Brambles 2015 kootenay lake fishing log

[Brambles]

My friends say I should keep track of how many hours I've spent fishing kootenay lake for the big one!!! Rough estimate from May 2013 till now Dec 12 2014......I'm estimating 2600 hours.....f@&k, might be more!

Kootenay is suffering from a substantial downturn in fish sizes! But I don't scare easy so I keep putting in my time. When things turn for the better, I'll be there!!! With my lines in the water!!!

This hopefully will act as a running fishing log for 2015, those who are interested can chime in.

any advice on how to make this thread more interesting over he year, lemme know!!!

[goatdancer]

There probably a few fish caught in just a few hours so the "average" time is gonna be skewed. Years ago I think it was something like 250 hrs.. Keep it up and you will connect. A "bad" day fishing is still better than a "good" day at work.

[Rattler]

Post up some vids...going to have to stop dropping f bombs though...lol.

[Brambles]

Considering the downturn in the lake and learning everything as we go with little help from the local fishing community I think we're doing well. By "we" I mean my two kids and I... The occasional friend that tags along as well! We have boated many nice fish and lost even more.... But still no 20+ lbers

[Brambles]

Post up some vids...going to have to stop dropping f bombs though...lol.

thats gonna be F@&kin tough!!! ....lol



might need a camera guy!,,, someone who actually wants to get out and fish!!!!....don't know anyone like that though!!!

[Rattler]

thats gonna be F@&kin tough!!! ....lol



might need a camera guy!,,, someone who actually wants to get out and fish!!!!....don't know anyone like that though!!!

Yeah you funny guy...heading out Sunday now. A guy has to use his own boat every now and again eh...

[Jagermeister]

What's the status of the kokanee population these days? And is BC Hydro still fertilizing the lake? There was a substantial decline in Gerrards in the years following the completion of the Duncan Dam. Seems to me that it was tied to the collapse of the kokanee population. That was the primary reason Hydro started fertilizing.

[jtred]

How are the fish you are catching? I'm from Creston and spend a bit of time on the lake with friends each year, although not lately, from what I'm hearing the Gerrards are underweight severely and full of worms. Is this true for you? I'm more into fishing the smaller alpine lakes for cutthroat or the rivers and streams for trout but I usually get out on the big lake at least once a year. The BC family day derby was cancelled due the decline in fish hopefully the other derbies will follow suit for at least a few years? Do the biologists know the cause?

[Brambles]

What's the status of the kokanee population these days? And is BC Hydro still fertilizing the lake? There was a substantial decline in Gerrards in the years following the completion of the Duncan Dam. Seems to me that it was tied to the collapse of the kokanee population. That was the primary reason Hydro started fertilizing.

How are the fish you are catching? I'm from Creston and spend a bit of time on the lake with friends each year, although not lately, from what I'm hearing the Gerrards are underweight severely and full of worms. Is this true for you? I'm more into fishing the smaller alpine lakes for cutthroat or the rivers and streams for trout but I usually get out on the big lake at least once a year. The BC family day derby was cancelled due the decline in fish hopefully the other derbies will follow suit for at least a few years? Do the biologists know the cause?

Yes, they are still fertilizing the lake! Nitrogen and phosphorus both north and south now.

The decline is possibly just part of a cycle. But there are many events in history and not so recent past that complicate things!

When the Duncan dam was built it cut off spawning habitat for 2.8 million kokanee!!! That's why the meadow creek spawning channel was constructed, in compensation, Which IIRC has about a 750,000 capacity. Doesn't really seem like a fair trade to me. The dam also cut off important sediment flows and run off from reaching kootenay lake, which wasn't fully realized until the shutting down of cominco's phosphorus fertilizer plant.

it also cut off more potential gerrard spawning habitat, I fact I've been informed that there is a small population of Gerrards spawning at the base of Duncan dam!

then the damn Mysis shrimp were introduced!!!! Biggest mistake in history in many lakes throughout the world!

more recent is the discovery of the IHNv virus in the spawning kokanee and the loss of a large portion of the kokanee biomass in the lake, mostly in the feeder sizes. There still seems to be a reasonable population of giant west arm kokanee in the main lake! 14" plus isn't uncommon. I don't normally fish kokanee but I was getting them on 10" flasher and 4" hoochie swallowing 3/0 hooks....not your typical kokanee rig! However those fish are too big for most fish to feed on.

Lots of the fish caught are lite for their length and have worms. Most stomachs are empty. Feeding periods are short.

The gerrard numbers at the channel are still very good and although not as high as the peak 4 years ago, still twice the historical mean!

Normally with abundant prey sized fish the Gerrards would feed to get fat, but with the dramatically reduced kokanee biomass I feel they have gone into survival mode and only feed occasionally followed by a period of dormancy.

anyways....... I'm goin fishin....c yah later!!!

[Jagermeister]

I worked on the construction of the Duncan Dam. I was there the day the water flow was stopped to start the impoundment of Duncan Lake. We had great anticipation of seeing large fish trapped in pools in the river. Surprisingly, that did not happen. Only a few little fish and some coarse fish.
The Meadow Creek spawning channel was just completing construction at the time and I was under the impression that it was to accommodate about 500,000 spawning fish. That would hatch way more alevins.
I didn't know they introduced mysid shrimp into Kootenay Lake, and in 1949 yet. What is worse, they introduced mysid into the Okanagan Lake in the '60s and they already knew it was a failure. Just goes to show you that biologists are not infallible.