Tying Flies for the Okanagan

  For all the fishermen that are dreaming about fishing in the winter, it is a good time to learn to do fly tying. For the creative person fly tying is a great hobby. For about $200 or so you can get most of what you need to start tying flies. After the initial cost of materials, tying flies will save you money. One of the advantages of tying flies, is that you can customize them to the way you want them or make variations of the pattern you're using. If you are living in the Okanagan, the store Trout Waters in Kelowna carries everything you need to start fly tying. You can find their website at,  http://www.troutwaters.ca/index.htm

  Some of my favorite flies for the Okanagan, are a green Doc Spratly, leech patterns, including micro leeches. These two patterns are great year-round trolling patterns. The other pattern that I tie a lot of is the dry caddis. The lakes of the Okanagan have great caddis dry fly fishing in the summer. For instance Jack Pine Lake which is not far from Kelowna has an excellent caddis hatch. This lake can have a dry fly hatch all day, but you're guaranteed there will be dry fly action in the evening.

  You can learn most everything you need to know about fly tying on the internet these days. There are many sites with good patterns. Also you can see demonstrations of flies being tied on youtube. I really like this site for patterns www.hatchesmagazine.com/patterns/. And this next site has some great step-by-step tying patterns http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw2/archive.php .

                                                                                                  Keep it sharp,  Alex Mentes

Fishing for Walleye in B.C. Near the Kootenay river

At Columbia river where it joins the Kootenay river, fishing for walleye is great fun. You will need a boat at this spot. The current can be strong and rises when the dam lets out water so the conditions can change. The technique that can be used from an anchored boat, is using spinner setup with walking weights. This setup is used with dew worms. Just let it sit on bottom and let spin, wait,watch and look out... bang! Fish on. The spinner has a pill float which keeps it off the bottom. Remember all rivers in B.C. are single barbless.
I went September long weekend. One for the boats I saw someone get a walleye close to 7 lbs. Jigs can be used also.

Kokanee on the fly

Fishing on Wood Lake just out side of Kelowna is one of the best spots close to town. From middle of April to middle of May is one of the hottest times for fishing Kokanee.
The technique I like to use is trolling with a sinking line, plus I add a heavy tip to the end of the line, this gets the fly down 10 feet. The fly I use is a a maggot fly. This fly can be used as is or I like to add live maggots to the fly the red ones. The other fly I have had great success is a little smelt fly. The reason I like this fly is when you are using this fly, it will also get rainbows.You can get this rainbow streamer at the Canadian tire in Kelowna. My log for this spring on Wood lake April, 13 ,2008 Maggot fly very good 2 P.M. Also went April, 27 ,2008 1:30 P.M. very hot got limit 25 min. There is nothing like getting a Kokanee on the fly, they are great fighters. I have seen them jump up to five times out of the water. Posted By Alex Mentes

More good news

After 10 years Kokanee fishing opens in Okanagan Lake.

"The Ministry of Environment has decided to allow a harvest quota of the fish to be caught between June 1 and July 31.

If the quota of fish caught is reached before July 31, or if a Kokanee is caught before June 1, the fishery will be stopped. Each angler will have a daily limit of four Kokanee. " Castanet.net news