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As those of you know who follow the site, this is the time of year the surface water temps drop down to around 50 degrees and the big gerrard rainbows that inhabit Kootenay Lake and Lake Pend Oreille start showing on top. As far as I am concerned, nothing is more exciting than having one of these toads take the rod over and melt hundreds of feet of line in a matter seconds! These bows get so big they are considered “shakers” until the reach 10 LB.!

I met Nick Calia and Alan Forebush at Kootenay Lake last fall when John and I were up there on our annual fall excursion. They were friends of Ted Neal and we all had dinner together at Woodbury Inn one night. We were all there for the same reason......bang a big bow! It was much tougher to get into the slugs last year though and our best of the trip was a 15 LB. buck I got on the last day. The 20 LB.+ bows were rare last year.

I got a Facebook message from Nick a couple of weeks ago advising me that he and Alan were heading to PO for a 10 day trip the end of Oct. Last week Ted sent over a photo from Alan with the best of their trip. I decided to give Nick a call.

If I remember right this was their first trip to PO. The lake has been coming on the last two years for bigger bows with many reaching the magic 20 LB. mark again. I know of several in the mid-20’s and a 27 LB. beast from the lake last year. Several things account for this including recovering kokanee numbers, harvesting trout, reg. changes, LPOIC and IDFG efforts.

The guys stayed at the best spot on the lake over near Hope. The Pend Oreille Shores Resort offers excellent accommodations with all the amenities. We will be staying there as well next week.

Though the guys didn’t get into big numbers of larger bows, they did get some noteworthy trout. Alan hit a 19 LB.+ hen to top the trip pulling a plug. Nick said his best, a bow in the 17 LB. range, came on a bucktail from Kootenay Fly Co. It was a #203 and came off the boards. One of them also caught a 10 LB. bow that came off the rigger at 40 feet pulling a plug.

Nick said the highlight of the trip was watching his line pop off the planner board clip and the drag screaming like mad. After he got on it, he soon realized that he and the big bow had parted company. I know that sick feeling of reeling like mad and never catching up to the fish.....been there, done that! He was chewed off on what he called a “Halloween” pattern fly and right after, while he was reeling up the slack line, he saw the monster get into the air as it attempted to dislodge the fly. Those hurt! I didn’t lose my fly but had a big male redside get off and go airborne way back on our trip last year to Kootenay. Unfortunately, those visions are etched in your head for the rest of your days!

A buddy and I will be taking off for Pend Oreille this Fri. so check back next weekend to see how we did.

Hoping to hear some Screamin’ Drags,
Rick