The boys had a nice birthday dinner at 5th St Steakhouse then back home for a home made Mudpie. The next day the boys went out to Hula’s with 15 friends and they all came over after dinner to hang out and sit in the hot tub…amidst very cold temps!
Matthew tried out snowboarding at Boreal and lucky no injuries came of it. He enjoyed it a lot and wants to do it again. While he was there, Michael and I took the 10 ft. pram to Baum Lake. I had not heard any reports but the lake usually fishes well in the winter.
We arrived at 9:15 am with air temp at 27 degrees. Dressed warm we did not notice the cold. We were fishing by 9:30 and our first casts produced fish. From that point on it was an outstanding fishing day. Most of the fish ate small PT’s and midges but when we saw rising fish, a well cast Griffiths gnat did the trick. At a few points during the day it was a fish a cast for many minutes. The fish were all very healthy and fought well on 9 ft 3 wts with 18 foot leaders and a tiny yarn indicator. I had one trout take me into backing. That had not happened since the The St. Mary’s trout in Southern Alberta 3-4 years ago. Michael also had a fish that almost got him into backing. The rainbows were really fat and strong.
Michael also “slammed” today. Catching all three predominant trout in one day. His brook trout was the only brookie that was landed and the ratio of rainbows to browns were about even. There was a time during the day that I tried many different flies and they ALL worked. I even cast out a beat up fly and lo and behold…fish on! Just like the saying goes… ” When they are NOT biting, it doesn’t matter what you use. When they ARE biting, it doesn’t matter what you use”. We landed over 50 trout each and by 1:30 we were ready to head home.
Baum Lake is still very productive and a wonderful spot for the winter doldrums. If you can stand the cooler temps, you will be rewarded with some great light tackle trout fishing.
