Shuswap/Mara P2

....to Murdock all along trying apexes and spoons at different depths staying out until about 4pm. but no bites. The weather was very nice , maybe too nice but we enjoyed the adventure and the change of scenery. Thank you for taking the time to show us around and your favorite spots ............Dave

Sorry I couldn't get you into some fish Dave, but at least you know the lay of the land for the derby, that'll give you a foot up for getting fish! I was talking to Marv (out on Shu all the time) the other day and he too got skunked, not even a bite. I suppose one could blame it on the water conditions right now but I think I'd also go for they just weren't on the feed bag this time. Good to meet you Johnny, see you guys at the derby....

Water level and temps still going up fast, as is more debris on the lake. I figured I'd give Murdock Pt. a try first thing, and went to the flasher/hootchie setup for starters on a mid depth line and "stuff" on the surface line. I didn't even get my second rod set up and the red flasher/prpl hootchie mooching rod was pounding away!

After a very scrappy fight I brought this (photo) bow to the boat, the setup down at 68'. I gave Murdock nearly an hour of my time but the one fish was all it gave up and I moved over to my laker spot south of the Totem. Another hour here and not so much as a bite so I trolled across the lake to the first tunnel.

I was about mid way across the lake and again the big mooching rod and Shimano knuckle duster reel erupted! This time a grn flasher/hootchie setup took this (photo) fish down at 112'. The surface rod was still doing squat, even though I changed it up every 15-20 minutes with something new, not so much as a bite. I carried on the troll to the light at the tunnel and then headed back towards Sicamous. The grn/grn was doing nothing so I again switched up the deep line, this time to a prpl flasher with a blk/gry Apex in tow. Not 10 minutes down at 112' and this (photo) fish beat up the rod, what scrappy fish today!

That was it for the fish, 3 "one hook one fish" kinda day. Its not unusual to find the bows this deep, even though the water up top is in their comfort zone now. I'm guessing they're just going where the feed is and today it was mostly deep where I was fishing. Also, the water is getting murky from the runoff that's going on right now so sometimes its good to throw a little extra flash down there to get their attention. For those that think the flasher deters from a good fight with the fish, your out to lunch on that one, they still put up a helluva scrap.

Another early day but with 3 fish that size it was more than worthwhile. The day of course could not go without a bit of a hitch, this "thing" (photo) was parked at the launch, blocking the dock. I don't get why guys have to do this, there is tons of room on the other (photo) side to park or better yet park it at the side dock if your going to be a while. I was a good 15 minutes and the boat was not moved while I was there, very inconsiderate.

Kevin Linkletter from Gibbons Motor Toys took a customer out to do a "road test" on his new boat and also did a little fishing, here's their report:

Delivered a boat to Martin, new customer for Gibbons Motor Toys. Got his new boat dialed in with a pair of Scotty 1101's, and had to make sure everything worked ok. We headed over near Tappen Bay, ran some gear up top no Bow's. Martin noticed some action on the sounder down deep, we dropped the gear to 80ft. Watermelon Apex, pow! Not bad for the first fish (photo) in the new boat! Was a little damp on the water, made for some nice photos. Kevin

I had my old Blue's Brother (photo) Mikey out for a morning fish. He wanted to try a little fly fishing so I tossed the electric motor on just in case. We hit Murdock Pt first thing but with the wind the way it was about all we could do is troll with the wind and after an hour and no action we moved on.

Mike honestly doesn't care about catching fish but I wanted him to get at least one so we hit the Totem spot next. Not 10 minutes down and a Cop Car Gypsy spoon at 18' took a nice chrome 2lb bow! On the deep line I first put on the grn spotted Apex and down to 112', quite a few good markings out in the deeper water. After a half hour of nothing I pulled the line out of the clip just as I marked fish and boom, fish on! Not a huge laker but it at least let us know that there were fish down there. I changed up the grn to the blk/gry Apex and in short order Mikey took two Lakers like this (photo) and both put up a real good fight! So, after four fish in about an hour I do what I usually do, move!

We headed to Annis Bay and trolled there for a good hour, not even a bite but some fish marking. Then from there we trolled allllllllllllll the way back to the boundary marking and called it a day, without so much as a bite. I'm thinking a little too much BS'ing in the boat and not enough fishing but that's good for me. Great day out there with you Mike, we'll do it again!

What a difference in water level and temps from the last time I was out, but along with that comes all the junk the rivers/streams puke out. There was a good variety of logs, stumps and other junk every spot I fished today, so beware!

I started out at Murdock, lots of junk in the tide line but if you stayed in closer to shore it was pretty clear. A Cop Car Gypsy spoon took a small rainbow in no time but that was the only fish and action in this spot. As houseboats started to converge I pulled the lines and headed over to my spot south of the Totem.

There wasn't alot marking on the bottom but the odd marking about 20' from the bottom, so I stuck the Agitator flasher on the ball and ran a blk/gry Apex about 4' behind that and put the rigging down to 112'. It only took about 10 minutes and the line popped out of the clip and the tell tale head shake of a laker was on the rod. A pretty good fighter, couple of nice runs straight down and I finally brought a firm 10lber to the boat! I put the gear right back down and another 20 minutes a second laker which was close to the size of the first one. Then, as I usually do when the fishing is good, I pulled the lines and changed spots!

I headed over to Annis Bay and worked the little cabin on the point area and out to the center of the bay, sameo laker gear on. It took two passes but a "just legal" laker hit the Apex out in the middle of the bay and then another one just near the cabin. There were a few fish marking in the area but not to many so I can only assume that the Agitator was doing its job and bringing the fish in to investigate and the fish would smack the Apex which was just behind the flasher. Then, I moved, again!

This time I actually trolled from Annis and up to the 1st Tunnel area, not very often I do this, I like to blast to each fishing spot. My top line for rainbows hadn't been doing anything until I switched up to the black/sparkle Apex and down at 28' that I took two rainbows, each about 2lbs, right in the bay near the cabins that are there. I did notice there was quite a bit of fish activity in that bay, smaller and bigger fishing jumping. Lots of boats out today so I called it a trip at noon and left the fish to the rest of the anglers, that's just the kinda guy I am! I never did make it to Chuck's Bay, that'll be on the next trip with Mikey!

So I've been outta town for a week, just getting home last night, and while doing my "kitchen chores" around the yard Chuck stops in. I make the mistake of asking how fishing was and at the end of his story I was ready to toss the yard tools away and get the boat loaded up! Chuck said the fishing has been amazing, with lots of bigger fish coming to the hook. It didn't take much prodding and the words "gry/whi" Apex and "near the surface" came out! Best spots, well, how about between the 2nd tunnel and Sicamous! That's enough info for me, I know where I'm going tomorrow!

A real easy report for this trip, 2 small bows (or should that be to small!), both taken on a chrome FlatFish with pink spots, down at 18'. These two were taken at Murdock but that was it for fish and bites for the morning. I tried Hungry Cove area and then also headed over to the first tunnel and worked that area, nothing.

There weren't alot of fish marking anywhere today, but especially absent over at Murdock where the fishing has been great. Could be weather systems coming in, could be the latest influx of water into the lake (up 2" from two days ago!) Quite a few boats out again today, I didn't see any fish brought in but anything is possible! On a non-fishing note, just a warning that the tourists are in fact here now. When I was loading my boat up there was a fancy dancy Mastercraft wakeboard boat at the top of the ramp. They were obviously in the process of loading it up with stuff from the attached truck, both had Alberta plates on it. Now, not the best place to park your rig to "do stuff" to it, but, better than at the bottom of the launch and blocking that area. It did make it a little more awkward for backing your rig up to use the ramp but whatever. The thing that made me smile was the comment from one of the occupants on board the boat, while the motor lid (doghouse) was up. He said "Boy, that battery is really dead!!!". All winter and until now they have had a chance to ensure the most simple of things on a boat are working but no, show up at the launch with a dead battery! Some may find this trivial but I don't, what if in fact he had the boat in the water and was blocking everyone else, and he had a dead battery. Come on people, check this s*@* out before you get here! Its just starting too!

This morning had the smell of fish in the air, or, it could have been my boat which has seen alot of fish these past trips! Whatever it was, there's nothing like the smell after a fresh rain has washed everything down, and I assumed it would be another fishy day out on the lake!

I headed straight to my spot at Murdock, it has been the most productive but when I got there I found Chuck "sneaking in" to my area! That's OK, I'll let it go this time Chuck, but that means I get to go to your secret spot next time! The mini silver Lyman down at 18' had a fish on in less than 5 minutes and this (photo) fella had it in his mind to take my fish! I tried to get a "talon shot" as it spread its claws to latch onto the fish but the fish had other ideas and headed straight down! Pretty neat to see that and, I didn't shoot it with a paint ball gun either, gee, go figure! Anyways, a nice clean 3lb bow to the bow and the line was back in. That one fish however, was it for Murdock, I never even had another bite! There were fish marking deep but I kept my stuff on or near the surface, only going as deep as 28'. There was a fiberglass boat out there with "someone" in it yelling at me, sorry, don't know who you were, tried to call you on the VHF but no response. The phone number you called was my home number so needless to say I didn't call back!

After an hour and a half of nothing else so I pulled the lines and headed to Annis Bay, which proved to be very interesting! I worked the top stuff for about an hour and took 2 small rainbows down at 18', both on a all chrome 3" Flatfish with pink spots. When I moved out further into the bay the fish were marking like crazy (photo) so I put down some deep lines. A grn hoocthie/flasher took a nice laker down at 112' right near the little cabin on the point. It was when I moved further into the bay I took two of these (photo) down at 118'. It took quite a few hook changes to finally get something down there to bite but a grn/chrome FST and the Agitator on the cannon ball finally did it! Very nice bull trout and very scrappy, even on the big salmon rod.

That finished off my outing. This pic (photo) shows something interesting to keep in mind for the upcoming char derby. If you are marking a ton of fish in a particular area, stay there! Keep changing up your hooks until you at least start getting some hits. Those fish you see on the sounder screen are waypoints that I marked every time I showed fish on the graph. Then I'd just make circles and go back over the same area. If you don't get a bite in 3 hours move on, they are already full! Also, these (photo) things are showing up on the lake now so beware, they could even do some damage to a new boat like SCPP has! Lots of guys fishing again, parking lot was full!

Also, I found out today (12-04-18) who the guy was that was screaming at me from the other boat, it was my Blue's Brother "Mikey"! Good to hear you brother, glad you got some fish! Here's his report:

I could cut and paste one of your reports, you seen where we was, same gear, fairly shallow, the one (photo) we got near you hit at 24' on a brand new zebra apex trolled at 2.6 - 2.8 MPH, got 3 legal 'bows (photo), weighed 4 lb 6 oz to just under 5 lbs., measured for legal length and filled in the necessary paperwork. The trip near the marker was with lines up as one crew-mate was experiencing a severe need to investigate the local flora & fauna, plenty of moss growing on the mountain side. Two caught at the white stripe line in the rocks, I know you had a name for that but can't remember and 3rd caught off the point to the north just before the bay. Mikey

Chris Smith and his buddy Dave did a trip to Mara Lake and worked the river mouth, here's his report:

Hi Sherm, My buddy Dave and I headed out to fish the mouth of the Shuswap on Mara Lk. We launched at the site near the end of the lake. The water was really low and the concrete slabs at the boat launch don't go very far in - and so gave us trouble getting our boat back on the trailer. We fished the area for about two hours with not so much as a bite. My finder was saying there was fish all over, but im starting to think it was just debris. We then trolled over to the narrow section of the lake with the cliffs on the one side and the beach on the other. Lots of fish marking. Within a half hour we caught a beauty 26' female rainbow right off the surface on a Lyman's lure (black/green/white). Unfortunately, no picture as i forgot my camera, so this remains a fish story- but I insist it was "that BIG". One more big bite then that was it. We then fished the bay on the far side of the lake right around the side with the cliffs. LOTs of fish marking really deep around 100-120 my guess lakers? But nothing took. Cheers, Chris

Thanks Chris! Alot of that "stuff" your marking is debris but yes, at the north end of the narrows and in the deeper water is where the lakers hang. The lake is also full of squaw fish and they do tend to hug the bottom quite a bit but you tend to find more of them around the river mouth,

So, I head down to the launch, looks like it'll be a pretty nice day out there, and pull up to the ramp. There's a couple guys off to the right (Eric and Steve) who are getting their stuff together, no biggey, kinda tough to move their tinny anywhere else. To the left and at the dock is another truck with its tinny (12'er) off the truck and sitting half in the water and half on the ramp. Two guys, futzing about and getting their gear together, so I get out and get my boat ready to launch. Soooooooo, after 5-10 minutes I'm ready to roll and I'm standing at the top of the ramp, waiting for buddy by the dock to move his "stuff". One of them, the owner of the truck and boat, see's me standing there waiting and proceeds to futz more with his stuff! They've got "stuff" in the boat and spread all over the dock area and the boat is still blocking the launch area.

I can be a pretty patient guy for alot of things but being inconsiderate isn't one of them, but I continue to stand at the top of the ramp. The owner finally gets in his truck and drives it up to the parking area. I get in my rig and back it right down to where the tinny is still sitting on the ramp. The fella that was left there flags me and advises me that there is a boat right behind me, to which I politely reply that I know this but thank you. I then talk to this chap about how other anglers should clear the launching area ASAP, especially for those trying to launch bigger boats, and that this dock is the only one in town that has a dock. He is very nice about it all and while I'm talking to him I see the owner of the truck now walking and at the top of the ramp. He looks down to where I am and then proceeds to walk away, headed for the dirt parking area, I assume to have a whizz or something.

So, I make a request to the other fella to help me move the tinny to the other side of the dock where it is out of the way of launching and also still close enough to load the rest of the gear in. We do this, I pull my back out on the motor end of the boat getting it into the water but whatever, the launch area is now clear. The owner finally shows up, doesn't say squat but his buddy mentions to him as to why we moved his boat, he says nothing, not thank you or sorry or anything, BUT YOUR WELCOME!

Listen, this is a longer rant than it deserves but this is just the beginning of the season so best make mention of the ground rules of launching boats:

That's it, pretty simple, get your boat in the water and launched and out of the way ASAP, you don't own the launch so you can't camp there, sorry. I expect tourists who have their big 26' wake board boats to block stuff up all summer long but not local anglers whom I share the water with, we're supposed to be better than that. Enough said

Fishing, yes, I did finally get launched and out, putting the lines in at Murdock first. It took 20 minutes but the first 2 lb bow took the mini silver Lyman down at 18' and then two more after that, the largest in that 5-6 lb range and a real nice chromer! After an hour and a half more and more boats started showing up so I pulled my lines and headed to the first tunnel, no fish, and a ton of boats showed up just after I did! You guys following me? Anyways, I called it a day just after lunch, met Sean at the launch, good to meet you and glad you like the site! Water level is up, water temp is up and the fish are still up, all good out there!

If I used the term phenomenal for the morning fishing it may not do it justice but, that's all that comes to mind while I type, what a morning! Along with the great fishing was the unbelievable weather, about +3 first thing, sunshine and just a slight ripple on the lake.

I hit Murdock first off and as you can see by this (photo) pic, my tracks were almost the same as the last time out, try and copy these Dave M.! It took just about an hour before the first fish, trying the good old blu/chrome stuff first but to no avail. In fact it wasn't even Apex's or spoons that were on the menu this AM but, this (photo) little fart that slaughtered them down at 18'! In fact, so much so that in case you hadn't noticed, the hook is missing, it pulled out after the 4th fish blew the line out of the clip!! This (photo) and this (photo) were just a couple of the 7 rainbows that were taken in less than 2 hours!! The smallest fish was 2 lbs and the rest bigger! The gold Lyman took all but two fish, one rainbow and one nice 7-8lb Lake Trout that took the small silver Lyman at 28'.

Tom showed up a Murdock and got tired of seeing me catching fish so left for the first tunnel, and I of course followed just to harass him. I did let him in on the "secret" hook and it wasn't long and he had a fish on it. Just as he got off the radio my line tore out of the clip, again, and I brought the final fish (photo) to the boat for a quick pic, gold Lyman at 20'.

Its not very often I get into such a huge fish eating frenzy AND with all the fish being of pretty decent size! I've picked up quite a few small rainbows at time's but nothing like the ones this AM, and every one was a scrapper right to the end. The biggest fish (pre-spawner) even forced me to stop the boat in order to get line back and get it to the boat, what a fish! That's fishing, I still have found the morning to be more productive than other times during the day, short of right at dusk. Hook wise, I think because those sockeye fry are flooding parts of the lake the fish are targeting whatever looks like them or similar to them.

The way I approach the hook stuff is if you haven't had a hit on it in a half hour but know there are fish around, change it up until you at least get strikes. The blu/chome has been bullet proof right up until today as have been other colors of Apex's or spoons but, not today! Also, change up your area. If you've been there for 2 hours and haven't had a hit it might be time to venture to a totally different spot. I like to pull the lines and run rather than troll spot to spot, saves alot of time and can be the difference between getting something or nothing. Enough said, I got lucky today, how's that!

With Mara Lk now clear of all ice I figured it'd be a great day to give it a whirl, sunshine in the forecast and a high pressure system on its way in so a win win!

I put in on the south side of the Swansea narrows and worked that bay in front of the Hummingbird Resort. It took a little longer than usual but 15 minutes in and I had my first bow to the boat, a smaller 14" which took a blu/chrome Trout Killer Apex at 18'. Over the next hour and change I took 2 more rainbows of the same size and on the same lure, time to move! I pulled the lines and headed for the mouth area of the Shuswap River, leaving on the "stuff" I had just caught fish on. After a half hour of nothing I switched up and a grn/chrome Coyote spoon had the first hit but nothing more. It was when I changed up the one hook to a grn/chrome Trout Killer Apex that I caught this (photo) spunky bow at 18', it put up more of a fight than some 5 lbers I've caught! This however was the one and only fish caught in this area, and I tried quite a few hooks and different depths.

From the River mouth I headed back north and put the lines in at the north end of the Swansea narrows, quite a few fish marking deep. It was a brass Firewing Croc that took a nice Laker, down at 112', in that 6-7 lb range. That was the last fish for the day.

I met quite a few guys at the launch first thing this morning, Dave Monk from Vernon and a buddy of his Eric who had nothing but compliments for my website, thanks Eric! I also spoke to a Fisheries Biologist who is taking gut samples from kept rainbows. He said there is a huge abundance of sockeye fry in the lake right now (from the 2010 run) and while they usually hang in the middle of the lake they seem to be shore huggers this time for some reason, maybe eating the chironomids. Anyways, good to meet you all and I hope you send in some reports!