Today was another example of why you should go fishing even when the weather does not look promising.
The easier decision today would have been to stay home and do yard work, but in the end the lawn was made to wait while we ventured out into the potentially stormy weather.
When we arrived, the threat of storm clouds still lingered around the perimeter of the lake and the wind was causing waves that were undesirable for my underpowered Minn Kota motor.
After launching, I was quickly reminded that I forgot to hook up my trolling motor. The wind was pushing us at an uncomfortable speed back towards shore. Thankfully, my Mercury Marine motor was well tuned and fired up immediately on the first pull. I was able to get us back into deeper water and let my motor warm up before my paddles had to be recruited.
A windy day like today called for us to follow our normal routine of seeking calmer water. We moved to the north end of the lake where we were sheltered from the wind to a certain degree. Once we reached our destination it was time to tie on our starting lineup and get fishing.
The surrounding dark clouds and ever changing Cariboo weather made my decision for our starting lineup easier. I decided to choose darker colors, which would eventually entice a couple kokanee and a rainbow.
We trolled around in the wind at an undesirable speed of 1.8 to 2.0mph for the first half of our trip. Luckily, one kokanee chose to join us on board at this speed. Then, when the wind died down, we decided to switch to our electric motor where we were able to attain 1.2 to 1.4mph speeds. Slower speeds seemed to be key today. We hooked our first fish at 10ft off the downrigger, but the productive depth (after trying many depth and setback combinations) was 19ft off the downrigger.
Our productive setups for kokanee ended up being GRAMS TACKLE BOX orange and pink shrimp lures combined with Mack’s Lure sling blades in a 4 and 6 inch dodger. We were using both shoepeg and peaches and cream corn in shrimp scent and both worked equally well.
While our landing ratio and enticement ratio was not where I would have liked it to be, we ended up landing 3 really nice kokanee to come with us for dinner. We filleted them at home and were able to freeze them for 2 dinners in the near future.
These kokanee were in great shape for this time of the year and I’m excited to see what Ten Mile Lake has to offer later this summer. We have had some exceptional kokanee on the end of our line this year. One kokanee was holding down like a 3lb kokanee and 2 of the kokanee we lost today were pushing the 1.5 to 2lb mark. They are definitely fighting like the Bridge Lake strain that they might have been.
In summary, I am happy to have spent a few hours on the lake with my loving wife, Sarah. I am thankful to be able to share what I love with my wife and family. Even when the fishing is slow, we can still enjoy each other’s company and some great food on the boat.