A few days ago my friend Nikolai finished his defence for his Master thesis, and as expected he phoned me up last night to see if a fishing trip is doable before he leaves to Europe next week. Knowing that rain was expected all day and how hydrophobic I am, I reluctantly agreed to take him out for a few hours of fishing at Kawkawa Lake. Nikolai is still quite new to fishing. I've previously taken him out rainbow trout fishing at Buntzen Lake and pink salmon fishing in the Tidal Fraser River with some success, so his expectation has been big whenever we get a chance to go out.
The target species is kokanee. These freshwater sockeye salmon, which have been landlocked for who knows how long, are pretty to stare at and tasty out of the oven. It is a precious fishery that is perfect for the entire family to participate in the Fraser Valley from late winter to early summer. Because the amount of food is significantly lower in a lake than in the ocean, kokanee do not grow very big compared to their saltwater cousins. 10 to 13 inches is the typical length for a kokanee in Kawkawa Lake this time of the year. As food becomes more available when the lake warms up, they will fatten up and gain a couple more inches by August.
Trout and landlocked coho are also common residents of Kawkawa Lake. Identifying a kokanee can be done easily. Their eyes are noticeably large compared to their head and their shiny body lacks spots like other salmon species. When looked from the side under the sun.
The choice of weapon today was red dyed krill. Nothing too fancy as we were looking for consistent success due to time limitation. A sliding weight with a short 4lb test leader and a size 6 hook was used to rig these little crustaceans up.
Upon our arrival, we were greeted by dozens of rising fish on a very glassy lake. We were also the first boat on the water. It was a welcoming sight. We hurried out to the spot where I was having some success last week. After a brief instruction, Nikolai sent his bait down to the bottom and waited for that first tug. The silent anticipation was rather exciting.
An hour went by and the rod tip staring game continued with no rewards. Nikolai placed the rod down on the boat and his eyes began wandering away. I said, "Keep your eyes on the rod tip, any minute now."
Those eyes came back to the rod tip, for a few minutes, before being lured away by the nearby snowy mountains. He is after all, an avid back country skier. As we chatted away, I suddenly spotted a quick tug on his rod tip at the corner of my eyes. Instinct kicked in instantly, I grabbed his rod without a verbal warning and set the hook. "Here's your fish", said I when I handed the dancing rod to him.
A lively kokanee surfaced seconds later.
The bite was on! Kokanee often travel in schools, so when one fish is caught, another can be expected immediately. Once Nikolai's fish was taken care of, my focus quickly came back to my rod. Before he was able to finish baiting, I was already hauling in my first.
These actions in the boat replayed themselves over and over again for the rest of our trip. The bites were on more often than off and we were able to keep our daily quotas of four fish as well as releasing many more.
All of the fish were the same size and according to Nick, they are all three year old fish. Once awhile, a four year old fish could be encountered and its different personality can instantly be felt on the line. Today I had one of these bigger, older fish, which I actually thought was a bull trout for a few seconds when it was first connected. I also found a coho salmon, which was good as I wanted to show Nikolai how different it looks to a kokanee.
The outing ended at 2:30pm as planned. The timing could not be better as the rain had held off the entire time until when we were packing up. It was a good way to send a friend off to Europe with a few fish tales to tell.
The kokanee fishing at Kawkawa Lake should be good for the rest of March. A boat is required and you can either fly, lure or bait fish for them. Good luck to those who are planning to head out this weekend.
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Topic: Kawkawa Lake March 14th, 2008 (Read 15301 times)