[Big Green Machine]

We hit the lake on Saturday afternoon/evening. The Greasy Chum, Chum Chaser, Eric, Richie and I launched at the Peachland boat launch in two boats - my 14 foot aluminum with 15 HP Johnson, and the other a 12 foot with an electric trolling motor with three people in it. One of them was close to 300 pounds. The plan was to head over to Rattlesnake Island. Half way there, I decided to cut the other boat loose in the middle of the large, deep lake and let them find there way over on their own as I was anxious to start fishing. The water was quite choppy at that point and big guy decided to troll a bucktail in the chop. Erin and the Grease were trolling the usual gear - a black Lyman and Kwikfish at the end of a gang troll. Ten minutes after parting ways, I heard them whooping in their boat which was about half a kilometre away. I was still rigging my gear when my cell phone rang and it was the Chum Chaser telling me that Erin had just landed a nice 4 pound rainbow 15 feet down on a black with silver sparkles Kwikfish at the end of a Ford Fender. They were fishing in 300 feet of water! This got my blood boiling and soon after as we neared rattlesnake, Richie and I were fishing. I was trolling a black and grey Gibbs Gypsy spoons (aka the Cop Car) in front of a flasher on my down rigger at about 30 feet. Richie was trolling a Cowbell gang troll followed by a Apex Hot Spot. After an hour I had only one hit on my Gypsy and I farmed it! :wub: Then we saw lots of fish surfacing in the bay north of Rattlesnake. It was very unusual compared to the smaller lakes of the Interior where you see fish clear the water all the time. These fish were like whales, they just rolled over on top of the water! : Seeing so many fish on the surface we decided to change up. I switched to a Ford Fender gang troll and a black bead and blade wedding band and worm combo. Not a minute went by and it was fish on. 2 pounder to the boat. Then again, and again all on the black beaded wedding band with worm. After a couple hours the wind died and water got very calm. We had some fun playing with the fish on the surface. The other boat brought in a couple more fish too and when they checked the stomach of the largest fish, guess what they found? 20 or so ladybugs!!! :wacko: It was a great night fishing on Lake Okanagan. I never knew it could fish like an Interior Lake! Nevertheless, I feel the need to land a 10 pounder there - there sure were lots of big fish showing on the sonar! One day....

 

[Dave W]

Okanagan Lake can really surprise you some days. Sunday afternoon I drove down to Bertram creek park to cast off the dock. Just picked up a couple new spinners to try. . When I arrived, there were three adults , six kids and a guy in a belly boat. A little too crouded for my taste. So I walked down the rocks a hundred yards and found a pretty quiet spot near a couple guys bobber fishing. They informed me that things were pretty slow. No fish so far. Not to be detered, I tied on one of the new spinners and had at her. Third cast I managed about 1.5 lb rainbow. Nice start. I'm pretty jazzed about this new spinner. About the 20th cast another 1.5 lb rainbow. I spent another half hour before switching spinners. Only took about a dozen casts and I had a small kokanee on the line. The whole time i'm casting I'm keeping an eye on the dock, to see if the crowd heads home. At one point I looked up to see a huge fish jumping near the dock. The jumping continued for a little while , then I could hear people cheering and clapping. Well my curiosity was peaked. I packed up and headed to the dock.By the time I got there, only one guy and the guy inthe belly boat were left. I asked what the cheering was for, and he didn't waste any time showing me. Out of the water he pulls a beautiful 8 lb rainbow. I've fished off that dock for two years, a couple times a week , and never seen anything that compares to that beauty. Needless to say, I stayed until well after dark trying to catch any other 8 lbers that might be around. :wink:

 

[soccerdude18]

From shore on Okanagan lake? Thats crazy! Mind me asking what spinners you used?

 

[Dave W]

The first one was a Matzuo rainbow colored spinner. The second was a Panther Martin.Orange and black body with a silver spinner. The 8 lber was cauhgt with a brass spoon with an orange stripe.good luck.sharp hooks. tight lines.

 

[Big Green Machine]

I too talked to a few fellows out there on shore that day and they had nothing but good news - each caught fish, the largest was a five pounder! Also, my friend Jim "The Trophy Hunter" goes out every week and he has yet to be skunked. Biggest to date for him a 17 pounder. Things are looking good for our lake.

 

[soccerdude18]

Thats for the info Dave W! Im going to have to give it a try over there sometime.

 

[Chris]

Whoa those are some good stories guys, much bigger than most bows that I catch.

 

[Big Green Machine]

I wanted to get out fishing today - it's been a couple of weeks without wetting a line. I first thought about trolling the big lake but when I drove to the launch at OK landing there were too many whitecaps for my 14 footer. So off to Bertram Creek Regional Park to fish off the dock! Ten casts and I landed a nice 2 pound rainbow caught on a size 8 Panther Martin spinner with a gold blade and a black body. I was hoping to see some bigger fish but not much else happened. It was a beautiful day however.

 

[Chris]

Cool, that's still a nice fish.

 

[Big Green Machine]

I hit the big lake as most of the higher elevation lakes are still iced over. It won't be long for some of them before the chironomid fishing gets good. I decided to take advantage of the warm temperatures, sunny skies and calm winds to hit the big lake. As you can see from the pictures, it was a beautiful Easter weekend. I trolled a standard gang troll and wedding band tipped with a worm using a fly reel and small slow action rod to lessen the drag of all the gear. On the other side of the boat, I trolled several different lures (Apex, Gibbs Gypsy's, and a Flatfish) on the downrigger to entice the big boys. It was not meant to be. I had two hits. One was on the downrigger rod after two hours of fishing and I farmed the fish (delayed reaction) and one on the worm on the fly reel which was fun to play, about 16 inches very fresh but safely released so I can catch it again when it's 17 pounds. Great day.

 

[tuberdude]

beauty looking day there bgm. so where abouts on the lake were you trolling?kelowna area or down towards vernon area. is the kokanee fishing been picking up. had a report from my buddy that lives on the lake vernon end that they were jumping like mad in front of his house, but who knows, he might be full of it.

 

[Big Green Machine]

where abouts on the lake were you trolling

Launched at Okanagan Centre and ran across the lake to just North of Lake Okanagan Resort. Most larger rainbows were showing at 60 feet. There was no surface action at all as I was brining the boat in at dusk.

 

[Big Green Machine]

Richie, The Greasy Chum and I hit the big lake again on Sunday. We trolled Bear Creek mouth and the sonar showed many fish stacked up there. We tried a small black Kwikfish, an Apex, and even a muddler with some flash on a sinking line. 4 hits but no successful hookups. At 5:00 pm, like last weekend, the wind gusts came up quickly and blew us off the lake and made conditions unfishable and unsafe. Just before we headed back to shore Richie caught his first kokanee ever. Too bad the fishery isn't open yet otherwise he would have had a nice dinner.

 

[Dave W]

Had a great day on Saturday , trolling north of rattlesnake island. We had a bit of a slow start. went through a few lures before we found the right one. Even had a visit from the CO's. We tried a number of different plugs and apex type lures. Finally broke down and pulled out the, tried and true, Willow leaf and Krocodile spoon. Wasn't long before we had four rainbows. :thumbup: All 1-2 lbs. Weather even cooperated. Started out with a few sprinkles, but that cleared off to leave a pretty pleasant day. A few more pops and I was headed for the couch by 3pm. :cheers:

 

[HOOK]

wow i didnt know you could get fish off the shore in the big lake

where exaclty is Bertram Creek park ??

im not from there however i have family up there and was actually there this past weekend visiting and i would have gone there and made some casts had i known this info

HOOK

 

[Big Green Machine]

Hey Hook,

Bertram is easy to find. Here is a link to get you there.

http://www.regionaldistrict.com/departments/parks/regional/reg_parks_bertramcreek.aspx

 

[HOOK]

thanks BGM

maybe next time im up there ill have to make some casts

still cant believe you can shore fish the big lake what time of the year seems to be the better time?

 

[troutchaser]

I had my tube Ok Lake last summer in the same part BGM was talking about just north of the resort in the bays there. My family stays at the girlguide camp just north of the resort, on the August long weekend, as we helped build it eons ago. Apart from all the boaters shaking their heads at me, I caught a ton of pike minnows but no trout. Some of them were huge. I'll be trying again this year. I used to troll w/ my grandfather when I was a kid. There was great fishing. I gotta find his old albums because some of the kokanee that you could pull out of that lake would make you drool. I've heard the kokes are making quite a comeback but would be curious to know what the biggest one anyone's seen lately. He caught the odd one in the 10 lb. range.

 

[Big Green Machine]

He caught the odd one in the 10 lb. range.

Wow that is huge, bigger than their genetic Sockeye cousins. There were 5-6 pounders caught last summer but not many of them. Most are 14-15 inches. They key is finding the school and then dropping your gear a little lower to entice the larger kokanees.

 

[the greasy chum]

Bertram: Basically just drive south down Pandosy-Lakeshore as far as you can go. Past most of the houses and the wineries, but not as far as OK mountain park. You can't miss it. You can also fish off the old ferry docks on the westside, or by the log booms on westside road for decent casting.

Good luck.