Spring break was early this year but Karen and I decided to still make a dash for a warmer climate to fly fish. The mercury was close to -20C as we pulled out of the garage heading for the south end of the Okanogan. The driving was great until we started to work our way up the Okanogan, then it started to snow. Our I-phone told us that we were going to drive out of the snow. We did. The thermometer read 15C as we pulled into out motel parking lot after an 11 hour drive.
We had a bit of trouble finding Karen a fishing licence because the new fishing year was about to begin. We still need last year's license. We finally found a place to buy one and we were off to the lake. We were checked by the Fish and Wildlife Officer in the area so it was good that we did find Karen a current license.
We knew the fly fishing would not be fast and furious but it was steady. We even caught some very impressive lahontan cutthroats. We used our Spring Creek pram to get around the lake. The wind was not a big factor on this 7 mile long lake! It was nice to enjoy spring.
We meet up with our dear friend Leon. It was just plain fun to talk and catch up! We had lots of laughs and exchanged some neat stories!
The final day of fishing reminded us that not every day is perfect. A cold front pulled in and the showers were steady. To add to the bone chilling weather, it was obvious that the lake had received 1000's of stockers. The big boys had a feast and our fly rods went relatively silent as we watched large pods of 6 to 8 inch lahontans cruise the shore line. Leon watched a large cutthroat smash a 6 incher right at his feet. We knew that the real thing would trump our offerings. It was time for a hot coffee, a warm shower and some shopping at the Big R Fly Shop! The long drive home was quite painless until we headed north on Highway 2 at Calgary, then the reality of aggressive drivers along slippery roads reminded us that our trip was coming to an end. We arrived home to lots of new snow. We had to shovel the driveway just to get up to the garage. Great trip. The pace was just perfect for an early trip.
Karen fished with her trusty vampire leech. She had a lot of success with Todd Oishi's streamer!
We fished from both our pram and shore.
I love the colourful lahontan cutthroats!
The lake is alkaline! Lahontans thrive in this unusual situation! Other trout species would not survive.
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