Finally after a real dose of winter things started to clear off to where conditions looked like I could plan on getting out on Lake Okanagan for a few days between fronts. It seemed like every time a weather front moves thru the interior of British Columbia the fishing takes a nose dive and this winter we have seen more then our share of fronts passing through. Even the ice fishermen were complaining of a slower than normal winter fishing and all reports coming in off the big open water lakes were the pits.
No use letting the winter blues set in, so after making up some sandwiches and filling the thermos it was the 20-minute drive up to the Okanagan Centre boat ramp. Kind of a dreary overcast day but at least not much wind for a change. Starting a troll in the general direction of Corbins Point I dropped a Black and Pearl Gibbs 6.25” Hockey Stick down to 56’ and forgot it for the rest of the day. Off the other downrigger I just kept experimenting with whatever trolled compatibly speed and action wise with the Hockey Stick. Once I dialed into a 5.5” Shasta Sling Blade Dodger pulling a Red Wedding Band tipped with a piece of dew worm the action was on. Bow number one was a 2.5 pound chrome beauty taken down at 44’. A little while later the 8-pound plus pictured was taken on same set up. Now this was helping to put the run on the winter’s doldrums and a short time later another 2.5 bow was released back into the 38-degree water. At least this day was better then what I’d been hearing most guys had been doing over the last month.
February 9th
My buddy Johnny had agreed to meet me sometime around 9 AM to fish out of Okanagan Centre on Lake Okanagan. Arriving at the boat launch expecting to see Johnny and his son out on the water all I could see was fog. Somewhere John was trolling around the 100 mile long lake, his truck and trailer parked in the usual spot in the parking lot. Once on the water in my boat I stayed in close where I could watch the shoreline to keep my bearings, eerie feelings indeed in the fog as Lake Okanagan is the home of the Legendary Ogopogo. Not that I’m afraid of the dark, but it was just one of those spooky closed-in mornings. Finally about 10:30 AM the fog started to lift so I trolled out into deeper 37.5-degree water. My experience on bigger interior B.C. Lakes is the deeper the water the larger the fish. I was trolling a Black / Pearl 6.25 Gibbs hockey Stick at 56’ over 400 to 800 foot deep water.
The other downrigger line I just kept playing around with, changing hooks and depths every 20 minutes. About the same time I spotted John’s boat off in the mist the rigger pulling the Hockey Stick jumped! I immediately knew a serious fish was on so I took my bearings so I could rerun the same setup back thru the same area as soon as I landed Mr. Trout. Now this was a nice bow coming into the boat at 15.5 pounds on the scale. I held the fish up so John could snap a picture of it just before I released it back to grow bigger. Getting the Hockey Stick back down to 56’ and setting the trolling speed again at 2.75MPH off the GPS I made a few more passes thru the same general area. Within 15 minutes another large bow is on the Hockey Stick taking serious line. Not quite as big as the first, it still came in at a respectable 13.2 pounds. After getting the same setup back in the water I stayed and worked the area for another hour without a hit. Trolling over to a bay where the eagles hang out I hit a picture perfect three-pound bow. I decided that one was too nice to keep so back in the water it went. A little bit later the fog started to drift back in so I headed back across the lake to the boat launch where I found out I was the only one out of four boats on the water today to take a fish.
February 10th
After being on a bit of a roll the last couple of days I managed a few hours to slip out again, only today I would be fishing for two barbeque fish. One for home and one for a friend of mine who loves eating fish, but only fishes when the sun is shining and it is nice and warm. No AC Plugs or Hockey Sticks searching for bigger fish today, Shasta Sling Blades followed by a Wedding Band and a chunk of worm is a deadly Okanagan combo when I have to produce a supper fish. Seeing as the Okanagan Centre had been productive the last couple of days I again launched there early in the morning. Shortly after getting the downriggers geared up, one at 33’ and the other at 66’ and before the first cup of coffee was poured the rigger set at 66’ started doing its thing. An Abu Garcia Workhorse Downrigger Rod and a Abu Garcia 6500 reel spooled with 17# test is a little over kill for a 2.5 pound bow so in short order the first of the two fish I was after was in the boat. One cup of coffee later the other rigger started bouncing, producing the first bow's twin. Two barby fish in the boat, time to call it a day. To bad as the smell of spring is defiantly in the air.
Jim "Hey" Sutherland
