Today was a day of uncertainty that turned into the perfect way to spend a day.
Today I started driving south with a few lakes in mind that I’ve been wanting to fish again or for the first time. I left Quesnel at 6am and started driving, hoping to make up my mind. The weather was not favorable to start. The roads were covered in snow and ice. I almost had to pull over a few times as my window filled up with freezing rain that would not let up. The inside temperature of my truck was uncomfortable and constantly changing as I tried to get the freezing rain to stop sticking to my window.
My drive this morning reminded me of a topic I am always thinking about. While safety out on the ice is important, so is safety while travelling to our destination. There are many things we need to consider when driving to our favorite lake. Road speed, other drivers, wildlife and road conditions are among a few of the things we need to monitor while driving. Also, we need to consider the tires we have and know that they will get us to our destination in one piece. We should also have a safety plan and let someone know where we are going and when we plan to return. A roadside safety kit might also be considered, which might include a first aid kit and flash lights.
I was amazed at how the roads were maintained on my way to Bridge Lake today. I was happy to see a few plows early in the morning trying to plow the roads south of Quesnel. Unfortunately, they were only plowing and not sanding. Then, as if I had drove into another climate zone, the roads were covered with enough sand to help give me some traction on the road. I could not believe how different the roads were being maintained. I eventually hit a third “climate zone” and the roads went from sand covered to snow covered with plows working diligently to clear the roadway for safe passage.
When I arrived at Bridge Lake, I decided to do some winter access exploring before going to the infamous Ross Rd kokanee community. I checked out a few potential locations, but decided to try Ross Rd for the day and save the other locations for another time.
When I parked and got out of my truck, I was welcomed by a local who was happy to talk about fishing and point me in the right direction. We talked and I was able to learn more about Bridge Lake and the surrounding area. This is definitely my favorite way to learn about a lake. I enjoy talking to the people that live in the community. As we were talking, a friendly couple who lived in the area showed up to try their luck.
We proceeded onto the lake with caution. I had talked to two locals who both said there was a lot of overflow on top of the ice. My sled held up nicely until I hit a spot that I thought would have me turning around. The local lady went ahead to see if the path was more solid ahead and it was, so we continued out on our path. We started at a spot that turned out to be 40ft deep. I was hoping the kokanee would be up shallow, but I did not mark or see any kokanee in the 45 minutes I was there. We moved further onto the lake and found a more solid path to walk on.
We ended up staying at the second spot that was over 60ft of water. I was not marking any kokanee and it stayed that way until closer to the end of the day.
My Otter tent held up well to the wind and snow that came to stay for a while. I wished I had longer ice spikes to hold my tent down as I had to screw them into the ice thru the water which was cold on my hands. I was constantly outside making sure the water over my spikes and on my tent was not freezing. This could have been an issue if the temperature was colder. My only complaint with my tent was the leaking, melting snow that was entering my tent thru the seams and leaking onto my stuff and eventually my sweater. I had to make some adjustments to slow to leaking. I was still happy and cozy inside my tent, because at one point I could hardly see the couple fishing 40ft away from me. We faced pure whiteout conditions today, so I turned up the Buddy heater and put on some meat loaf for lunch. It was delicious.
As time went by, I was hoping that the fishing would pick up. The guy I met when I arrived said the fishing had slowed down and I was determined to at least bring one kokanee home for a meal.
As luck would have it, a huge school finally moved thru on my fish finder at 12ft. I had been chasing a lake trout with a buzz bomb when the school came thru. I had put on a white and pink buzz bomb while chasing the lake trout in case a school of kokanee moved in. My plan worked! I quickly reeled up into the school and started lightly jigging my buzz bomb tipped with my homegrown mealworms. I got bit right away and had my first kokanee caught with a buzz bomb on the ice. I later hooked into another kokanee, but it was only a brief encounter.
Today was not as productive as I’ve heard other lakes were. I have heard that the fishing will only get better on lakes like Bridge lake and other neighboring lakes. I have heard people say that the reason why the peak is yet to come is because there is still a lot of feed in the lakes at this time of the year. Is this true? I have also heard that the kokanee are not schooled up like they normally are. What would cause them to school up during the winter months? Could it be that kokanee are primarily a schooling fish? If so, why do they spread out for brief periods of time during the year?
What keeps me coming back for more is the excitement of learning about a fish that aggressively feeds during the winter and summer months. I always look forward to trying as many new kokanee lakes that I can during the summer and winter months. Each season is different and each season has it’s own challenges which is what I enjoy. I will be back to Bridge Lake one day, but for now, it’s time I start deciding where I’m going to go fishing next.