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Heyyyyyy Rick: Funny how things work out, today I was doing some prep work for an upcoming seminar I'll be presenting in about two weeks about pulling hair or bucktails on Okanagan Lake for Trophy trout. After making some notes in the morning I figured I had better double check some of the finer points of the presentation so I headed out on the water about 10 A.M.

About 11.30am a 6# bow hit and app. 20 min. later in the same area I took a 8# bow. Two gorgeous bows, one male, one female, both back in the water for another day. After a couple of hours without a hit I figured the bite for the day was over so I started the 3 mile troll back to the launch site.

Water temp. being 38 degrees I was only trolling about 1.8MPH off the GPS, slight ripple so I had out over 330ft. of line straight behind the boat, on one side I had a Mike Thompson Spilt Shot Black & White Fly which had taken the previous two bows and on the other side Bob Brown of Kootenay Fly Co. had tied me up a custom Pink/White/Silver Fly I was running to see if I could tempt a big Koke. Daydreaming / trolling along I was slow in wakeing up to the fact the rod with the pink fly on was bent almost straight back and line was running,running,running,down,down seeming like almost forever. Big bows seldom jump, the real big boys head straight for the bottom and this was over 600 feet of water. I knew I had a biggggnnnnn on just by the way it sought the security of the deep.

Unlike the smaller 10 to 15 pound Bows that are all over the surface most of the big boys just slug it out and this one was no different than the other 20 pound plus bows I've taken. Bring it in, it heads back for deep at the sight of the boat, bring it in, watch the line spool off the reel,bring it in, finally after about 20 min. it's in the net. The largest bow I've taken out of Lake Okanagan roughly at 24.5 pounds on my cheapy scale. No reviving this one so it was full speed back to the launch, get a local to take some quick pics, load the boat and high tail it to a friend of mine Johnny Siegman who owns Johnny's Fresh Meats in Kelowna and his Goverment Certified Scale.

25.5 pounds on a certified scale after being out of the water for about an hour and a half, my quest for a 25 pound Bow this year had just been realized. Johnny whoes family has fished the Okanagan since his Grandfathers time could only remember two bigger bows a 27 his grandfather took and a 28.5 a friend of the family took years ago.

Giving credit where credit is due I have to thank Mike Thompson and Bob Brown over on the Kootenays for the instructions and help they have given to me over the years, my wifes sense of humor and understanding of my passion for trophy fish and probably as much as anybody Edward "Pop" Hanns and the inspiration he's had on me.

Naturally a Trophy like this is heading down your way for mounting.

Okanagan Jim