Our Purden Lake group get-together on Saturday was a success.
We had a great time fishing together and learning about kokanee fishing on Purden Lake. The weather kept a few others away, but we didn’t let it stop us.
We arrived at the lake around 8am. Access to the lake was gained thru Purden Lake Resort. The fee for access to the lake is $20 cash which is well worth it as they have a lot of road to plow. We never ended up paying this trip as we could not find a drop box for payment. I have been in email conversations with the resort and hope to rectify this issue and help promote this access point. We had the whole lake to ourselves and started walking with a plan. We had 3 spots picked and ended up following a well packed trail that Andy had kindly packed for us upon our arrival.
One thing we never considered when planning to fish Purden was the amount of snow at and on the lake. There was one section going onto the lake where we were up to our knees. Again, thanks Andy for packing us a trail. Once on the lake, we noticed a creek draining onto the lake, which could suggest thinner ice. There was also a wet spot that we think might have been close to a spring. The ice was 8-10 inches thick with lots of snow pushing down on the lake.
We setup our tents in a triangular shape hoping to form a kokanee triangle to help keep fish in our area. This method helped later in the day when the “bite” happened. Strangely enough, the bite was at 1030 which was different than any other lake we have fished. We marked fish before the bite, but they were not active. When 1030 came, the kokanee became active and were coming into our gear.
We hooked fish on all sorts of flashers, jigs, and baits. I had luck on a William’s spoon and Gibbs Dogtail dodger. My successful baits were mealworms, krill scent and anise scent. The Gibbs minnow was a successful jig of choice in other tents but mine (I might need a few now). I tried my new braided line and I am divided on how much I like it. I could feel the flasher when it was deeper in the water column and bites seemed slightly amplified. However, the braided line somehow wrapped itself on the swivel of my flasher three times. I’ll leave it for next time and see what happens. If this issues continues, then the slight sensitivity gain might not be worth the time out of the water fixing tangles.
The most popular bait seemed to be Ryan’s triple krill corn which he sells for those who are interested. I was stubborn and politely declined to try it. However, I was able to smell it later and it definitely smelled different than any scent I had on hand. Once again, my stubbornness might have cost me a few fish. Will I ever learn?
These Purden Lake kokanee were some of the most colorful kokanee I have ever seen. They had a nice purple and blue color to them. The photos really do not show how amazing they were.
We had numerous occasions where our screen lit up with what appeared to be enormous schools of fish. We dropped our presentations into this massive ball of fish, but nothing. Maybe it was something else? Or, maybe its was thousands of smaller fish?
Our walk out was definitely a highlight of the trip (as crazy as that sounds). As we were leaving, Andy came over and hauled my sled to shore. I still can’t say thank you enough. Anyone who has a sled as heavy as I do knows how much it’s appreciated.
One last thing to mention is how we all made sure everyone made it out safely. Most people talk about safety on the ice, but we faced another safety issue that arises when you fish Purden lake. Andy had parked at the park gate and when we were leaving we made sure him and Cody made it out safe. The ride from our fishing hole to the gate was 10 minutes on a snow machine and anything can happen while ice fishing, even when not on the water.
This was a great trip. I look forward to our next group get-together and meeting more members. Until then, I will be thinking about fishing Purden Lake again this summer for some colorful and tasty kokanee. I think it’s time I searched for Purden Lake kokanee fishing videos on YouTube. 