This past weekend marked another family adventure filled with good memories and a relaxing stay at Ruth Lake Lodge.
Along the way, I somehow managed to check out Screaming Reels too (we got pizza for lunch in 100 Mile House). I might have found some more gear too.
We arrived Saturday afternoon for a quick one night stay at Ruth Lake Lodge. Ruth Lake has been on my to do list for a few years now, but accommodations seemed out of the way for a family wanting to bring kayaks and inflatable water toys. I found Ruth Lake lodge after searching some more this year and we quickly made some time to check it out.
Upon arrival, we were greeted by Darryl and were shown around the property. We felt right at home and were amazed at how beautiful the lodge was. France and Darryl are amazing hosts and we loved our conversations with them. We moved in and launched the boat for our quick overnight stay.
Instead of fishing, the boys decided to kayak around the dock and hang out by the camp fire with Grandma. They enjoyed the pool table in the lodge too and I have to admit, so did I. It has been years since I played pool and it showed.
Marcus was able to catch his first kokanee ever. He was excited about it too. He just started fishing with us last year. We might have spoiled him as his first fish was a Chum salmon. He was waiting for the kokanee to pull like a Chum, which of course was not possible (maybe the next world record kokanee from British Columbia will). It is always great to get family into fishing. Marcus was eager to learn and is very excited about trying kokanee on the smoker. Sarah and I were able to go out for round two Saturday night and did well. Fishing without the boys is something we don’t get to do often and we enjoyed our time together. We returned in time for fish cleaning and a bacon wrapped steak, potato and corn on the cob dinner with all the fixings.
This trip was extremely relaxing even though we only stayed for one night in the lodge. We had breakfast, checked out and then hung out until dinner time.
The kokanee fishing was everything I expected. We were able to find large schools of kokanee quickly and put a few nice kokanee in the cooler.
After reviewing our GoFish Cam footage, I determined that I might have been trolling a little too fast for these schools of fish or the offering I presented might not have been to their liking. Our Saturday outings had lots of follows, but not as much action as we had anticipated. Orange and pink were the hot colors. Ethan’s orange hoochie and orange Mack’s smile blade with our Kokabow orange/chartreuse dodger was the most productive setup.
I got to experience my first rod breaking while downrigger fishing. I do not believe it was something I did, but it could have been as I am fairly new to downrigger fishing. I did not do anything different than I normally do, however, after explaining the process to Marcus and showing him how to properly release a line from the clip, I broke my Okuma Aveon kokanee rod while trying to catch a kokanee that just hit. On a positive note, we were able to land the kokanee thru a simple hand lining process and a quick yank into the boat. This kokanee marked the most expensive kokanee to date. We called it our $100 kokanee. Hopefully Okuma can warranty this rod for us. Maybe it’s time to try a Diawa?
A storm front moved in Sunday afternoon and the fishing slowed down before it arrived. We pulled over to help a stranded boat with the assistance of another boat. Thankfully, they discovered their kill switch had moved slightly and they were able to fire up their motor and get off the lake before the storm hit.
We weren’t able to get the boat out of the water quick enough and got soaked trying to take it out of the water. The storm had come and gone as quick as it came, leaving me saturated with Cariboo spring water from the sky. A quick change of my shirt and we were on our way home.
This was an amazing one night stay. If you are looking for an affordable place to stay and love meeting new people along the way, Ruth Lake Lodge should be on your list. If you need a little more privacy, then check out their cabins.
Ruth Lake was small, but large enough for a lot of boats to enjoy its waters. There was a lot of tubing and ski boats out on the water at any given time, but we hardly noticed their presence. The evening fish was peaceful and only the odd paddle board and kayak was out on the water.
We will be back soon. Hopefully sooner than later.