Today marked another day of learning and success on my calendar.
Our morning started off later than we had anticipated. Due to the hot weather and lack of sleep in our house, we slept in and arrived at the lake around 8am. The plan was to avoid the ski boats and enjoy a morning of fishing before the sun got too high in the sky. We took our time launching our boat as I was having issues with my boat plug.
Thankfully, I always carry a spare boat plug just in case I need it. Our original plug (came with the boat) had seen better days and was not tightening the way I wanted it to. When I installed the spare plug, I was not confident that it would keep the water out. A quick inspection of the plug and it’s effectiveness with my boat partially submerged on the trailer proved that there was a slow dripping leak. I pulled my boat out of the water a few times while adjusting the tightness of the plug. It’s amazing that something so simple and yet so important almost cancelled our trip. After numerous “drip” tests I was satisfied that the new plug would do the job it was purchased for. And so, with a backup plan of racing back to the launch should the plug “pop” out of the hole, we embarked on our adventure that would have us planning to come back for more.
Our plan of attack was to target the deeper section of the lake and try to find kokanee that were schooled up in large numbers. Our starting lineup ended up being the most successful gear we chose, but was not the only gear we caught fish on. We chose a Gibbs Delta Tackle dog tail dodger and a pink Yamashita hoochie, topped with a Mack’s smile blade, that we bought in Hawaii for the first rod. I’ve been intrigued with these hoochies and have been using them more than other hoochies because of the lead head they come with. They seem to move just as good if not better than any other hoochie I’ve used. Our second rod was a combination Austin chose and built made with a Rocky Mountain Tackle Company dodger and a Super Fly trolling fly that we picked up at the Portland Sportsman’s Show earlier this year. For bait, we were successful with both garlic bloody tuna and anise scent. We ended up putting the garlic bloody tuna scent to the side because of the smaller kernel sizes. These Canadian kokanee seemed to prefer the larger kernels of our peaches and cream anise corn that we had.
The “bite” seemed like it was on from when we got there until about 9:30am. After that, the bite slowed and we decided to depart from the figure eight pattern we were working which helped us land 4 kokanee within the hour. Austin managed to land a tank of a kokanee during this time as well. Then, as the bite slowed, we decided to troll around a bit and try to find another area of the lake without obstacles.
Everywhere we went seemed to have obstacles we tried to avoid. There must have been a storm last night which stirred up the bottom of the lake and pulled weeds from their roots. Our morning consisted of fighting with weeds catching on our fishing line, downrigger cable and transducer. It was a full time job reeling in and clearing the debris from our lines. It was also a good exercise and reminder to check our lures for weeds often, although this is normally not an issue when kokanee fishing mid-water column.
All the reeling in and re-setting the lines became almost automatic. Austin and I developed an effective system and worked flawlessly as a team working towards a common objective. Today was great practice for Austin and he was able to set his line in the release clip and helped lower his line on the downrigger by free spooling his reel. Next, maybe he’ll get to multi task and work the downrigger brake and the reel. I almost feel stressed and relaxed about that thought at the same time.
Some fish were caught after we applied sunscreen a second time. Thankfully, I was able to remain upright as I slipped on freshly sprayed sunscreen that coated the floor of our boat. The bottle we had was leaking and we did our best to reduce how much hit the floor of the boat. After a close call and a refresher lesson on how to shut the boat off if Dad falls in the water, we mopped up the boat floor with our boat towel that we always have on board for cleaning up spills, blood stains and extra water.
Our fishing trip was thankfully over just before 12:30. The heat was becoming unbearable without a cover and the water was starting to look inviting even though we left our swim shorts at home. Although the fishing was on fire the first hour we arrived, we noticed a steady decline in action afterwards and had to work to find the active fish. We changed presentations, speeds and depths to trigger bites. Tomorrow, we hope to arrive earlier and hit the “morning bite” and get our limit before the ski boats wake up.
Due to the time of day when trying to leave, we found ourselves waiting at the launch to pull our boat out of the water. We had anticipated an earlier limit and hoped to avoid the chaos that unfolded. There were boats parked on the entire beach (which is not very big) and people were launching as we arrived. After a brief chat with a local fisherman we walked over to our truck and hooked up the trailer. As luck would have it, another boat arrived who “jumped” ahead of us in the process. Did he not see us coming with our empty trailer? As we patiently waited, we decided to stage in the boat turn around, which has proved useful at times. This time, I decided to make my presence know by walking out onto the road to show the next two boats who arrived that I was waiting my turn to come out. It was a tight squeeze past a truck who was parked on the launch ramp. He was unloading his boat from the far side of the beach which seemed to take a while. I could only imagine he was doing his best not to trip on all the boat dock lines that were tied off to the dock that lay on dry ground against the bushes. It did not take us long to get out of the water. By the time we were leaving, another truck had arrived and was asking to “jump” the line. Then, a third truck and a fourth truck arrived to stage for entry into the lake. We were leaving at the best time ever. The lake was getting busier with boat traffic and the heat of the sun was shining down on us.
After we pulled well out of the way of the boat ramp (up the road) we pulled over and unloaded our gear into the truck canopy. I was amazed at how easy my new boat plug came out. It was perfect. The plug fit tightly and yet came out easily on demand. Could this be the start of a new plug each year? What I learned was having a spare never hurts. Without my spare boat plug today, we would have had to turn around and rather than catching fish on our return, we would have caught waves from ski boats. This experience was needed to gain insight into other potential spare parts we should always carry with us. Next time, a spare plug and spare sunscreen spray bottle will be on the menu.
Speaking of a menu. Kokanee were on our dinner menu tonight. I’m always amazed at how good they taste. Kokanee goes great with everything!