Oyama Lake in the Okanagan

Oyama Lake

Also check out Oyama Lake Resort, great place!
 www.oyamalakefishingresort.ca

Oyama Lake is one of the most intriguing lakes in the Okanagan. It is a hidden little jewel, and very beautiful. It has 27 islands, so there are many places to explore and many Shoals. Over the years of fishing this Lake, it has become one of my favorite places close to Kelowna.

One of the purposes of my blog is to share the different adventures I have had, and flies that I used as I have visited these lakes. Hopefully this will help someone planning a trip to the Okanagan.

The road up to Oyama Lake is a steep climb, because it is at a high elevation. But you are able to make it in a two wheel drive no problem. About the Lake, it is unique with its many islands. There are many different depths, there are deep sections of 60+ feet at both ends of the Lake. Plus some shallow plateaus, many inlets and areas with lily pads.

Oyama Lake, being at the top of the ridge can tend to have windy days. This can be worked around by the many islands. This year I went up in late August and early September. We did good trolling with the full sinking line out, with pumpkin head (woolly bugger), minnow patterns, and a little pattern called Alexandra. A good friend of mine named Larry, caught a beauty, 17+ inches on this pattern. We were fishing the Southwest end of the lake. Here some pictures of these flies.

Pumpkin head woolly bugger

Streamer

Alexandra

Caddis dry

  I love some of the dry fly action that you can get from July to September in the mountain lakes of the Okanagan. My friend Larry has taught me the value of using the caddis dry fly, and the fun you can have and casting to the rises. This has to be the ultimate when it comes to catching rainbow's. Here is an example of one I caught using the caddis at Oyama.

Another pattern that has worked well is the Doc Spratley . Had success using this fly in the summer. Thanks Alex 

Doc Spratley

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

  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 http://www.kalflyfishers.ca/pages/flypatterns.htm. 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, Okanagan

    Fishing on Wood Lake just out side of Kelowna is one of the best spots for  fishing Kokanee 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. I let the whole line all the way out, 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 maggot fly, also known as Carey 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 other reason I like this fly is when you are using this fly, it is great also for getting 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 right out of the water. Posted By Alex Mentes

Wood Lake Special

Update

It looks like the glory days of Kokanee fishing on Wood Lake has been changed to a six week season. Sometime around 2011 the numbers of Kokanee spawning were down so they changed it to a shorter season. So I'm doing a little update, even though it's been a shorter season for the last two years. The spring fishing during April and May has been pretty good. The Kokanee that I caught have been impressive. Also it seems the Rainbow numbers are way up for Wood Lake, seven of the eight fish I caught in early spring on Wood Lake were Rainbows. Here are a couple pictures.

May 2014 20 inch Kokanee

17 inch Wood lake rainbow