Carlo, aka Chrome Mykiss, is truly a die-hard stillwater fisherman. Every year, he specifically schedules his holidays in May and June so he can hop from one lake to another in several weeks. In the last few years, he has been taunting me with
photos of these big healthy mykisses and asking when I would take the time to come up. Every year, work has seemed to get in the way, but I decided it shall change this year, so I headed up to Leighton Lake and met up with Carlo who was stationing there in between his trophy lake outings. We figured Leighton Lake would be a good introductory lake to start this season.
By the way, the trip was undecided until the last minute as May 17th was Nina's 25th birthday, but I had permission to go. Happy birthday Nina.
Part OneWith the cartopper loaded, sleeping bag, tent, food and of course fishing rods packed, I arrived at Leighton North Campsite at 2:00pm on Wednesday. The strong southerly gust created constant moderate chops that didn't seem so enticing for a flyfisherman. I looked out there, no other boats could be sighted except Mr Chrome Mykiss' little wooden pram, which he and his dad built up last winter, rocking in the middle of the lake. I radioed him and asked if he would like to come in and unload my boat with me.
"You want me to come in right now? I just anchored.", he replied, but being a good fishing companion as he is, it didn't take long before he was on dry land again.
Once my boat was unloaded, we headed out immediately to see if a trout would pull our strike indicators down.
A sunny but windy day on the lake
Enjoying the first day in the sunny Interior BCThe waves seemed to be getting larger once we anchored. Although tolerable, it sure made things difficult on a boat. The wind made it harder to cast, blew the lines all over the place when I tried to adjust the depth. When everything was finally organized, the boat seemed to be shifting as I had not anchored properly. After re-anchoring, the whole process repeated itself. Meanwhile, I looked over to see what Carlo was up to. Sure enough, he was wasting no time. A school of biting trout was found and he was hauling them in like a commercial fishing boat. Within a few minutes, several other boats showed up after seeing what was happening, but the old saying “it’s the angler, not the location” was certainly the case here. After ten minutes of idling, all the boats left again while Carlo continued bringing in fish.
I was frustrated, but not disappointed, as success is never instant when fishing a new piece of water. I decided to motor into a sheltered area where I had a brief bite earlier and see if I could entice another one. With both indicators sitting at exactly where I wanted, I began the staring game while the waves bob them up and down.
A few casts later, the left indicator completely disappeared. At the same time, the trout had already leaped out of water on the right side of the right indicator, meaning that it had darted under the right line already! Although I was very focused on those two orange dots, or at least I thought I was, my reaction was still a millisecond slower than what this fish was capable of. Before my hand reached the rod, the Islander began screaming away loudly, mixing in with the “clunk, clunk, clunk…” sound as the rod was being dragged on the boat floor.
Once I grabbed the rod, the fish performed several more leaps in front of me as it sped toward the boat. I stripped the line in as fast as I could without burning my fingers. Once I regained connection with the fish, it decided to turn around and dart away again. I started feeding it line as fast as I could without burning my fingers, again. Within seconds, all the spare line was gone and the reel began singing again.
After a few more minutes of excitement, the trout finally behaved and came into the net quietly. I grabbed the camera and snapped a few close-up shots, which was rather difficult with the waves constantly rocking the boat. I was rather relieved with the first fish finally landed. The next few would hopefully come more easily.
First fish of the tripWith a fish landed, I decided to return to camp and wait for the battering wind to die down. We decided to have an early dinner and hopefully go back out again for a few more hours before dark.
Carlo's mini-mini-mini stove, good for a 1/2 mealOnce dinner was done, I headed straight back out as I was quite motivated. I returned to the exact same spot to see if my luck would strike again. Sure enough, while turning around to adjust the anchor, the reel began screaming behind me! I jumped up and grabbed onto the rod instantly. A smaller fish had fallen for the fly this time. I quickly brought it in and set it free. Two fish in the first few hours of the trip, it sure was satisfying. I returned to camp soon after to join others around a warm campfire, where I met Tom Lam. Tom, as many of you already know, is a seasoned interior lake fisherman who has hosted many interior lake courses at Riverside Fly and Tackle in the past. He and his wife were spending their holiday at the same campground, so I had the pleasure listening to many of his past adventures.
A picture perfect sunset at Leighton Lake
A good campfire is a must when camping in early springThe first night in the tent was, cold! Without realizing that we were at a higher elevation, I woke up in the tent several times by the cold air throughout the night. At first I was too lazy to figure out why I was waking up, but eventually I got up and re-adjust my sleeping attires.
In the morning, I found out that it was -2C overnight.
To be continued...
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Topic: Good times at Leighton Lake, May 16th - 18th, 2007 (Read 5782 times)