By Don Daniels
As the month of August comes to an end, the hot days hopefully are behind us and we can get out fishing without worrying about sunstroke.
We got some rain last week and the days ahead could be comfortable for whatever style of fishing you are planning to do before school starts up again in September. Kelsey Bay on Thursday, Aug. 12 had a full house of anglers casting out lures for pinks and I noticed about six pinks coming in. The school was located just off the kelp bed and the action was fast and furious.
Gareth Lewis was fishing from the dock with his sons and the action was nonstop for the family from Victoria who were spending the holidays in the Sayward area. At Kelsey Bay, children must wear a life jacket and the number of anglers at late afternoon numbered close to 20. To avoid the crowd, you can take a short walk to the point. Crowds are at minimum if you prefer to fish away from the anglers who gather at the dock.
These pinks are schooling up and when the rain comes will be headed to the Salmon River and the Campbell River then into the Quinsam and Oyster rivers. The ideal method for fishing pinks is on the fly but some folks simply get a trout rod and cast out pink lures in hopes of catching a four to four-pound salmon using light tackle.
Recently, I made my way to Echo Lake. During the hot weather, when temperatures were in the 30s, I stayed away but I decided to float around during the Sunday rain last week and check out the hatch.
The shallow water was warm and getting out about 10 yards you come upon the colder water temperature but there was sign of bugs or rising trout. The water temperature has warmed up and a number of stickleback fish were on the bottom of the lake and the number of dead fish was high. Trout feed on sticklebacks and hopefully the majority of the bait fish will survive.
There is no camping at Echo but the day use area is popular on weekends and you can drown some worms and have fun.
Deepest part of the lake is at 46 feet and Echo is spring fed and, at times, is very fishable when the trout are moving about. A trout which was stocked last year can be close to four pounds and there are reports of larger fish caught each year but I haven’t witnessed any large ones in the past 10 years. The best fishing days are during windy conditions and when the fish are rising near the surface, the dry fly anglers can have a lot of fun.
On the way to Gold River, a number of lakes can be fished and I will scout things out and report on results. We have a number of lakes in our area that contain kokanee and they are fun on light tackle but can have better results using wedding bands and a worm combination.
Float tubes are making a comeback and some new folks that moved to Campbell River had a chance to get out with me, so reports will be on the way.
