As many of you are interested in Kootenay Lake, I thought I'd drop a brief email and pics. of how I made out this past weekend at the Woodbury Resort Derby. I don't know how many rods were entered, but my early entry ticket was # 108. Seems like there were a ton of boats on the water during the derby and Channel 68 on the VHF band was non-stop chatter.
I stayed in Balfour with my buddy Mike Thompson, the premier guide on the lake and owner of Split-Shot Charters. The advanatge of staying there is you can head up or down the lake because you are central to some of the best fishing areas on the lake. The winning Rainbow was 13 LB. followed by a 12.5 LB. in second and then third through sixth place were all bows over 11 LB. My 11 LB. 3 oz. brought me sixth place and just a little out of the money.
Only two of the winning fish were caught on bucktails. The majority of fish came on Apexes and plugs fished from the top down to 105 feet. My hot lure was the 7 in. AC Plug "Original" in purple and white off the rigger at 100 feet. I took rainbows and bulls on it with a nice bull going 8 LB. The other hot lure was a #2 Len Thompson in red/white top with silver back up on top fished back about 250 feet. All I could get on the bucktails were "shakers."
The short time I was there saw the surface temp. drop from 57 to 53.2 degrees. The overall fishing was tough, to say the least, with a full moon, clear skies and a major cold front that came through. Most all the locals were still upset that the overall size has been dropping the last few years on the bigger bows. The 20 LB. fish are clearly absent and there is a lot of speculation as to why. In my own view, I don't think you can keep kiiling all the big'uns just beacuse you left your camera or tape measure at home. We need to be releasing those 5-10 Lb. bows if you want to see some 20's.
Hey Steve......the worms are as bad as ever! End of that trip...... I will be heading over to give Slocan and Trout Lakes a shot for a week and then heading back to Kootenay for a wekk and a half and fishing (2) more derbies.
Catch a biggguunnnn.......Jim
