Well, generally I never go away on the May long weekend as I just can't deal with the gong-show. This year though work has been crazy-busy and I just really wanted to get away, so I decided to make a day-trip to a lake.
My first choice was just staying really local and going to Buntzen. But I can do that easily in an afternoon.
So then I was going to go to Alta in Whistler. However that's a 2 hour drive anyhow, why not add another 45 minutes and head towards Merritt?
So I picked a lake up that way and spent last night getting my gear together. Cleaned off the reels, checked my rods, looked over my flies, etc. ALMOST forgot the pontoons for my pontoon boat. Would've been pretty choked to have arrived at the lake with just the frame! lol
I woke up some time after 5am this morning and as I'd already loaded everything into the Forester the previous evening I was on the road by 5:45am. The drive was uneventful, and the highway was empty. One of the bonuses of heading into the interior on a Saturday morning I suppose.
I arrived at the lake to partially sunny skies and a stiff breeze just after 9am. I put my pontoon boat together and strung up the rods, had some conversations with some other gents at the boat launch, and pushed off at a very civilized 10am. Having never fished this lake before, I spent the rest of the morning paddling/kicking around it, trolling various colours of microleeches around on a slime line and a floating line without so much as a sniff. There were about 4 or 5 other boats on the water and I didn't see a single bent rod all morning.
The breeze soon turned into a steady wind, and I finally decided to anchor up and try some chironomiding - despite the fact that the other boats had already been chironomiding all morning without any luck. I just couldn't take dealing with the wind while trying to troll.
I've finally got anchoring figured out in my pontoon boat after some tips from others here on the board. I drop a 10lb mushroom anchor off the back and cleat it off in a Scotty Anchor lock after paying out some line. Then, once my boat is lined up properly, I drop a 3-4 pound cannonball off the front tip of the left pontoon. The line runs through a carabiner that is clipped onto the pontoon ring. This keeps my pontoon boat relatively steady even in a pretty gusty wind.
I flipped out a #14 gunmetal chironomid on my dryline with the indicator set at about 19' (I was in 18-23' of water). The I started casting and retrieving a microleech on my slimeline. After 15 minutes of this I decided to focus on the chironomid instead. I began a slow, choppy retrieve and with the bobber only a few feet from my rod tip, I felt more than saw the strike - fish on!
She stayed deep and just thrashed around for the first couple of minutes, then a screaming run took her nearly into the reeds 40' in front of me. I managed to turn her and get her under control, and after a few heartstopping moments I finally slipped the net under just over 23 inches of rainbow trout. She had shoulders like an NFL linebacker, I had a tough time getting her out of the net as I couldn't get my hands around her. Finally I just gave up and slowly slipped the net out from under her and watched her meander away back into the depths.
Definitely the biggest fish I've ever started my season with!
Two casts later my bobber moved sideways and I set the hook into another hot rainbow. This one was a respectable 19" but felt bigger than the first fish for much of the fight. I decided to keep this one as my wife loves it when I bring fish home.
The remainder of the anchored afternoon passed without event, except for a brief nap in my pontoon boat at about 3pm. Eventually I decided to brave the wind and paddle back to the launch. I threw out a mayfly nymph on the slimeline to troll back as I'd seen a couple of mayflies coming off, though I didn't have much hope as I was paddling at full steam ahead. Surprisingly, just as I approached the last turn to the launch my reel started screaming and I battled another beautiful 19" trout to the net. I let this one go as well.
All three fish were built like tanks, silver with dark backs and a lovely pink/purple sheen down their lateral line. None of the jumped but they all pulled real real hard.
I was back on the road just after 4, and got back home before 8pm. All in all, it was a great day to be out. This was my first ever daytrip to the interior, and I'm thinking I'll definitely do it again. Hopefully with someone next time to share the ride.
Tex
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Topic: Interior lake day trip (May 18, 2013) (Read 1248 times)