Report #5 (May 25th, 2014) Whiteswan Lake has come alive and is producing lots of rainbows! Today the shop was closed so we decided to head up to Whiteswan Lake Provincial Park located northeast of Cranbrook in the East Kootenay region of B.C. It was a beautiful drive up the valley and into the Rocky Mountains to Whiteswan Lake. The weather was not as good as we would have preferred, but hey, when you have a day off you need to take advantage of it! It was overcast with a little rain now and then, with temperatures reaching highs of 60°F (16°C). But when you are dressed for the weather with proper rain-gear and warm clothes you can easily handle a day like today… so remember to “be prepared”. The water conditions and clarity of Whiteswan are now excellent. One can see at least 10 feet into the water, which is very helpful in spotting cruising fish in the shallows. The water temperature was 53°F (11.7°C), which was also good as when it goes over 50 the fish become active. As has been the case so far this spring, we again decided to chironomid fish. So we cruised around the one end of the lake and found a drop off ledge were we could see some fish cruising along. We set up our rods to the desired depth and positioned ourselves with the wind at our backs. We casted out the chironomid rigs and let them sink slowly down into the water column. The retrieve was a slow and deliberate with 3 pulls then a stop, then repeated again and again until retrieval was complete. We had heard about a sizable flying ant hatch the previous Thursday on Whiteswan so we were wary the fish might have already gorged themselves and would be resting and digesting. However, we were fortunate that they were starting to eat again. Between the two of us we caught over twenty rainbows and they all looked very healthy and strong. The biggest catch of the day was a robust 21 inch rainbow that fought well and jumped many times. This fish did not like being hooked up and had plenty of energy to fight hard until he finally gave up. It was very fun to have a big fish pull on the line like that! The dominant hatch on the day was a smallish chironomid hatch in the afternoon. The flying ants were not very evident today. So the Black, red and green chironomids all worked quite well. We also had success with the micro–leech, as well as some ant patterns. The only wild life seen on the day was a bald eagle protecting its nest and patrolling the land and water for food. Lakes Update: Premier and Whiteswan lakes have been fishing very well. Whitetail Lake is also fishing okay, but one has to go very deep using the deep line technique to get down to where the fish are. Overall the lakes are still fishing very well, but it can vary day to day. They tell me that is why they call it fishing and not catching. Columbia River Update: The Columbia River is fishing great and we will be guiding there all of June. If you want to chase big rainbow trout come and fish the Columbia with us, you will not be disappointed! Hope to see you on the water soon. Kelly St.Mary Angler PS Call us at 1-800-667-2311 to discuss available days on the Columbia River in June.
Posted on: Fri, 30 May 2014 04:53:44 +0000
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