearly flat and the sky was cloudy.

We decided to work the north shore toward the east end of the lake. I was surprised how fast the shoals dropped off and how deep it quickly became. There were lots of chironomids hatching in both shallow and deep water. KJ was determined to get to the east end of the lake while I drifted over the shoals at a slower pace. At one point I spotted some fish hanging around a drop off so I doubled back and anchored in about 6' of water, fishing to 20'. I thought that I would start off with a green micro-leech on one line and a bloodworm on the other.

It took a while but I finally had a strike on the dry line w/ strike indicator and the bloodworm. It was sitting at about 14' below the surface. The fish was about 14" and had a bright red streak. Next cast I was into another, just about the same size.
Nothing happened for another half hour so I pulled up anchor, pulled in my dry lines and threw out 2 wet lines as I drifted with the wind.

As I drifted over the next shoal and got into deeper water I had a big hit on my Type IV line with the black micro-leech with an orange bead. I could tell right away that it was a heavier fish than I had earlier. It put up a typical rainbow fight. One jump, 4 long runs and numerous short runs. When I got it into the net it measured 20.5" and weighed 3lbs 8oz. Nice fish. I kept this one. And good thing... there wasn't another fish to be had for the rest of the day.

We went over to the south shore and explored the shoals there. By 4pm the wind had picked up. There were only a few chironomids to be seen and the weather was starting to darken the sky. We headed back over to the north shore but nothing was happening. We were going to anchor for another half hour but we were rudely interrupted by some ugly wind and a bit of rain so we high tailed it back to shore and called it a day.

It was the first time KJ and I had been out together this year. Too bad he didn't catch anything... but he looked good on the water.