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[Rodney]

A few of us spent a couple of nights at Ruddocks Ranch this past weekend. Ruddocks Ranch is just north of Lytton and their guests have exclusive access to Onion Lake on the ranch's property. We had already expected the fishing to be good, but we also found ourselves in a photographer's paradise. The highlight was yesterday evening's bear sighting from the patio just before dinner. The bear, on one side of the fence, had its eyes on the deer that was grazing on the other side of the fence.

Most of the fish that we caught were in the 16 to 22 inch size range, but a few bigger ones were lost. The largest was 24 inches long. Chironomid fishing was pretty hot between 10am and 2pm, while the damsel feeding session in very structured waters brought some really fast action at times. At one point we also trolled around to rest the arms but we quickly gave up because we had to stop so often to release fish.

Here are some photos, there are more that I'll post up later. I also spent quite a bit of time shooting video footages and the edited version will be available in a week or so from now. Many thanks to Kevin and Gord at the Ranch for hosting one of our best trips so far this year.

If you need more information on staying and fishing at the ranch, you can check out their website at http://www.ruddocks.ca/

[purplehelmet]

I was there mid-May for a couple days (froze overnight in wall-tents) & can echo the above.  Highlights for me were an approx. 5lber & this (I shrunk the pic, hope it works) 10-12lber that made me crap myself when it got close to the boat.  This is a small lake folks & the alleged record is 21lbs w/ 'bows reported in the mid-teens!

[newsman]

Yes there are many coho sized bows in that lake. I use to fish it in the early 90s before it was a day-ticket fishery.

[Rodney]

I was there mid-May for a couple days (froze overnight in wall-tents) & can echo the above.  Highlights for me were an approx. 5lber & this (I shrunk the pic, hope it works) 10-12lber that made me crap myself when it got close to the boat.  This is a small lake folks & the alleged record is 21lbs w/ 'bows reported in the mid-teens!

Kevin showed me that photo before we left and had us all excited. Unfortunately we never encountered anything that comes close to that size, but a couple of 5lbers were connected by our fishing companions.

[purplehelmet]

I'm a promotional tool, now, eh!

[fishersak]

We had been anticipating this trip for some time, and the stories of great fishing had us all eager to put in some time on the lake.  Rod seemed particularly anxious to get there.  During our longer than expected breakfast in Hope, he was acting like a 4 year old who desperately needed to pee, shifting about on his seat and checking his watch every minute or so.  The drive to the ranch took us past some beautiful scenes, however, I admit I was excited to finally have this come into view.




Ruddocks has some exceptional accommodation choices:
Stay in the ranch house, with all the luxuries of home

The Ranch house is secluded, quiet, and private, and surrounded by the amazing beauty of the ranch (see the house on the right?)




Or camp lakeside in one of these rustic wall tents.

I was impressed with the boats provided for client use:




At Ruddocks, you will be treated to some incredible views:
View from the ranch house porch

View from the ranch house hot tub

Lake side view

The ranch is also right on the Fraser, which provides for sturgeon fishing also



At Ruddocks, you will have nature right at your doorstep:
A marmot living less than 10 meters from the ranch house


Lots of deer sightings:


A muskrat at the lake:


A fishing companion:


Lots of insect life at the lake:


Lots of birds:




And of course the fishing was awesome:
one of the few moments Carlo WASN'T into a fish (damn, fishing next to that guy is frustrating!! )

This was the scene next to me all day long!!!




Even I was able to catch a whole bunch of fish like this one, and even managed a couple of bigger ones...my biggest to the net was measured at 24 inches, but I lost one much bigger just as I was netting it.  Being a poor judge of size, I wouldn't dare to even guess how big it was...I'll only say that it was one of those "fish of a life time" opportunities, that I managed to screw up.

Nice loops Shane:

Everyone had lots of action:






Had one of those serendipitous moments on this trip.  You know, the kind you read about in magazines.  I noticed these guys coming off up in the shallows (6 feet)

so I anchored up, and tossed damsel imitations amongst all the sunken wood on a slime line.  I lost several flies, but had about 2 hours of the best fishing in my life.  I eventually called the guys over to partake in the frenzy  .  They arrived just in time to get in on the last 1/2 hour before the hatch suddenly stopped.

our evenings were spent recounting the events of the day, while Carlo slaved away tying for 5 people



Thanks to our great hosts Kevin and Gord,

After a long day, in the hot sun, hauling in fish after fish....even grown men start to get giddy with pleasure!

you idiots...get out of my shot!!


 Thanks to my companions for an exceptional trip.

[Athezone]

Thank's Rod, can't wait to get there ! Excellent read and great pictures. An amazing place to go to with plenty of fine looking rainbows to be caught. Thank's !!!

[Rodney]

As promised, here are the videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kwLPC2ACrg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo0Wr1L1H-A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nep-jmk6gOs

[one more cast]

What make and model video camera is that Rod?
Must have some kind of stablization as the vids were very stable and no camera shake.

[Rodney]

I film with a DSLR, which actually is not too stable for videos... Nina usually does a pretty good job on keeping it rather stable, even in the boat. The most important factor however, is a good tripod with a fluid head. Most of the filler footages were shot on a tripod.