The West Kootenay Fishing Report is provided by Kerry Reed from Reel Adventures Sportfishing in Nelson, ph. 250-505-4963 or go to www.reeladventuresfishing.com. Area Lakes provided by flyfishbc.blogspot.com.
Fall is in the air. The water has cooled. And it’s now time for my favourite season of fishing.
Kootenay Lake: The fishing has been consistent on Kootenay for the past month and should only get better as the water cools down.
Most days we’ve had around 10 fish to the boat and a few days even busier. Rainbows have been fattening up a bit this fall and there’s been a few in the five-pound range. Lots of 2 -3 pound fish with the odd bigger one mixed in.
And bull trout are still hanging in there as well. We are seeing a few bulls up to 10 pounds, but mostly 3 - 5 pounders.
The Woodbury Resort annual rainbow derby, Oct. 6-8, pulled in lots of fish, with the winning rainbow weighing in at 4.4 pounds.
Columbia River: Fly fishing for Rainbows has been productive, and spin casting for rainbows and walleye has produced as well.
The usual 2 -3 pound rainbows are coming in, with a few up to five pounds. And the Walleye seem a bit smaller than last year, but still some great eating fish at 2-3 pounds.
Area Lakes: After some epic fishing on smaller area lakes in September, the fishing slowed down a bit with cooler weather in October. But hatches are still strong with the recent sunshine, and made any day a pleasant one on the lakes with usually good results. Lakes like Rosebud, Champion, Nancy Greene and Cottonwood are popular and of course Summit and Box near Nakusp are favourite destinations for many anglers.
The fishing should remain decent well into November, with trout feeding heavy to beef up for winter, however, the days will get shorter, so plan accordingly.
What are they biting on?
On Kootenay Lake it’s been the usual assortment. Bucktail flies have been working, as well as small spoons and hockey sticks. Our best lures have been flies in the # 210, 215, and 226 colors. And crocodile spoons in the brass/fire wing, nickel/fire stripe, and brass/fire stripe colors have been working just as well and sometimes better.
For the bull trout, we’ve been catching mostly on the flasher/hoochie combo. Green Lemon Lime flasher or STS flasher with a green spatter back hoochie has been my stand by. The bulls have been between 80 and 120 feet lately.
And on the Columbia River, its been a mix of fly fishing or spin casting. Most of our walleye are being caught on jig heads with curly tails or using the bottom bouncer with a worm.
The rainbows have been caught on a mix of croc spoons on the spinning rods, or streamers and nymphs on the fly rods.
In local lakes, # 14-16 red chironomids or #10-12 bloodworm patters are still working for fly fishers, although searching at deeper depths may be required. Dragging leech patterns (ie: egg-sucking leech), and woolly buggers on full-sink lines, or casting over drop offs and into shallows with micro-leeches in maroon, brown, and black proved deadly.