Mile High Lake (Face Lake) Report

[nostrildamus]

I spent Saturday afternoon and Sunday till 3:00pm at Mile High Lake outside of Kamloops. The fishing was at times frustrating. There were hundreds of rainbows large and small jumping up to four feet out of the water which I had never seen before. It was unclear as to whether this was a feeding behaviour or something else as they didn't seem to be keying in on anything. Generally speaking, large splashy rises indicate feeding on adult hatched insects rather than nymphs(or am I out to lunch here?) and I couldn't quite crack the mystery so I went fly by fly through nearly my entire box until I reached my red Doc Spratley. I had taken the advice of fellow fisherman to try the old faithfuls like Damsels and Scuds and maybe a Gomphus... nuthin'! I have been reading and re-reading The Gilly and recalled that Alf Davies favoured a Spratley in tough times as one of the better attracter patterns, so I busted mine out. All the locals has told me that green was the magic colour on Face lake and my Spratley was red but I put her on anyway. Nailed a small 'bow and then fifteen minutes later another twelve incher followed by another small guy. I got up at five on Sunday morning to see what I could tempt and ran through some other flies in the hopes that I could snag a larger fish but this proved only frustrating as the leaping rainbows splashed all around in mockery of my efforts. Back on went the red Spratley and the sink tip line and soon after I was into a little yet feisty rainbow. It was nearing breakfast when I turned for shore and had my fly hammered by a rainbow. I set the hook and then everything went dead for a couple of seconds. I was wondering whether there was anything still on the line when suddenly the fish took off and stripped five to ten feet of line. I quickly added a bit more drag as this wasn't one of the little guys I had landed previously. Three more runs like the first and eventually I played the roughly two pound 15" rainbow in. It was a beauty and fought hard enough to make my morning so I released it and hit the shore. I rented a boat in the afternoon and trolled around the far end of the lake looking for some more lunkers but got nothing until I returned to the same spot I caught the other. Sure enough I was soon into a three more all of smaller size but all fought extra hard. It was far from an amazing day and half fishing, as I had visions of multiple two plus pounders, but it beat the pants of the lower mainland fish. In any case, I'll be going back.

[Royal_Coachman]

Sounds like you had a good time 8)

Spratley is always a great searching fly. Depending on the size, shape and color it can resemble a wide range of aquatic insects. I also like halfbacks, Carrey Specials and Wolley Bugger's for searching. Having confidence in your offering can make the difference sometimes. :wink:


Cheers

-RC

[nostrildamus]

That's the strange thing about Face this past weekend though, my usual searching patterns like the Woolly Bugger and the Halfbacks didn't provoke any response. I think you're right. Once I had the confidence and knew that I could catch them on the Spratley I started fishing with more persistence and patience. It allowed me to narrow my search to a certain area and then a certain depth within that area. Eventually I figured out that if I simply stayed and continued fishing I would eventually hit something.

[Royal_Coachman]

Face is not as nutrient rich as some of the lakes in the area eg Tunkwa, Leighton ect.Attractor patterns seem to work well in lakes like Face,Paska, Dominic. I found you have to really match the naturals in the more nutrient rich lakes :wink: Stomach pump can come in handy if you are able to trick one fish you can see what they are keying on. You mentioned "The Gilly" another good read is "Flyfishing Trout Lakes" with Skip Morris and Brian Chan. Give's you tips on how to retrieve different patterns and how to fish them. http://www.chironomid.com/publicatio...echniques.html

-RC

[nostrildamus]

Man. I guess I should have kicked back in to shore and re-read The Gilly when frustration set in. From giving the section on caddis flies a second look I see Alf Davy states, "On the surface, sedges prompt explosive rises from larger fish which, at most other times, seem to reject all attempts to prove their existence."