The West Kootenay Fishing Report is provided by Reel Adventures Sport Fishing Charters in Nelson, phone 250-505-4963 or email info@reeladventuresfishing.com.
Kootenay Lake:
January was a pleasant surprise for weather and allowed us to get out and explore on a lot of days.
The lake temperature is at its coldest and the fish are definitely a bit lazy at this time. Although, we have been getting fish on most outings. The large numbers of fish that we were catching back in December has decreased, but the size of fish has increased. So, it’s a nice trade off.
Some of our days have seen up to six or eight fish coming to the boat, with average size of rainbows being two to three pounds and bull trout ranging from three to 14 pounds. However, due to the colder water, some of our days we have had to work hard to hook into only a couple fish.
Either way, we’re still out there fishing and the scenery at this time of year is second to none. On the cold, clear days we are floating in the middle of the lake while glaring up at the snow covered mountains. Its a pretty great backyard to have.
February is typically a bit slower month, although it seems to be the month when we catch our biggest fish each year.
Arrow Lakes:
We have been also frequenting the Arrow Lakes and spent a few days fishing the Upper Arrow during their fishing derby out of Nakusp. It was great to see a good turnout for this fundraiser. Also good to see lots of familiar faces who use to fish on Kootenay.
That derby brought a lot of people to town and generated a lot of tourist dollars for just one weekend. It would be great to see that kind of life on Kootenay again.
During our weekend trip, we managed to land around 10 fish ranging from six to 10 pounds. Nothing to enter in the derby, but still some great quality fish.
Rainbows up to 14 pounds and bull trout up to 15 pounds have been caught on the upper lake in the past couple weeks. I’ve even heard about a 27-pound bull trout that was caught in early January. Trophy fishing for sure.
We are also spending a bit of time on Lower Arrow this winter. The fishing has been somewhat slow, but the quality of fish has been great. Rainbows between two to eight pounds and bull trout between six and 14 pounds have been coming in lately.
Columbia River:
We did get out a few times on the river when the weather was mild. And as usual, the river produced some good fish.
Our few days out averaged four to 10 fish with some good quality in the mix. Most rainbows were two to three pounds, but we did manage to hook a beauty six-pound ‘bow on one of our trips.
Still not quite warm enough to drop the boat in the water, but the shore fishing has been great.
Looking forward to some milder weather after this cold snap and looking forward to getting back on the river.
Stay tuned …