Jet

Another awesome report Tyler! Love seeing the variety of species.

Beauty Bows Leech! Caught my first thru the ice this year and what a blast they are on the hardstuff. Great report!

Beautiful work Spiel!

Nice to see some laker action this season! I'm having withdrawal out west here

They don't call it Dirty Bird for nothing! I still couldn't resist eating some last week.

Awesome Dave!!!! Since we're practically neighbors I should head up that way!! Gotta love the early ice we both get.

Yes, that's my getaway from the hustle and bustle of small town life!

Really appreciate all the kind words guys. I don't get out as much as I did back in Ontario, so it's really nice to have such a great community to share it with when I do. Like I've said before, my door is always open to any OFNer that finds themselves out this way. Thanks Frankie! I shot it on my Panasonic TS2. If anyone is looking for a top-line HD fishing-proof camera, I can attest that it is great. The TS3 even better! I was watching those vids too which made me go exclusively for the big ones even if it meant a skunk. Looking forward to your Laker reports this season. Ya it was really great, particularly since he was the one that approached me and not the other way around. That was exactly how I started. No one fished in my family. I just saw others doing it when I was four and I just knew it was something I had to be a part of. Thanks Dave. Bull Trout taste? Well all last season I didn't keep a single one. I heard conflicting reports of the taste (sounded like a debate about a fishing rod!). So this year I kept a nice 4lb fish and the flesh was as orange as can be (heavy Kokannee diet), no fishy smell whatsoever and it tasted amazing. I've had it battered and deep fried, baked in foil on a BBQ and in fish soup. Some of the best fish I've had. That said fish from from these cold clean waters all are very good. And ya that bow I kept was filled with shrimp!

Seeing as no one is posting any ice fishing reports , (except for Limey and Dave of course!), I figured I'd step up and help get this hardwater season started. Joking aside, I've been hitting the ice since early December and this year has already eclipsed what I accomplished all of last season. Learning new water (and a new province) has taken a lot of miles and legwork but as we all know, that's how you earn the big pay-off. Last year I tried and tried to land a Bull Trout through the ice. I did but it measured all of 25 cm. For those who know me I love ice fishing for Lake Trout (it's tied with Steelhead) and while landing Cutthroats through the ice is fun, it doesn't even compare. So this time I put away the mealworms and went all out all day with jigging spoons. On my first trip I banged out a 5lb Bully in just 12 feet of water. No picture unfortunately so I went back to try and do it again. The Bulls were plentiful with many smaller guys smashing the spoons like this one. My friends son watched from the livingroom window as I ventured out day after day during the Xmas break and the curiosity got the best of him. When I got back one evening this 11-year-old insisted that I take him next time out. Why wait! We set out after dinner to try our luck at night. Seems like these BC trout don't bite too well at night; my finder drew blanks for three hours. But my buddy Weston stuck it out until his eyes got too heavy. The next day he was up at 7:30 a.m. asking his mom if he could go wake me up! Having partied quite hard with the family that night she gave me mercy and made him let me sleep in. We didn't hit the ice until 11:30 a.m. but this time the timing was perfect. Straight off I lost about 3 fish in the first hour. I was concentrating hard to get a fish to keep his attention, but he didn't need it. He fished away lifting the spoon high up and letting it flutter back down over and over. Like most kids he loves to talk and was chatting away when suddenly his story cut short and he was staring straight down. Excitement took over his every word as a Bullie started peeling drag. He learned quickly not to reel against an angry fish and after about four minutes up came his biggest fish ever! We would go on to miss a few more and I'd land another just a bit smaller. He looked cold as the sun was setting so I told him we can go in anytime he wants. Determined he replied, "30 more minutes." Good thing he did because after 20 minutes a line appeared for a split second on my sonar, raced up and smashed my spoon. While Weston didn't land it, you couldn't tell by looking and right there a new angler was born. Both fish helped feed a posse of 12 that night, including his grandparent who were visiting from Ohio. It was truly an amazing day. With New Years falling on the weekend I found myself with another day away from the business. So I decided to venture out to a lake that skunked me for all 5 trip I made last season. It holds the legendary strain of Gerrard Rainbows with rumours of 10 pounders lurking beneath the ice. While I didn't get quite that close I did go 8 for 9 and lost many more simply not paying attention to my rod. A 360 degree view of my hole. There I sat in 56.6 feet of water, a very foreign situation for a guy used to fishing for rainbows in the rivers. Most info I found on the Internet suggested shallow water for ice bows and I did that a lot last season with no luck. So I looked around at where other anglers set up and drilled up along the same line. I wasn't sure if I should fish shallow, in the middle or right off bottom. So I watched this one guy off in the distance who just seemed to be catching while no one else was. I got a hit only 20 feet below and thought perhaps that was the right depth. But that mystery angler was letting it go right down to the bottom and every fish he hooked took a good while to reel up. So I put my faith fishing 2 feet off bottom and after 15 minutes the sonar light up. These bows bite lightly. You just leave your rod, wait for the nudge and set the hook. My first fish of the day ended up being a beautiful 54 cm. And another angle. Many more would follow with tug of wars that Rainbows are known for. Hooked at nearly 60 feet down, they often come up easily but when they see the hole they go buck wild ripping line for all they're worth. Some fish I'd think I lost, only to realize it had blasted upward faster than I could reel! Here are a few choice shots. And one for the dinner plate. To my surprise the meat was more orange than the salmon I serve at my restaurant! The fishing was amazing and I learned first-hand about one of the main reasons why. I got checked three times by plain-clothed COs and once more on my way home at a roadside stop. It was great to see and I can't wait to go back next week! Here's a short video to finish this report. <iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/84HGb2tP_RQ?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Thanks for reading!

Check out LLBean. If your waders ever leak they'll send you a brand new pair at their cost. Wading boots carry same gurantee. They also carry Simms but with their warranty. I bought the rapid river waders which leaked after a year. Then upgraded to the Simms headwaters no questions asked.

Since you like HB's, here's what you probably want and is well within your budget. It also has a flasher-mode so you'll essentially get both. http://store.humminbird.com/products/356811/385ci_Combo_Portable?alt=3 There's also the GPS giving you the benefits already mentioned. I have the non-gps version and works like a charm - and instantaneous I might add. So much in fact I think about four of my friends bought the same one after watching it during many successful Laker Chase games.

And no pictures of the new reels?!?!?! I'm so disappointed

Very cool my friend. I think you should tag along with the boys and tell the story of Hard Water Lakers Part 3! I have a feeling it will be epic.

Wow I'm missing out!!! Great stuff Tony, maybe next opener!

Beautiful stuff Mike. The trips you take like this inspire me to do the same with such regularity. One day!

Fishing does more for the soul than simply catching fish. Wish I could have been there to fish like we used to and lend some support in person through your personal challenges. Hopefully we'll get to talk about it all on a river real soon.

You all know whenever you can make it there are spots on the river waiting for you. I think you'll all love applying your trusty centerpin on our eager and often very big bull trout. I can definitely guide you to the rivers! We'll both probably have to work to get the fish though. Yes what a missed opportunity When I saw your Lake Louise pic I was thinking the very same thing. At least next time you have another destination for your trip out west. Sushi's on me! Yes Chris it hasn't been the same since. When are you and Tony coming??? No trip to Milner quite yet. Will be my next centerpin when I rig up and give them Idaho Steelhead a try. Can you say 15 lb main line and 10 lb leads!!! Yes it was all dry fly action for Cutties and Rainbows. You always try to match the hatch, but what is nice with Cutties is they are often always game. So we switched up between many different flies and bugs such as Fat Albert, Stick Midges, Blue Wing Olvies, Mayflies to name a few. But it is definitely awesome to when there's a big hatch and you have the right fly. When that happens you just can't keep the fish off your line, often the same fish over and over! Thanks Mike. For a guy that has fished so much that means a lot to hear that from you. Yes that beverage cooler is really something else. The guy who made it is a great friend of mine, a super smart German who helped me fix up this whole building and build and design the restaurant. He imported a whole building from Germany and reassembled here in Kimberly. It is known as the "oldest building in Canada." Built in 1640, disassembled and moved to Kimberley in 1987 to become a restaurant. Thank you everyone for sitting through my longest report ever. It was by far the best fishing I've done in my whole life and thank you all for coming along and reliving it with me.

Work hard, play hard. I've always lived by this motto and I finally got the chance to put it into practice this past September (and I'll take this opportunity to apologize for the belated report). After a solid year of non-stop work bringing my restaurant from start to finish and then opening, I finally reached September 4 where my two week vacation would begin. I was counting down the days since June. I wanted to have two weeks of not worrying about food deliveries, accounting, payroll and all the other daily chores that come with running your own business. Even better was that two of my best fishing partners - Jimmy and Chris - from Toronto had committed to coming down this way to accompany me for two weeks of hardcore fishing. By hardcore I mean up at 6:30 a.m. and with the long hours of sunlight here (Cranbrook gets the most hours of sunlight of any place in BC) we'd wrap up our trips around 9 p.m. To be honest the fishing was more exhausting that the restaurant. But of course it was worth every exhausting moment. For 14 days we visited eight different rivers with many pulling double duty. Most of which was dry fly fishing for Westslope Cutthroat Trout with random trips for Bull Trout and one for Columbia River Rainbows. There are a ton of pictures ahead, so I'll let them do most of the talking. The day after we closed, we headed to the Skook. It's a far off the beaten track river nearly 40 km down a remote logging road. We stop to bask in the start of what would be an epic journey. And finally we reach our destination It is a scenic river and well worth the trek in. We easily landed over 70 Cutties between the three of us. After all the Cutty action I decided to see if the Bull Trout had started moving in. Unfortunately it was still early but we managed to pick off a few. The Kokanee were in full spawning swing. These are landlocked Sockeye Salmon and don't get much bigger than this. This is the reason why why the Bull Trout get so large here. After the boys got excited about Bull Trout, I decided to hit the Bull River. It is a glacier river that has a good run of spawning Bull Trout. The cutthroat action is also spectacular, but even more impressive is the river itself. It is as about as beautiful as they come. It begins with the long trek down. The Bullies were shy but we managed a few. With all the Cutthroat around, it was likely the Bullies were full most of the time. Here's proof. Now this is a fishing hole! Moments later, FISH ON!! And it did not get away. Nor did this one. Gotta love those glacier blue rivers. A good friend of mine is a guide here, so I decided to hire him to take the boys out on the Elk River. We floated around 12 km and the Cutties were suicidal. After five days of hard fishing, we decided it was time for a break. We had a little party out on St. Mary's Lake, a Schnitzel Party to be exact. My friend owns the most popular German restaurant in town, so the Schnitzel's were top notch. And they were cooked in the biggest frying pan I've seen at least. My friend made this beverage cooler out of a hollowed out log with a constant stream of glacier spring water. It kept us "happy" during the party. After a day of rest we hit the St. Mary's River. The action was steady with Cutties with this Cutbow being the highlight of the trip. Then we set off to an Elk River tributary, with promises of the biggest Cutties in the Kootenay region. And we all smashed our PB and then some. On the way we stopped to check out the "World's Biggest Truck." Our best Cutty fishing to date was about to begin. And what a beautiful river it is. We then headed to Castlegar to try for some Columbia River Rainbows. They get so big here that you can consider them Steelhead. Unfortunately it was a very tough trip and we didn't find the big bows, but that's fishing. Only one of two bows we managed that trip. Unfortunately all good things must come to an end. It was the fastest two weeks of my life. I decided to end our trip on the White River. It isn't the best dry fly fishing river, but the water is top notch and the scenery second to none. There's also the chance for Rainbows. To get to White River you drive down roads with shoulders that look like this. Now for some scenery. The Cutties were average, but this Rainbow caught by my buddy Jimmy made it all worthwhile. I really want to thank my friends Jimmy and Chris for committing and coming out to spend my vacation with me. It wouldn't have been nearly as memorable if I had to go at it alone. And thank you all my fellow OFC'ers for coming along for the ride and enduring my long report. Now it's back to work, but stay tuned for a 2011 Bull Trout Run report. So far it has been amazing. Here's a little taste of my next report. Thanks for reading!

Absolutely epic! Thank you for taking the time to share this with us. It has inspired me to put it on my "To Do" list.

You're just a few hours from Kimberley! Lake Louise is a stunning place to visit. Did you hike up to the Tea House!?

The words of support really mean a lot everyone. Thanks for taking the time to share them with me. It's been a very long road to get here. I first visited Kimberley four years ago and it only took a few days for me to realize I wanted to live here. Ever since that fateful trip, I started thinking about ways to get myself out here. Careers are quite limited in the Kootenays, so you really have to create your own opportunities. Kinbari was the idea that became that opportunity. If anyone here every finds themselves in the East Kootenays drop me a line. There's a river waiting and a dinner table empty and they both have something to do with fish! Cheers!

Great stuff Mike! Are those new waders I see??? If so you should test them out here!

Family, cottage, fishing. What could be better! Great stuff Leechman.

Ever since I've moved to the east Kootenay's it's been nothing but work, work, work! I relocated to Kimberley, BC back in October 2010 to open up a restaurant (www.kinbari.ca). I took a building from the 1930's and fully renovated it, then added a new two-story addition to house the kitchen and expand the living area upstairs. It took nearly six months of non-stop construction (renos are always full of surprises, and often not good ones), with myself in the trenches every day to try and get it all done. When our goal of being open for ski-season was clearly not going to be achieved, we all just put our heads down, stopped setting an opening date and just got 'er done. In the trenches literally And the results of blood, sweat and the occasional tear! Before After Before After Kinbari officially opened on April 23, 2011. I thought I knew busy during the construction and planning stage. Now busy is an understatement! While I'm now surrounded by some of the most pristine fishing waters available to man, I actually fish less than I did living in Toronto - 15 hour work days will do that to ya. However, every free chance I'd exploit to the fullest with a fully packed SUV, Google Maps and a lot of driving, walking and bush whacking. As some of you may know from my last few reports it started all with Bull Trout. Armed with a centerpin, I tried desperately to fill the void created by the absence of Steelhead. Little did I know there was something likely far greater on the horizon. Though I came here with a small arsenal of fly fishing gear, I never really got into it fishing in Ontario. And despite living here, I quietly convinced myself that I'd stick more to the pin. Tapered leaders. Double haul casting. Sinking tips. It all sounded overwhelming and it didn't help that the pin was producing a lot of Bull Trout and big ones like this: Then came spring and for the first time since I moved here out came the fly rod (as back up to my pin of course). Though free time was even more at a premium with the restaurant open, every spare moment was spent on a river somewhere. Luckily out here I can be on a prime river in 20 minutes or less. The first few handful of trips as the river levels dropped started peaking my curiosity. But every time I saw a deep pool, I couldn't help busting out the pin. And again it produced. Lovely colours too! Still something inside pushed me to keep on fly fishing, to give it more of a chance. So I started exploring more and more. Potential in the distance. It was a long, steep walk down. Even longer going up! But it was worth it. And as I dedicated more time to the fly, the more fish I found on the end of my line. Another free day found me venturing further away from home. To get to this river, you had to drive over 40km down narrow logging roads like this going deep into the Kootenay valleys. I had to bush whack a ton to find places to fish. On a map the river looked easy to explore. More often than not they were always teasing me from the top of a steep cliff. It was here that I can say that I was converted to fly fishing. The other fish I caught were fun, but not anything I didn't expect. In this remote river the scenery was near perfect, the isolation surreal and rises spectacular. When a massive Westslope Cutthroat leaped out of the water like a humpback whale to smash my dry fly, I finally realized what all the fuss was about. It was truly one of the greatest things I have witnessed in my fishing career. Unfortunately I was alone and this epic Cutty slipped away before I could get a picture. But many more would follow that day like these. Ever since I've been building up my fly fishing closet. A new Sage reel, St. Croix Rod and Rio Sinking tip line have been added to the line-up and the next target is my first Bull Trout on the fly - and I already have the perfect place in mind (yes for its beauty but mostly because here I don't have to cast as far! Learning to cast heavy streamers can be very frustrating!) But for now it's back to work. I can't wait for the next free day. Sushi anyone??? (This is our best-selling roll called the Dynamiters, not to be confused with the Dynamite Roll) Thanks for reading!

Great pics man. Look forward to the next report.