in on those creatures we were in trouble. Fortunately, some of the trout preferred chironomids and we hooked a fish here or there over the next couple hours. Later, Chan motored the boat around until he found what he wanted to see on the sonar— a pack of large fish in a concentrated area, just off bottom in 23 feet of water. He carefully positioned the boat, dropped bow and stern anchors, and said,“ They’ re right beneath us.”
I cast my outfit as far as I could( which basically meant I was fishing under the boat) and let the cork bob in the chop. Chan did the same thing, with an identical cork, tippet and fly. Not long after, I was hooked up to a very nice fish, maybe a five-pounder. At Corbett the rainbows were acrobats; here they acted like vampires, avoid-ing the light and boring deep anytime they got near the surface. I was fishing a fast-action five-weight rod and wish-ing I were throwing a seven-weight. My right wrist and forearm burned. So how long did I fight this fish? Four minutes? Five minutes? That’ s a long time to fight a trout, but I think that guess is accurate— these rainbows were as strong as any I’ ve fought, bending the rod to what I thought would be the breakage point and repeatedly diving for bottom just when I thought they might roll over on their sides and slide into the net.
While fighting that fish I’ d said,“ This is a whale.” Chan corrected me and said,“ Actually it’ s probably a Blackwater River strain or Pennask Lake strain rainbow.”
BLACKWATER STRAIN RAINBOWS & PENNASK STRAIN RAINBOWS IN BC
Blackwater and Pennask rainbows are stocked in many of British Columbia’ s inland lakes and each provide appealing traits. Blackwaters, having developed in a river system with competing fishes, are very aggressive and they can grow to large size, as evidenced at Sheridan Lake near 100 Mile House where these fish average four or five pounds and stretch to 20 pounds. Blackwaters are opportunistic and readily eat aquatic insects and other prey, such as leeches. Pennask rainbows are keyed into aquatic insect hatches making them the favorite target on the fly. And, best, they are prone to jump when hooked up.
When discussing these fish Chan chuckled and said,“ There’ s another type of fish in these lakes and you’ ll know when you hook one.” These fish, he explained, are mistakes from the triploid process which, in layman’ s terms, places trout eggs in a pressure chamber at a hatchery facility to produce sexually sterile females that won’ t interbreed with native trout stocks, making them ideal for stocking in BC’ s interior lakes. Occasionally one of these fish turns out to be a mutant male that produces milt but does not possesses a vent to release it. Chan added,“ They fight like they are mad, but when you land one they roll over and seem to say,‘ Please, just kill me now.’” I said,“ Oh, blue balls. No wonder they want to die.”
Chan works with the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC, which runs the provincial fish stocking program with a goal to bring more people into fishing, and to sell more fishing licenses. He’ s a fish guru and a highly respect-ed angler and possesses a great sense of humor. After I’ d hooked several fish in a row— as his flies, which were just a few feet away from mine, went untouched— he said, tongue in cheek,“ I don’ t get it. We’ re using the same flies, same leaders and tippets, and I even soaked our chironomids in the same shrimp oil.... I even tried to poach your water and couldn’ t get a bite. I’ m going to fish the other side of the boat.”
Acting as if he were upset, he swiveled in his chair and cast off the opposite side. And that’ s all it took.
For a half-hour or so Chan was into the rainbows like you’ d expect the chironomid king to be, missing a strike here, setting the hook securely there, then admiring these beautiful fish before slipping them out of the net and back into the lake. When clouds built to the west and thunder boomed overhead, we reeled in and called it a day.