The kokanee bite is on!!!
Today was the perfect day for a date night and some fishing. We were hesitant at first to go fishing, because the weather in town was not looking too welcoming. Thankfully, we decided to try our luck with the weather, because historically the weather at Ten Mile can be completely different than in town.
When we arrived at the lake, the wind was blowing and the waves were of enough size to make launching the boat a challenge. After launching the boat and fighting the wind with my new underpowered Minn Kota (to get us out in deeper water), we were on our way to the northern area of the lake to seek shelter from the wind and waves.
Our first rod had on a Gibbs Delta Tackle skateboard dodger paired with a Dark orange (reddish) shrimp lure made with GRAMS TACKLE BOX shrimp. Our second rod had a Kokabow watermelon dodger with a homemade wedding band.
It took us a while to get dialed into the depth the fish were at. We started with a setback of 75ft and worked the water column to find active fish. At first, it appeared that there were a lot of active fish at 25ft, but not one of them was willing to come for dinner. We then tried 8ft and 12ft off the downrigger with no success. Then, when I got tired of our underpowered Minn Kota electric motor (story to follow another day), I turned on my gas motor. I was not able to get our speed down to where I thought it should be. The slowest I was able to go was 1.6mph, but on average we were between 1.8 to 2.0mph. Frustration was starting to set in. I should have bought either a bigger motor, like I knew I wanted, or the 2.5hp gas motor that I was contemplating (sometimes trying to save a dollar on certain items is not worth it). What happened next was a miracle, or maybe just the variable we were missing for today.
All of a sudden, a rod started bouncing. We had hooked our first fish. Could this be the speed we needed to be at? Sarah carefully reeled in what we had hoped to be our first kokanee, but instead it turned out to be a rainbow trout. I started second guessing my speed once again and was frustrated that my electric motor was not pushing us “fast enough.”
The next fish ended up being our smallest of the night. It hit like it was starving. I was amazed! We hooked 2 fish going 2.0mph. Now, I knew I’ve hooked them at this speed before, but never so close to each other. We would go on fishing this speed for the remainder of the evening and I do believe that this helped us hook into some chunky kokanee. We lost a few, but also took home 5 nice kokanee that are promising sign for what the summer might have to offer.
Our date night ended up being a relaxing time to be one the water. The ever changing Cariboo weather eventually calmed down and we had the whole lake to ourselves. We watched ospreys fish, a beaver swim by our boat slapping it’s tail on the water and loons swimming and calling across the lake. I am truly grateful to be able to share something I love so much with such an amazing woman who also enjoys spending time in the boat. I even enjoyed “letting” her catch more fish than me. At least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.