Spent four nights in a cottage on the south shore of Vaseux Lake this past week trying out the bass fishing.
It's a non-power lake so it was ideal for the kayak. What a great place and experience: whether it was the fishing, paddling around when it was like a mill pond, watching the helicopters fill their buckets up close, or the wildlife (diving Ospreys, beavers, kingfishers etc) , I can't recommend it enough.
First up, the kayak was ideal. I have a zodiac style inflatable but the wind gets up late morning and rowing in it would have been a disaster. Score one for the kayak. I did a fair amount of trolling plus stopping and fishing specific spots so it worked really well plus was fun and I got some exercise. The kayak is low to the water so it doesn't get blown around as much and it didn't seem to spook the wildlife half as much as my slapping oars.
The fishing was good, I would fish early morning and late evening typically catching between five and nine fish each outing (though I was skunked once). Almost all smallmouth bass with one largemouth and a few perch. There were no hots spots and what was rewarding as I had to keep switching up different methods to land fish at different times.
Trolling a small rapala shad on topwater seemed to produce the most consistent results, usually on the west side of the island in the transitions from ten to twenty feet of water. When that didn't work, deeper lures got me the bigger fish including a largemouth of about three pounds and a couple of smallmouth close to a couple of pounds.
By far the most fun was my first time trying popper type lures. It was a thrill to watch bass smash the lure and then do somersaults trying to throw the hook (which some did).
Texas rigged worms landed me a couple in the weedy areas on the south of the lake including one really big one that seemed would have been the largest based on the line it ripped off the reel however it dug into the weeds and got away.
The other notable fish was one I saw in the shallows of the little side channel tucked away at the most southerly point of the lake - a massive carp , my guess mid to high teens. Saw it twice or saw to separate ones cruising round the quiet little channel. I have caught a 16 lb carp in the UK and I'm sure it was bigger than that. Next time I go I will bring my carp gear and give it a go.
Highly recommend giving it a try if you are in the area - fishing morning and evenings, wine tasting during the day - life just doesn't get better than that.
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Topic: Vaseux Lake - August 20th (Read 2793 times)