I went back to Idaho to see if the bass were still active. There was only one other person at the reservoir when I arrived, and they were alone and on shore. Unfortunately, as I was getting my gear together, a van load of snooty old men arrived and descended upon my favorite area. They were the kind of guys that think trout are the only good fish, and that fly fishing is the only way to catch fish. When I got down to the water they were spread across the area I had planned on fishing. I launched between them and quickly caught a small bow on a deep jerk bait. I decided I would have to paddle around them and head west. I trolled some leech patterns on the fly rod on my journey, picking up another small rainbow as I passed the intruders. I could overhear one telling the other that he'd caught a bunch of perch up to 14 inches. That's a really big perch. Turns out the dingbat didn't know the difference between a bass and a perch. I continued along the bank when I felt a little tap on the end of my line, I hesitated, then tightened up the line, and then it took off. For the next five minutes I battled an unseen fish. I figured I must foul hooked a good trout with the way it was peeling off line. When it finally came into view there was a fat trout of about 18", hooked perfectly in the mouth. Finally I was able to net the bruiser. I love Kamloops, they're even tougher than the bass.
I soon came across a rocky drop off and decided to try for bass. I quickly hooked a nice largemouth on the replacement River2Sea jerkbait.
Now that I'd caught a fish on that rod, I figured it was about time I caught something on my new light spinning rod. I tied on a size six X-Rap in purple gold. It's such a cool looking color. I threw it tight to the bank and after a couple of twitches I had another fish on. They definitely fight hard on this little rod, but that just makes it all the more fun. That was quite the little fatty.
I caught a couple more bass when another float tuber came down and cut me off on the west side. I had no choice but to kick across to the other side, there were some more rocks over there that looked inviting anyway. I deployed the fly rod, and about halfway across the channel I hooked into a good rainbow. This one wasn't quite as big as the last, but it spun me around five times clockwise, and then two more times counterclockwise. I finally got the fish in my net, but it still managed to soak my camera while trying to snap a pic.
I scored a few more bass on the X-Rap along the shoreline when I noticed that the other fisherman had moved a few hundred yards to the west. I worked my way back to the rocks where I'd started catching bass and quickly caught another good fish on a tube snapped erratically off the bottom. Things were quiet for a bit, so I ditched the X-Rap for a River2Sea V-Joint Minnow. I quickly caught another bass and a trout. It was nearly time to leave, so I began trolling my way back to the car. I picked up a few more small rainbows, and then I hooked into something big. Or so I thought. Eventually the fish came into view, and it was another smaller fish. Then I noticed a flash underneath the fish and I realized I had a fish on each fly. Somehow I was able to land both of them.
The old guys were gone now and I managed a few more small bass and trout on the V-Joint from the bay they'd been fishing before I had to leave.
Final Tally: 13 Rainbow Trout, 10 Largemouth Bass
Year Tally: 256 Fish
No comments:
Post a Comment