The West Kootenay Fishing Report is provided by Kerry Reed of Reel Adventure Sportfishing Charters. Call Kerry at 250-505-4963 to book your trip or go to www.reeladventuresfishing.com.
Kootenay Lake: The water temperature is perfect and the fish are biting.
Our temps have dropped to low 50’s which has brought most fish to the surface.
We have had some great days with up to 20 fish coming in, although we have experienced a few slower days this fall compared to last fall. Seems like the fish will put the feedbags on for a couple days, and then become lazy for a few days after.
The latest catches have seen Rainbows between 2-to-3 pounds and Bull Trout up to 10 pounds. We have seen the odd Rainbow over 4 pounds, but not as many as we had expected. Especially since we saw some fat Rainbows in August that were finding some kokanee to eat. This pattern has changed, and the fish are back to eating mysid shrimp or any remaining insects in the lake.
October provided us with some decent weather and some really good outings. We have been taking a lot of corporate groups out lately, as the year is winding down for a lot of businesses who have been busy all summer and finally get to enjoy a break. These trips have been a blast. It’s always a good ‘team building’ experience, with maybe a little bit of friendly competition to make it interesting.
Looking forward to more group outings as more of our regular corporate groups begin to wind down.
November/December have always been our best months in the fall, so we’ll see what the fish gods bring us.
Columbia River: The river is still producing some beauty Rainbows, although we have wrapped up our guided trips on the jet sled for this season. Unless we get some mild, sunny days coming up.
Last week, we did manage to land some Rainbows up to 20 inches. The water remains low, and the fish are hanging in a lot of different runs. The braided water is still producing fish on the streamers or wooly buggers. And the back eddies are still holding fish and providing some good takes on the indicator and nymph.
There are also still Walleye hanging around, so that’s another option as well.
While we may not make many trips on the jet sled coming up, we will still hit the river a few times from the shore this winter. Looking forward to some ‘float fishing’ and some bottom fishing, as these are easy techniques from the shore.
Stay tuned….
What are they biting on?
On the Lake, it’s been a mixed bag lately. One day the bucktails are working, but lately the spoons have been producing more. The fish seem to be located in pockets. We have covered a lot of water lately and found some good pockets of fish. Once your into the fish, it seems to be busy with lots of action and double headers. Favourite bucktails have been the #203 (November Special), 210 (bleeding gill), 215 (grey ghost) and the 226.
Spoons working best for us are the usual Gibbs/Delta croc. Brass/fire stripe, Hammered Brass/fire stripe, brass/fire wing have been our best lures for Rainbows.
And for the Bull Trout, it’s been the usual STS or Lemon Lime flasher followed by the Green Spatterback or Green pistachio hoochie. Depths from 80ft to 150ft have been working for us.
Speed is always a factor and depends on water temperature. At this moment in time, we are running between 2.7mph and 3.2mph.
Hope this helps with your next adventure.
Tight lines …
Read: West Kootenay Fishing Report: June fishing a hot month for Kootenay anglers
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