100 Fish in Three Hours

Our story begins on Wednesday, August 17, 2011; when my wife, Kim, suggested we go fishing for eastern brook trout at a particular lake. I had mentioned another lake in the area, but decided to go with Kim's suggestion, having learned long ago to trust Kim's unctions for good fishing.

After arriving at said lake we spent the first hour scouting out the best location for holding fish. It also needs to be said that Kim and I have only recently begun fishing this lake again after leaving it alone for ten years. Said lake became seriously depleted due to winter poaching in 1998 through 2000.

After deciding on a good holding area, we began targeted fishing. Kim started with a Green Spratley while I choose a Souboo (Souboo being short for South Cariboo Special, a pattern I developed 1993 for fishing the brookies of the Clinton area). Kim got her first fish immediately, with mine coming minuets later.

The action was continuous for brookies from a half to three pounds. Later when the sun moved behind the pines and the shadows moved across the lake the action began to slow down. Noting the fish had begun rising all around us, I suggested that we change to dry (floating) flies.

Knowing that time was limited and not wanting to waste time in the process of elimination, I opted for Chernobyl Ants. My reasoning was influenced by the fact that we were fishing the fifth day after a full moon, which would mean night feeding activity would be at a month long peak, so anything that made a notable disturbance on the surface would spark interest. The strategy worked and we were back into fast action.

Not too much later as night was closing in and it was time to head back to the launch, I looked at my watch 8:00 PM. Time fishing 2.5 hours, fish count 50. On our drive back to Spences Bridge, Kim proposed we should return on Friday, I agreed.

At this point before going any further I wish to express my gratitude and give thanks to God, my fly fishing instructor and coach: for giving me my deep interest in the sport of fly fishing, a vast library of knowledge in the sport, and the desire to excel in all things there to.

On Friday the 19th we returned to our lake. Checking my watch after loading our gear and launching our boat it was 3:00 PM.

We began fishing where we left off on Wednesday with Chernobyl Ants, but the fish were not hitting as aggressively as they had two days before. Knowing the fish were there and wanting to step things up I opted to try a Popping Bug, a small one, panfish size. Though it may seem unorthodox to use bass flies for brookies, this trick had served me well in times passed when fishing Traveler Sedge hatches.

I chose a bright orange Popper, thinking that the combination of both noise and highly visible color could spark an aggressive response. My strategy worked and I could see brookies charging my fly in groups. Kim followed my lead and we found hit after hit action. It did not take long though for me to notice that we were missing way more fish than we were able to hook solidly. I told Kim that I suspected that the fish were ramming the Poppers in anger, rather than biting them in an effort to feed, and that I was going to experiment a bit to see if I could come up with something more effective.

Moving to a Turk's Tarantula, and got the odd hit on the surface. When the Tarantula became water-logged however, the takes became regular. I commented to Kim that the fish seemed to be interested in a subsurface food source and that she would likely do well going back to a Green Spratley.

Kim opened the boat box and changed flies. I returned to using my Souboo. This changed worked and we back to solidly hooked fish. When Kim needed help with a deeply hooked fish I noticed she had not picked a Green Spratley but mistakenly attached a Green Bodied Caddis. I told Kim that she had chosen a Caddis instead of a Spratley and that since she was seeing more action than I, she had uncover the key to the bite; Sedge green ones. Remember what I said earlier about my learning, long ago, to trust Kim's instinct for good fishing.

That was all I needed to know. Looking through my box of special flies, I selected a Nation's Green Sedge, and it was cast after cast action from then on, for both of us.

At the point when I was becoming very bored and Kim's arm needed a rest, we decided to call it a day; time 6:00 PM, fish count fifty each, an even one hundred. As we motored back to the launch, Kim talked continually about how great the fishing had been. I had to agree it was beyond a doubt the best fish either of us had ever experienced. I commented that this must have been what it was like for doctors A S Munro and T W Lambert in 1897, when they set their BC catch record of 1500 trout in three days. That thought would hound me until I returned home and did the math.

When I got home I went through my library to read again about Lambert and Munro. On their best day of the three, they caught 700 trout in seventeen hours. 17 hours times 60 minuets = 1020 minuets. 700 fish divided by 1020 = a fish every 2.9 minuets. Kim and I on our best day caught 100 in 3 hours. 3 hours times 60 minuets = 180 minuets. 100 fish divide by 180 minuets = a fish every 3.6 minuets. This works out to a spread of .7 of a minuet between their catch ratio and ours. Impressive when considering how many fish were in our lakes back in 1897 and that Lambert and Munro were fishing a three fly systems, giving them six flies in the water as apposed to our two. Could we have bettered our catch ratio, I would say yes, since these calculations do not factor in anchoring and a bathroom break. There is also the possibility of a better catch ratio had we fished longer after clueing into the Sedge hatch. It is fun to speculate, but with so many variables who is to say? It is enough to have enjoyed the Lord's blessing and experienced a great day of fishing.

Oh yes, what everyone wants to know; the name of this lake? I can't tell you; that would be unsporting. I leave you with this one clue; the lake in question is one of the great brook trout lakes in and around the area surrounding Clinton BC.

Jeff Weltz