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[Damien]

The big yellow thing in the sky may have played a role in that.   

Anyhoo,i'm hoping to get out onto Alouette this weekend.  Will report back here.  Maybe we should rename this thread Alouette 2017.

[flyrod]

Metal Feathers, it was a Lake Trout. Sorry he didn't provide any pics just the story.

[typhoon]

Metal Feathers, it was a Lake Trout. Sorry he didn't provide any pics just the story.

Good one.

[Damien]

Well it was one of those days. 

Started off sunny and warm loading up the boat around noon in Langley and getting set to head over to Alouette.  Sure enough, the clouds were stacked up against the mountains and it was cold and wet on the lake.

Water temps between 7.2 and 7.8 degrees C.  Lots of boats on the water, from your typical ski boats to lots of tinnies and kayaks.  Including one 10 foot jon boat that had two guys and a huge cooler.  It looked comical.  As did a goose that followed us around for 20 minutes, we couldn't shake him!

Anyoo, on to the fishing.  Well, it was the first shakedown of the boat in the spring and as usual there are some hiccups to overcome.  On the first drop with the downrigger, BANG, the rigger mount explodes off the gunnel.  I barely saved the rigger, rod/reel and pancake weight.  That was nearly a $400 oopsy to start the day.  I only packed one rigger so that was that for getting deep.  I had a jet diver, but was too lazy to tie it up.

My fishing buddy had a lead line that seemed to have pooched itself over the winter, so that was a cluster as well.  I went to using the usual mini-G, wedding bands etc with a bit of weight.  Tons and tons of nibbles and tiny fish, lots of surface activity but only very small fish seen.  Fished from 2-6 without much to report.  Saw one boat net a 8" kokanee...

To make matters worse my fish finder reset itself at some point over the winter so when I went to fire it up on the lake it was operating in some eastern European language so i was messing with it to get it in English so I could tweak the settings to track down the thermocline.

The best part was my mid-80's 2 stroke Mariner/Yamaha ran well, pushed my 14 ft tinny with two of us loaded with gear to 27MPH on the GPS.  It sure feels fast in an open boat with a tiller.  Not sure one would want to go much faster than that safely, even though the boat says it is rated for a  40hp on the transom plate.  That said it is from the 1960's so many 40hp motors of that vintage didn't put out the kind of torque more modern motors do, let alone the weight of someone using a 4 stroke.

It was good to be on the water and the brief moments of sun felt nice.  But oh those first trips of the year can be a challenge.

[firstlight]

Thanks for the report.
Close call on the rigger.Whew.

[Damien]

Hit Alouette yesterday. Was on the water by 8am, some sunny breaks, some wind and rain showers at a few intervals to make things interested. The day started off very slow. Tried a few different set ups most without much action for the first 2-3 hours.

Pulled lines from the Gold Creek area and headed across the lake to the fish farm area and started to work south from there and began to get steady action for the next two hours and limited on kokanee.

Coyote as a flasher to a wedding band with worm or fire brined shrimp was the ticket, as were mini-G. All on the surface with no weight.

Lead line set up got nothing, downrigging at 15, 25, 35, 45, 60, 70, 90 feet got nothing.

Water temps was 9.2 first thing, to 9.6 during mid-day.

I really need to update my electronics to help get this lake figured out.

These guys will be in the Bradley today!





Another lesson relearned.  When the fishing was hot and the action was fast, I went about 20 minutes without a bite.  It's always important to be aware of time passing.  I pulled my line and noticed the point of my hook was broken, must have pulled on a deadhead or something.  Effectively I was fishing with only the shank of a hook.  Another time was my mini-g got the hook through the split ring, killing the action.  More time wasted on that one.

Check your lure/bait often.  Sure beats wasting time on the water.

[Damien]

It's nice when glassy calm in the morning. Shot a quick vid of the boat/motor in action yesterday as I will be selling my 30hp Mariner/Yamaha 2 stroke short shaft.  It was so calm that it was hard to tell where the water ends and the mountains and sky begin;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STOBdO3rOxQ&feature=youtu.be

I plan to fish some of the Washington State bass lakes that are 4 stroke only, unfortunately.  If anyone is interested in the motor, let me know.

[wildmanyeah]

It's nice when glassy calm in the morning. Shot a quick vid of the boat/motor in action yesterday as I will be selling my 30hp Mariner/Yamaha 2 stroke short shaft.  It was so calm that it was hard to tell where the water ends and the mountains and sky begin;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STOBdO3rOxQ&feature=youtu.be

I plan to fish some of the Washington State bass lakes that are 4 stroke only, unfortunately.  If anyone is interested in the motor, let me know.

Thanks for the great post! glad to see its finally warming up to a decent temperature. My time these days is spent out in the salt. May try again this year if it's sunny and to windy to go out on the ocean.!!

[Damien]

Limited out on the weekend, camped for 3 days. 

Fished just left of the boat lunch around the point of the shallow water marker.  No one else around for most of the time.  Ski boats scared to come close and all the other fishermen were working the pilings on the opposite side as usual.  It was GLORIOUS.

Fire brined shrimp was the ticket using the regular set up of either a mini-G or coyote as a flasher to a wedding band.  Fished worms one day and had 1/2 the amount of bites as when I switched to shrimp.

Saw some larger suspended fish at 35' and tried to get at them with an Apex, notta.  Going to try after work this week using downriggers only.  Going to pull something big out of that lake one of these days.

[wildmanyeah]

Was out yesterday May 26th from 9 am to 1pm. My son is 2 and really wanted to get out on the boat and fish. Started off trolling from the boat launch to the other side by the logs. Was using a red wedding band with worms on one rod and a dick nite on the other. Had about 4 hits and lost them all, Dam kokanee with soft mouths. Trolled north towards the fish farm, Just past the fish farm nailed 2 rainbows at 20 feet deep. one small one released and kept one that measured 14 inches.  Nailed it and came out of the water at the back of the boat before we could even get to the rod. That one was caught on a red and silver dick nite.

Water surface temperature fluctuated from 11 to 13C.

10 mins later caught a nice 12 inch rainbow at the surfaces on my kokanee gear. Red wedding band with a small silver dodger flasher and rubber snubber.

Were only people fishing on the lake and that was super nice. Got off by 2 before the weekend wake boats started to show up. Looks like that will probably be it for Alouette hitting the salt again on sunday.

[Damien]

I've been on Alouette 5 times this year.  Nothing other than kokanee for us.  Interesting that you tagged a couple rainbows.  I have seen the odd 2-3lber jump clear out of the water though...

I've had the best success on hits to hookups by just leaving my kokanee specific ultralight rod in the holder and keeping on trolling.  As the bites come, I let the rod and movement of the boat drive the hookset.  And check bait every 10 minutes or 1 minute after getting a hit, especially if using bait that comes off easily like krill or cured shrimp.

[swimmingwiththefishes]

Arrived at the lake around noon. 3 people were taking there boats out of the water who spent the morning fishing. Did not seem like they had much success.  Our goal was to try out a dual rod holder that mounts to the scotty downrigger base that we plan to use while out in the ocean. Worked great is a nice clean setup!

Again the surface water temperature was cold. This time the water temperature was 5-7c and the thermocline ranged from 20-30 feet depending on location in the lake. Lots of debris past the narrows probably from the windstorm a few days early so we fished elsewhere. 

We fished from the narrows south on the west side of the lake for two hours, marked some fish on the sounder but had no luck. Tried frog flat fish, apex, dick nite, pink hoochie and others all with no success. fished from surface down to 50 feet.

picked up and motored to the hatchery, marked what look like kokanee schools from 100 to 150 deep. Put the rigger down to 130 feet deep and on the last past hit a stump and lost all the gear and saved the ball. Not sure why the sumps looked like school suspended above the bottom. Still "stumped" on that one! No luck so headed in

No signs of fish jumping or surfacing so the lake is still cold. Looks like the late will probably heat up a month late! just in time for the watersports to take over the lake. Was a hot clear day! saw a few falcons or eagles making a nest! saw some geese flying just over the lake! was great!

Hopping to get out on the salt this sunday!

Nice!!! Just got a new boat too.

what setup are you using? Scotty swivel mounts?

[wildmanyeah]

I've been on Alouette 5 times this year.  Nothing other than kokanee for us.  Interesting that you tagged a couple rainbows.  I have seen the odd 2-3lber jump clear out of the water though...

I've had the best success on hits to hookups by just leaving my kokanee specific ultralight rod in the holder and keeping on trolling.  As the bites come, I let the rod and movement of the boat drive the hookset.  And check bait every 10 minutes or 1 minute after getting a hit, especially if using bait that comes off easily like krill or cured shrimp.

Willowleaf or ford fender with a small weight, 8 inch leader and a dick nite (red white or red and silver) and you will hit rainbows in any lake. Caught kokanee on it in nicola lake too.

Hit 3 rainbows on it that day and last fall in november as well

[Damien]

Was back Sunday.  Lots of fish kokes still biting.  They turned off and on, at depth on the riggers 20-30ft.  Then on the surface.

Lost a nice trout fishing with no weight just below the surface.

[Damien]

Still lots of action out there.  No problem limiting on Kokanee yesterday.  One cutty and also a nice bull trout landed by my partner;