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 6 Gold UV coated Marabou Jig Walleye Crappie trout steelhead Ice $4.75 (3 Bids) Time Remaining: 21h 8m |
 6 UV coated Marabou Jig Walleye Crappie trout steelhead Ice FQQ $4.00 Time Remaining: 20h 55m |
 6 Pink Blue UV coated Marabou Jig Walleye Crappie trout steelhead Ice $4.00 Time Remaining: 20h 58m |
 6 UV coated Marabou Jig Walleye Crappie trout steelhead Ice FY $4.00 Time Remaining: 21h |
 6 Salmon Peach UV coated Marabou Jig Walleye Crappie trout steelhead Ice $4.00 Time Remaining: 20h 50m |
 6 UV coated Marabou Jig Walleye Crappie trout steelhead Ice FZ $4.00 Time Remaining: 20h 47m |
 6 UV coated Marabou Jig Walleye Crappie trout steelhead Ice FT1 $4.00 Time Remaining: 20h 52m |
 6 Lime UV coated Marabou Jig Walleye Crappie trout steelhead Ice $4.00 Time Remaining: 20h 56m |
 6 UV coated Marabou Jig Walleye Crappie trout steelhead Ice FTT $4.00 Time Remaining: 20h 58m |
 6 UV coated Marabou Jig Walleye Crappie trout steelhead Ice FX $4.00 Time Remaining: 21h 3m |
 6 UV coated Marabou Jig Walleye Crappie trout steelhead Ice FD2 $4.00 Time Remaining: 21h 4m |
 6 UV coated Marabou Jig Walleye Crappie trout steelhead Ice FU1 $4.00 Time Remaining: 21h 6m |
 6 UV coated Marabou Jig Walleye Crappie trout steelhead Ice FN $4.00 Time Remaining: 21h 50m |
 6 Pearl UV coated Marabou Jig Walleye Crappie trout steelhead Ice $4.00 Time Remaining: 21h 16m |
 6 Pink Pearl UV coated Marabou Jig Walleye Crappie trout steelhead Ice $4.00 Time Remaining: 20h 58m |
 6 Purple Pearl UV coated Marabou Jig Walleye Crappie trout steelhead Ice $4.00 Time Remaining: 21h 1m |
 6 UV coated Marabou Jig Walleye Crappie trout steelhead Ice FM $4.00 Time Remaining: 21h 3m |
 6 Marabou Jig Walleye Crappie trout steelhead Ice FY $4.00 Time Remaining: 5d 20h 54m |
 6 Marabou Jig Walleye Crappie trout steelhead Ice FX $3.00 Time Remaining: 5d 21h 11m |
 6 Marabou Jig Walleye Crappie trout steelhead Ice FXX $3.00 Time Remaining: 5d 21h 22m |
 6 Marabou Jig Walleye Crappie trout steelhead Ice FZ $3.00 Time Remaining: 5d 21h 27m |
 6 Marabou Jig Walleye Crappie trout steelhead Ice B $3.00 Time Remaining: 6d 20h 41m |
 6 Marabou Jig Walleye Crappie trout steelhead Ice P $3.00 Time Remaining: 6d 20h 54m |
 6 Marabou Jig Walleye Crappie trout steelhead Ice C $3.00 Time Remaining: 6d 21h |
 6 Marabou Jig Walleye Crappie trout steelhead Ice CC $3.00 Time Remaining: 6d 21h 26m |
 6 Marabou Jig Walleye Crappie trout steelhead Ice GG $3.00 Time Remaining: 6d 21h 5m |
 6 Marabou Jig Walleye Crappie trout steelhead Ice A $3.00 Time Remaining: 6d 21h 6m |
 6 Marabou Jig Walleye Crappie trout steelhead Ice M $3.00 Time Remaining: 6d 21h 24m |
 6 Marabou Jig Walleye Crappie trout steelhead Ice OO $3.00 Time Remaining: 6d 21h 42m |
Steelhead Ice
Father and Son Fishing Trip - Time Worth Spending
It's a family tradition that was shared with me as a youngster with my dad. The cycle continued as I have shared the same experience with my sons. The "Kamloops area lakes" have provided us with a lifetime of opportunity to seal the bonds within our family.
I received my "Father's Day present" a week early this year when my eldest son Dano was able to join me at "Teepee Lakes" near Bankier, in the heart of the BC Southern Interior. Dano, now near 30 years old, started fishing with me at the tender age of three when we first moved to Kamloops. Our first trip together was a spring afternoon to "Campbell Lake", the day the ice came off. It was he who hooked the biggest fish of the day (and probably the biggest trout that he has ever caught... to this day) on a flatfish as he sat between my legs while I rowed. It turned out to be 4 lbs and when I held it up beside him, it was almost as long as him.
The "Teepee Lakes" are comprised of 3 small lakes, Friday, Saturday and Sunday Lakes. The lakes yield feisty, usually plentiful rainbow trout that will occasionally exceed two pounds. I arrived at the community store in Bankier on the Wednesday morning for directions to our cabin at Friday Lake. We stayed in a rustic log, one-room cabin which could accommodate 4 sleepers. It also had a table and a brand new air-tight stove for heating.
I arrived at the campsite where I found my cabin in short order and started unloading the van. Soon I was greeted by two young men, Zach and Kees, who shared some fishing info with me and showed me a boat that I could use Friday Lake. After unloading my van and getting my fishing gear ready, the rest of the afternoon and early evening was spent fishing Friday Lake. There was a lone fisherman tucked into the north-west end of the lake so I wandered down that way and struck up a conversation. Interesting enough, the gentleman was Marc Laynes, a river fishing expert from Chilliwack who specializes in sturgeon/steelhead and salmon fishing on the Fraser River (bcsturgeon.com). I found it interesting that a person that has huge fish at his doorstep would take some down time in a remote place like this.
The arrangement was for me to pick up Dano in the middle of the night in "Princeton, BC". He was going to take the red-eye from Vancouver and I was going to go to town at 3am, pick him up and bring him back to the lakes for a couple of days of fishing. That plan went down the drain when I heard him shuffling around my cabin at 2:30am like a bear because he decided to drive up on his own. Needless to say, he scared the living stuffing out of me.
After catching a few zzz's, we fished the morning at Friday Lake, catching only one fish on the end of my line. We did however, catch up on just about everything from future relationships, careers and jobs, hockey, contracts, the upcoming olympics and family matters. With the lack of sleep that we both experienced the night before, there was a serious need for a mid-afternoon nap.
After awakening and a quick bite to eat, we drove over to Sunday Lake and did a round without much action. For the evening, Saturday Lake laid waiting and again, only one fish to the boat. Even though there were quite a few people in the camp we were alone when we went to both Saturday and Sunday Lake. The isolation of the lakes allows you a relatively quiet time at any time. Take in the probability of wildlife viewing multiple species like eagles, loons, deer, bear and moose, the TeePee lakes are truly a wilderness destination. Viewing any of these wildlife species wandering through the camping areas or browsing around the lakes is a definite possibility.
After returning to the cabin at dark, Dano and I engaged in a deadly series of backgammon. Backgammon is a game he claims to be good at after reading the all time bible of the game... "Backgammon for Blood" (which I gave to him as a gift a number of years ago). Of course, Dad prevailed with a come from behind win to take the rubber match and claim the undisputed family crown. On Friday morning we packed up most of our stuff and then went out for a few hours on Friday Lake.
There were quite a few more fishermen around Friday morning as a group of ex-Telus employees were arriving for their annual fishing derby. A few more fish were being caught by trollers and probably a lot more stories were being sold. The fish avoided us this morning although Dano had an opportunity when a fish struck while he was raising the anchor... he just couldn't get to his rod on time. We finally pulled out about 1:30pm. It was a great 2 days spending time with the once little boy who is now a man enveloped in the rat race of life. Our time was spent casually reinforcing our already strong relationship that started so many years ago on the Kamloops area lakes and will continue for years to come.
Teepee Lakes Resort is a four seasons wilderness camp serving individuals, small or large groups for weddings, kids camps, snowmobiling, ATV'ing, fishing derbies, family reunions, equestrian groups, hunters and hikers.
Dave Ouellette is from Kamloops, BC Canada who specializes in the promotion of fly fishing for rainbow trout in the Interior of British Columbia.
The BC Freshwater Fishing Journal is a BigFishSmallHook.com venue that provides an opportunity for fisherpersons in BC waters to share their stories and pictures with other fishermen online. People are welcome to visit and enjoy the stories or to add to the library of great (or-not-so-great) adventures.
About the Author
Would frozen over backwater produce pike, walleye and steelhead?
In my river, there is alot of backwater. The backwater is frozen over with at least 5 inches of ice. I was wondering since pike and walleye like calmer waters, would they retreat to the 4-6 foot backwaters in the winter? or would they stay in the deep currents of the river. My river only gets about ten feet deep at parts and is about 15 feet wide. It produces monster walleye and pike in the summer.
I"ve fished backwaters on bigger rivers and have caught some very nice fish. I would put out some tip ups with 4 to 6 inch sucker or shiner minnows and I would think you will do well as the bigger fish will come into the backwaters looking for smaller fish to eat. Good luck
Big Steelhead Ice fishing Feb 2009