A lesson can be learned every time you go fishing if you are willing to listen to yourself, others and the experience you have. My last fishing trip to Ten Mile Lake, just north of the city of Quesnel, British Columbia proved that there is always something that can be done differently.
The forecast showed a considerable temperature drop over the days leading up to my fishing trip. The fluctuating temperatures we were experiencing before the weekend left dirt and salt on my truck, so I decided to wash it before the plummeting temperatures arrived. Time would soon tell that I should have washed it a day sooner. The outside temperature dropped from minus two to minus twenty-three overnight.
Water is a powerful liquid. When in a liquid state, water can move mountains. Water tends to be able to get into places you would least expect, because it follows the path of least resistance. If water freezes after getting into places where it should not be, we tend to find ourselves in a situation that can sometimes be difficult to get out of.
After washing my truck, I knew that I was going to have problems with my canopy latch as I was able to watch the outside temperature drop over the evening. My game plan was to try and dry the latch as much as possible and keep working it to free up the frozen water inside the latch mechanism. I have had issues with my canopy latch freezing in the past and not being able to get into my canopy. Thankfully, working the latch kept it free of ice and moving enough to be able to open and close it. The tailgate also froze solid and would not close after opening it. Luckily, I was able to free it up also and working the latch system dried it out enough to be able to open and close it smoothly as well.
Our fishing plan for the day was to head to the lake in two groups. We had a friend joining us who had never ice fished before, so Austin and I left early so that we could have everything set up before everyone arrived. When we arrived at our parking location, we realized that we forgot to pack a snow shovel. Normally, we have a small compact snow shovel with us to help dig ourselves out if needed and to use on the lake clearing snow from around the ice tent if needed.
I was thankful to be able to use a trail plowed out to our kokanee fishing location thanks to a local ice fisherman. The plowed trail was partially covered with snow in spots due to the wind but was still better than trying to trail blaze on a blanket of deep snow out to the branch marking “the spot.” The quick temperature drop made pulling our sleds more difficult. Even my sled with freshly waxed skis was having troubles sliding along.
When my beard freezes up and ice forms on it from breathing, I know it is cold outside. Spending time wisely in subzero temperatures is always important. Always have a game plan before exiting your vehicle. We make sure everyone knows what they need to do so we can get our tent set up as quickly as possible. There is always a fine line to being fast and taking our time to prevent sweating and hypothermia. With our heads and hands covered we normally take our time getting to our fishing location and take breaks if needed when pulling our ice fishing sled by hand. The first thing we do when arriving at our fishing location is set up our Otter ice shelter. One person is in charge of grabbing the ice anchors and the other person takes the tent out of the bag.
With our tent still folded up, we always anchor at least two corners of our ice tent down and the hub that faces the wind. This usually holds our tent down for the day and prevents the wind from taking it away. After our tent is anchored, we open the tent. Then, we bring our Big Buddy Heater and a 5lb propane tank inside. The 5lb propane tank is cheaper to run with the buddy heater compared to running the 1lb propane tanks it supports. Unfortunately, for some reason, in cold weather my Big Buddy heater more often than not needs to run at least one 1lb propane tank before it will run off the 5lb tank. Thankfully, it did not take long to warm up our tent and we were able to switch over to the larger 5lb tank and turn up the heater to the highest setting before the rest of the fishing crew arrived.
When ice fishing, some people like to shovel the entire area on the ice where their tent will be placed. I prefer not to do this and for this reason do not always have a snow shovel with me on the ice. My reasoning for not shoveling the snow away is that the snow acts as a sponge to soak up all the water that gathers when drilling holes and when the snow starts to melt inside the tent due to using a heater. During this fishing trip, I wished very quickly that I had a shovel. The snow was deeper than I like it and we were in a rush to get the tent set up for everyone that were coming.
Luckily, another angler beside me had a shovel and let me borrow it to clear some of the excess snow out of our tent. As I shoveled the snow, I started thinking about trying something new. I had already cleared some snow from the area where I had my buddy heater and needed to be below the plywood that the buddy heater was resting on. I dug deeper in the snow and removed more snow than I normally would from around the buddy heater and our holes. I left some snow to fill in the voids left behind, but later I would learn that it does not pack the same. The low spots turned into water on top of the ice which was not ideal as there was so much water in those spots that a fish could almost swim in it. Thankfully, our artic storm Dryshod boots kept us warm and dry and our ice cleats from Costco kept us from slipping on the ice that formed.
Austin and I started fishing around 9:30am and the angler beside us already caught three kokanee before this time. He said the fish were coming around pretty steady in small numbers and when they did, they were biting. We were hopeful to catch a couple kokanee and have them on the ice before extra people came and filled our ice tent. Unfortunately, the fish that came around to us were not biting as eagerly as we had hoped. We tried mealworms and two scents of fishing corn. Did we miss the morning bite?
I have been following a solar lunar table website, called fishingreminder.com and keeping notes over the last couple of fishing trips. Today was supposed to be decent fishing, but the major bite time was later in the afternoon. Solar lunar tables and predictive bite times has always been something that interests me. While it does not dictate when I will be going fishing (there are many other factors that determine when I go fishing), the solar lunar tables have worked for other anglers I have known in the past. I will never forget watching one of our local anglers arrive at the lake each day and tell us when the “bite” will be. To my amazement, either the predictions were right, or he was an elite angler. I believe it was a little of both.
If you talk to anyone who loves to fish for kokanee, they will be happy to tell you how to catch these tasty fish. Most people who love this catch and keep fishery will show you the gear they are using, including the bait and where to fish. On top of all this, most people will welcome you to fish beside them. What I find the most fascinating about this fishery is what works one day might not work the next. You can also sit five or ten feet away from someone on the ice and they might catch their limit of fish while you catch nothing. Could it be that one hole works better than another? Are the methods of jigging and fishing you use different? Does one way work better than another? Some people have a favorite bait they use and will not try anything else. Could the bait we use determine if we catch a limit of kokanee?
By the time everyone showed up it was 10:30am and my Garmin Striker 4 screen was starting to be void of fish marking below the ice. At 11:30am, I was questioning if we should consider packing up or wait for the afternoon bite at 2:30pm. While we had a few different bait options, I was missing my garlic corn. I had my old garlic corn on me, but it ended up freezing a little on our last trip, then I forgot it in my fish finder tackle box and did not put it in the fridge. It did not smell much like garlic anymore. Austin caught one kokanee using one of our go to setups of a dodger and twenty-inch leader with a jig that was tipped with a mealworm and anise corn. After a couple hours of fish coming in and not biting, Austin decided to change something to entice a bite.
We were marking fish at forty feet. Normally these fish would be rainbow trout, and we tend to stay away from trout when kokanee fishing. There was a half hour of multiple fish swimming in at forty feet, so we ended up targeting this depth for a while. Austin had switched to a smaller Williams Wabler flasher with some pink in it and a small tungsten jig. He also switched baits and dug out our pink Powerbait crappie nibbles that we keep in our fish finder tackle box. Once he dropped down, he got hit hard. He would eventually catch his limit of kokanee thanks to him changing something to entice a bite.
Watching Austin catch a limit of fish had everyone excited, so we decided to stay until the 2:30 bite. This major bite time according to the solar lunar table did not disappoint. We focused on jigging techniques, switched up our gear selections, including flashers and jigs. Then, we started changing bait presentations constantly to keep our bait fresh on the end of our hooks and to help figure out what the fish wanted. Some popular bait combinations that caught fish included two pieces of anise corn on a jig, a mealworm with a piece of anise corn or old garlic corn, and one to two pieces of Powerbait crappie nibbles.
I was excited to be able to show our friend the fun that can be had watching kokanee bite at our gear just one to ten feet below the ice. With all the windows closed and only a glowing buddy heater to light up our tent, we all spent a few hours looking down our hole at incoming cruising kokanee. We caught quite a few fish by sight fishing and the excitement level inside the tent continued to climb right through the afternoon bite time until the fish disappeared around 3:30pm.
We ended up taking home 16 kokanee and 2 rainbow trout. It was a fun day that I will not forget for a long time. While the outside temperature was well below freezing, we stayed warm, dry and happy inside our tent. I usually keep all the fish I catch inside my tent to help keep them from freezing too much. This way they still stay cold when lying on the ice, but do not freeze up like they did today. There were too many people inside our tent and floor space was at a premium, so each fish got put outside to be dealt with later. When we went to pack up, all the fish had frozen completely solid. At home, the only way to clean them was to thaw them out in a sink full of water, then clean and package them up for our freezer. Some fish were still partially frozen after thawing them out, so we decided to clean and package them for the smoker at a later date.
Timing is everything. As we were packing up, the wind changed directions on us. As we were taking items out of the tent, a gust of wind grabbed the side of our tent that was not anchored down. I have only had this happen once before; except the last time we did not have a buddy heater running inside. This time, the wind pushed our tent into our buddy heater that was still running inside and knocked it over while it was running. Thankfully, the heater landed in the big puddle of water inside and the accidental tip-over shut off system worked as it should. I quickly turned off the propane supply line and the heater. While I’m not certain if any damage was done, I will need to find out before my next fishing trip.
While everyone did not limit out today, I believe we caught enough fish for a decent feed of smoked kokanee that we will enjoy later this year. We had lots of laughs and fun catching and trying to catch such a great tasting renewal resource that is stocked in our lakes thanks to the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC. Days like today keep me looking forward to our next family adventure. As we walked away from our spot under the setting sun, I felt thankful to be able to live in such an amazing province with great fishing opportunities. I started dreaming about my next fishing adventure and was filled with joy knowing that the people I want to share these experiences with will be with me.
While I did not film for my YouTube channel, Fougere Family Adventures, here’s a couple videos of ice fishing for kokanee on Ten Mile lake. I have also included some videos that might help you learn how to fish and how to catch kokanee. Make sure you subscribe to my channel for more videos coming soon.