Our first Interior BC lake trip was not disappointing as usual. Nick, Chris and I headed up to Merritt on Wednesday. For me it was simply a quick overnight trip, while they stayed one extra day. I was quite excited to try out these new Stryker Rods that have just been built up. The setup for the trip was a 9' 4wt Stryker with an Islander LX3.2 and a 9' 5wt Stryker with an Islander LX 3.4.
Our first destination was Mamit Lake, just northeast of Merrit. It's a fairly large lake, so we decided that my little pram should be towed by Nick's boat to where we wanted to go. The day started out with a few mishaps. As Nick threw over the tow rope to me, the metal clip at the end hit one of the new rods preciously and instantly snap one section in half.
As we made our way to the spot, I noticed that the electric motor was doing the funky dance in my boat. The wooden board had fallen off who knows where and the electric motor was dangling and held on by the wires to the battery.
We quickly stopped and I hopped back into my pram to rescue the motor.
Once we got organized, the fishing instantly fired up. Fish of all sizes up to 3lb were hopping all around us.
When these rainbow trout got lazier, the odd northern pikeminnow managed to sneak in.
Fishing with two rods can be hazardous at times. Double headers were not uncommon.
The weather was pleasant throughout the day, except the freak hail storm that came without any warning at one point.
We ended the day with about 50 to 60 fish landed. They were between 14 and 19 inches long.
The second day we fished a smaller, remote lake for some Fraser Valley rainbow trout that were stocked in it last year. Without a winter kill, these fish have grown to around 3 to 4lb heavy. Their length is between 16 and 20 inches, but the girth is much larger than the ones that we targeted on previous day. These larger fish don't jump much, but their robust runs did some damages after numerous hook-ups.
The day started out slowly but fishing picked up once hatches came on strongly.
I ended up hooking a dozen or so fish. Nick was into over 20. Chris did not connect with as many fish, because he went for a snooze on the hill when the fishing was just picking up. A good start for this season, more to come hopefully.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e99xh2yKtGQ