Gerrard Rainbows

[gramps73]

Heading out to Trout Lake this week after the gerrards, has any one out there fished for them and if so would you kindly share some of you stories, what worked and did not....
thanks in advance
g

[Bushmaster]

Where is Trout Lake and what size are the fish ??

We caught them in Kootenay on a Bill Norman plug.

[gramps73]

South of Revy, across the ferry on the Arrows and up located north of the town of Gerrard, as far as the fish I have seen them cought 20+. the locals are a little less then willing to share anything about catching them i have tried everything from spoons to raps

g

My favourite this time of year is pulling huge polar bear hair streamers right up top about 100 yards behind the boat at up to three miles per hour. Atomic plugs seem to work well too.

[Ironman]

I don't know how Trout Lake is fishing but on Kootenay Lake we are catching the Bows on the surface as sheephunter suggested. Try 3.5 -4.0 mph as well as faster trolling speed seems to be working right now.

[gramps73]

Thank guys
look forawrd to posting some pics of some big fish.....

[gramps73]

Sheep
Any color seem to work better then others
G

It really seems to depend on the day gramps but I like flies with green and black and purple in them. It is meant to look like a kokanee so any similar colours work well.

[Bushmaster]

We hand painted our plugs but I think my big one was taken on a purple / green combo.

[gramps73]

well just visited the fishin hole and picked up some polor bear files,
just one other questions when pulling these behind the boat is there any weight added to the fly or is just to skip accross the water.

[Rob Miskosky]

No weight. Just let is skip along the surface.

They don't actually skip across the water but run just under the surface but no weight is added.

They occasionally need to be tuned just like a crankbait so they run true. This is done by bending the hook. They should run just under the surface at the side of the boat and not try to break the surface or roll. Once they are running true, let them out about 300 feet.

[One Canadian]

budding in on this conversation, what is the best time of year to fish for these big mothers? I have read about them on this forum and others for a long time now, seen fishing shows such as Columbia Country fish them and I just think I should take the boat out there. When you add the fact that my grandparents live in Creston I makes a lot of sense I think.
thanks boys.

I like May best but there is good fishing from October to June! They head really deep in the summer.

[Rob Miskosky]

The biggest one I caught was 16 pounds last August. 147-feet of water on the downrigger. Caught it on a silver Williams Bully. They definitely go deeper in summer and are much harder to catch. Next biggest fish we caught was a 7-pound Dolly and our total was about a dozen fish over 3-days fishing.

Would love to get there in late winter, early spring. Mike Thompson of Split-Shot Charters tells me that winter is the best time of them all for the real big Gerrards though.

Here is the photo of my best one followed by my brothers Dolly.

[Bushmaster]

My biggest was 26 lbs., taken in January, 1981.

[One Canadian]

holy crap those are sweet fish! winter it is then! now to convince the father in law to haul his boat out there for a trip!

[Bushmaster]

This is mine, mounted by Don Petrician in Spruce Grove....

[Bushmaster]

Do they still hand these out ??

[Rob Miskosky]

If I'm not mistaken the Jones Boys Marina is no more. I remember back when I was growing up in the Okanagan the fishing reports for Kootenay Lake always came over the radio from Jones Boys Marina.

[Ishpah]

Jones Boys are still active, just moved down the lake a short distance. Check the link.
http://www.jonesboysboats.com/

[Ironman]

Flies with a Green crystal flash are hot right now.

[gramps73]

Have any of you fish Trout Lake, and if so where. the only spot that we fish is the north end by the town of Trout lake south of the mile marker
g