Our next morning brought frost
and a layer of ice on the car windshield, the sky conditions were the
complete opposite from the previous day, clear and not a cloud to be
seen. We made it to the lake with 45 minutes before sunrise, still light
enough to fish though. Beyond casting distance a rainbow trout of decent
stature breached multiple times, it seemed everywhere you looked a fish was breaching or surface feeding. We repeated the process from Saturday with a few small
rainbows and brooks caught and released before the sun broke the
tree line, with the bite slowing down as the sun rose. It was agreed we
would head back for a snack before fishing some more, so I took one last
cast with a spoon and I had the pleasure of landing my personal best
18.25 inch brook trout, a good fight that probably scared off any fish
in the area.

After a quick bite to eat we decided to
head to the Whiteshell river in between West Hawk and Caddy lakes. The trail in is a self guided
interpretive one, and after about 30 minutes of scenic hiking through the forest and over and down the rocky surface we arrived at
the trout stream. This is
strictly a catch and release area, and is used by some novice fly fishers to hone their craft. What a cool place! This experience was honestly one of my
best times fishing yet, I forgot we were in Manitoba for a while, it
could've been BC or Montana for all I knew. Pristine crystal clear
stream, fallen logs and rip rap areas leading to deeper pools, I knew as
we approached that the trout would see us before we saw them, luckily
if we spooked a pool, there was another one near by to try.

It was here our lighter set up was useful. Multiple lures and flies produced, but they had to be small. My wife and I started by each working a different pool with different tactics, I used a small fly and she her go to lure, both producing about equally. After hiking and trying multiple areas downstream catching and releasing rainbows and brookies in almost every pool, we headed back near the first area to settle in. We made a point of casting in all the previous pools as we went back having great success. Clear sky, barely a breeze, no one in sight, not even a piece of garbage, we continued to fish for a good hour with a few double headers as well. We landed well over a dozen each and agreed it was worth the hike. Small trout on light tackle is a blast!

After a great meal we were off for 90 minutes
of fishing before dark, we approached the shore quietly and took care to
stay low to the ground avoiding any shadows we might cast. It wasn't
long before we began to see trout surface feeding and soon after that a
brook trout took my offering. I had an ear to ear smile as the fish
fought, it wasn't a giant but it was determined to stay away from shore. Soon after my wife landed another an inch or two shy of twenty as well.
Catching these brook trout for the first time and good numbers of them
was a true pleasure. In the spirit of learning and trying different
lures I changed over to a spoon again and began to cast out. after a few
casts covering some different areas I hooked into and landed a nice 18
incher. The brook trout fight with such voracity and I now know why so many anglers enjoy pursuing them.
With no sign of the one that got away the previous day and one last chance the next
morning, the sun had set and we were forced to retire for the night.
Those might not be brook trout you got there from the lake. They almost look like splake. The small ones from the river are definitely brookies.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely beautiful fish regardless.
Thanks for the input Joel. It wasn't pictured but even the larger ones had what I perceived to be the tell tale camo of brook trout on the backs. I will have to take a closer look, I am by no means an expert.
ReplyDeletesplake will often have a belly with colour mixed from both parents. Lakers have a yellow belly, brookies a bright red and will often have a jet black stripe along the belly during the fall season. Splake will have an orangey belly - usually with no black stripe
ReplyDelete