Okanagan Lake Sticky

I have been fishing osoyoos lake recently it's a lot more productive then Okanagan. The rainbows are getting fat in osoyoos lake chowing on all the sockeye fry

Hey JAC, any pictures of the stomach contents? What size are the sockeye fry?
 
Sorry I never kept any fish. There are sockeye fry everywhere they seem to be smaller than standard buck tails so we are fishing 3" buck tails or small streamers
 
Here's a bit different update. Went out today and walked along the logbooms on west side road looking for some carp. Managed to shoot 3.
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I've fished the rattle snake area for the past few days. Used everything but not even a bite. The water was flat and the temp was in the high 20 so it was a nice day to be on the water but not for fishing.
 
I was out the other day for a few hours in the kalamore park area. Caught 3 in the 3-4lb range. One on a Kokanee Lyman down at 41. One on a cop car coyote spoon 100yards behind the boat on a planer board and the other on a rainbow matrix spoon dragging way behind the boat. Had a couple decent hits that popped the pin on the downrigger and some other hits on the surface but just the 3 to the boat
 
Thanks I will try your suggestions



I was out the other day for a few hours in the kalamore park area. Caught 3 in the 3-4lb range. One on a Kokanee Lyman down at 41. One on a cop car coyote spoon 100yards behind the boat on a planer board and the other on a rainbow matrix spoon dragging way behind the boat. Had a couple decent hits that popped the pin on the downrigger and some other hits on the surface but just the 3 to the boat
 
I fished Okanagan Lake with OK Jim today.
Jim got 3 Kokanee and a three +- lb trout and all were released. All the fish were caught by Jim on some of his special homemade lures.
The weather was sunny with a small chop. Fish were caught 30 to 50 ft deep and we fished the Mission Park, Rattle Snake Is area in 200+ feet of water.
Jim said fishing has been slow this year compared to the last few years. A few others I know are saying the same thing.

I'm starting to get the feeling OKs lake need some enhancement help
 
I fished Okanagan Lake with OK Jim today.
Jim got 3 Kokanee and a three +- lb trout and all were released. All the fish were caught by Jim on some of his special homemade lures.
The weather was sunny with a small chop. Fish were caught 30 to 50 ft deep and we fished the Mission Park, Rattle Snake Is area in 200+ feet of water.
Jim said fishing has been slow this year compared to the last few years. A few others I know are saying the same thing.

I'm starting to get the feeling OKs lake need some enhancement help

That lake is in trouble. If Sutherland can't find the fish, no one can.
 
The fishing on the lake has been pour for a number of years now. Yes there are a few big ones out there and jim does get some of them but he fishes really hard, lots of hours on the water. I hope they do something it would be great to bring this fishery back!
 
If you guys aren't already familiar with it, you should look up the Okanagan Lake Action Plan - in short, the issues with the lake's productivity have been noted for decades now and a more detailed look at the how and why then anywhere else in BC. Amongst other things the irrigation control dams on pretty much every tributary act as Phosphorus sinks, thus the lake has lots of Nitrogen but very low Phosphurus and this nutrient imbalance has greatly decreased the primary productivity in the lake. Add to this the ill-fated mysis introduction, over use of water in the Valley and large-scale habitat loss due to uncontrolled lakeshore and tributary development and it should be not surprise to anyone that the lake isn't producing the fishery it could be.

The OLAP is a road map but there has to be the funding in place to put it into action, which of course there isn't. Small one off pieces get taken on as various grants or redirected fine money become available but, such small scale, one-off piece meal work clearly isn't being effective.

Ukee
 
I read the OLAP and the latest edition is 2006 and nothing since. Is there more info??

I did note that they need funds to complete their plans so that could be a major delay.

As with all derbies on Van Island any profit from the derby is transferred to support the fishery they are targeting.
Is the Okanagan Lake trout derby contributing?? I know that they sold over 200 tickets last year and hopefully profits are going in support of the lake.

Here is the OLAP recommendations. It reads that they require more and more studies. By the time they complete their studies the fish should be gone. Anyone know the status .

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Despite anticipated reduced budget for OLAP in 2006 the action plan work should
be reported annually.

2. Mission Creek restoration plans should be implemented.

3. Continue discussions with Summerland public groups and municipality regarding
fish flows for Trout Creek.

4. Continue investigating the question of effectiveness of blue-green algae as a food
source for macrozooplankters preferred by kokanee.

5. Aggressively pursue increased mysid harvest.

6. Continue hydroacoustics and trawl work using recent DNA analysis techniques to
differentiate the contribution of the two stocks.

7. Rely on aging from the trawl catch since there is certainty with each age group.

8. Continue comparative analysis of results of work conducted on Arrow, Kootenay,
and Okanagan lakes in all future studies
 
Throw in proposed reintroduction of sockeye into Okanagan, no wonder that wasn't greeted with open arms. Things are already complicated.
 
Danny Coyne from BC Fishn was out last week and reported lots of smaller fish caught, not sure where he was though. You can check out his Facebook Page.
 
I fished the lake regularly over the last year in live 5 mins from rattlesnake island boat ride , caught 1 3# bow in 10 outings and had the clip pop 1 time with nothing on , started to really doubt myself but on my next 3 trips after on mabel , Shuswap , slocan lake caught 5+ fish on every lake on single day outings ....the fishery on okanagan has a real problem the dream of hooking a double digit kept me coming back but this winter my boat will be moored in vancouver harbour crabbing and winter spring .
 
I was out fishing Sunday and Tue this week. Both days out caught a few nice size Kokanee and released them and had a few hit that didn't stick. Fished both days near rattle snake Is. and was fishing 35 - 40 feet on the DR using everything. The Kokanee were biting any pink/red colors and I was using 3-4 inch lures.

Back to the Juan de Fuca next week to start catching some salmon/halibut for my clients. Forecast for salmon fishing this year is good so there should be more fishing action starting up on our boat. I will miss the BBQs we had on Ok lake
 
I think the Rainbow fishing in Okanagan Lake has gone steadily down hill ever since they reopened the Kokanee, before they open the Kokanee the rainbows were in nice shape, now most you catch are very thin, big head skinny body
 
I talked to the fisheries biologist the other day and he said that the Kokanee numbers are on the rise but the rainbow fishing has gone down hill. They thought there would be a direct coralation with the Kokanee and rainbows but what they are finding is not that at all. Kokanee numbers are up but the number of big rainbows is down. From talking to him, it seems like the government is going to do something about it. Those big head, skinny body fish are kelts. All the fish I've caught on the lake have been very healthy. Even kept a few to eat and they were delicious.
 
I sure hope they do something about it , would be nice to actually be able to go out on the lake and catch some fish .
 
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