BEST FISHING AT THIS LAKE IN 52 YEARS!

I started fishing MY LAKE when I was five years old with my father. The first time we went was an unusually warm afternoon in May and the BLACK ANT HATCH  was on. As we were putting the boat in the water all I could here was splash splash splash as the fish started going crazy,jumping all over the place. My Dad had the biggest grin on his face so I knew something was up. I didn't know it at the time about matching your fly to the hatch but I guess my Dad did because he was catching Cutthroat Trout like there was no tomorrow.One after as another he was catching these feisty  30 cm. to 50 cm. Cuthrout trout don't jump like Rainbow trout do when you hook one. There strategy  is to go deep and run and the bigger fish do put up quite a battle. My first time fishing at my laake was 52 years ago and this November I was back fishing it again. No surprize to me that the Cuthrout fishing was still as good as it was when I was 5 years old. the lake dosn't get musch fishing pressure and it's off the road quite aways. We had lots of action for the 2 1/2 hours and we kept 8 fish from 35 cm. to a nice 3 pd. 5 ouncne   47 cm. I have fish my lake for over 50 years and have only seen 5 other boats on it. My Lake is only 45 minutes from my house!!! I LIVE ON A WONDERFUL ISLAND



THOUGHT FOR THE DAY!

   When I was 13 years old I was watching a t.v. show on CREDENCE CLEAR WATER REVIVAL rock band and they said they practice 8 hours a day for 8 months  before they made their first album. I said to my mom that they should just be able to play forgetting that the week before I came home from school and announced that I wasn't leaving the table until I learn how to shuffle a deck of playing cards. By Sunday afternoon I got up from the table and declared that practice makes perfect! Forty years later it dawned on me that's why Credence practiced so much.

 

 

 

 

First cutthroat trout over 4 pounds of the year.

January 19. Once again at Horne Lake and another gorgeous day. Water temperature had risen 2 degrees to 45 F and the air had warmed up to 12 C a few degrees above normal. Today I went straight down to the south western bay and started fishing the creek mouths. In British Columbia a lone fisherman in a boat trout fishing is allowed to fish two rods at once. I was fishing in my 12 foot aluminum and I put a black leach fly on my right hand rod that another fly fisherman had tied out of bear hair. His name is Kim and I have met him twice at my most favorite lake. Kim said after years of tying flies and experimenting this black leach was one of his meat and potato flies. Kim was also kind enough to give me his favorite meat and potato fly, a green dragonfly nymph which I have had great success with. Thank you Kim. So today I had Kims black leach on my right hand rod and I put a silver muddler minnow on my left hand rod which I hold in my right hand while I steer the boat with my left hand. I always hold the rod with the fly that I think will be more productive. As I entered the bay where the first creek enters the lake I was watching the screen and sure enough 8 fish showed up. My fish finder has 3 symbols small, medium and large. On the screen 3 of the fish were medium sized. I'm not all together positive the weight of the medium fish but I have caught four fish over 4 pounds when the medium fish show on the screen in the last two years. In this bay you enter from the north and you go through it until you hit the shallow bank. Then you have to make a sharp right hand turn 90 {degrees} and try to position your flies over the fish. I was watching the screen and when I decided that my flies were over the fish I turn really sharp to the left to drag the flies over the fish. Almost a 180 degree turn. As I straighten out I estimating where the fish was going to hit my sliver muddler minnow. I went about 50 feet further than I thought the fish would hit and then to my surprise my left hand rod {with the black leach} bent behind me and wrapped around the motor, almost touching my rod that I was holding. I got the rush that you get when you know that you have a nice fish on. What a feeling. I was so excited that I threw the rod in my right hand into the boat while I was reaching for the rod with the fish on with my left hand. I had to grab my rod in the boat again to keep it from falling in the lake. By then the cutthroat was heading into shore and the fight was on. After about 6 minutes I landed him. I took my time because I wanted to keep him as my youngest daughter was coming from Australia and I wanted to treat her with some fresh trout. I am a catch and release type of fisherman except for special occasions and on some lakes when you would like a shore lunch. Landing the cutthroat I knew he was big and when I got home he weighed 4 pounds and 6 ounces. All excited I went to the end of the lake and fished the dead heads for an hour and landed three more cutthroats between 15" and 18". All in all a very beautiful day on the water with some excitement. They say the trout fishing isn't very good until April on Vancouver Island. If that's true I wonder how April fishing is going to be.

Second time on Horne Lake

January 16,  A very bright sunny day, no wind in the south western bay of Horne Lake. The water temperature was 43 F and the air was 5 C. First time fishing this part of the lake and I was very surprized at the numbers of fish showing up on the fish finder. At the very end of the lake there is two fairly respectable creeks flowing into the lake and three minor ones. As expected the fish were holding up at the creek mouths. What I had not expected was the amount of large fish all ready holding up among the dead heads at the creek mouths. There were more fish over 4 pounds showing on the fish finder than I have ever seen in one area. Even though it was a little chilly it was a great afternoon for fly fishing as I landed 3 cutthroats between 14 and 18 inches. I had a great day on the water and I looking forward for more days on the lake.

First cutthroat trout of 2011.

15 inch cutthroat trout

 January 2 a beautifull bright and sunny day on Horne Lake, which is only 35 minuites from my house. My first time ever fishing this lake as one of my favorite lakes to fish was frozen over, which is very unusual for Vancouver Island. The high temperature for the day was 27 F and the water temperature was 43 F. I was excited to see the huge amount of fish that showed up on the fish finder. As you can see the cutthroat was a good size coming in at 15" and in good shape. Great, another lake to fish close to home.