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The High Country - BC Okanagan

2K views 24 replies 18 participants last post by  bigtroutchaser 
#1 ·
Pram packed with oars, float tube, step ladder and step stool
Motor vehicle Automotive design Wood Vehicle Automotive exterior

Plant Flower Wheel Vehicle Tire

Truck loaded, ready to head out. BC bound. Meeting two friends at Mile High Resort, elevation about a mile high.
Water Cloud Sky Water resources Atmosphere

A view out of the cabin at Face Lake. Calm? We don't spend time fishing at this lake other than in the cabin cooking, eating, sleeping or telling lies. But it is a very pretty setting.
Cloud Water Sky Natural landscape Lake

For the most part, we wore multiple layers and rain gear was always handy
Sky Snow Plant Automotive tire Branch

We've seen snow on the summer solstice but were a bit surprised by the snow that fell, contrary to what the meteorologists predicted. This view is off the porch of our cabin. We weren't in too big of a hurry to head out on day No. 5 of 10.
Car Cloud Tire Sky Wheel

Day No. 1, a nice chironomid chop, no rain. Didn't last like this for long but its the high country in central BC.
Water Cloud Sky Plant Mountain

The "hog trough"
Water Boat Plant Watercraft Boats and boating--Equipment and supplies

Herb with a nice fish from the "trough"
Water Cloud Sky Boat Water resources

Keith with another nice trout from the "trough"
Vertebrate Mesh Organism Fence Reptile

One of mine from the "trough". I had very good results fishing a (UV) chartreuse damselfly nymph about 20' below a QR indicator, the other fly of choice was an anti-staticbag ice cream cone with wine colored undertones and ribbing.
Water Sky Cloud Boat Plant

I'm almost always the last of the three prams out. Herb and Keith are anchored on the edges of a wonderful shoal in this lake. As per the norm for this trip, the wind came up and kicked whitecaps across the lake. My bow anchor is a piece of 4-inch diameter steel rod. It has been retired since it likes to roll rather than grab.
Flower Plant Plant community Terrestrial plant Petal

There were at least a half dozen rock cairns at Dairy; someone obviously didn't have time to fish.
Plant Ecoregion Natural landscape Larch Wood

Five years ago two young guys staying in the adjacent cabin told Herb about this lake (Ethyl) where the trout were massive. Too much for 2X. On that same trip, Herb talked to "Lying Larry" who told him about hooking a trout in Ethyl that took more than an hour to land (Herb bought it hook, line and sinker). The next year we were launching at Leighton Lake and got to chatting with a guy who'd just been to Ethyl. He'd dented the heck out of the drivers side of his SUV getting into (or out of) Ethyl Lake access but he told us stories of fabled fish that snap your five weights. The legend kept blooming. So we took a day off and decided to look for this lake. We drove all over trying to find it. Finally ended up at the fire station in Logan Lake and asked them about Ethyl lake. Got the deer in the headlights look but they were good enough to pull up Google Earth and we found it. Unfortunately the "roads" don't show up. We spent the rest of the day driving and hiking and finally found it after hiking a "road" with puddles well over 18 inches deep and mosquitoes that nearly drained our supply of blood. We couldn't get to within about 1.5 km with our truck and utility trailer so it was just a look-see.

Herb became more and more obsessed with this lake. OBSESSED. Three years ago we hiked back to the lake with float tubes and caught a few fish. I hooked something that I never saw but that nearly spooled me. It was big, I too became a bit "obsessed". Anyway, Herb decides to buy this Marlon aluminum boat that the "three" of us can fish from (a ten foot boat???). He fashions an axle assembly. I decline the boat ride and carry my float tube. Keith doesn't like float tubes so he decides to fish from Herb's new boat. And there they go, pulling this boat loaded to the max with gear. The trail (ATV trail) to the lake has Newton's Law in your favor, gravity assist.
Water Plant Plant community Wood Natural landscape

This is the launch, knee deep or deeper muck.
Water Sky Cloud Liquid Tree

This is "Ethyl"
Water Boat Boats and boating--Equipment and supplies Sports equipment Lake

This is me landing an Ethyl Lake rainbow.
Water Salmon-like fish Coastal cutthroat trout Fin Marine biology

Another rainbow (not Ethyl) - We never found the leviathans that legend describe. Sure, trout to 20 inches are GREAT trout but the 12 pounders, if they're there, weren't showing themselves to us or to the six locals that fished it the two days we fished. We caught bigger fish and more of them at a lake we could drive up to and fish with our prams.

Newton's Law with gravity assistance had the opposite effect on the way out. Herb's axle assembly needed much larger diameter wheels and pneumatic tires would have helped.
Tire Wheel Car Sky Land vehicle

Snow, more snow. Cold. At least we didn't have to chip ice from fly rod guides, it wasn't that cold.
Water Vertebrate Salmon-like fish Fisherman Lake

One of the lakes we fished has beautiful brook trout to compliment the rainbow trout. The ugly gloves help this old man keep his hands from cracking.
Cloud Water Sky Boat Watercraft

Chironomid Chop
Cloud Water Sky Water resources Boat

Fish on in the chop - we pretty much fished floating lines with quick release (Iracators) indicators and longish (20 - 22 feet) leaders. Since it is illegal to fish more than one fly per line/leader, we often fished two rods, mixing up the presentation and sometimes depth. One afternoon, I was anchored up in 25+ feet of water when I noticed the wind laying down. I was close to a shoal on the lake and kept looking over. Pretty soon I could see a few fish rising so I reeled up the two indicator lines, pulled in the anchors and rowed over to the shoal. I had a third rod strung with a floating line and "short" leader (a 9 footer). I'd tied on snowshoe rabbit foot mayfly emerger. Pretty soon the nighthawks and swallows were swooping all around me and the trout were up. I love indicator fishing but there's absolutely nothing more fun that fooling big trout with a dry fly on a beautiful stillwater.
Water Plant community Vertebrate Plant Natural landscape

Hog Trough residents.

I spent sometime fishing a type-7 "naked" with no luck but did have minimal success with the same line fishing a water boatman. How is it that a trout doesn't get hooked when they just smash a stripped water boatman?
 
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