I feel blessed to be able to raise my family in a small town in Beautiful British Columbia. This past weekend was a prime example of a lifestyle that I do not intend to give up anytime soon. Afterall, how many people can say they went fishing and hunting in the same day?
Saturday morning started out wet with a deer hunt (and grouse hunt) early in the morning. We were in search of a deer to help fill a void in our freezer, but unfortunately, we only saw a handful of does. Thankfully, the grouse were active even in the rain, and we were able to harvest a couple grouse to take home for dinner.
After our morning hunt, we arrived home with enough time to switch gears and prepare for an evening of fishing. We planned to utilize the new fishing dock at Dragon Lake, BC that was installed this year thanks to the efforts of the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC. This dock has been an amazing addition to Dragon Lake. In fact, the dock has been so popular that I would wager a second dock or an addition to the existing dock would be a worthwhile investment to help encourage people to get outside and go fishing.
The Dragon Lake fishing dock has been a great place to meet new people and talk about fishing. We have met some new people, and I have enjoyed our conversations on the dock while catching some nice rainbow trout stocked by GoFishBC each year. The efforts of the hatchery staff to use this lake as a brood stock lake have not gone unnoticed and a big thanks is due to the provincial biologists for the stocking of the Horsefly strain of rainbow trout as well. This strain of rainbow trout has been an absolute treat to catch. The colors of these fish and their voracious feeding behaviors have made each encounter a memorable one. I hope this strain also helps control the goldfish population as many of these fish have switched to feeding on the smaller goldfish in the lake. At the dock, I enjoy talking about the stocking efforts with people, including the netting program, the different strains and the goldfish that now reside in this lake.
I am always looking for ways to introduce people to fishing. The fishing dock has been a great way to meet people who are fishing or watching other people fish and introduce them to a new way to fish by using spoons. So far, we have introduced a handful of Ethan’s friends to casting spoons off the dock. I am happy to have learned that some of them enjoy catching fish with spoons so much that they went out and bought some spoons of their own. Other people we have met were bobber fishing with a wedding band and a worm and were not catching any fish. After meeting them on the dock on a few separate occasions, one person asked what it was that we were using and if you know me, I was happy to talk fishing and proceeded to show him my lure box. After seeing how interested he was, I gave him a spoon out of my tackle box to try and he started casting instead of sitting idle watching a bobber float on the surface. He had one bite that day and he was hooked. The next outing, we arrived and he was casting spoons again. It was great to see him trying something new and enjoying it. Since then, I have met a few more people at the fishing dock who have showed a keen interest in fishing and have been great to see fishing on more than one occasion. Spoons have been working well this fall once again and I have enjoyed helping others find a fun new way to fish for rainbows off a fishing dock.
I am excited to announce that I have partnered with Gibbs Delta fishing to help promote fishing and encourage people to try something fun and new on the water. Gibbs has kindly donated some spoons that I will be giving away this fall on the Dragon Lake fishing dock. Each spoon has been carefully selected to give a good representation of the spoons and colors that have been working well for me over the years. My favorite Gibbs spoons to use at this time of the year are koho spoons, croc spoons and kit-a-mat spoons in copper and brass (gold). I like to have a few different sizes and colors of each spoon on hand, because each spoon has its own application as to when it works and somedays one spoon will work better than the other. A rule of thumb for color, copper for dark days and brass for bright days. Size matters sometimes as well. If the fish are not biting, size down. If the fish are down deep, use a heavier spoon. If it is windy outside, use a heavier spoon. For those people interested in purchasing some spoons before your next trip, I would recommend checking out Franks Supermarket, Canadian Tire and Willis Harper in Quesnel. If they do not have what you need, ask them to see if they can order in your favorite color and spoon. Corlane Sporting Goods in Prince George usually carries a good supply and variety of spoons as well. So, if you see me out there, come on over and fish beside me on the dock and we can talk about fishing. If you want to try an effective lure to help you catch more fish on the water, I will be out there every weekend until the lake freezes.
Sunday morning was a dedicated fishing day. We hooked up the boat the night before and prepared most of our spoons new, laser sharp fishing hooks made by Gamakatsu. These hooks have been a staple in my tackle box for many years. I have tried other hooks in the past and only a few brands have worked well for me. Gamakatsu hooks are my favorite and Maruto hooks have become my second favorite. Over the last few years I have been experimenting with and learning about which hooks are the best to use on my spoons while fishing. I have tried small single hooks like Gamakatsu siwash open eye hooks, large single hooks like Gamakatsu big river bait hooks and small Gamakatsu treble short shank hooks. All these hooks are working well in hooking fish. They do not bend like other brands of hooks on bigger fish and stay sharp longer than most brands. This is my experience. I have tested theories that I have heard (and read) other people talk about and tried barbless and barbed hooks to help reduce mortality rates. So far, barbless makes for a quicker release with a single hook because I can normally shake off a fish boat side without even using my net. While the ease of release is great with the single hooks, I do find that I lose more fish compared to single treble hooks. While most avid anglers would argue that barbless single hooks are the “best” and only hook for catch and release fishing, I am still standing on the fence on this debate. I have seen what I believe to be equal mortality rates of spoon caught fish from single hooks and treble hooks. This year, I have reverted back to single barbless hooks on most of my lures with mostly smaller open siwash hooks to compare hook up rates, landing ratios and mortality rates to those statistics of the past. I have even tried circle hooks in the past but find they do not get a proper hook set when spoon fishing because the design of these hooks is for bait fishing.
As we arrived at the lake, I prepared the boat and Ethan grabbed his rod and the fishing net. We were interested to see if fishing off the dock in the morning was as productive as in the afternoon and evening. As luck would have it, Ethan hooked three fish while waiting for me to pick him up from the dock. Our morning of fishing from the boat was spectacular. Ethan chose a copper Gibbs 35 koho spoon and was catching more fish than me at first. It did not take long, before I switched to the same spoon and started catch fish.
We ended the day on a good note and decided to return to the fishing dock after our boat was put away, lunch eaten, and yardwork done. The wind was relentless, but good company and meeting more people kept us going a little longer until we had to leave.
I look forward to sharing the video from this weekend trip on my YouTube channel. If you have not done so already, please subscribe to my channel and share it with your family and friends. The future looks exciting!